Wet-Willy Wonder

"Date them until you hate them" Every semester, I seem to have a roommate who wants to spend all of their time with their boyfriend. This makes it so that I don't have as much of a relationship with them and they don't have a relationship with any of the other girls in our apartment. I understand that there is an understanding that when you love a person you want to spend all of your time with them, but this comes at a price. In my observations which coincides with what Brother Williams taught about how people who do this, seem to not go on dates. They do homework together, watch movies, and maybe cook dinner together but they don't go out on dates as often. Dates are important because it helps the couple come closer to one another without spending all of their time together. When you spend every possible moment together, you may get annoyed with them and feel like you have no space anymore. In order to help couples avoid these kinds of situations, it's imp...

Everyone loooooves talking about dating, but how many people actually date. Sometimes its crazy to me when I see beautiful girls who tell me that they have never been on a date or they have been on one or two. Before this lesson, I was very pessimistic about dating and boys in general. My roommate and I swore off boys because we were both not getting any dates and the ones that we did go on were not good. Prior to swearing off boys, whenever I was asked on a date, I never said no because I know that rejection really hits your self esteem, but I wasn't asked on many. My second semester of college, my roommate would get so many dates that she did't even have time for a lot of them! That was discouraging to me because I went on a total of two dates that semester. One at the very beginning and one the week before finals. I felt left out all the time and it was really hard for me to deal with. I was jealous and confused. I began to doubt my self-worth, attractiveness and I began som...

This week in class we learned about cultures and how they shape families and family roles. The definition of a culture is the beliefs and attitudes of a social group.  I think that it is interesting that even in very traditional families there are cultures that have been passed down from generation to generation. For example, in my family, abuse was just a part of family life. There were a lot of problems that were caused by the abuse and it was passed down until my grandparents decided that they were going to end that cycle. That is just one example of the endless different cultures around the world. Cultures shape who we are as people. Without culture, we would all be the same. Without it we would all just be cookie cutters. Something that I think are good things that my family did was Sunday dinners, and camping. Every Sunday, almost without fail, we would always have the family eat together with missionaries often. It is a good thing to come together, talk about our week, wh...

So this week I learned a lot of interesting things about how families interact and how to help family relationships by just observing their interactions and so forth. Something that I hadn't ever really thought of before was family rules. These are unspoken rules about how a certain family functions. Whether it be to talk to your dad after dinner about something you want because he's typically happier after he had something to eat, or don't bring up that event that happened seven years ago to mom or she will talk your head off. These are the unspoken rules that every family has. It really is true. Children and other family members learn by observing and by trial and error about how to get the best experiences out of their family relationships. It is interesting that children can pick up on these unspoken rules at a very young age these rules can make it into a good family system or a dysfunctional one. Another thing that I thought was really interesting was the differ...

Thinking about some of the decisions couples have to make when they are married is how many kids they want to have. When I watched a documentary about the declining fertility and birth rates and people were interviewed about this subject a lot of people said that they think that one or two children is the perfect amount. While some people said that they came from big families and enjoyed always having someone to be around. There is no rule that defines a golden number of children you should have in order to be part of a perfect family. The number of children you have is up to you and your spouse. We should remember what the Lord told Adam and Eve when they first arrived to the Garden of Eden, "be fruitful, multiply and replenish the earth" and modern day leaders have said that this specific commandment should still be followed if it physically possible (Genesis 1:28).  Children are so important to the Lord and to his plan. When we have children, we begin to feel the love ...

As you may be able to tell, I have never blogged before. I thought that this would be an easy thing, but when you're not very creative, like me, it's a little tough. Besides that, I should probably introduce myself before I go off on some sort of tangent... My name is Ashley Clawson. I like brownies,  Dr. Pepper and a proud supporter of singing your favorite song at the top of your lungs and dancing as a cure for most things in life.  I'm studying Marriage and Family at Brigham Young University-Idaho. My goal is to be a marriage and family therapist. I have two younger siblings who are type one diabetic, a dad who is bald, and a mom who is deaf. My family is cause for some interesting stories. (From left) Lulu, our favorite family friend, my sister Emma, my dad, my mom, me and my brother Luke.  This photo is a bit outdated, but it's the best one we all have together. Just imagine my younger brother a lot taller. We all love each other, but we also fight...