Workin' It Wednesday: Love and Marriage!

I'm linking up with Shay and Erika for their Workin' It Wednesday.

Today's topic is about marriage.

I wanted to share a little bit about our relationship history
and a little bit about what we do to stay connected.

Ben and I went on our first date on February 9, 2008.
This is us on our date :)

 

September 19, 2008 we got engaged!
This is a few weeks later at an engagement party

May 9, 2009- we got married!!


Since we got married in 2009 we have had our share of adventures (good and bad)! 
We purchased a house in 2011.
We had two sweet, wonderful, beautiful girls (2012 and 2014).
We have changed jobs, had car accidents, and surgeries.
We have traveled all over the country,
going everywhere from Key West, Florida to Denver, Colorado.
We have had relatives die, seen friends and siblings have babies, and watched friends and family move to new places.

Life is full of ups and downs, and I wouldn't want to be doing life with anyone else.

So... what do we do to keep our marriage strong?

1. We are both Christians and our relationship is based on our shared Christian values.
Now I am not saying we are perfect Christians (because those don't exist).
But, we do try to set good examples for our girls; we attend Church as a family, Ben and I both volunteer at Church, and we spend time as a family taking about Jesus.
We set values together for our family based on our Christian beliefs.

2. We do stuff together.  We go to wineries, play golf, travel, play cards, etc.  We spend time together just the two of us AND we spend time together with our girls.

We enjoy packing a picnic and doing a wine tasting when it's warm outside, luckily the wineries in Northern Virginia are very family friendly and have games for kids and lots of outdoor space to run around.

We don't play golf as much as we would like too, but we do enjoy playing together. :)

Travel!  I have a life-time built-in travel partner.  I love to travel and having my best friend with me is the best thing in the world!

And we will do date nights in and play cards and have cocktails or watch a movie and pop popcorn.

3. We go on date nights. One of my new years resolutions is to go on one date night a month.

We went on two in January and I am hoping we can squeeze one in for February (it's a busy month for us). 

4. We do stuff separately.  

We both enjoy time with our friends, so we make time for a girls night out or a guy's camping trip.

It gives us a chance to recharge and keep up with friends.

5. We talk.  About everything.
I think this one is so important (save the best for last?)
We were long-distance until we got married, so we talked and talked and talked (on the phone, video chat, AIM, etc.)
We got into a great habit of talking about our days and everything that was going on that it carried over into our marriage.
We talk throughout the day while Ben is working AND then we spend 20-30 minutes talking when Ben gets home from work.  I love this time with Ben!  I tell him about the girls and me, he shares about his commute, his day, articles he's read, etc.

Love my guy!!


So those are a few things that come to mind.

Happy Wednesday y'all!