Renewing our wedding vows

Renewing wedding vows on an "off" year. It is always a subject that brings up questions. For our 12th wedding anniversary we renewed our wedding vows with a big party and ceremony in our back yard. It is so important to work on your marriage and to show Christ's love to your spouse. The 11th year of our marriage was a really hard year. Close family and friends know all that went on but the important thing is that we drew so much closer together and focused on working through issues and came out on the other side much stronger.

It was a beautiful ceremony that our pastor performed for us. We decided to do both the traditional vows and then we also wrote vows to each other. it was such a special moment that we both needed. I would encourage anyone who wants to reaffirm their vows to go for it!

I worked for a long time trying to come up with cheap ways to make the whole event feel like a backyard wedding and be classy yet fun and laid back. Due to the help of wonderful family and friends it came together beautifully!

Doesn't she look so cute! And I even saved the dress that Savanna wore in our original wedding and that's what Natalia wore. It was really neat to have her wear it. I am hoping some day one of the kids might use it in their wedding for their flower girl.

 I really love this picture of us. It's right after I came outside and Steve saw me all dressed up. His look of awe was perfect! And the fact that my sister caught a picture of us kissing was the best timing.

 It was hard to pin the boys down to get a picture of them and it's one of the things I wish we would have done but this is what us girls looked like all dressed up. My mother-in-love was so sweet and took us to a resale shop and that's where we found the dresses.

 We discussed how to deal with Hayden's one year wiggles and the solution was to let him wonder. We assigned a friend to watch him if he wandered to far but instead it was cute how he went back in forth. He loves being in his daddy's arms so you see him there a lot too.

 My sister-in-love was so sweet and came over and did my hair. I love it!

 Unfortunately we didn't get a picture of the cake in it's full glory but I used a cupcake stand and made cupcakes for the bottom layers and then this small cake for the top. The sad part is the cake fell before we got the picture. Still you can see how nice it looked.

I wish I knew how to flip this picture but this is what we made as a table decoration. The blue mason jars were in a friends basement. We simply printed labels off, added ribbons, rice, little jewels, and a tea light candle. 

I also like that someday when the kids get older we have experience pulling off a cheap but gorgeous backyard wedding. 

Date Night

I know many couples struggle with what to do to spend time with each other. And I've spoken of this before. Yet I wanted to mention how well this can work without spending any money. Friday Steve had training, which meant he was able to be home in the evening. We knew we needed some alone time together but weren't sure what to do. So we checked Netflix and found a good movie to watch.

(This is my plug for netflix too. I LOVE netflix!!! The little kids like to watch Veggie Tales and right now there are several of those movies available. And for us older ones who like to watch movies there is a wide variety too.)

 The next hurdle was what to do to keep the kids occupied so we set them up with a movie too. Some people may not agree with it but we have a tv in our bedroom for helping us have a separate haven if we need it. Next you need the idea in your head of a "date". If your attitude says "I'm just at home, this isn't a date" then you won't enjoy it. Instead you have to get in the right frame of mind. I put on makeup, did my hair, and put on a cute outfit for my husband. He set us up with popcorn and pop.

So I guess the next question you might have is: was it a fun date? Absolutely! We had a blast. We got to sit and talk.  ( Almost completely uninterrupted.  Natalia still is learning about Mommy and Daddy time. Smile.) And we got to make each other feel special.

The importance of putting your marriage first

I have been told that your marriage should be something that you spend money on, but until that last month or two, I was more focused on paying off debt then I was on putting money into my marriage. I thought that date nights were something that was too "expensive". However Steve showed me that we were both feeling quite down and that marriage is something that should be cared for. So for the past month or so we have been focusing on date nights when we can and now we are planning for our first overnight getaway in three years to amish country. I cannot begin to describe what a difference this has made in our attitudes. We are both so much happier. I have heard from so many couples that say that a marriage should come first. And we've worked hard to make it so that the date nights haven't cost us much money at all. Even the weeknight away we are doing very cheaply. What we've done to help:
* Swagbucks: We've used our swagbucks to purchase resturant.com giftcards to go out to eat.
* Appitizers at a local diner. When you only purchase appitizers and pop it's pretty cheap. We've been able to do $15-20 including a generous tip.
* Go window shopping together. (Hand holding is required :)
* For the getaway we are using a giftcard I was given for a birthday present, we are packing drinks, snacks, breakfast, and a nice dinner in our cooler. Lunch is typically cheaper and so we will be doing lunch out. The place we are going to provides dishes, a grill, a refrigerator, and a microwave so we can do some basic cooking if everything else is prepared already.

I would encourage all married couples to think of your marriage and put time into it. It doesn't have to be expensive, just think outside the box. We've decided that the night away will now become a yearly thing. It is that important to us.