Laura's Strengthening Marriage Blog

2/23/11 UPDATE — All Couples Photos for the annual Anniversary Inn giveaway have been posted on the Couples Photos Page. Congratulations to Chris and Shelby for winning the random drawing. We had over 100 entries this year! Thank you to everyone for sharing your fabulous photos!

————————————————————————————————-

We’re excited to announce our annual Valentine’s Giveaway to the romantic Anniversary Inn. Just send us your favorite photo of you and your spouse for a chance to win a FREE one-night getaway to the delicious Anniversary Inn of your choice, in the suite of your choice! (Valued up to $289!)

Contest Details

To enter the drawing, send us your favorite husband/wife photo by Tuesday, February 15th, 2011. Even if you’ve sent us a photo before we’d love to see your new favorite photos. All new entrants will be added into this drawing.

All photos will be posted on our Couples Photos page. So, send us your uncropped, 300 dpi/high res photo with your first and last names, and how many years you’ve been married. You can see all the fabulous couples photos we’ve previously received here. Continue reading “Valentine’s Giveaway to the Anniversary Inn with Your Couple Photo” »

50 Reasons to Make Love

1. To relieve stress.
2. To improve emotional intimacy.
3. To boost your immune system.
4. To burn calories.
5. To improve heart health.
6. To build self esteem.
7. To decrease pain.
8. To improve sleep.
9. To help reduce prostate cancer risk.
10. To strengthen pelvic floor muscles.
11. To increase blood flow in the body.
12. To reduce cravings and fatigue.
13. To connect emotionally, physically and spiritually as husband and wife.
14. To fight aging.
15. To awaken your sexual senses.
16. To say, “I love you” in your spouse’s love language.
17. To experience pure pleasure.
18. To just have fun together, and be more playful.
19. To fulfill each other’s universal need for touch.
20. To reduce vulnerability to temptation. Continue reading “50 Reasons to Make Love” »

Christmas is only getting closer…still wondering what to get your hubby?

RomanticMarriages.com offers a fabulous, all-inclusive “Merry Christmas Deer” romance kit!

“We noticed that during the Holidays our husbands were the last to get some of our time and attention, so a few Christmases ago we each decided to change that. Now our husbands are more excited about what they are getting for Christmas than our kids!” (Founders of RomanticMarriages.com)

Continue reading “What to Get Your Santa-Honey for Christmas!” »

We just got word that we have been named a finalist on “The Marry Blogger” favorite marriage blogs finalist list.

We’d love for you to go vote for “Laura’s Strengthening Marriage Blog” by CLICKING HERE (may be listed under “Strengthening Marriage”) — and also check out the many other great marriage blogs out there! It’s wonderful to see that there are so many people working to strengthen marriages!

Be sure to vote for “Laura’s Strengthening Marriage Blog” by midnight on Tuesday, December 14, 2010. Thanks everyone! — Vote Here!

Had to share this darling picture that some friends took when visiting the USS Midway museum in Southern California. You all remember the famous picture “The Kiss” taken in Times Square at the end of World War II. Well apparently they’ve made a huge statue of it (located at the USS Midway museum).

My friends decided to recreate the experience (look closely at the bottom of the huge statue)! Too cute! This is definitely “The Kiss!” I encourage you all to go recreate The Kiss with your honey…even if it’s just in the middle of the living room! : )

Continue reading “Recreating “The Kiss”” »

by Mark Chamberlain, Ph.D.

Psychologist and Author of Confronting Pornography, and founder of the new blog (and upcoming book) Love You, Hate the Porn

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Want Porn Out? Let Wife In!

reprinted from “Love You, Hate the Porn” Blog

Here’s how it went in the wild West: the Sheriff faced down the outlaw: “There ain’t room in this town for the both of us.” Always, by the end of the movie, only one of them would remain. Most often, of course, it was the good guy.

Most of our wives feel the same way about porn. “There ain’t room in your life for the both of us.”

Shuddering at the thought of losing our wives, too many of us take the wrong approach to this problem. We hide from our wives the fact that porn’s still in town. We try to avoid porn and are quite ashamed that we’re not doing a perfect job of that. So, tragically, we avoid our wives.

Continue reading “Want Porn Out? Let Wife In!” »

Date night is simply one of the best things couples can do for their marriage. It nourishes the relationship mentally, emotionally, socially and even sexually (…if you’re lucky!).

Couples generally do the best they can when it comes to having a date night, so I really hate to be too hard on them about it. But it may be time to step it up a notch. Consider these four rules for raising the bar on date night: Continue reading “Raising the Bar on Date Night” »

THE BENEFICIAL EFFECTS OF MARRIAGE

There is something transformative about marriage. Even the anticipation of getting married changes people’s behavior. Men, in particular (Waite & Gallagher, 2001, p. 54; Nock, 2005, pp. 20-21), are less likely to drink or take drugs or engage in risky behavior in the year before they get married. In that sense, marriage has been called the great domesticator (Rauch, 2004, p. 20) or the great civilizing institution (Rauch, 2004, p. 7). Once married, spouses are more likely to save money, give to charity, be involved with extended family, and in organized religion (Nock, 1998, pp.7; 14; 60; 108).

Both cross-sectional and particularly, longitudinal studies indicate that married people—both men and women—live longer and are physically healthier than those who are not married. Continue reading “The Beneficial Effects of Marriage” »

Wouldn’t it be wonderful for all couples to be fully aware of the demands and delights of marriage, and for them to willingly agree to commit to the required responsibilities? The expectations in marriage would no longer be such a surprise, and the transition from romantic love to real love would flow much more smoothly.

It might be helpful for couples to offer their hearts in marriage by agreeing to some kind of a mutual “Marital Informed Consent” pledge. This would indicate their educated understanding of the intricacies of marriage and the efforts that will be required of them.

Below is a sample of what couples might want to personally consider, accept, and pledge their souls to regarding the adventure we call marriage:

Marital Pledge

• I pledge to come to know myself and develop greater self-awareness by identifying my strengths and weaknesses. I pledge to focus my attention and efforts on overcoming my weaknesses and building upon my strengths. I commit myself to spend regular amounts of time and effort to search my soul and connect with God to teach me what I need to know about myself. I willingly and humbly receive this learning. Continue reading “The Marriage Pledge” »

Here are the questions from “The Marital Intimacy Show” episode #043 “Let’s Play 20 Questions.”

To help make it easier for you and your spouse to talk about your sexual relationship I encourage you to play this little game called “20 Questions–Your Conversation Starter about Sex.”

Continue reading “Questions for “Let’s Play 20 Questions”” »