Birthday Q+A

dress + hat + rings

Today’s my birthday! I always love doing birthday blog posts, so I thought it would be fun to answer my most asked questions! You’ll find out how old I am in the q+a, but I’ve honestly loved my thirties. I’ve never been more confident than I am now. I feel content with myself and all that I’ve accomplished so I’m really excited for this next year of my life!

BIRTHDAY QUESTIONS + ANSWERS

: WHERE WERE YOU BORN?

St. George, Utah.

: HOW OLD ARE YOU? WHAT ABOUT JOE?

Today I’m 39 years old! Joe is turning 40 in 2 weeks.

: ARE YOU LDS?

Yes! We are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. You can learn more about our church here.

: WHAT’S SOMETHING YOU’VE LEARNED ABOUT YOURSELF?

I’ve learned to trust my gut and trust my own instinct. Everyone is going to have an opinion and not everyone is going to agree with you, so you’ve got to just trust your own intuition.

: WHY ARE YOU MOVING INTO A RENTAL? 

We just wanted to be careful and didn’t want to end up with 2 house payments. We wanted the money from selling the house to go right into our new build so we didn’t have to take out as much for our loan. It’s just the safer option for us.

: DO YOU HAVE VENEERS?

Yes, I do! I’ve written a whole blog post on this so I’ll link it here.

: WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF?

My favorite thing about myself is that I’m a go-getter! I don’t ever stop. I’m very ambitious. I want to do everything and I want to do it really well. But that can also be a bad thing, haha.

: HOW DO YOU GIVE EACH OF YOUR KIDS ALONE TIME/ MAKE THEM FEEL SPECIAL?

This can be really hard. I have seasons in my life where I feel like I do this really well and seasons that I don’t. We usually do mom dates, but life is crazy right now. I’ve learned that it’s quality over quantity when it comes to this. If you can only give each of your kids 5 minutes of your undivided attention each day, that’s better than 20 minutes of here and there, being on your phone and trying to talk to them. I really try to soak up our driving time and ask my older kids how their day was. With the 2 younger kids, I don’t do that as much because I feel like I’m with them all day long. I have a hard time with Hayden, so that is partly why we are doing homeschool with her.

: HOW DID YOU AND JOE MEET?

I wrote a whole blog post about our story! Here’s the link.

: BEST PARENTING TIP?

Take all the advice and read all the books, but pick what works for you and leave everything else on the wayside. That’s my biggest tip. Listen to it all, take it all in, and then only take what you feel is best for you + your family. That’s been the biggest thing for me.

: WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST INSECURITY?

I’d have to say that my biggest insecurity is that I doubt myself. I never feel like I’m doing good enough. Am I doing this well enough? Am I being a good enough mom for my kids? My doubts mostly revolve around motherhood and if I’m giving my people what they need, are they going to remember this, etc…

: DO YOU HAVE A DISCOUNT CODE FOR STANLEY?

Yes! My code is KAILEE20.

: WHEN WILL YOU BREAK GROUND FOR YOUR NEW HOUSE?

Hopefully soon. We’ve had lots of delays with the closing of our home and our loan. So we are hoping in the next 2 weeks! (all prayers needed)

: HOW WILL YOUR NEW BUILD SIMPLIFY THE WAY YOU LIVE?

It’s basically the same size as our last house, but the layout is different. All the kids and all the rooms are on the main floor, so the basement will be for entertainment. In our old house, when Hunter and Hudson had their friends over, they wanted to be loud downstairs and that’s where the little kids slept, so we are wanting a separate area for entertainment and friends. But the 2 boys and the 2 younger girls will still share rooms, so not much is changing besides the layout.

: GOALS FOR NEXT YEAR?

This year my goal has been to be present and that will always be my goal! To be present where I’m at and to fully enjoy things in the moment.

: WHERE IS YOUR WHITE APPLE WATCH BAND FROM?

It’s from Amazon, here is the link.

: HOW DO YOU KEEP PLUGGED INTO YOUR ADULT SIDE WITH KIDS?

Honestly, I have to schedule it in. I have to schedule dates with Joe, alone time, workout time, and make time for myself. I think it’s really healthy for my kids to see that I put myself and Joe as a priority.

: HOW DO YOU STAY ORGANIZED? DO YOU USE A PAPER PLANNER?

I keep everything on a google calendar. I’ve used a paper planner before but I don’t always carry it with me, so it gets complicated when schedules change and everything. I have an open notes tab, so anything that is going through my head during the day I just throw it on this note, it’s like a to-do list. Then at the end of the night, I go through those notes and schedule them into my google calendar. Google calendar is a game changer!

: HAVE YOU EVER HAD BOTOX ON YOUR FOREHEAD?

Yes! I go to Elase Medical Spa and I get it in my forehead and in my crow’s feet which is my eye area. I get it about 2-3 times a year.

: ARE YOU EXCITED OR SAD ABOUT SCHOOL STARTING BACK UP?

I love routine and schedules, but I’m one of those moms that loves to have my kids home. So I’m actually really sad. Even with the move and how crazy it’s been, I would still rather have my kids home. In a perfect world, I could homeschool all my kids and have them home with me all the time!

: WHAT’S ON YOUR BIRTHDAY WISH LIST?

My ONLY birthday wish is to break ground for our new build!

: WHAT IS THE #1 LIFE LESSON YOU HAVE LEARNED?

The #1 life lesson I’ve learned in the past few years is to take time for yourself! I’ve learned that self-care is not selfish. If you aren’t taking care of yourself, and your mind isn’t in the right place, you can’t take care of your kids to the best of your ability. I totally notice when I’m not saying my prayers, writing in my gratitude journal, meditating, working out, and taking time for me, I don’t have as much patience with my kids. I’m a better mom when I do things for myself. So that is something that I’ve really tried to implement in the last few years.

: FAVORITE SLC RESTAURANT?

Ruth’s Chris Steak House is our favorite!

: WHAT IS YOUR SKINCARE REGIMEN?

I did a whole blog post about my morning skincare routine here. I’ve used Tula for a long time along with a mixture of other favorites. My Tula code is KAILEE.

: BEST PLACE TO TAKE A KID ON A 1 ON 1 TRIP?

If you didn’t know, Joe and I take each kid on a solo trip when they turn 12. I have a whole blog post written about it here. We let the kids choose where they want to go in the US, besides Hawaii. We went to California for Hunter and Hudson chose Boston! Both trips were so fun! We just let the kids pick, so I think you can make anything what you want it to be.

: FAVORITE PERFUME?

It’s called Valentino and I get it from Nordstrom. Here’s the link for it.

: ARE YOU GOING TO ORGANIZE YOUR NEW HOME OR ARE YOU GOING TO HIRE A PROFESSIONAL?

I’m going to do it. I feel like I’ve learned enough over the last 9 houses we’ve lived in, about what works and what systems need to be in place for our kids. There are some rooms and some jobs that you can hire a professional if it’s something you can’t tackle yourself. I might hire someone to organize our garage because the garage is not my favorite thing to organize.

: WHY ARE YOU BUILDING A NEW HOUSE?

We truly loved our old house, but we want to have more privacy. No neighbors behind us, smaller schools for the kids, and be closer to Joe’s work.

: WHAT IS ONE PLACE YOU WANT TO VISIT THAT YOU HAVE NEVER BEEN BEFORE?

Definitely Bora Bora! I’m not a big exotic traveler, but Bora Bora is one place I dream of going because staying in the overwater bungalows would be amazing!

: DO YOU HAVE DEBT?

No, we don’t. Just the debt from our house. Right after medical school, we put as much money as we could into paying off those medical school loans. We’ve always lived within our means and don’t buy anything we can’t afford! (besides school, cars and home) Even when we were first married, if we wanted a new couch, we saved up until we knew we could buy it all at once. If we did put something on a credit card, we made sure to pay our credit card off in full every month.

: WILL THERE BE A POOL AT YOUR NEW BUILD?

Yes! It will be the exact same size and exact same sport pool!

: WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS FOR RETIREMENT?

We would love to have a ton of land with nobody by us except family. I would love a milking cow and some chickens so that we can live off our own land! Not necessarily have a full blown farm, but be able to have milk and eggs so that we can make our own cheese, butter, etc. Our family’s dream is to have us all live on the same 15-20 acres and share the duties! Joe has a retirement fund so that gets taken out of his check every month.

. . .

That wraps up my birthday Q+A! Thank you to everyone who put in questions. Should we make this a tradition?! Cheers to year 39!