MY HUSBAND

What is his name? Kent Kirtley Madsen

How long have you been together? 7 years now! Can you believe it? That seems like so much longer than I should be old enough to admit!

How long did you date? Technicalities... We are one of the few I know that actually did have a traditional "first date" and a "second date..." but where the dating ends and the engagement begins- from the day we decided to get married, or from the day that he actually proposed? Because there was a LONG 5 months between the two... Thanks, Uncle Sam!

How old his he? 29- or as tyse often asks, "is dad 89?" and then that makes me "98". Kids.

Who eats more? He does, though it has dropped off quite a bit since he started sitting at a desk, and mine has considerably increased since the parasite!

Who said i love you first? Kent did. It is a pretty funny story about beating around and around and around the bush until it got late enough at night for him to be delirious enough to just go for it!

Who is taller? Kent, obviouisly. 6'3"- but he now likes to claim 6'4" with his new cowboy boots!

Who can sing better? We both hold a tune decently- but I know a LOT more songs and lyrics than him so I probably just do it a lot more often!

Who is smarter? I would say he is. He is much more philosophical than I am- he thinks about things a LOT more than I do. Tyse has already picked up on this- if I tell him something, his next move is to say "where's dad? I need to ask him if that is right."

Who does the laundry? Ususally me, but right now it is him or the neighbor or my grandma... whoever is willing to!

Who pays the bills? I do

Who sleeps on the right side? We are in the middle of trading for space and newborn purposes, so right now I do, but next week? Probably him.

Who mows the lawn? The HOA. Actually, we finally got some grass in our own little sideyard so this summer I guess we will find out!

Who cooks dinner? Usually me, but right now it is him or the neighbors- I made dinner last night and went all out with Hamburger Helper. When is the last time anyone actually made that? But... what is it about box crappy meals and my children actually eating them? To be a kid and crave the cheap stuff!

Who drives? Drive? That means you have to go somewhere. He does.

Who is more stubborn? Tyse. He is the most stubborn person in the world I think! I don't think Kent or I are either particularly stubborn- we have our moments, but not enough to say one or the other.

Who kissed who first? Kent kissed me. He still thinks he was so smooth over this one. I guess they need the boost once in a while, so why kill it?

Who asked who out first? Kent asked me out and then didn't plan anything- just came and got me and went for the spur of the moment planning. But it was great!

Who proposed? Kent did. It was wonderful and very long awaited and very romantic!

Who has more friends? I think that Kent is probably more "friendly" and outgoing to people- he definitely talks to more people and works his way around a room. I think I keep in touch with more people from the past and focus on the longer term friendships!

Who is more sensitive? Is there a man out there that takes this one? Kent is the antithesis of sensitive. I find it humerous- MOST of the time.

Who has more siblings? I do- 4 to 3

Who wears the pants? Emitt. and the unborn. Mostly the unborn- so does that mean me? Lucky me!

MY ODE TO MY HUSBAND-
I have the best husband in the world. He is trying so hard to fill ALL the roles of our home right now and I am so blessed. For instance- yesterday, he did the following:
got up and got the kids dressed,
fed them,
got them dressed (including changing the NASTIEST diaper imaginable)
spent 10 hours at work,
came home and helped with dinner,
put away the dishes,
cleaned the kitchen,
put emitt to bed,
took Tyse to the library to get some movies and books for me,
put Tyse to bed,
got me my medicine,
helped me upstairs,
gave me a backrub,
trimmed and filed my toenails,(I know- no one really wants to know that, but that is dedication!)
read me scriptures as I wallowed and waited for the tylenol and heating pad to work
and then tried to sleep as I got up 5 times to go to the bathroom, use chapstick, inhale tums, etc.

I LOVE my husband because he does all these things, will probably do the same tonight, and still has a GREAT attitude and asks constantly, "what can i do for you? or what can I get you?" I am truly so blessed to have such a man in my life.

Wonderful Shower!

On saturday a few of my sweet neighbors threw me a baby shower. It was such a nice afternoon. First of all, I hadn't left the house all week, so that in itself was such a great change! Plus- great company, great food, a chance to show off my new sassy haircut; great day! I need to get some of those recipes, girls!
We basically just hung out and people told stories about being parents or about my formative years... oh, college was great! Anyway, here are a few pics from the afternoon.Thanks, Kjersten, Katie, and Shari, for a great afternoon!

A great visual...

Tyse is getting so excited for this baby to come. Every day he asks how much longer. I hate to break to him that we have 5 more weeks to go, because he doesn't think my body can hold the baby that much longer. Just yesterday we had a great little discussion...He keeps lifting up my shirt and saying "Wow, mom, your belly is getting HUGE! That baby better come soon!" with a big emphasis and arm gesture with the huge part. And then yesterday he added, "if the baby doesn't come soon, he is just going to pop right out of your stomach like a big balloon. Just POP! like that". I think he thinks it is like a special effect on power rangers or something- I swear he hasn't seen that halloween movie where the alien pops out of the girl's stomach, but that is the visual I could see running through his head. Boy, the things imagination can do for a mom's self esteem. He is also getting way into the naming game- just yesterday he was sitting on the couch "reading" the baby name book and saying, "how about this one, mom" and then making some nonsense word up. He thought he was pretty grown up. It was pretty funny. I guess that is what we get for just reading him the crazy names out of the book that no one actually names their child. He has a DEFINITE opinion on what we should call the new one- he wants to name him TY. I tried to explain that Ty is a little close to his name- Tyse, but I think that's the appeal. He is alright with a few of the other finalists as well, but sure loves to make faces and complain at others.
Poor Emitt has no idea what is about to happen. I have been trying to help him get used to a baby- we gave him one of Kent's old cabbage patch dolls for christmas and I have been trying to get him to hold it and feed it with a little fake bottle and teach him "baby," but at this point he only calls it "cat". Every stuffed item we have is "cat." Tyse never liked stuffed animals so this obsession of emitt's is a new thing for us. It is so cute! At any rate, we are lucky that he has become quite the daddy's boy as of late. What a sweet little tyrant he is becoming!

Count the blessings!

Can I just say how blessed I feel to live somewhere that it snows? Man, I LOVE the stuff! It makes the couch much more bearable when I can stare out the window and watch the snow fall from the sky! I guess then I am also thankful for windows! Tyse is BEGGING for spring, but I am so happy with the winter and the last snow of the season is always such a downer. In april I start worrying that this may be it... we may not get any more. But for now... enjoy!

TV obsession

Tyse is obsessed with the TV. There is no denying it. I am usually really good about monitoring his tv time and limiting it to certain times and shows- obviously since I have resumed my permanent position on the couch it has increased some. However-I think it is HILLARIOUS the things he chooses to watch. He still loves his PBS shows- Super Why, Wordworld, etc. But what is it about Cyberchase that is intriguing to a 4 year old that has no idea what a fraction is or how to multiply? That is just one of those things. But the wierd things he LOVES to watch? His new favorite show- American Gladiators. He and Kent are a bit obsessed with it. I thought I would use this to our advantage and try to get him to limit is dinner eating time to less than 45 min. by telling him that he needed to eat dinner and we needed to have family home evening before we could watch American Gladiators that started in 45 min. I should have known better. Anything that limits the amount of time he has to do something is completely crippling! It doesn't matter if it is 5 minutes or 5 hours- he cannot function once a time limit is imposed. Anyway, he didn't get to watch Gladiators on monday evening and I have heard about it ever since. His newest fight- Why does it have to be on mondays? Don't they know it is family home evening and there isn't time to eat and do both?
The next new show obsession- the Cosby Show. I guess that comes genetically because I have seen every episode only about a million times and I still like to watch it, but it is funny to see him think it is funny.
And lastly- Deal or NO Deal. He walks around asking me if things are a deal or no deal all week, and when the show is on, he sits on the couch yelling- "EIGHTY FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS! WOW, THATS A LOT OF MONEY. DEAL? DEAL? OR DO YOU NEED MORE?" How corrupt is that? I swear he really is 4 going on 24.

Kent's Birthday

We just celebrated Kent's birthday! It was exciting to get things ready and have Tyse be excited and helping me pick out presents and things for him. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful husband and father for our boys. We had a small family party on the actual day, and then Kent had told me that he really wanted to go snowshoeing. Well, Me and snowshoeing don't really go hand in hand at the moment, so I was able to set up a snowshoeing afternoon with Doug and Dave for the next day while the girls watched the kids at shay's new house. I think he had a great time and now has added snowshoes to his neverending wish list.

Kent has been so busy helping me around the house and working late hours, fixing dinner, doing laundry, taking care of the boys, and all this that he definitely deserved an afternoon away. I wish we could have gone together, but I am sure he had just as good of a time with the boys. I love you, Kent! Happy Birthday!

Sledding with cousins!

The day after christmas our boys (kent included) headed outside with the snow-deprived cousins from southern california to do some sledding. It was so fun to see the little ones all bundled up and sliding down the hills at grandmas- here are some highlights!


Emitt LOVED the snow this time, and he loved sledding as well. The things dads can get away with that moms feel guilty about... is this safe?

Tyse loved the sledding and kept going and going- in every different fashion he could come up with.

Tyse also has a love for snowball fights- I think this one ended in his first ever whitewash. Again, the things dads get away with!

What a great day in the snow!