9th Annual Rieben Family Founders Day

Nine years ago today I knelt across an altar from my best friend and I promised him eternity. A new family was created and a new journey began.

We never could have imagined, as we walked out of the temple that day, where that journey would take us, but we knew the Lord had great things in store for us. We moved forward in faith and He has never disappointed!


Most people refer to this day as their anniversary and we did too, until we began welcoming children into our family. We now refer to it as "Family Founders Day"; the birth of our family. It is a celebration of where our journey began and where it has since taken us. It is a day that we celebrate the sacredness, joy and blessings of marriage. We also celebrate each member of our family.


Each Founder's Day we introduce our family theme and scripture for the year. This year our theme will be "Love one another" and the scripture, John 13:34-35:

"A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another."

We display the flags from each country that our family is comprised of and we create a family flag, displaying our theme for the year, celebrating our diversity and reminding us that, no matter where we came from or how we got here, we are united as a forever family in our love for each other and for the Lord.


We share stories and pictures with our children of how we met, our engagement and our wedding day. We also share the stories of how each of our children joined our family.


We enjoy a great "feast," complete with chocolate cake (and candles of course. . .it is our family's birthday after all) and afterwards we spotlight each family member and share with them all of the things we love about them and why we are blessed to have them in our family.

At the end of the day, we kneel (or sit. . .not all of us have knees, you know) together as a family and offer our thanks to our Heavenly Father for the incredible blessings that he has poured out upon our family, and promise that we will always strive to glorify Him in all that we do and say throughout the coming year.

(What you can do without knees)

Nine years ago today I knelt across an altar from by best friend and promised him eternity. Hand-in-hand we have walked the paths that the Lord has shown us. Through blessings and trials, joy and sorrow, happiness and tears, in partnership with our Father in Heaven, we have created something beautiful; a blessing that we celebrate each and every day!

Happy Founders Day!