About The Livingston’s

This blog is about our life. We’re the Livingston family; comprised of Kent, Carol and six wonderful kids ages 4 to 16. We’re an ordinary family – or as ordinary as a family of eight can be – and these are our stories. Visit our blog often to learn about our trials, struggles, adventures, successes and failures, our amazing moments and even some of our greatest disappointments as we embrace the journey of life together. Isn’t life incredible?

A Brief History Lesson

This whole thing started back in 1998 when two young kids (or at least one young kid) decided to jump head first into this crazy experience called marriage.

Invitations were sent, fancy clothes were obtained, meals were planned, and vows were made, and the rest is history, as they say. Life was new and the future was bright.

It was always our intention to have kids. We both wanted several and decided early on that we wanted a minimum of four and a max of six.

We planned carefully for this. For example, we bought six matching 8×10 picture frames when we only had four kids. Before that, we bought six matching stockings when we only had three. We always knew it was a possibility so we planned ahead.

Anyways, we got to work on that process in 2000 and on a bright day in June Carol interrupted my lawn mowing to share the news. For the first of six times in my life, I found out I was going to be a dad.

I still remember the excitement I felt. Our family officially went from two to three in February of 2001, when our first son, Tyler, was born just four days before my 30th birthday.

It was an amazing experience and it’s still amazing today.

After that, you could pretty much count on the Livingston’s to have another kid just about every two years (and many who know us set their clocks by it). Our first daughter, Bailey, was born in May of 2003, and boy number two, Trevin, joined the family in June of 2005.

We moved slightly faster on the next one and welcomed another boy, Caden, in April of 2007. Our fourth son, Ammon, arrived in June of 2009 and although we hadn’t decided we were done, by 2012 we were pretty sure our family was complete.

We sold or gave away, much of our remaining “baby stuff” tossed our diaper genie (which was a glorious day) and wiped our hands of potty training forever.

Or, so we thought.

Much to our surprise, we found out we had another kid in the works in late 2012. And in July of 2013, we welcomed our second daughter, Chloe; kid number six overall.

Honestly, I was not excited when I learned we were expecting again. I had a nice list of reasons why being done having kids was going to be great. I can’t really remember what any of those reasons were – other than no more diapers and potty training – so none of them must have been that important.

But I can tell you that Chloe has brought us overwhelming joy every day of her life. Bottom line, I’m so glad we have her, and of course, I can’t imagine life without her.

Some More Historical Facts

Love & Marriage – Carol and I first met in a church group activity in 1998. I had always hoped that God would put a giant X on the forehead of the girl I was supposed to marry that only I could see. That giant X came in the form of a long grass skirt Carol was using as a wig. It’s a long story but it was part of the silly activity we were having that night. I knew from that moment she was the one for me. We married in November of 1998 after I proposed to her at my family reunion in August in front of my entire family (I figured with so many people there she couldn’t say no).

Are They All Yours? – Carol gave birth to all six of our kids naturally, without any drugs. This is quite amazing for anyone, but if you knew Carol’s general pain tolerance then you would be even more shocked she pulled this off. She still claims to this day that worst part about her birthing experiences was getting the IV. No joke. Somehow she just became Wonder Woman when she had kids.

More About Birth – Back to the drug subject, we had to use a little help (the fertility drug Clomid) for Carol to get pregnant with our first four kids, but the last two happened naturally, with number six being quite a shock.

We are Christian – We are active members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (a.k.a. the Mormons) and strive every day to make Christ the center of our lives.

We Love Baseball – We are a “baseball” family and during our busiest seasons we’ve had five kids playing six different schedules. It’s an important part of our life and it takes up a lot of our time.

Where do we call home? – We live in the state of Washington (not D.C.) in the Pacific Northwest.

How Do We Do It? – Other than always being told that “your hands are full,” or “you must be busy,” people often ask us: “How do you do it?” The simple answer is that we just do. It would be fantastic if we could clone ourselves, but…well, that’s another topic for a completely different blog. In any case, it’s a partnership and we work together to get it all done the best we can. We make mistakes and it doesn’t always go as planned, but we find a way to keep going and enjoy some successes along the way.

Meet the Crew

Kent (I’m Old) – I grew up in Eugene, OR and went to college at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, UT, where I graduated with a degree in Communications/Broadcast Journalism. I’ve been writing professionally ever since with many different stops along the way. I’ve written more than 1,000 pieces of website content covering countless topics in dozens of industries. Sometimes it seems like I practically have a keyboard glued to my hands. I’m passionate about my family, which is why I decided to start blogging about their experiences. I also love sports and I’m very passionate about the Boston Red Sox. Maybe a little TOO passionate…

Carol (Forever Young) – Carol grew up in the state of Washington and she still calls it home today. In fact, she’s only lived in four houses her entire life, all within less than a 5-mile radius. She started her career as a mother at the age of 22 and she has made countless sacrifices for her family ever since. So how does she find time to be a mom while at the same time working as a cook, laundry mat attendant, chauffeur, doctor, psychologist, caregiver, housekeeper, hair stylist, teacher, lifeguard, personal assistant, bodyguard, personal shopper and an event coordinator? Somehow she does it all and still supports her husband at the same time. In her spare time (Lol!) she enjoys working part-time (believe it or not) and she likes Facebook and DoTERRA essential oils.

Tyler 16 – Tyler is currently a junior in high school where he serves as the ASB Secretary. He plays varsity tennis in the fall and varsity baseball in the spring. He is a very talented person, a natural-born leader, and a great all-around kid. He also plays the piano quite well and he loves to play sports with his younger brothers. If he’s not busy with something else you can generally find his face in a book. He enjoys spending time with his friends and he is very helpful and kind.

 

Bailey 14 – Bailey has just started high school and life will never be the same. She loves to craft and spend time making new things. She is an excellent helper, especially with her younger sister who admires her greatly. She excels in school and at the piano. She is very caring and thoughtful and goes out of her way to be kind to others. She’s still willing to play “babies” with her little sister even though she outgrew that years ago. She is our resident mini-mom.

 

Trevin 12 – Trevin is all about sports, especially baseball. He lives and breathes it and if he could be a professional baseball player right now he’d never look back. He does enjoy other things as well, including socializing with his friends, watching sports and playing with his brothers. He loves to kid around and enjoys dishing out good-natured teasing. He loves to eat and he too plays the piano. Most of all, Trevin almost always has a smile on his face, especially when he’s playing baseball.

 

Caden 10 – Caden is in the fifth grade and he too loves to read. He is a thinker, but never mistake him for a “book nerd” (his words). He can also play a good game of baseball, as well as many other sports. Caden plays the piano too (sensing a theme yet?) even though he still doesn’t realize that he likes it. Give it time. Caden does very well in school and is a very obedient and conscientious student. His teachers love him and often say they wish they could have a classroom full of kids like Caden.

 

Ammon 8 – Ammon is now in the third grade and he’s finally starting to enjoy school. He loves to play with his big brothers but they don’t take it easy on him. He started playing the piano this year, just like his siblings. Ammon loves his baby sister even though she took the “baby of the family” title away from him. He likes to swim and play sports and he’s becoming a strong baseball player just like his three older brothers. He’s a sweet kid with a desire to always do what’s right.

 

Chloe 4 – She’s not large, but she’s in charge. Chloe is our shining star. She makes us laugh every day. Although she is only four, she is extremely mature, can carry on some sophisticated conversations and speak as clear as most 7-year-olds. She knows what she wants and she knows how to make her intentions clear. Chloe has a wonderful smile and she loves her big sister most of all. We still get one more year of full-time with Chloe before she starts kindergarten.

 

 

We hope our experiences will help other families and parents because we know that all of us face similar struggles and challenges and that we all want to improve. In fact, one of the main reasons we started this blog was the realization that we are imperfect parents and we need all the help we can get. As we share our life experiences with others we hope to learn from your experiences, your struggles, your successes and your failures so we too can gain valuable insight and become better parents and people. At the same time, we hope our thoughts, experiences, and insights will help you in some way.