as promised...
Ruth: I want to know how long you've been vegetarian and why you made the change. Plus, is it cheaper? More expensive? About the same? Is it just you or your husband and kiddies too?
Well, I started eating as a vegetarian in January of this year. I just wanted to try it out. I didn't really know how long I would do it, but I wanted to try for a year. I lasted about two months. :( Actually, I sort of ate chicken by accident and then just went down hill from there. To be honest, I think I'll probably go back to it. I really, really enjoyed it. I felt so much healthier. I am not eating anywhere near as much meat as I used to. I eat eggs and nuts and seeds and beans for protein instead. As for cost, it was about the same for me. You save money on meat, but if you're eating fresh produce a lot of the time like I was that can be a little pricey. The kids and my husband didn't do it. Although because I was cooking vegetarian meals they ate much less meat. They really only had meat when we went out to eat. Or a hot dog or deli turkey sandwich on occasion. Talking about it makes me want to do it again, for longer. :)
Linda: Wow, thanks pretty gutsy! lol. Ok, so I'm dying to know how/why you decided to elope. Spur of the moment/lifelong dream?
Ha ha ha!! Personal answer, but I'm an open book. So you all just have to promise not to judge me!! Jason and I were engaged in April of 2004 and scheduled the Mount Timpanogos Temple for August something. On May 19th I was in Rexburg visiting him and we....well, we made a mistake that night and went a little too far. :) We stayed up the whole night talking about what to do. Should we just have a civil wedding? Should we postpone getting married for a year so that we could be sealed in the temple? I don't think either of us wanted to wait. And we didn't think it was a good idea. I didn't want a civil wedding where everyone would be sitting around whispering and wondering about whether or not I was pregnant. (I wasn't). So we decided to elope. We said we'd work as hard as we could to go to the temple as soon as possible and then we'd have a celebration then. And we did! :) Jason had to work on the 20th, so I picked him up after work and we went to the mayor's office in Rexburg, Idaho. Two of the young secretaries were our witnesses. I was wearing jeans, a t shirt and my boots. We stayed a couple of nights at a Days Inn in town for our "honeymoon". Then I had to go home and tell my family.
Funny story: The week I went home my family had a vacation planned to go back east. My little brother was leaving on his mission and this was our last vacation as a family for two years. My ticket was already paid for and Jason had to work. I didn't want to take away from celebrating my brother leaving, so I kept my mouth shut. I spent about a week and a half with my family in New York, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. while Jason stayed in Idaho and worked. Miserable way to start your marriage!! :) When we got back, my brother had his "farewell" and a big dinner. A couple of days later he left for the MTC. I finally told my mom that night. I didn't know how should would react. She just sighed, looked at me, and said, "Well. What are you going to do?" I cried. I hated that I had disappointed them.
I packed up my things and moved to Idaho the next day. On June 13th I took a positive pregnancy test. I remember being so grateful that Jason and I chose to get married. Of course I wish we had done things right the first time! But I was so glad that we were married when we found out we were having a baby! I was so grateful that she could never question our reasons for getting married. It was our choice. Not because of the baby. Maybe that's a silly thing, but it made me feel so grateful.
On May 20th, 2005 we were sealed in the Mount Timpanogos Temple. Lots of family came and we had a big family dinner afterwards. We hired a photographer since we hadn't had wedding pictures. Payson was 4 months old. (She came one month earlier ON our 8 month anniversary. Honeymoon baby FOR SURE!) She is what I remember most from that day. Kneeling across from Jason and holding her sweet little hand. She looked so beautiful in her white dress! She just grinned at everyone the entire time. I bawled like a baby.
Anyway, that's our story!! :)
Randi: I want to know exactly what you think of me. Haha! ;)
Randi, I think you are so gorgeous and such a doll!! You amaze me with the way you handle being a single mom and student and working and everything else! You're incredible! I know I couldn't handle it so gracefully! That said, I think you are quirky and goofy. I just love your guts!! :)
Clerissa: Curly hair, love it or would change it?
Ugh. Depends on the day. :) Really, I love how unique my curl is. I like that I get compliments ALL the time. :) But it's high maintenance hair and can be a serious pain!! It's coarse and frizzy and dry. I do love that I can straighten it to change things up, but it takes me an hour. So that's a bummer. All in all, I figure if I had something different I would probably have complaints about that too. So I have to say that ultimately, I love my hair.
Camille: Hhmmmm...Do you want to have more kids? (That might be too personal, but you said anything, right) I'm just curious...
Not too personal at all!! Like I said before, I'm an open book! Definitely want more kids!! When Jason and I were dating we were driving down I-15 one day and saw one of those 16 passenger vans. I told him that one day we were going to need one to hold all of our kids. I was pretty serious. After having Payson I told him we'd just take them one at a time. :) But the honest truth is I want loads of kids! As many as I can handle. No particular number. Right now I'm completely baby hungry. We're waiting until the end of the year for a few reasons. (One being that I refuse to go to Disneyland in November and not be able to go on any of the good rides!!) But I can't wait to have more! I love being a mommy!!
This question was emailed to me on facebook. :) She shall remain anonymous, but: I was just wondering if you ever told Devin (McKenna's brother) that I liked him. :)
Ha ha ha ha!! Not that I remember. I'm not that mean!! Can I, though? ;)
Hillary: Hmm. . . besides family accomplishments, what are you most proud of?
That's a hard one!! Good question! I honestly don't feel like I've accomplished much else. Some might say that's sad, but it's all I wanted. I got married when I was 20. I didn't finish college or get my cosmetology license. I was a mom by the time I was 21. I don't work. I haven't really "accomplished" anything. At this point, I'm still a work in progress. Who knows if I'll ever do anything great with my life. But I'd have to say that my life is pretty great! I love my family, siblings, husband, kids, parents, cousins, everyone. I have amazing friends, both online and in the real world. :) I guess if I had to pick something non-family related, I'd have to say my writing. I always liked to write growing up and was published for writing contests a few times. I won money and even got an award from President Clinton when I was in Junior High. I haven't written much since I've been out of school. When Payson was born I wrote a poem for her. And other than this blog, that's about it. :)
Those are all the questions you asked! That was kind of fun for me. Hopefully for you too. If you thought of anything or come up with anything in the future, keep it in mind! I'll probably do this again!
Ruth: I want to know how long you've been vegetarian and why you made the change. Plus, is it cheaper? More expensive? About the same? Is it just you or your husband and kiddies too?
Well, I started eating as a vegetarian in January of this year. I just wanted to try it out. I didn't really know how long I would do it, but I wanted to try for a year. I lasted about two months. :( Actually, I sort of ate chicken by accident and then just went down hill from there. To be honest, I think I'll probably go back to it. I really, really enjoyed it. I felt so much healthier. I am not eating anywhere near as much meat as I used to. I eat eggs and nuts and seeds and beans for protein instead. As for cost, it was about the same for me. You save money on meat, but if you're eating fresh produce a lot of the time like I was that can be a little pricey. The kids and my husband didn't do it. Although because I was cooking vegetarian meals they ate much less meat. They really only had meat when we went out to eat. Or a hot dog or deli turkey sandwich on occasion. Talking about it makes me want to do it again, for longer. :)
Linda: Wow, thanks pretty gutsy! lol. Ok, so I'm dying to know how/why you decided to elope. Spur of the moment/lifelong dream?
Ha ha ha!! Personal answer, but I'm an open book. So you all just have to promise not to judge me!! Jason and I were engaged in April of 2004 and scheduled the Mount Timpanogos Temple for August something. On May 19th I was in Rexburg visiting him and we....well, we made a mistake that night and went a little too far. :) We stayed up the whole night talking about what to do. Should we just have a civil wedding? Should we postpone getting married for a year so that we could be sealed in the temple? I don't think either of us wanted to wait. And we didn't think it was a good idea. I didn't want a civil wedding where everyone would be sitting around whispering and wondering about whether or not I was pregnant. (I wasn't). So we decided to elope. We said we'd work as hard as we could to go to the temple as soon as possible and then we'd have a celebration then. And we did! :) Jason had to work on the 20th, so I picked him up after work and we went to the mayor's office in Rexburg, Idaho. Two of the young secretaries were our witnesses. I was wearing jeans, a t shirt and my boots. We stayed a couple of nights at a Days Inn in town for our "honeymoon". Then I had to go home and tell my family.
Funny story: The week I went home my family had a vacation planned to go back east. My little brother was leaving on his mission and this was our last vacation as a family for two years. My ticket was already paid for and Jason had to work. I didn't want to take away from celebrating my brother leaving, so I kept my mouth shut. I spent about a week and a half with my family in New York, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. while Jason stayed in Idaho and worked. Miserable way to start your marriage!! :) When we got back, my brother had his "farewell" and a big dinner. A couple of days later he left for the MTC. I finally told my mom that night. I didn't know how should would react. She just sighed, looked at me, and said, "Well. What are you going to do?" I cried. I hated that I had disappointed them.
I packed up my things and moved to Idaho the next day. On June 13th I took a positive pregnancy test. I remember being so grateful that Jason and I chose to get married. Of course I wish we had done things right the first time! But I was so glad that we were married when we found out we were having a baby! I was so grateful that she could never question our reasons for getting married. It was our choice. Not because of the baby. Maybe that's a silly thing, but it made me feel so grateful.
On May 20th, 2005 we were sealed in the Mount Timpanogos Temple. Lots of family came and we had a big family dinner afterwards. We hired a photographer since we hadn't had wedding pictures. Payson was 4 months old. (She came one month earlier ON our 8 month anniversary. Honeymoon baby FOR SURE!) She is what I remember most from that day. Kneeling across from Jason and holding her sweet little hand. She looked so beautiful in her white dress! She just grinned at everyone the entire time. I bawled like a baby.
Anyway, that's our story!! :)
Randi: I want to know exactly what you think of me. Haha! ;)
Randi, I think you are so gorgeous and such a doll!! You amaze me with the way you handle being a single mom and student and working and everything else! You're incredible! I know I couldn't handle it so gracefully! That said, I think you are quirky and goofy. I just love your guts!! :)
Clerissa: Curly hair, love it or would change it?
Ugh. Depends on the day. :) Really, I love how unique my curl is. I like that I get compliments ALL the time. :) But it's high maintenance hair and can be a serious pain!! It's coarse and frizzy and dry. I do love that I can straighten it to change things up, but it takes me an hour. So that's a bummer. All in all, I figure if I had something different I would probably have complaints about that too. So I have to say that ultimately, I love my hair.
Camille: Hhmmmm...Do you want to have more kids? (That might be too personal, but you said anything, right) I'm just curious...
Not too personal at all!! Like I said before, I'm an open book! Definitely want more kids!! When Jason and I were dating we were driving down I-15 one day and saw one of those 16 passenger vans. I told him that one day we were going to need one to hold all of our kids. I was pretty serious. After having Payson I told him we'd just take them one at a time. :) But the honest truth is I want loads of kids! As many as I can handle. No particular number. Right now I'm completely baby hungry. We're waiting until the end of the year for a few reasons. (One being that I refuse to go to Disneyland in November and not be able to go on any of the good rides!!) But I can't wait to have more! I love being a mommy!!
This question was emailed to me on facebook. :) She shall remain anonymous, but: I was just wondering if you ever told Devin (McKenna's brother) that I liked him. :)
Ha ha ha ha!! Not that I remember. I'm not that mean!! Can I, though? ;)
Hillary: Hmm. . . besides family accomplishments, what are you most proud of?
That's a hard one!! Good question! I honestly don't feel like I've accomplished much else. Some might say that's sad, but it's all I wanted. I got married when I was 20. I didn't finish college or get my cosmetology license. I was a mom by the time I was 21. I don't work. I haven't really "accomplished" anything. At this point, I'm still a work in progress. Who knows if I'll ever do anything great with my life. But I'd have to say that my life is pretty great! I love my family, siblings, husband, kids, parents, cousins, everyone. I have amazing friends, both online and in the real world. :) I guess if I had to pick something non-family related, I'd have to say my writing. I always liked to write growing up and was published for writing contests a few times. I won money and even got an award from President Clinton when I was in Junior High. I haven't written much since I've been out of school. When Payson was born I wrote a poem for her. And other than this blog, that's about it. :)
Those are all the questions you asked! That was kind of fun for me. Hopefully for you too. If you thought of anything or come up with anything in the future, keep it in mind! I'll probably do this again!
19 comments:
That was fun to read! What a great idea that was...
That was fun McKenna. Aren't you sweet. You are a great blogger, always interesting and fun to read. Love it, love you!
We have similar marriage stories, who knew? :)
~C
McKenna, I just love your guts. I love how open and honest you are. I think you are so fun and fantastic. I too love reading your blog and always find it a "good read" lol...thanks for doing this. It was fun to learn more about you.
That was fun to read... I was laughing at some of your answers. You're hilarious. You are a great blogger! I miss you. How you guys doing?
That was fun to read! It is such a good idea I might have to copy you :)
You are such a strong person McKenna, and the story of your elopement (correct usage?) just proves it.
I agree. I love your blog and how open you are. Loved this post too! You are an awesome woman!
McKenna, that was great! Not only brave, but fascinating and entertaining as well. As someone who loves to snoop in other people's lives, I thank you for this post. ;-)
That is so fun! You are so great, and yes I agree, I love that you are open and honest. I didn't know a lot of those things about you. I wish I would have asked a question now. Haha. What a great idea this was!
I wish I could have thought of a good question to ask you, but maybe next time! Hahaha, it was interesting to get to learn more about you.
Hi! So I dont know you(my names Jeannette), but we have a mutual friend, Lali, and I stumbled upon your blog and I just wanted to tell you I think your awesome! I very much appreciated your honesty and truthfulness, its always nice to hear about overcoming trials and struggles. I myself have been through a lot in my life, and its just nice to know there are people out there you can relate to! So yeah, thanks:) If you dont mind Ill be checking in on your blog once in a while, its always nice to make new blogging friends!
P.S. I just realized I think I know your husband! Im pretty sure I was in his ward my first couple semesters at BYU-I in 03. Whats your last name? If its him, I ran into him at Walmart back in 05 and he was debating which CD to buy his wife (you im hoping:), either Carrie Underwood or I think it was All American Rejects! So now Im dying to know if its him! He would remember Amy Gneiting, she was my roomate and they were friends.
That was really fun to read. I learned so much about you! Your awesome.
I'm sorry, I was thinking you had always dreamed of eloping or something. Now I feel like a big jerk for opening a can of worms. I really apologize.
very very very fun to read! Love it!
hahahhahaaaaa, I LOVE that you don't want to get pregnant until AFTER you go to Disneyland! hahahahaaaaa, oh I love you.
really fun to read this! GREAT idea.
You are so awesome! That was a great idea. Thanks for sharing all of the nitty-gritty details! I liked your answer, maybe I'll try going meat-free for a bit......if I can manage with out it :)
awesome idea, i so should do this, but im worried................
Post a Comment