Found this on another blog. So fetching cute/clever!

On our anniversary Mr. Loerke and I spent time reflecting on the past 5 years. As a result we came up with a list of 10 Things That Have Made All The Difference in our marriage. Please feel free to make these your own, as well as share any wisdom and insight you may have in the comment section below. After all, we need all the help we can get!

1. Weekly Questions: For the past five years Tim and I have been asking each other the same five questions every Sunday night. These questions have made the biggest difference in how we love and serve one another throughout the week. If you're going to incorporate one of these 10 things into your marriage, we hope it's this one.

2. A Small Metal Box: After reading this story, Tim and I made a pact that each time we made love we would put a dollar in a special metal box and save it for our 50th anniversary trip to Hawaii. This has surprisingly been a great way for us to creatively pursue intimacy with one another over the years. Our only advice would be to not count the money in your box. Focus on quality, not quantity.

3. Traveling Journal: There is a journal we share that's filled with words that would make you blush. We take turns writing in it, always hiding it for the other to find in an unexpected place. It's been foundduct taped to our shower, in suitcases when traveling, even in the refrigerator behind the Cool Whip. (Pretty sure Husband was trying to tell me something). Overall, this has been a great way for us to verbally affirm and encourage one another.

4. We (try and) Conflict Well: Conflict is inevitable in relationships, but we believe it exists to make us better, not bitter. We try and keep short accounts with one other by sharing our disappointments and hurt feelings. This isn't always easy but it's necessary in maintaining marital oneness. From experience we know there's nothing more damaging to our relationship than harbored bitterness.

5. We Play Together: Husband and I have chosen to be active together. Whether it's tossing the Frisbee, flying our kite, going on walks, participating in adventure races, reading bedtime stories, orbuilding forts in our living room, playing together has helped us find our inner child. It has also reminded me that being active together can be romantic. After all, deep down I know Husband wants me to be his sidekick when it comes to doing "guy things" with him. Realizing this has been critical in helping us stay connected both physically and emotionally.

6. We Pray Together: One of our favorite ways to end the day is by praying together. We pray for our friends, family, and for wisdom in our marriage. Though our prayers are usually not longer than a couple of minutes they have made a huge difference in helping us stay spiritually connected, as well as make us more aware of each others fears and insecurities.

7. We Celebrate Each Other: Husband and I love to make a big deal out of anniversaries, birthdays,holidays, and even smaller personal accomplishments. We are each other's biggest fans, and finding a thoughtful gift or preparing a special meal can make the biggest difference in helping us feel known, loved, and celebrated.

8. We Don't Do Marriage Alone: Our trusted friends have been incredibly helpful in showing us how to work through some of the bigger issues in our marriage. It wasn't always easy to share these struggles because of our pride and embarrassment, but soon we realized that most couples were struggling with the same things we were. We've learned that isolating only hinders us from truly dealing with our hurts, habits, and hang-ups.

9. The Greatest Gift (Self Work): We realized early on in our marriage that the greatest gift we could give each other was to know ourselves. This meant working through our family of origin junk. We all have it, but so few actually sort through it; Celebrate Recovery helped show us how. It was here that we first learned to attack our problems together, instead of attacking each other about our problems.

10. We Study One Another: Someone once told us that no matter how long you've dated your spouse, the day you get married you're essentially committing your life to a total stranger. This was great advice considering how quickly people change. To say I know Tim fully after 5 yrs of marriage would be a lie. There's so much about him that I don't know about simply because I do not ask. That is why we like tointerview each other regularly. It's amazing the things you can learn about your spouse when you take the time to ask both fun and creative questions.

10b. Dude Time / Girl Time: Sometimes one of the best things we can do for our marriage is to spend time apart. It blesses me when Tim is able to take a trip with his guys because I know they meet certain needs that I can't. Similarly, Tim understands that spending a weekend with my girls is critical to my overall mental health and well being. Don't get me wrong, you guys know how madly in love I am with Mr. Loerke, but sometimes all a girl needs is an uninterrupted weekend with her besties. Guys are no different.

Oh I'm having FUN :)

Oh my goodness! This week has treated me well so far. YAY for Homecoming Week :) Danced the night away on monday, while eating the chalk and getting mauled by sweaty bodies. The new "cool thing" to do at dances is jump up and down and push people. The anxiety of being locked in my hoody and jeans was unbearable a few times...which resulted in shoving people out of my way to get air ha-ha. Met a new friend that I can tell will hopefully be a long time friend :) My friend from Utah Valley University that I met in English 2010 last year is now serving a mission in Nebraska, but he told me about his girl that goes to U.S.U that I would "get along with so well"..He was right! We hit it off well. I drove one of the handicapped carts around Walmart for the first time ever, it was fun ha-ha. Let me just say this....when your asked to come get a free facial by a Mary Kay consultant, just know that you will be giving yourself the facial. Interesting experience, although she may have sold me on the lip exfoliant! I spent last night on campus meeting with my group for my Media Smarts class, I actually am "managing our team blog" I will put the link on here once our project is final(next week). A girl in my group is a foreign student from the Netherlands! She is so awesome, we just CLICK. Last night we were laughing so hard for no reason, it was cool to me how you can connect with someone despite the language barrier. She invited me to go have a beer or two, our lifestyles are SO DIFFERENT, but I love getting a feel for her lifestyle. And no I didn't drink ha-ha! I went to the library at a late hour last night with my friend Mo, yeah...bad idea we just goofed off the ENTIRE time. But it was a good time. Have another Intramural game tonight, lets hope we can pull out a win...BOYS BE AGGRESSIVE. 

Kylie, Mo and I after the dance. Why am I so weird? Oh yeah, I blame my dad. 

The Walmart parking lot experience hahahaha!

OOOHHHH Mary Kay. This was the only cool part.

After the dance :)

Yeah, this is the night at the library.

MY NEW FRIEND CHERI. I LOVE HER ALREADY. 

We don't always have it all together, but together we have it ALL :)

Oh the joy's of babies! I definitely am so excited to be a mommy! I can most definitely wait for it, but I get more and more excited each day. It is going to be amazing. I only say this because my cousin from Mississippi came to visit with her awesome husband and two daughters. They are the cutest little girls I have ever seen. Rylie is 2, and Roxie is 1. Being around family is always the best, but adding on the little ones bring even more love and excitement to the table. We had a birthday party for little Roxie tonight, watching her destroy the cake was great. I hope my kids the pound their face into it ha-ha. My papa rollie was here in town visiting us from Montana! He was able to watch my sister play a few volleyball games, and spend time with all of us! I brought Johnny home and my parents were freaked out at first, now my mom holds him every morning ha-ha. My parents are heading off to vegas for their anniversary today, just me and Steve this weekend :) It will be a good time. Here are some pictures from the past couple days...

Watching Steve play :) So good to have him here visiting!

Great grandma Taylor, she is one amazing woman. Love her!

Ry HAD to sit on my lap at Red Robin, made me feel important :) Eating our BBQ chicken wraps!

Playing around with effects on the MAC never gets old for me hahaha. Grandpa Cone Head.

Some of my amazing family members. Family is where its AT! :)

You could say...we love him :) 

Me and the BABE :) 

Johnny is now suffering a minor concussion after Rylie played with him. hahaha. She loved this "mouse"

Little Roxie :)

Johnny is his name.

Spontaneous itch.
My friend recently bought a little girl hamster... I was not a fan of rat type animals, after playing with hers for a second or two.. I realized how DANG cute they are.
I have a slight problem..I get jumpy and scared when he moves abruptly. He does that quite often. I'm getting better ha-ha. They stay awake during the night, its funny hearing his wheel turning. When I was at U.V.U I bought a fish. My sister is now mothering it ;) I have this rodent. He is small, feisty, and cute! Johnny is the name. 

Johnny boy!!

He loves his mommy. well, he will. hahaha

I got home from running errands and this is what I see. hahaha. I can't decide if it is creepy or cute. I think 90% cute. 

Home for Homecoming!

In a nutshell..

Friday. 
Left Logan with my friends around 8 p.m. Made it to the high school Homecoming game for the last 10 minutes. Surprised my sister and had fun seeing the young ones ;)... Talked with my mom and caught her up on my life for a few hours. Miss came and slept over. We had a lot to catch up on so sleep wasn't a factor till 4 a.m. 
Saturday. 
Watched abby (missy's little sis) ball it up in her A.Y.S.O soccer game! Went shopping..and returned home to get the little one ready for her big day. As we were doing her hair, make up and nails...we remembered that 4 years ago she was the one watching US GET READY. Time has flown by. I curled her hair, miss did the up-do. Her hair takes the cake for ANY of our dance up-do's, it will be a hard one to beat. Good job miss :) We hung with some of the high school boys while Stevee was gettin' down on the dance floor. 
Sunday. 
Good solid family time :) Headed back up to Logan. Here comes another week. I am ready for it!

My best friends in the whole world right here. :)

Hair and make up crew :) 

CHECK OUT HER HAIR! GOOD JOB MISS :)

The only word to begin to describe this pic is WOW. Love you Stevee :)

After the cute couple left we decided to have Rand take a few of us. This girl right here has been my best friend for 5 years. Made high school a blast and freshman year of college unbelievable. She knows everything about me and loves me for me. Heavenly Father knew what he was doing when he put us in each others lives. Love you with all my heart miss :) BEST FRIENDS FOREVER.

Inside joke, sorry ;) 

Hello mixed emotions!

These past couple of months, life has been looking different to me! Not in a bad way, but I'm not completely sure how to feel about it. Perhaps it has been the transition up to Logan by myself. I'm not completely sure..but I am positive that life is going by so dang quickly. Looking back on my childhood it seems like a LONG time ago, but years are just flying by. I can't believe my baby sister will go to her FIRST high school dance tomorrow. Unbelievable, feels like yesterday I was getting ready for my first high school dance. News flash! That was 4 years ago! Crazy Crazy Crazy. Next month I will turn the big ONE NINE ;) Once I hit 20 I will feel old ha-ha. This is a thought: 7 more months and I will have my SOPHOMORE YEAR OF COLLEGE COMPLETED, that is half way done. So when I sit in my classes and wonder how in the world I am ever going to graduate college, well hey thats in 2 years I CAN DO IT! The other thing I have been thinking about, is how much has changed in my life within the past couple years, and it is BEAUTIFUL. I am so blessed and couldn't ask for a better environment and family. I know Heavenly Father has placed special people in my life here in the past year or so for a reason. I am feeling things I have never felt before and am so grateful for the experiences I have had to make me who I am today! Ok i'll step off my soap box now :) Here are some pretty cute pictures that bring back memories and make me feel SO GOOD inside! My parents are the bomb. We had the fairytale childhood.

My main man teaching me how to feed the duck's :) Kinda cliche' but I promise I know what I'm talking about when I say my dad IS cooler than your dad. This man has taught me everything I know. My mom hit the jackpot marrying him! Love you daddy!

She's always been my best friend, always will be! These were the day's, but I enjoy connecting with my sister on mature levels and having "girl talk." Pretty fun combining our CRAZY personalities and having the best time of our lives. My best memories in life include this little one. She is pretty amazing! Love you Steve! :)

Day's like these..

Okay! So my lovely phone broke last month so I am currently using a 1895 edition of the grey Verizon flip phone until Oct. 5 and the new phone comes :) I'm debating whether to go with another droid, or transfer over to the iPhone. Choices, choices. The reason I bring up the phone situation is because that is the thing that wakes me up at 7:00 every morning unless it decides to turn off in the night! Waking up in Logan without my mom waking me up every morning...is a difficult task. The cold mean wind is starting to pick up, winter is coming!!

Here is the lovely P.O.S. :) hahaha

8:30 a.m. Theatre class was fine, I developed a deep desire to see a play in New York or Europe. Someday. Fun fact, seeing shows in Europe are far cheaper then New York! After that class I head off to the gym to cycle! My teacher is the most fit woman I have ever seen. Oh and don't worry she has had a couple kids, and doubles each of us students in age. She motivates me! Had a good ride, looking into purchasing some padded bike shorts though ha-ha. Who would've thought you can work out your triceps on a spin bike? Because you TOTALLY CAN! My arms are toast, along with my legs. 

After cycling I have a 4 hour break until my next class, Planet Earth. Attacking some homework and getting a quick nap in for the rest of the day in that time period. About that homework, it is about the geologic time scale and other geologic things, which I have little interest for. With that being said I was planning on just getting with a classmate and "working together" with them. Well I decided a few nights ago to start the homework assignment, it has taken me quite a bit of time...but I have found every answer on my OWN and researched the questions I don't know until I find them. I feel pretty dang confident and accomplished. Proving a few things to myself up here in Logan :) 

Hello Planet Earth homework, be prepared to be ATTACKED :) Miss Congeniality playing in the background. You know i'm sippin' on my capri sun!

I had chicken noodle soup for lunch, along with the best beverage EVER, green drink. I am obsessed. Then I had an idea to go check the mail. Quick side note, we have been receiving mail for other people for the past couple weeks and placing it in our kitchen... so I have been thinking our mail is probably sitting on someone else's kitchen counter. Well I thought WRONG because I got a letter today!! Big, big, big highlight :) 

Green Goodness doesn't EVEN do this baby justice. May be a little pricey, more then worth it. Take my word for it :) 

One of the best parts of today is knowing I get to see my family in 2 days, and I HAVE A VOLLEYBALL GAME TONIGHT!! :) Co-ed Inter-murals here we come. Three of us played in high school together, fun stuff. I may or may not have blew a couple hundred bucks yesterday at the Cache Valley Mall. I feel good about it though ha-ha. If my parents are reading this, don't fret I took it out of my savings ha-ha! Got some stinkin' cute stuff! 

Got this great cardigan yesterday :) fits like a glove! Thanks Rue 21!

Bath & Body is too good to me. Got this great set along with another. Screamin' deal.

So, we lost our volleyball game. It's hard to play to "have fun" without being so over the top competitive. I'm working on it. Our team is going to have practices though, losing as we did tonight...won't happen again ha-ha. Playing sure made me miss the game, but it ends for everyone some time my dad has always told me! 

Katie, me, and mo! I just met Katie this year, I love her already! Awesome girls.

Mo, Me, and Emily. We all played together at Layton High. It was fun reuniting on the court! Now we just have to teach the boys a thing or two hahaha. 

p.s. John Mayer has been my man today.

Hair update!

Quick funny story, the girl I sit by in my Theatre class didn't realize she was sitting by me until half way through the class. I was running on no sleep so I didn't do to good of a job making myself known that morning, after asking her a quick question she looked at me and took a BIG second look "Holy crap I had no idea that was you" she said. 

Lucky Stacey... grandma and mom made a trip up to Logan last night and fixed my locks! Wasn't really planning on lightening my hair after a week of dark, but they are the champs that know what looks best. Coming from a family of hairdressers you would think I would color and cut my hair a lot...WRONG. I have had my hair colored/bleached 4 times in the past WEEK. Way Way Way crazy. It is still pretty healthy and thicker than ever! Sleeping in a deep conditioning shower cap for awhile. Worth it. Here's what we did:

Step 1. Bleach wash to get rid of the ugly dark/black/red/grey color 

Step 2. Weaved in some more bleach to mix up the PERFECT LITTLE WEAVES of blonde and red that bug me

Step 3. Have a fun photo session on the mac...

So privileged to have her be doing my hair. You don't understand, she is amazing.

Talk about being blessed... having these girls in my life. I LOVE YOU!

THOUGHTS???