Marriage Exhaustion

When you are giving your all to your marriage, it’s natural to become exhausted. And when both of you are giving your all, then you might both experience this exhaustion at the same time. Sometimes it just takes too much energy to keep being positive and keep being supportive and keep being there for that special person in your life. You know what – that’s okay. Every good thing in your life will sap your energy, and we need to take breaks to recharge. This isn’t to say that we take breaks from the marriage – good gracious, no. Some … Continue reading

Life Imitating Art: My Marriage and Friday Night Lights

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about how I could relate to an ordeal that Tami Taylor, a character on NBC’s Friday Night Lights, was going through. She and her husband were having a commuter marriage because he had accepted a coaching job in another town. Still in Texas but about two hours away from their home. She stayed behind so that her daughter could stay at her high school with her friends and so that Tami could keep her job. Being apart while a spouse is working elsewhere was something I could definitely relate to. Except in my … Continue reading

Sex Drive After Marriage

Many men believe the misconception that after the honeymoon all love making is over. They believe that a woman’s sex drive plunges after a couple of years of marriage. The plunge, I believe, has nothing to do with the marriage license. Before marriage, women have fewer responsibilities. They take care of themselves and have no other bodies that need to be cleaned-up or fed. After a few years of marriage, babies begin to come into the picture. Women then have an added responsibility, added emotional stress, and fewer hours of sleep. Their bodies change in ways they had never imagined … Continue reading

The Passionate Era of Early Marriage

I was talking to a young woman yesterday who is getting married in June. She is excited about the wedding and bubbled over with the details of the wedding ceremony, her fiancé and more. Despite my own exhaustion, I couldn’t help but smile at her enthusiasm and her passion. It reminded me of when my husband and I were in the early stages of planning our wedding – the enthusiasm, the excitement and even the titillation of planning a life together and I started thinking of everything they have to look forward to. It’s Good to Remember It’s good for … Continue reading

The Marriage Week in Review December 2-8

Good morning and welcome to our second week in review for the twelfth month of the year. Today is December 9th and we have just fifteen shopping days left until Christmas. It was a very eventful week for me since I wrote the last week in review as I detailed in several entries over the last week and for all of the kind thoughts and well wishes sent my way – thank you. So without further ado, let’s get into our week in review: Saturday, December 2 Is this your First Christmas as a Couple? Here’s an Idea! Sherry discusses … Continue reading

Marriage Fitness: 10 Ways to Greater Intimacy In Your Marriage

Friday is a good day for lists and it’s a good day to talk about building the intimacy between you and your spouse. Theoretically, every relationship has levels of intimacy. The intimacy you share with friends is going to be less than the intimacy you share with really good friends and different from the intimacy you have with your family and finally your spouse. Each relationship is different and the levels of trust, confidence and communication are all different. Creating a greater sense of intimacy between you and your spouse opens channels of communication and helps to heal injuries before … Continue reading

Making the Most Out of What You’ve Got

I was in a car accident on December 2nd, and I’m probably going to be under my doctor’s care for quite a while. Yesterday we started physical therapy. I’m grateful to be getting the care I need, but it’s taking so much time away from my family, and in particular, my husband. I see my kids during the day because we homeschool, but my husband is at work all day, and I’m starting to wonder if I’m even still married. I think I am, but sometimes, it is a question. He comes home and I’m gone, and then when I … Continue reading

Picture Perfect

The other day in church, a woman came up to me and told me that she loved sitting behind my little family. “Really?”, I thought. What I wanted to say was, “It doesn’t distract you to have my kids crying, thrashing around, wrestling with each other, making their toys talk to each other as loud as possible, and having to get up with them 5 times in the middle of the meeting?” She was trying to give me a compliment, so I took it. She said that we looked like such a “normal mormon family” and that my husband and … Continue reading

Put Those Grounds To Good Use!

Has your relationship with coffee changed since becoming a mother? Mine sure has. I grew up in Seattle, and inevitably have had a lifelong love affair with Starbucks. I couldn’t imagine anything more refreshing on a warm summer afternoon then an Iced Vanilla Latte. Nothing warmed me up better during rainy fall afternoons than a Pumpkin Spice Latte. After I got married and the reality of paying bills set in, paying $3-$5 for a cup of coffee was no longer a reality. I soon began brewing my own Starbucks coffee at home. The love affair continued. Then, I got pregnant, … Continue reading

The Best Time of Day

Are you a morning person or a night owl? Throughout my school years, I was a morning person. I arranged my college schedule to have class in the mornings and afternoons free. I’d still rather do the bulk of my thinking in the early part of the day and leave the after-lunch hours for less brain-intensive activities. Brain power can actually wax and wane as the day progresses! Researchers have looked at the “best” times of day for different activities, based on brain chemistry. Early mornings (like the first few hours after you wake up) are the best time for … Continue reading