1. Establish a budget
I learned that instead of having my money and his money we now have our money. We combine our pay checks to pay our bills and we've been using the envelope system for budgeting everything else. We have an envelope for groceries, one for entertainment, another for eating out. If we decide we need to start saving for something we make an envelope for it. We've found that not having the money in our bank accounts so readily available makes it a lot harder to spend it and a lot easier to save. This system may not work for everyone, but it works well for us.
2. Make Date Night a Priority
I cannot emphasize enough the importance of still making time to be together. With our work schedules sometimes we have to be kind of creative. He works graveyards and I work days and swing. But we try to make at least one night a week a time when we can be together just the two of us doing something we love. Sometimes we go out to dinner, other times we go to the park and play tennis, and when we're feeling crazy we go to an arcade. We aren't perfect, we have weeks where we don't get to have a date night, but we always look forward to when we do.
3. Everyone Makes Mistakes
I'm not perfect. Neither is my husband. Sometimes I don't do the laundry and he doesn't have clean socks to wear to work. Sometimes he forgets to clean the litter box. It's okay, we learn to look past the imperfections we have and focus on what the other is doing. My husband is really good at understanding sometimes when I get home from work I just don't want to do the dishes, and that's ok. Sometimes sleeping a little extra is better for my husband than getting things done before he goes to work, and that's ok. We learned to understand eachother and not have a fit when things don't get done. It's ok, the housework will still be there tomorrow.
4. Intimacy is More Than Just Sex
Finding time to talk and be close to your spouse is also important. Being vulnerable with eachother and doing little things to show each other how much you care can be very intimate. Kissing, hugging, holding hands in the car, or snuggling during movies are all things that can be done to stay intimate between sexual interactions.
5. Babies are Talked About. A Lot.
I came into this marriage thinking I would wait 4 or 5 years before I started having kids. Two months later we started talking about having kids a little sooner than that. And the next month I stopped taking birth control. Now we're constantly talking about things we're going to do with our kids, and baby names, and what our kids might want to be involved in. And we're both getting really excited for when I actually get pregnant and we can have kids of our own.
6. It's ok to Take a Compliment
My husband compliments me. A lot. I used to think he was just being silly or saying things because he felt like he had to, since he did marry me after all. But now I've learned to recognize the sincerity in his eyes and I am realizing that while I don't see it in my self, my husband truly believes that I am beautiful.
7. Have Eachothers Best Interest at Heart
I want the best for my husband and he wants the best for me. And sometimes your spouse may see things that you can't see. Being willing to listen to eachother and to try things that we think would be good for the other has proven beneficial.
8. Stay Close to Our Father In Heaven
We have made prayer a very important part of our marriage and our decision making process. We literally pray about everything. Because of prayer and the feelings we have received afterward we have been lead to buy a house, started trying to have children, and have been able to help people we have come across. Whenever we are questioning something or have a disagreement, we try and pray and try to recognize what our Heavenly Father wants us to do. We pray for eachother when we're going through tough times or when we have job interviews or tests coming up. Have you ever gone wrong by saying a simple prayer? Probably not.
9. Be Adventurous
Go on little trips together. As often as you can. In our first year together we took little road trips to Ephraim and Duchesne to visit his grandparents. We've been to Bear Lake a couple times. And most recently we went on a roadtrip through Washington and Oregon. And with each little trip we go on, when we're away from the distractions of everyday life, we get so much closer together.
10. Be Supportive
Especially in eachother hobbies. My husband has put up with my sewing and scrapbooking hobbies and has encouraged me to develop more. Together we play tennis, we bought long boards and learned how to ride those, and for awhile our hobby was Pokemon Go. And in return I try and support his hobbies. He likes to fix up and make additions to his truck. He also wants to have a YouTube channel and he is very good with music. Supporting eachother is so important to happiness in your marriage.
11. We Can Make Our Own Decisions
As much as we love hearing advice from friends and family members we have discovered that it is crucial that we make our own decisions. We sometimes need to push aside the advice and opinions of others in order to ask ourselves what would be best for our little family at this point in time. And sometimes that decision contradicts what others may think, and that's ok.
12. We Can Accomplish so Much
This team you've newly developed is capable of so much more than you sometimes think. In our first year we've accomplished a lot. We bought a new car for me, and traded in my husband's sports car for a truck. We've bought a house and moved to Ogden. We remodeled parts of our new house. When we look back to where we were at the start of our marriage as opposed to where we are now, it's so amazing to see how far we've come in life!
So there's a handful of things I've learned in my first year of mmarriage. It's been hectic and rough at times, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. My husband is still my best friend and still the best thing that has ever happened to me. And everyday I'm so grateful we have eachother.
What have you learned in your crazy first year?
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