My kids thoughts on Marriage

My mom sent me an email that had kids thoughts on marriage, so I decided to ask my kids the same questions, to see what they would say.  Just keep in mind, Joseph is 9, Austin is 7, Betsy is 6, and Samuel is 4.

1. HOW DO YOU DECIDE WHO TO MARRY?

Joseph: I don't know, I'm 9 years old
Austin: By asking God.
Betsy:  By making sure they belong to the church, that they have faith in Jesus Christ.  It doesn't matter how they look
Samuel:  A Dog, because they lick
2. WHAT IS THE RIGHT AGE TO GET MARRIED?
 Joseph: 22, because that's right after your mission.
Austin: I think 20
Betsy:  19
Samuel:  very old, like 6, 7, 8, or 9


3. HOW CAN A STRANGER TELL IF TWO PEOPLE ARE MARRIED?
Joseph: If there is a ring on their middle finger, well actually index....I mean I don't know
Austin: Maybe by there holding hands.
Betsy:  Because everybody is married, if it's two people, but only if it's a girl and a boy. 
Samuel:  Umm, if they kiss cheeks and lips.


4. WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR MOM AND DAD HAVE IN COMMON?
Joseph: You both try to get us to choose the right
Austin: Love for each other.
Betsy:  You both have noses, and eyes, and you both go to church, unless someone is sick.
Samuel:  a light switch

5. WHAT DO MOST PEOPLE DO ON A DATE?
Joseph: They go to a fancy place to have fun or something, or eat.
Austin: They go to a restaurant and eat.'
Betsy:  They mostly go out to eat
Samuel:  They bring flashlights when it's dark, and do something that requires lots of flashlights  (just so you know, I have no clue what he is talking about)

6. WHEN IS IT OKAY TO KISS SOMEONE?
Joseph: When you're sixteen
Austin: When you know them, and you think they're right for you, and you are supposed to ask God.
Betsy:  When you're getting married, or already married.
Samuel:  Kiss there cheeks

7. IS IT BETTER TO BE SINGLE OR MARRIED?
Joseph: Married, then you have somebody to help you on your way, and you'll have kids.
Austin: Married, because you're old enough to choose someone.
Betsy:  Married, because when you have a baby the husband can help so it doesn't hurt as much.
Samuel:  To not be married, because I want to go see the movie

8. HOW WOULD THE WORLD BE DIFFERENT IF PEOPLE DIDN'T GET MARRIED?
Joseph: There wouldn't be as many people, actually no one, except for Adam and Eve, and there wouldn't be as many animals. Because, animals have to get married too, like humans.
Austin: Then we wouldn't be alive, because Moms get married, and if Men didn't marry them, they wouldn't have babies.
Betsy:  Nobody would have babies, and there wouldn't be any parents or kids.
Samuel:  You would have puppies to hold, and bring flashlights

9. HOW WOULD YOU MAKE A MARRIAGE WORK? Joseph: I'd go to the temple, and have whatever happens there, happen.
Austin: The boy would have to be nice.
Betsy:  Not be a squirrel bait (something Travis calls the kids when they aren't being good)
Samuel:  You bring flashlights and frog tanks

The frog jumped out of the tank and other random stuff

We have two frogs in a huge fish tank at the top of the stairs, that the owners of our house left for us.  The kids love to feed the frogs, and look at them swim around in the tank.  Well last week, Samuel was taking a bath, and I came upstairs to check on him, and as I did, I saw this huge black thing jumping around on the bathroom floor.  It freaked me out, it took me a second, and then I realized it was one of the frogs.  I yelled for Travis, saying the frog was out of it's tank.  He came quickly (I think I may have sounded a little frightened, but it really scared me) and he caught the frog, and put him back in the tank.  We have no idea how the frog got out, and when I told the owners about it, they said they had never gotten out before either.  So anyway, now every time I come up or down the stairs, I check the tank to make sure both frogs are still there. 
Samuel doesn't like to eat the crust on bread.  I made a yummy whole wheat bread, into little loaves just his size, with a really soft crust, so he wouldn't try to pull the crust off.  So he sticks one piece in the toaster oven, and toasts it up, I put some butter on it for him, and then give it to him to eat.  he proceeds to peel off the edges, until he is left with a piece of bread, about the size of a quarter, pops it in his mouth and says "yum, can I have another one"  I can't believe he was trying to waste so much of the bread, that crazy boy.  I tried to get him to eat the rest of the bread, but he wouldn't, he said he didn't like it. 

Betsy loves to say the word "brethren", during morning scripture study, she always wants to read the verses that have the word "brethren" in them.  She likes to use the word throughout the day too, she is funny.  She even decided to call Daddy "Daddyen" a couple of times so it would sound similar to brethren. 

Austin is awesome and getting the newspaper and mail for me, no matter how cold it is, she will run out and get them for me.  Austin invited one of her friends from school to come to church with us, and her friend asked her Dad and said she could come.  Unfortunately Austin can't go to church today, because she is sick, but hopefully her friend will still want to come to church with us next week. 

Joseph in scripture study said that we should "accessorize" our faith, instead of "exercise" our faith.  When we asked him how we "accessorize" our faith, he said "with hope and charity".
 I have about 3 weeks until until my due date, and I'm mentally preparing for the labor and delivery process that is coming.  Hopefully I will make it close to my due date this time.   I had my first college exam in eight years on Friday.  I don't know how I did yet, but I think I did fine on it, although I wished I had been able to study a little more for it.  I'm trying really hard not to study, except when the kids are in bed, but sometimes it is too easy to just put a movie on for Samuel, and get all my studying done.  But I've been limiting Samuel's TV time, so I can't do that very often. 
   Travis has been studying a lot, but has also been working with a company who does painting, and he goes around and knocks on people's doors to see if they are willing to have a free estimate for painting.  He only gets paid, if someone agrees, and then sets up the appointment when his boss calls them.  So he ran around knocking on doors for two hours yesterday, he said even if he doesn't get paid, it was good exercise.   
    Everyone in our house has been getting pink eye, Travis is the only one who hasn't had it yet, but that probably won't last long.  Pink eye is pretty contagious, and I'm getting pretty tired of putting eye drops in every one's eyes all the time, although they are all pretty cooperative, except for Samuel.  Travis and I were able to go to the temple yesterday, it was really nice and peaceful.
  This morning Travis was being silly, and making up songs about how "big" I am, so I had all the kids bring me stuffed animals, and we threw them at him.  It was fun, and I ended up laughing so hard, that I cried. 
  

My Baby Shower

 The girls and Samuel with their cousin Julan, each taking a turn holding him.  They love little babies, and they are very excited for their little brother to be born

 I put this picture in, because on the right side, you have a profile shot of my "baby belly"

 Yummy food for the baby shower

I had my baby shower today!  It was so much fun.  The kids and I spent the morning cleaning, and Travis rearranged furniture, and organized his office area.  Joseph and Samuel were actually the best cleaners, which is unusual, it's usually the girls.  The boys were done with their chores within an hour, and the girls took until lunch time to finally finish their chores.  Then Maia (she was hosting the party for me) and two of her daughters, and her baby boy Julan arrived after lunch.  The girls (Mayra and Alyssa) decorated, and helped set up the food.  The  kids loved holding the baby Julan, and playing with him and the balloons.  Just before guests started arriving, Travis took the kids out to play, while I had my shower.  I think we ended up having about 15 people there, including us.  It was so much fun, to talk with everyone and play some games.  I had the ladies fill out the questionnaire I posted on my blog yesterday, and My Grandma Hardy was able to get the most correct answers at 18 out of 27 answered correctly.  We also played a game about guessing which baby animal names correspond to their parent, like bear would be cub, it was fun, I didn't know a lot of the baby names.  The final game we played was a baby memory game, where we tried to match words, and then we would get a corresponding candy to go with it, for instance the match I found was "11 pound baby" so the candy I got was Whoppers.  We had food, and I opened all the presents.  I was impressed with the quality and quantity of gifts.  I felt very blessed, and am excited for this baby to come, so he can wear all these cute clothes, and have soft blankets. 

Questionnaire

I made up this Questionnaire for my baby shower today, and I thought it would be fun to put in on my blog, the answers are at the bottom:

How well do you know Kayley? Or getting to know Kayley!


1. What is Kayley’s middle name ?

A: Susan B: Anne C: Mae D: Petunia E: Penelope F: Lynn

2. When is Kayley’s birthday? __________________________

3. What is Kayley’s favorite color?

A: Red B: Orange C: Heliotrope D: Blue E: Pink F: Fuchsia

4. How old was Kayley when her first child was born?

A: 19 B: 23 C: 20 D: 18 E: 22 F: 21

5. How long has Kayley been married?

A: 7 years B: 10 years C: 3 years D: 12 years E: 20 years F: 11 years

6. Name 3 musical instruments Kayley knows how to play. _____________________________

_____________________________ ______________________________________

7. What is Kayley’s preferred form of exercise?

A: Running B: Walking C: Jumping Rope D: P90X E: Weight Lifting F: Water Aerobics

8. How many children does Kayley have?___________________________________________

9. Where is Kayley’s dream vacation location?

A: Mexico B: Italy C: Greenland D: Australia E: South Africa F: Puerto Rico

10. How many different houses/apartments has Kayley lived in, since she got married?

A: 4 B: 7 C: 2 D: 10 E: 15

11. Where was Kayley born?(city and state)___________________________________________

12. Where has Kayley gone to college?_______________________________________________

13. What was her degree, she was working toward in college?___________________________

14. How many brothers and sisters does Kayley have?__________________________________

15. True or False, Kayley wore braces when she was younger ____________________________

16. True or False, Kayley has never tried any drinks with coffee, tea, or caffeine in them_______

17. True or False, Kayley doesn’t wear glasses or contacts_______________________________

18. True or False, Kayley has never gone skinny dipping_________________________________

19. True or False, Travis is the only boy she has ever kissed______________________________

20. True or False, Kayley once weighed over 200 lbs____________________________________

21. True or False, Kayley loves to rock climb__________________________________________

22. True or False, Kayley has a tattoo________________________________________________

23. True or False, Kayley has taught swing dancing_____________________________________

24. True or False, Kayley has given birth to all her children without any drugs________________

25. True or False, Kayley has worked at McDonalds_____________________________________

26. True or False, Kayley loves to garden_____________________________________________

1.  C. Mae  2.  June 12th   3.  D. Blue  4.  A. 19  5.  B. 10 years  6.  Piano, Violin, Guitar   7.  F.  Water Aerobics  8.  4    9.  B. Italy 10.  D. 10  11.  Provo, UT  12.  Ricks, BYU, BYU-Idaho   13.  Piano Pedagogy   14.  4    15.  T  16.  T  17.  F  18.  T  19.  F  20.  F  21.  T  22.  F  23.  T  24.  T  25.  F  26. T

A New Year

We had a great Christmas break, and New Year's and we have all been in school again for a week and a half now.  A few things I would like to write about that have happened in our house.  The week after Christmas, Travis and Joseph went to Maia's house in Tooele, to help her with some painting in her house.  Unfortunately the weather was horrible, and a terrible blizzard moved in that afternoon, so Travis and Joseph spent the night at their house, and finally made it home late the next afternoon when the roads were a little better.  For New Year's Eve we had two couples in our ward over for a game night.  It was really fun, I love having game nights.  We spent about three hours just talking and getting to know each other better, and then played games until after 1am.  For me, staying up that late, was quite a big deal, since I'm used to going to bed by 10pm.  But, despite my tiredness I had a really good time.  We made quite a few goals as a family and individually, and one of mine was to write in my blog at least once a week, and well you can tell, how good I'm doing so far.  We're really trying to get the noise level down in our house, before the baby is born, so one of our goals as a family, is "no yelling", we're trying hard, but it is a hard habit to break, especially for the boys, but we're going to keep at it, and not give up.  Apparently while Travis and Joseph were spending the night at Maia's house they picked up bedbugs and brought them home with them.  Travis and Joseph both started getting itchy, rashy spots, in a few places, and after a few days, I started getting some too.  So this past weekend, the kids and I spent the entire time, washing everything in the house, and trying to get rid of these pesky little bugs.  I'm crossing my fingers that everything we did, was enough, because I'm too exhausted to do any more cleaning like that.  Last week everyone had dentist appointments, and Austin and Samuel both have major cavities.  Ever since moving here, the kids have been brushing their own teeth, but apparently they haven't been doing a good enough job, especially Sam, who has refused to let me brush his teeth for him.  Between Samuel and Austin the dental work is going to cost roughly $2600.  We're going to get some dental insurance to help with the costs, but it's still frustrating, so we've been working on teeth brushing this last week.  I have enjoyed going back to school, it feels good to be in a classroom again, learning and talking with adults.  I'm taking a D & C class, and a chemistry class this semester, and Travis has been watching Samuel while I go to classes.  So far it is working out pretty well, but I'm a little worried about when I have the baby and afterwards.  My pregnancy is progressing well, and I'm experiencing all the fun aches and pains associated with a growing baby squishing my insides.  Although the doctor says that I'm still too small, and that the baby will probably only be 6 pounds full term.  I'm used to having small babies, and then they get fat real fast! 

Christmas

                                            Joseph and Austin in their new  church clothes

                                                Betsy and Austin's new church dresses

                                             Betsy loves her new doll

                                            Joseph is ready to rock-n-roll with his new guitar

                                               The snow fort!!!

                                           Samuel and the Snowman, and playing in the snow

The Tuesday before Christmas we got almost a foot of snow over 2 days of constant snowing.  So Travis decided we needed a snow fort.  He spent hours making this big snow fort in the front yard, with occasional help from various family members.  I don't have a picture of the finished product, but it was really tall.  The snow was perfect for packing and building, and we all had a blast playing outside and building a snowman and a fort.  It was a wonderful snow day, full of hot chocolate and going in and out of the house playing in the snow.  Since Travis has been out of school, we've been working on lots of projects getting ready for the baby, and we're almost there.  Christmas Eve we went to Travis' Uncle Nick and Aunt Nora's house in Salt Lake City, with his sister Maia's family and had a nice early dinner, and then went to see the nativity at Temple Square in Salt Lake City, the lights were amazing, and the nativity was really neat.  It was cold, and crowded and we we're having a hard time getting the kids to behave appropriately so we didn't stay too long.  We decided to cross the street to see if we could use the bathrooms in the conference center (we couldn't find anything open on temple square) and then head to the car where we parked to go home.  Travis stopped to give a homeless man some Christmas cookies, and didn't see us cross the street, and we didn't realize he wasn't with us until after we had crossed the street.  So the kids and I waited at the water fountain by the conference center for Travis to come across, but he never did.  His sister made it over, and told us Travis was looking for us on the other side of the street, so we went and crossed the street again.  After looking for a moment, I realized it was silly of me to try to walk around and find him with four kids, when he knew we were going to the car, so we turned around, and crossed the street again, and went to go look for a bathroom in the conference center.  We finally found a door to go in, as someone came out, and then went through another set of doors, that we hoped would lead to a bathroom, unfortunately it lead to a stairwell, with only roof access, and the doors locked behind us so we couldn't go back the way we came.  After climbing around for 15-20 minutes we finally found an exit door, and made it out.  We still hadn't found a bathroom, but decided to go to the car first, to see if Daddy was still there.  Thankfully he was, and we drove to a McDonalds, and took all the kids to the bathroom.  After coming home and putting kids to bed, Travis and I stayed up until almost midnight, putting together a 3-in-1 game table that he got a really good deal on.  Then at 4am the kids were up and ready to open presents, I quickly sent them back to bed, and then a little after 6am, we allowed them to come into our room, and we had scripture study, and then went downstairs to open presents.  The kids were so happy and excited to open their presents, they loved them all.  We spent the rest of the morning putting together the girl's new barbie mansion, the boys train table/Lego table, and opening up and figuring out new toys.  I made cinnamon roll Christmas tree, bacon, and scrambled eggs for breakfast, which we're very yummy.  A little after 2pm, Travis and I finally went upstairs to shower and dress for the day, and just as I finished my shower, Austin came pounding on the door, saying that her cousins we're here.  Sure enough after dressing quickly and coming downstairs, our house was full of Travis' Sister and her family of 6 kids.  It was a fun surprise, as the kids got to play with their cousins, and show off their new toys.  They had tried calling us, but had the wrong phone number.  Anyway, they stayed for a few hours, and then left to go to their in-laws for dinner.  We had a nice ham for dinner, and had a wonderful Christmas day. 

Christmas Caroling

Last night we did our Christmas Caroling.  The kids and I have spent the last two weeks baking cookies and Christmas treats, to put on our plates.  We had homemade Oreo cookies, peppermint patties, carmels, chocolate dipped carmels,  peanut butter balls dipped in chocolate, sugar cookies, peanut butter blossoms, monster cookies, peanut butter fudgy buttons, chocolate scotcharoos, raspberry brownies, and mint brownies.  We made up 20 plates.  I should have taken a picture of us in the kitchen with all the cookies and plates, and us and the kitchen covered in flour, sugar, frosting, and sprinkles, it was quite the mess.  It still is actually, I have to finish cleaning up this morning, and I'm not looking forward to it.  Anyway we got ready to go, and managed to get all the plates out to the car, with the kids only dropping two (it's a good thing I made extras).  We brought our bells, Santa hats, and Christmas music for the three songs we've been practicing with the bells (away in a manger, jingle bells, and Christmas bells)  It was snowing outside, and had been all day long, so everything was a bit slippery, but we managed to have a good time, with only a few children getting in trouble here and there.  The kids loved playing the bells, and giving away our goodies, and we're always very disappointed when someone wasn't home.  We finally finished about 8:30pm, and since we hadn't had dinner yet, and with a messy kitchen and an exhausted Mommy, we went to the olive garden for dinner.  It was delicious and the kids had fun playing and coloring in the kids menus, and we had a good dinner.  We didn't get home until 10pm, everyone was so tired we practically fell into bed.  Which is why I still have a messy kitchen to clean up this morning, and I'm stalling by writing this blog.  : )  The kids have a half day at school today, and then they're out for Christmas, everyone is excited for Christmas to come.  We love having Travis getting a break from school, he is busy moving things around, and helping us get the house ready for the baby coming in 2 months.