"There are seven days in the week and someday isn't one of them"

I need to work on this. I always think that once I graduate I can finally have time for this and whatever. I realized something as I started this semester. It's my senior year, I have been in school for 17 years of my life and lately I have been so busy studying and doing homework that I really forgot what I like to do. Sad but true. I remember what I liked to do in high school and the first year of college but somewhere down the line I lost all of it. It's like I'm a homework junkie, addicted to urgency. This is not how I want to live! Plus, once I graduate, what will I really have? To be honest, I'll probably break down because I have nothing due the next day. I realized that if I want to be happy and content with my life NOW, I have to stop waiting for someday. What did I do? I joined a rec volleyball team with my husband, I got an internship with the Happy Wives Club (which is awesome!), I really tried to reduce my stress by thinking, "Is this going to matter in a month?" I am still way busy with schoolwork but I am happy and content in my life now.

This is my challenge for the week. Stop stressing and stop waiting for someday! If you want to be happy now, take the steps that will get you there. If you feel spread too thin, prioritize and ask yourself, "Will this matter in a month?" and if it won't then don't worry about it. If it is something that wont matter in a month but you still need to get it done, just get it done the best you can without beating yourself up about it.

Doing this will make a HUGE difference in your family life. I cannot emphasize this enough. It will make all the difference. Changing the atmosphere of your home by being positive effects everyone in the family. Why not try this for a week or two? You can only go up when you are positive about your life.

These are my thoughts as the Family Advocate.

My Happily Ever After

Cheesy title, I know. But seriously, I love my husband! I really am blessed to have him as my teammate for eternity! He is so forgiving, so funny, lovable, kind, incredible, and dedicated. I know we were meant for each other. On our very first date we saw 3 shooting stars and made a wish on each one. All of my wishes came true! All my wishes and much more. It's important to remember the beginnings in a relationship. It's so revealing about the future if you are willing to pay attention. I guess I needed things to be blatantly obvious with shooting stars to know that the man sitting next to me was a winner. I already knew he was but the stars were a great bonus!

My husband is my hero. He really is. He is the reason I get up in the morning. Seriously, I would sleep until noon if he didn't pull the covers off me every morning. He is so patient with me.  It really is wonderful to have someone who knows what you look like, let alone act like in the mornings, and still loves you. And I know he loves me! He makes sure that "I love you" is the last thing he says to me whenever he leaves. I really got my fairy tale.

"Keep Choosing happiness and happiness will keep choosing you." ~Fawn Weaver

Now go out and create your own fairy tale! Don't forget to share your story with others. You don't know what kind of day they are having and a good love story always saves the day.

Oh, and my husband is a very talented artist!

Valentine's Day Ideas!

I love Valentine's Day! To all those haters- get over yourself. I love Valentine's day because everyone has someone to love! They don't have to be your significant other. They could be parents, grandparents, friends, children, whoever you love! Valentine's day is made great by you going out of your way to tell your loved ones that you love them! This week's blog post is going to give ideas of how you can brighten someone's day and I encourage you to spread the love around!

Valentine's for family:

• Make a card (or buy one) and write a gratitude letter and send it off to them or go to them and read it to them.
• Candy! Who doesn't love candy? Maybe Paleo people so you should give them a steak. 
• Make all the meals themed! Heart shaped pizza, heart shaped pancakes, heart shaped sandwiches, anything heart shaped. Fruit punch, strawberry roses, bacon hearts, the ideas are endless! 
• Make cards together
• Make a Valentine's mailbox for every member of the family. I remember my aunt and I making one for me in elementary school and it was the coolest ever! It was covered in red tissue paper, had cupids and hearts glued all over it, and there were two slots in the top one slot for boys and one for girls. I loved it and kept it way longer than I should have.
• Make treats together!
• Decorate the house together, make it a group activity!
• Create a "fun jar" filled with fun things to do until Valentine's day. Go sledding, build a snowman, make cookies, decorate, play games, rent a movie, whatever your family likes to do.
• Deliver treats to other families!

Valentine's for crushes, boyfriends, girlfriends, bffs, soon-to-be significant person, etc.

• Remember those fold over Valentine's from elementary school? Buy a box! They have cool ones at the dollar store. I still have Indiana Jones ones I can't get rid of. Anyways, tape candy on that and hand them out! 
• Conversation hearts! I LOVE them! Play a game where you can only say what you pull out of the candy box.
• Along with the fold over cards, if that's too lame, tape them together to form a heart. 
• Have a romantic movie night. Some good ideas are Hitch, Penelope, 50 First Dates, The Princess Bride, Casablanca, Ever After, Enchanted. You get the picture.
• Make it a fun day with no pressure.

Valentine's for Spouses:

• Breakfast in bed
• Paper heart fortune cookies
• Homemade scratch ticket
• Love notes!
• Go on a date- get a Valentine's day hater to babysit.
• Surprises throughout the day- a note in the lunch box, cookies after work, flowers, snowball to the back, whatever you know you're spouse will like. (I'm not completely serious about the snowball.)
• Dress up from a different era and plan a date according to the era. 

Valentine's for Strangers:

I include this one because I believe that Valentine's day is made great when you get over yourself and you help others to have a great day- even if you don't know them.

• Write an anonymous compliment letter
• Start up a conversation with someone who looks lonely
• Smile! Don't stop smiling the whole day!
• Give out folder over Valentine's cards 
• Buy extra candy to share

All in all, you are you and you are unique, you know what you like. These are just some of my suggestions. Make this Valentine's day one to remember. One where you brightened up other's days. Take time to show and spread the love! If you need more ideas you can follow this link to my Pinterest Valentine's day board.
http://www.pinterest.com/yeildtostop/valentines-day/ What are some of your Valentine's traditions? Feel free to leave your comment below.

Happy Valentine's Day!

These are the thoughts of the family advocate

Marriage: The best gift ever

Marriage is such a wonderful gift. You get to be in love with your best friend, you get to live with the one you love, you get to have inside jokes, make traditions together, and have a teammate through all the struggles of life. I heard once that marriage is God's gift to you and the quality of your marriage is your gift to God. The quality of your marriage is something that needs to be cared for, it's not something that just happens like in the books and movies. It takes hard work, forgiveness, and courage. It takes selflessness and a great deal of faith. Just like anything else that takes hard work, it's so worth it! Marriage is meant to last forever which means that it might be difficult to see the worth of the constant hard work. May I suggest that we stop looking to tomorrow when things will be better. Make looking to see the worth of your marriage a daily ritual. Thank your spouse daily for the little things they do. We all know that it's really the small things that matter most anyways.

The title of this post is my challenge for this week. Make your marriage the best gift ever! This really takes a conscious effort. Here are a few suggestions, these are general because every couple is different and you know what your spouse needs.

1) Forgive. Forget that list of wrongs you have stashed away somewhere in your brain. Forgive the human mistakes your spouse makes. Along with this goes your expectations. I think it's more fun to not have any expectations and instead be pleasantly surprised. Get rid of those unrealistic expectations!

2) Serve. I believe in magic and here is my reasoning- when you forget about your needs and wants and instead look outward and try your best to help others, somehow, someway, your needs are met. If you don't believe me try it!

3) Look for the good and lookover the bad. When you dwell on the negative everything seems to go wrong. That shouldn't be a surprising concept. Let's turn that around, look for the positive. Fawn Weaver, author of the NYT best seller, "Happy Wives Club" said, "Keep choosing happiness and happiness will keep choosing you." I think that this is worth trying.

I know this is a small list but the way I see it is that everyone is different with different ways of making their marriage a gift. If you have other suggestions for making marriage the best gift ever, please feel free to comment and leave your suggestions!

These are the thoughts of the family advocate.

Happily Married

This post is part of the Happy Wives Club Blog Tour which I am delighted to be a part of along with hundreds of inspiring bloggers. To learn more and join us, CLICK HERE!

I love the Happy Wives Club and I love marriages! Marriage is essential to God's plan of happiness. Think about that: God wants us to be happy so he gave us marriage! I have been married for 5 months now. Yes, I am just starting out. But I already have felt the joys of being married. I want to give four short examples:

1. I always have a friend wherever I go. This may seem insignificant but I can be quiet and shy especially in new places so having an automatic friend is so comforting!

2. I have someone to pick me up when I fall. (Don't laugh) Today I failed a test and I was so sad and mad until my husband just held me. It was so simple and sweet but it worked for me!

3. I have someone to have fun with in our own special way! For a while at every meal time my husband and I played Yahtzee together. We have our own inside jokes and we know how to make the other laugh.

4. I have the best teammate to go through this crazy game of life with. My husband and I made a deal that even if the world broke out in a zombie apocalypse, we would stay strong together.

As you can see, I LOVE MY HUSBAND!!! And he deserves all of my love. My husband is perfect for me and we are oh so happy!

Strong, happy marriages do exist and I am more than willing to add my name to the list of happy wives!

What about you? Help us change the world one happy marriage at a time!

As one of the book club coordinators for Fawn, I can honestly say that her book is worth reading! You can grab a copy HERE.

Fight For the Good of This World

I don't know about you but my facebook has been filled with the scary things of this world, as if people have resigned themselves to "this is how it is now." The world is not all bad. Sure it has it's rough points but the world will only get worse if you let it. I know this quote is cheesy but it doesn't make it less true. Let's fight for the good of this world! We need it. Our family and friends need it. And if we don't do something now, what kind of a world will our children and grandchildren live in? Fight back.