Marriage in The Later Years.

Getting married is always so new and exciting. At first.

Over time it gets routine and that isn't necessarily bad. 

You and your spouse learn what works and what doesn't.

You learn to make each other happy and work together so that you grow together.

Not grow apart. 

There's things you do that nobody sees like you make his lunch everyday, and he washes the dishes when you had a long day and those little things help make your marriage last.

When you read and study the scriptures, go to church, pay your full tithing even when it's hard, and pray together you are not only strengthening your relationship but your relationship with the Lord as well. 

Finding wholesome activities to do together even after you have been married for quite a while makes all the difference in your relationship.

Showing each other you love each other is STILL IMPORTANT. 

"Depend on the Lord and Serve one another."

Good luck.

The Eternal Family.

The plan of salvation is one of the main beliefs of our religion. It makes us different. A lot of things do but this is one of the big ones. We believe that when a couple or a family is sealed in the temple if they follow the commandments they can be together forever. Personally this is one of my favorite parts of church. I love that the church focus so much energy on the family. I love my family and to not know that I was going to see them again someday and having to wonder if I would see them after they died or not would be so hard. Heart breaking really. I love that if we do whats right we have the opportunity to be together forever. I am SO THANKFUL to know what I do about the family. I love that God has a plan for us, his children, and he loves us enough to let us be with our families forever. From this chapter in the book I learned that the creation, the fall, and the atonement all happened so that one day we could live with our Heavenly Father again and that we could be with our families again as well.

"God and His plan are eternal. He instituted marriage and family in the beginning."

He put us here for a reason. He put us on earth so we could have family and make it an eternal family so that one day we could return as a family to Him. I know that He loves us because of the plan of salvation. It is our job to do our best to keep the commandments and strive to return to Him again.

Good Luck.

The Proclamation.

The Family a Proclamation to The World.  This is fairly simple to explain I think. We have been so blessed to have such wonderful church leaders. They have highlighted the important lesson and ideas we believe in in this document. The proclamation obviously has a focus on the family. The family and individuals can use this document as a reference. Any questions or doubts we have we can consult this document for answers. I have had many of my friends ask me what our churches opinion is on gay marriage. Others have asked me why Mormons have so many kids. I use the proclamation as a reference when I get asked these and most of the time it makes it much easier to explain and way easier for my friends that are not members to understand.  I think when we reference the proclamation and live by it daily that we are being a good example of our beliefs.

Good luck.

Wholesome Family Recreation: Building Strong Families.

When I was younger my parents would always tell us to be nice to each other because when we would grow up "our best friends would be our brothers and sisters", and when we were 5 and 6 it was cool to be  friends and then well then... we grew up. It wasn't as cool anymore we all had things we wanted to do different people we wanted to be with. Dinner time as a family was enough for us. My parents had a different idea of family time though they would make us have family home evenings and they would make us spend every other saturday day together. AS A FAMILY. Sometimes we could invite a friend but usually we didn't. I really didn't ever enjoy them growing up... in my opinion I had sooo many other (better) things I could have been doing. However now that I am going to school and I am 11 hours away from my family I miss it. I really miss spending time just hanging out at home with them and cooking with them or even hiking and I hate hiking. :) I think even though I didn't enjoy family time then I am so glad we had it now!

Whole Family Recreation Ideas:

1. Go on a hike.
2. Play in the snow.
3. Eat together.
4. Pray together.
5. Read scriptures together.
6. Learn a new skill.
7. Have a cooking contest.
8. Have a talent show
9. Do family home evenings.
10. Do a project for your home together.

Good Luck. :) 

Faith in family life.

Faith is things which are hoped for and not seen. (Ether 12:6)

Having faith in your family life... that seems easy enough. Sure it does.. during the good times that is.  Being a good example all the time can be tough. Going to church when your tired. Being nice when your not happy.  Being an example of faith to your children can at times be hard. But you can do it. Teaching your children to have a testimony is a good start but when you show them through your actions that you have a testimony of your own thats when faith builds. When you have children i believe its almost like being the oldest sibling... they all watch you. They watch to see what you do, what reaction you have, who you interact with, what you say, how you act, how you treat people. They literally evaluate everything that you do. TImes 1o!! I believe that since this is almost always the case they learn from your and become in a way a similar person. They carry similar traits. 

You have to live a life of faith. You have to show your children what you believe and how it makes your life better. bY READING THE SCRIPTURES AND PRAYING TOGETHER AS A FAMILY YOU ARE SHOWING FAITH IN YOUR RELIGION IN SIMPLE DAILY ACTS THAT OVER TIME WILL IMPACT YOUR CHILDREN AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THEIR LIVES.

Good Luck.