Marriage

I have had many friends and followers ask me how Matt and I find time to ourselves and/or keep the spark alive in our marriage. I figured with Valentine's Day right around the corner this is the perfect time to write a post about it!

This past New Year's Eve my husband, Matt and I celebrated our five year wedding anniversary!
I have heard that "the first year is the hardest." I didn't find this to be true for us though. I was so excited to marry Matt and I remember the first few months after our wedding getting butterflies being able to say "my husband" as I tried to hold back smiling up to my ears. Over these past five years we have matured and grown. We were only 21 and 22 years old when we got married. A lot has happened since we said "I do." We have had THREE more kids, moved three times and even bought a puppy! Here is what we do to keep our marriage a strong one.

Compromise

No marriage is perfect! I am a firm believer in this. Every relationship has their ups and downs and people in relationships will argue at some point. You can't agree on everything, you are two different people. Matt and I like to compromise if he is set on his way about something and I feel totally different we put our marriage first and find a compromise. Marriage can be hard it takes work at times.

Where it all started

Two people need to share the responsibility for romance and love in the relationship. Marriage is not a one sided thing you BOTH have to put in the effort. Once you have kids it is even harder to remember life before them. I do my best to occasionally look back at old pictures and remember how my heart would race when Matt would just even look at me and my eyes would light up.

Appreciate each other

It feels good to be appreciated. It is as simple as that. Matt goes to work for our family. He sits in traffic and works all day. I know most people do this, but he does this for me, so I can be at home where I want to be taking care of our beautiful babies and so we have a warm home to sleep in and food to eat. I don't tell him enough how much I appreciate all he has done and continues to do for his family. Take the time to tell them how much you appreciate them!

Little things

This falls under appreciating each other I believe, but doing little things every day for each other makes a world of difference in a a relationship. For example, Matt will fill up my gas tank if he sees it is low or pick up the one grocery I forgot at the store or move the wash to the dryer. Every morning I make his coffeee and lunch and when we are watching a show I will sometimes scratch his back, because I want to make him know I am thinking about him, even if it is just a small thing like picking up his clothes if he forgot to throw them in the hamper.  These little things don't go unnoticed.

Date night in or out

Whenever I feel like our kids schedules or just life in general is getting overwhelming and we aren't spending enough time together one of us usually suggests a date night. We put the kids to bed (early like usual) pick a show or a movie to watch, get some take out and just enjoy some time together in peace. Obviously, it is nice to go out too, but I prefer to save it for special occasions like birthdays or our anniversary.

Matt and me have never really had much time as just us. I got pregnant with Landon very soon after we started dating and since then our relationships main focus became our kids. Even with four kids we know our marriage comes first to the both of us. When our kids grow up (because sadly they all do) Matt and I will be just that, Matt and I. Lucky for us, we had our kids young so hopefully when our kids are older, we can take that time to travel and actually enjoy a vacation without having to worry about nap times.

I want our children to grow up with a strong example of a happy marriage.  

Hope you found this post to be a helpful!