I've been reading talks from the past General Conference every morning and read Elder Richard G. Scott's beautiful talk about his wife and marriage. If you haven't heard this talk yet or its been awhile since you heard it, please read it; http://lds.org/general-conference/2011/04/the-eternal-blessings-of-marriage?lang=eng&query=eternal+blessings+Marriage.
Elder Scott's reminds us how wonderful be married is. He says, "It is so rewarding to be married. Marriage is wonderful. In time you begin to think alike and have the same ideas and impressions. You have times when you are extremely happy, times of testing, and times of trials, but the Lord guides you through all of those growth experiences together." I know that to be true in just being married for two years as Eric and I started our lives together, as we are trying to get through school, as we've lost loved ones, and welcomed one of Heavenly Father's precious children into our family.
Also in his talk Elder Scott talked about how his wife taught him the importance of expressing love with notes that she would leave in his scriptures for him to find. Both Elder Scott and his wife showed their affection by writing notes to each other. After
reading I found this message board that I just had to have! It's a kit sold at Utah Vinyl.
I thought this would be a great way to leave little love notes for Eric each day as he leaves for work letting him know how much I appreciate all that he does and why I love him. I also found another really cute idea at Becky Higgins blog that would be great for those of you with a little bit older children. She did a "I love you because" dry erase frame designed by Kiki Creates (love her prints by the way!) for each of her children to see when they got home from school. You could also do the same thing by creating your own print and putting it in a frame and just write on the glass with a dry erase maker.
Elder Scott tells us to "express gratitude for what your spouse does for you. Express that love and gratitude often. That will make life far richer and more pleasant and purposeful. Don't withhold those natural expressions of love." I believe this is the same case with our children and what better way to express these things to our spouse and children then through writing them a "love" note each day, letting them know why we love them.
