Marriage Preservation II

In some of my earliest posts I have articles, quotes, and ideas about keeping our marriages happy and alive, but now I want to talk about keeping the concept of marriage alive. Marriage between a man and a woman is hard enough without the "world" trying to redefine and eliminate marriage....but that is exactly what is happening now.

California is a state that always sets the trend, and now there is a fight being waged for the sanctity of marriage and the family, against those who desire to make the world amoral. Those against the marriage amendment say that we who are for it are bigots, homophobes, and hate mongers, and that they only want what is fair. California already has a law in their constitution that gives domestic partners all the rights and priviledges as married couples...so what's the problem (see vote yes link)? The problem is that those people will never be happy unless they have a society where all religious values, beliefs, and traditions are eradicated. What will happen if the marriage amendment is not passed? Children will be taught about homosexual lifestyle at kindergarten age on up, and must be in attendance...no choice! Churches cannot preach from the Bible that homosexuality is a sin for it will be considered an unlawful act and they'll lose their tax free status. For those churches with adoption agencies, if they will not adopt to a homosexual couple then they will have to close their doors. The same consequences will occur to churches that will not perform marriages to homosexual couples....their doors will close....all churches, including temples. This is obviously not an issue of fairness....homosexual men and women can find a lot of people out there now who will perform marriages, or adopt children to them. The homosexual agenda is to completely destroy all churches and institutions that do not conform to their way of thinking!

Click on the "Preserve Marriage: Yes on 8" link if you want more information about this issue which not only concerns California, but all of society. Spread the word!!!

Frugal Dating Ideas

Before I continue with more words from the prophets about the blessings that come from being an at-home-mom, I thought I would have a fun spot where we can share ideas for keeping our marriages healthy and alive.



“If our homes are to be seedbeds of faith, a prerequisite condition to increasing faith is to have love and harmony in the home. Husbands and wives must love and cherish one another. Selfish attitudes must be overcome. Faults must be overlooked. Contention must cease. Husbands and wives must be true and loyal to each other and the sacred covenant of marriage. Expressions of love must be tendered one another. ...Yes, love at home is a prerequisite condition to increasing your faith.”2
– Ezra Taft Benson


“Live joyfully with thy wife (husband) whom thou lovest...”
– Eccl. 9:9

DATE NIGHT IDEAS
To improve a marriage or make a good marriage great, plan to have a weekly date night. In my opinion, date night is essential in keeping the communication, romance and fun in your marriage.
An idea I once heard suggests that you and your husband (wife) should sit down and each write twenty six ideas of date night activities that you each would really enjoy on individual slips of paper. Fold up each suggestion and place them in a jar. (Decorate the jar and make it a special part of your home.) Each week draw a slip of paper from the jar and do that activity for your date night. There will be enough ideas for an entire year of date nights. Try and be flexible. Some weeks there will be a special concert, play or movie that will be around for a limited engagement only. Date nights don’t have to be expensive either! Occasionally, a special (maybe even extravagant) night out is in order, such as an anniversary, but for the most part, date nights are for improving relationships and remembering why you married your spouse in the first place. The following date night ideas cost as little as $5.00 or less.
*Games
*Outdoors Scrabble- find an unusual place to play scrabble, such as, in the mountains, park, lake, by a river or the beach, creating words from your
surroundings only. (You may need to increase the number of tiles used.)
*Game Night- invite some other couples to come over for games and have them
bring favourite snack food to share.
*Recreational Activities
*Bike Ride Coin Toss- Heads right, tails left at every intersection.

*Frisby Golf- find some of your old tomato baskets and space each at varying
distances. Keep track of how many throws it takes to get your frisby in the baskets. The lowest score wins and buys treats.
*Trampoline War- buy two cans of “silly string” and try to hit each other with it
while jumping on the trampoline together.
*Sports
*Tennis- try using a beach ball or a child’s rubber ball.
*Uno Bowling- use Uno cards and draw a card before each turn. Assign an
interesting bowling stunt to each color, such as, crow for red, bark for yellow, clap for blue, etc...and do as many as number on card indicates. Skip to the bowling line when you draw a skip card, bowl backwards when you draw a reverse card. Of course, you know what to do with those wild cards!
*Night Golf- use glow in the dark balls.
*Nature Ideas
*Compass Hike- takes a little advance preparation. Find a romantic spot and set up a table with picnic basket meal. Plan out coordinates. Bring wife to starting place and let her try to find the directions. No helping unless you are in danger of being hopelessly lost.
*Nature Walk- enjoy nature and keep track of who sees the most unusual things.

*Go Fishing- and eat what you catch for your date.
*Feed the Ducks at the Park.
*Go Bird Watching.
*Winter Snow Fights- build opposing forts and a stock of snowballs then declare war!
*Eat Dessert by a campfire.
*Environmental Date- clean trash off of a messy road. Recycle it and buy an ice
cream cone to share (or two cones if it was a really messy road).
*Star Gazing- study up on constellations and then find someplace where you can lay out a blanket and watch the stars. August is an especially good time of year for this because there are usually meteor showers.
*Planetarium- Colleges and Universities will have special showings and do not
usually charge as much as large commercial planetariums.
*Dinners
*Campfire dinner- roast hot dogs or create tin foil dinners. Enjoy while eating
to the light of the fire.
*Picnic in an Unusual Place- a cave (make sure there are no creatures in it
first), a mall, a scenic overlook, etc...
*Kidnap Dinner- Set up a tent in your back yard or a nearby campground and
prepare a table with candlelight and dinner in basket. When your spouse gets home, blindfold them and drive for a few minutes taking all kinds of sharp turns and bumpy roads. Guide them into the tent and close flap. Have them try to guess where you are. You may even want to make arrangements to have someone stay with the kids overnight and have an overnighter in the tent.
*Foreign Country Night- prepare foods from the country of your choice and
decorate the room with items from that area.
*Winter Picnic- dress for the occasion. Build a fire and cook tin foil dinners over it. Make some hot cocoa.
*Candlelight Dinner in Bedroom- always fun!
*Pickup Picnic- drive someplace different and set up a table and chairs in the back of your pickup. Dinner can be prepared ahead of time or cooked there if there’s a spot available. Remember to bring the candles!
*Ramen Noodle Cuisine- Create the most exotic Ramen noodle dish you can while only spending a dollar!
*Mini Dinner- everything is in miniature! Roast Cornish game hens for the main course. Use “Little Smokies” and create a mini kabob by alternating them with pineapple tidbits and cheese squares on toothpicks. Use mini carrots and a dip in a tiny container. Roast a miniature marshmallow on a toothpick over a
birthday candle and place them on a “Teddy Graham”cookie with a chocolate chip for miniature s’mores.
*Intellectual Dates(Well, almost!)
*Museums or Art Exhibits- critique the exhibits and give your professional estimate of the value of each object.
*Write Poetry- take turns writing a line of poetry and see what you come up with.

*Improve Communication Skills- by not saying anything all night. Try using just body language.
*Go to Library- look up the newspaper archives and find out what took place on your anniversary, birthdays or some other special occasion.
*Romantic Reading- build a fire (in the fireplace or a campfire), snuggle up
together and read....a joke book.
*Spiritual Dates
*Go to the temple.

*Go to the family history center and do some genealogy.
*Give service to someone in need.
*Ding Dong Ditch- secretly take a basket of treats to someone to let them know they are loved and appreciated. Place it on the doorstep, ring the bell and run. Make sure you wear dark clothes for this date.
*Hobbies
*Tie a Quilt Together.
*Fly Kites Together.
*Collect Rocks- when you do or go someplace special together take a nice rock
home with you. Eventually you’ll have a landscaped yard of rocks and each one will have special meaning to you.
*Art- use sidewalk chalk and create your own masterpieces.
*Dancing- take a social dance class from the local college or community education.

These are just a few ideas that I've collected through the years. My daughter Emily has come up up a huge list of her own which she puts on little slips of paper, places in nicely decorated jars, and gives as wedding gifts. A wonderful idea! She also puts a great quote on the front of the jar that encourages dating after marriage. Hey, Emily, if you see this will you post some of your ideas on the comments? Could we have that quote too? If anyone has clever date night ideas that are economical too, please comment.