This month’s topic for 10 on the 10th with Perfectly Port is 10 Memories With Your Spouse. Now, in the past I have written 12 Things I Love About My Husband, which also included photos of us through the years, and a list of 22 things we have done together or been through together. I think most of our big memories are already shared in those posts! So I thought should I elaborate on some of those memories? Share things that I remember that are smaller things that I may not have mentioned before?
Then, I came across this article on 10 Ideas for Making Memories with Your Spouse. The point of the article is true – we have our daily routines where we get up each morning, take care of the kids, go to work, come home, etc., and every day is the same. How do we make memories in our daily lives? The article goes on to provide 10 ideas for making memories on a daily basis. Following that list, here are some of our memories created out of our every day lives.
1. Every day since May, although not now that it’s been too cold, we have been taking nightly walks together. Some of these walks are more memorable than others, such as when we saw a raccoon, or the times it has started to rain, but just as a daily activity it connects us, both to each other and to the kids when they come along. Gabbie has gone from refusing to walk with us to really wanting to go every evening!
2. I have mentioned a few times that Dave is the cook in our house. Many of the times I post recipes here he is the one who has made them, especially the barbecued ones! Hanging out with him while he cooks so that I can take photos for my blog creates memories that we normally would miss out on.
3. Sharing meals together out of the house is something we try to do every so often, especially when we are in NJ or Florida and there are so many kosher restaurants we can go to. I have fond memories of the times we have gotten food in NJ and brought it to a local park to eat picnic style. This past summer, we did this while only Simon was with us, so we created a memory with him as well.
4. As you know, we travel a lot. This past summer we had an epic road trip to NJ and back, and more recently we road tripped to Arkansas. Dave is the driver in our family! We have so many memories of the places we’ve visited on these trips as well as of the hotels we’ve stayed in along the way! While road tripping may not be an every day activity, getting out and visiting nearby towns on the weekends is always fun too.
5. We actually have not gone camping as a family, but I always have said I’d like to! I do have happy memories of camping out in Israel while Dave and I were studying abroad in college. We camped with our fellow students a few times, and Dave and I camped by the Dead Sea one night as well. Dave said he couldn’t sleep though because he was worried about the other people camping nearby!
6. Also in Israel, we biked 30 miles around the Sea of Galilee with a few friends of ours. I complained the entire time! It was not easy! Now though, our whole family have bikes and we enjoyed going on family bike rides this summer. Hopefully when it warms up again we will continue to do so!
7. Dave talks about how he hasn’t been to a movie in years! The most recent time he remembers going to a movie was when he took the boys to the Lego Movie. I often take the kids to movies and Dave doesn’t come. Awhile back when we lived in NJ, we did go to a drive-in theater together. Going to a drive-in is something I’d like my kids to experience, if only they would play the kids movies on the earlier shows and not the 11 pm ones!
8. For #8, the site suggests making home-made ice cream. I actually did this with the kids this summer, but never with Dave. Also, this seems similar to #2, cooking together. Here’s another idea – have a book discussion! Dave likes to read the books that I finish and feel he would like. Sometimes we actually talk about the books we’ve both read and enjoyed.
9. On our anniversary, Gabbie took photos for us. We love taking photo booth photos too. Taking photos helps us remember the memories we have made!
10. Being a part of a community provides us with a lot of opportunities for memories as well. We generally attend synagogue services every week and there are often other events happening as well, such as the annual dinner we recently attended. We participate in volunteer activities for the community with the kids and it is always nice when we are both involved in programs together.
As you can see, every couple has their big memories like how they got engaged or their best vacation together, but little things can create memories too! What are your ideas for creating every day memories?