The struggles happening to everyone right now all over the world due to the Coronavirus Pandemic is so disheartening. It seems like the toll is being taken so harshly on people emotionally or financially. To try and ease the financial burden just a little bit, along with the stress your relationships might be feeling right now, I would love to give a few lucky couples a chance to win some gift card prizes!

Seems weird to wish everyone a happy quarantine/lockdown, but these are the times we live in right now! It seems everyone is affected one way or another from the COVID-19 global pandemic. Some people are affected financially with job loss or revenue. Some people are affected with loss of loved ones or even just the loss of a social life. Some people are missing out on important milestones and celebrated events like weddings and even prom.

This post contains affiliate links to Amazon. Which means Freshly Married can make a small commission on items you buy through these links. People have been asking how I am doing since I have been absent from posting much on the Freshly Married website and social media. And to answer everyone, I am doing GREAT! Some days are anxiety-ridden and November to mid-December we’re pretty tiring ( #sleepregression ). But we have been just enjoying life altogether regardless.

I was able to go to a “Utah Date Night” event with special guest speakers John and Julie Gottman. If you’re not aware of who they are, they are celebrities in the relationships research world! Their credibility is one no one can top, in my opinion. Their resume is extensive including 40 years of research studying couples and creating interventions, exercises, and theories to help distressed couples succeed. I’ve talked about John Gottman’s theories in several articles, “The 5 to 1 ratio,” and “The Four Horsemen.

This post contains affiliate links to Amazon. Which means Freshly Married can make a small commission on items you buy through these links. Well we are pretty much all prepared for our boys to come! At least, with the material items and their room … mentally, I’m not sure yet! Haha. It feels weird that at 31 weeks we already bought everything on our registry that was left over from the generous gifts we received at our baby showers!

Every card game and board game comes with instructions or a manual so that every player can understand how to play the game. Many games have options or different sets of rules for the kind of game you want to play, based on how many players, how competitive you want it, or even desiring a more simple version. Why am I explaining something you probably already know? Because I’m about to relate it to marriage, of course!

A Little Bit of Our Story It took 2.5 years of trying to conceive (TTC) to get to this amazing point of being pregnant with identical twin boys! We feel absolutely blessed that we get two babies as a result of our hard work with the Utah Fertility Center. We did 3 timed intercourse cycles that required more and more pills and shots each time, but lead us to our first try at Intrauterine Insemination (IUI).

**This post contains affiliate links. This means, if you make a purchase through any of these links, we’ll receive a small portion of your purchase at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting the brands that support Freshly Married! Have you ever thought about creativity in your relationship? Hearing that might have some of you thinking, “Uh-oh… I’m not artsy or crafty whatsoever! How is this going to apply to me?

Everything about this pregnancy has been super exciting, not just for us but for our family and friends. I mean, it took us so much to finally get here, but we also get to experience the rare situation of twins! It’s also my in-laws’ first grandbaby so it’s ALL very exciting for them. So of course, we did a gender reveal party to share the sex of our identical twins with our family!

**This post contains affiliate links. This means, if you make a purchase through any of these links, we’ll receive a small portion of your purchase at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting the brands that support Freshly Married! The idea of sharing your hopes and dreams as individuals and as a couple is so meaningful to a relationship! There are so many positives it brings to your life because it’s a very hopeful concept.

Now that the secret is out that I’m pregnant with twins I can finally share my words of the year because it has everything to do with them. :) I say WORDS because I think it’s important to have a goal in mind for you as an individual, and then a goal in mind for your marriage. However you like to do your goals, whether by choosing a specific word to inspire you, a vision board, or simply writing down the goal in a sentence, make sure you are considering how you can strengthen your marriage.

I’ve been so focused on what items to buy for my husband that I forgot about the gift of words that I could give him. Have you ever thought to give your spouse a Christmas card? We can write notes to our spouse on random occasions, or write them a letter for your wedding anniversary, or birthday. But I don’t think many of us use the opportunity of writing them a Christmas card or letter.

This is for crafters AND non-crafters! *this blog post contains affiliate links through Amazon. I’m a huge crafter and designed these gift tags for holiday gifts to some of our neighbors! I own a Cricut machine and have basically had it out all season long doing holiday stuff! I’ve recently ventured out exploring the other design tools it has in the program and using more than just the die-cutting option. YEP IT CAN WRITE.

This post contains affiliate links to Amazon. What’s a “White Elephant” gift? It’s a silly gag gift usually for playing a White Elephant game! How does it work? There’s a pile of gifts, one per person who is playing. Everyone draws a number which decides the order they choose a gift from the pile. If you have 13 people/13 gifts, you’ll have numbers 1-13 to draw from. Starting with person #1, they will choose a gift from the pile to unwrap and reveal to everyone.

When I originally wrote this draft blog post about 4 years ago, I mentioned that our way of doing things with our finances has been very successful for us, and that we didn’t have issues between us due to finances… WELL, then we bought a house, and cars, and started investing in retirement, got fun medical bills, doing our own side businesses, etc. So our finances got a little more complex, and therefore the responsibilities of managing them got a little bit more intense.

***This article contains affiliate links so if you purchase, I make a small percentage of that. How many times do we eat dinner together at home in front of the television, without saying much to each other? We are pretty good at having conversations, but I can’t count how many times we’ve still done this. :) It’s easy to do when we just have the two of us, and we just want to escape from the tasks and stress of the day.

Every birthday, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, and wedding anniversary, I find myself googling thoughtful gift ideas that I can buy or make for my spouse. The same thing happens when I want to get a “just because” gift for him, or create a special date night for us. Add these up and we’ve got AT LEAST 5 times throughout the year searching for gift ideas. Over the past few years, I have been keeping track of some awesome finds that interest me or my spouse, and I think most spouses would love too.

Introduction It’s Military Appreciation Month in May, and on May 11th, it is Military Spouse Appreciation Day! Our military does so much for us, along with their spouses! And sometimes they don’t get the gratitude or appreciation they deserve, because we may not fully understand what they experience in their day to day life. We may not realize how differently they have to work their marriage and their family because of the long-distances and demands that are asked of them.

I don’t know any married couple that doesn’t struggle with sexual intimacy problems at SOME point in their marriage. While there are a variety of reasons why problems occur in this department, I believe there are three big areas that contribute to problems: safety, communication, and the influences around us. SAFETY In order to have a healthy sexual communication between you and your spouse, there needs to be strong feelings of safety in the marriage.

I was watching an awesome TED talk from Belgian Psychotherapist, Esther Perel about desire in committed relationships. Specifically talking about having more desire and passion for intimacy. But she mentioned some REALLY great points that completely resonated with me, and I think they will with you too. She talks about how as humans we have two fundamental human needs that conflict with each other when we are in a committed relationship.