After polling a group of people on their marriage tips and ideas, here is what I compiled:

What have you found helpful in your marriage to keep your love alive and growing?

Long talks with each other.  Nothing planned just time to share ideas and talk about dreams-Jeni

Date nights!!!  We have to have date nights to have specific nights set aside to talk and be together.  With four small children all wanting our attention we have to get away or set aside specific time for each other. Shiloah

Knowing when not to sweat the small stuff.  Laughing a lot.  Also, for us, I think THE most important thing is mutual trust and respect.  We never sweat the small stuff...it's not worth it.  In our 32 years, we've been through a lot:  happiness, grief, tough times, lean years but we worked through all of it TOGETHER!   We never forget what our marriage vows said and we both play the words over in our heads many times.  Over time, our love has deepened and you couldn't pry us apart now with a crow bar!  -Faye B.

Making sure each of us knows how important we are to one another. Not assuming the other "just knows" it.

   I tuck mushy cards in his briefcase or coat pocket for him to find at work.  One Saturday while he was napping on the couch, I hopped onto his laptop and wrote him a love letter and saved it as..."To My Love".  Many months later,  around lunch time, I was surprised with a dozen roses....the card read,  "To My Love,"  With other very tender thoughts from dh. I knew then he had found my letter.

  Also, after a very romantic evening of dinner and dancing and just being alone together---something dh and I get very, very rarely...I sent a dozen roses to his office...the card simply said: "WOW!"  My husband came home telling me I caused quite a stir in the office that day.

  Simple things...like breakfast in bed, throwing blankets and pillows on the floor in the living room and cuddling together while watching a romantic movie. We give each other neck and shoulder massages at the very least 4 times a week.  My hubby often lets me sleep in on the weekends and I wake to the delicious smell of pancakes or French toast and freshly brewed coffee.

  Sometime he calls me from work, just to tell me that he misses me.  Or he will I.M. me during the day for the same reason...or to say that he wanted to tell me that he loves me. I don't IM him first. I never know when he's actually at his computer...but I have called him for those reasons...and have left mushy messages on his voice mail, too.  He comes home for lunch now and then...sometimes he brings lunch with him. Sometimes I make something special. Once in a while, he'll hang out with me in the morning...after the kids are in school...to have a cup of coffee with me before going to work.

  These are the gestures that mean the most to me......I adore them all, but the ones for no reason, simply out of the blue...just because. Where he makes a point to spend time with me....those are the acts that renew my soul and have me wondering what have I ever done to be so deserving of such a wonderful, thoughtful loving man...to have him love me so completely. I fall in love with him all over again...every day. 

-Willow

I like to treat my wife like a Queen when she has had a hard day at work. I will draw a hot bubble bath for her. After she has finished soaking I will get her robe for her, she will then sit down in my recliner and I will give her feet a massage. I love my wife and she means the world to me.

-Kurt Lane

When my husband proposed to me I said "yes, under one condition...that you will take me on a date every Friday night". This was the best thing that I could have suggested. He still after 25 years takes me on dates every Friday night. When we were just married,  we didn't have money to go to the movies and a dinner, so we went to the Temple to do a session, and had dinner there. We went for long walks, hiking, we took a picnic to the mountains, etc.

Now the kids are gone, we go on more expensive dates. Like he bought me the Phantom of the Opera tickets. This keeps the romance going, and we are away from the kids when they were young, so we didn't grow apart.

-Rita Winmill

I am a stay-at-home mom and am usually home when my husband gets home from work.  I run with the kids to greet their daddy; it makes him feel special.

-Penquin

The one thing that sustains me after having been a widow for 20 years is what my adoring husband said to me every day, verbally and in his actions..."I love YOU".  In my heart I know he did and still does.  That is what keeps me going on days I miss him so.

-Joyce Erlich

What specifically can you do to ensure that you spend some time with each other?

We try to get the children to bed early enough when Jay is home so that we can watch TV together or work on a project.  Also we trade babysitting with another couple so we can have occasional dates

 - Jeni

Get a babysitter, go out on dates, go on late night car rides (my favorite) where the kids will fall asleep and we just talk- Shiloah

We both have separate as well as common interests.  We respect that each other needs some time to enjoy their own pursuits, but we always make time to do things together whether it's just going for a walk, browsing in an antiques store, enjoying a TV show, sitting and talking.  Sometimes even just preparing a meal together is fun. 

-Faye

This one is easy.  Make sure the kids get to bed on time! 

Willow

With your husband ponder and answer the following together or separately...

1. Take time now—or plan a time—to discuss the joys and frustrations you find in marriage, and do so in a loving, accepting way.

2. Plan something special for your spouse this week.

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