It's hard enough to start a new family, but when you mix two families it becomes even harder. Each seperate family has traditions, schedules, inside jokes, and their own groove. Blending those two different lifestyles is no easy task, but it is possible for them to come together and love each other. It is typically harder for girls to remarry then boys, why do you think that? As families get older, the way parents teach their children needs to change and become more fitting to adapt their uprising children t

Being a parent is a huge responsibility. Parents have a bunch of duties like educating their children about the world, teaching them morals and providing for their children. One thing that I really noticed was how important it is to be an example for your children and act how to tell they that they should act. Being a parent is no easy job, it takes a significant amount of work everyday and constant self evaluation. Once you're a parent, always a parent. It's vital for you and your spouse to work together in order to be examples to your children and to not cause any type of opposition.

Money. People claim that's the number one reason for divorce; however, it is in fact just a cover for many couples. The real problem lies deeper, and since there's money problems they blame it on financial issues. Regardless, money can be tricky, especially in marriage. Before marriage, one is most likely used to supporting only themselves or have help from family. Once you start a family, you have to think of others before you buy and very often have to sacrifice your wants for the needs of others in your family, I've seen it numerous times in my own family. That's why creating a budget it so useful. It allots a specific amount to every category and really helps keep you on track. I'm not married or have a family yet, but I created a budget while I'm up here at BYU-I for college and it's been a huge help. My mom testified how much having a budget has helped my family, even though money has always been tight. I know that being smart with our money is important and Heavenly Father doesn't want us to be wasteful what He provides for us.

Communication is a vital part of any and every relationship. It can take a long time to build good communication, but like the cliche says, "Communication is key." I dated an amazing guy for a couple years before he left of his mission. At first, our communication was horrible and although we didn't fight, we didn't have a strong relationship. It took some time, but once we got our communication down, our relationship seemed perfect in every way; everything else fell into place. 

There are going to be stressful times throughout our lives, there's nothing we can do to avoid that. We can control how we react to those stressors though. Instead of letting stress tear our families apart, we can actively use them to pull together. It's cool to look back after stressful events happen to see how you've overcome the challenge and how you've grown from them. 

Call me old fashioned, but I'm a "wait until marriage" type of girl. In today's society it almost seems like a competition to see who can sleep with the most amount of people. What's special about that? What separates any of those from marriage? When you get married, you and your spouse become a union, become one. Sex only deepens that bond and unites each other further. 
Marriage calls for an ultimate type of trust, trust that your spouse will always be there for you, you can depend on each other and that your partner will not have an affair. Keeping yourself for your spouse helps prevent that from happening and will strengthen your marriage because you know both of you have given each other yourself completely. 

It's obvious that blending two different family lives and traditions into one is no easy task. It's vital that as newlyweds, you work out problems that could arise from learning how to live together. They could be anything from adjusting to sleeping with another person in the same bed, to the way you squeeze your toothpaste. While you do this it's important to constantly tell your significant other that you love them so they feel that the problems don't effect your love for them. 
Another thing that I found really interesting is the way children can effect a couple. Happiness in a marriage significantly drops after the first child is born and even more with each one.

One thing that stuck out to me in class was the way that we should start relationships. The way you start it is an indicator of how the relationship will play out. It seems that it's very common in our society to bring in the physical aspect in a relationship way before other vital aspects like trust and respect are established. It's important that everything in a relationship is balanced and moves at the same pace. 
The 3 P's are vital in dating and courtship. Planned, paid for, and paired off. They help keep a relationship solid and when followed can really prepare you for the one you're going to marry. It helps make everyone you date previously become a stepping stone to that final step, the one that you know is better than the others and you can spend eternity with.

I have always been against the typical stereotype housewife. My boyfriend has learned the hard way to not make sexist jokes and well, HE makes ME sandwiches. I've learned from The Proclamation to the World that a wife needs to nurture her children so that's what I'm going to work my hardest to accomplish in every way possible. Because of all the different family situations, it's impossible to fit all families in the mold of certain jobs for certain people; however, I do believe that marriage should be between a man and wife. Let me clarify, I do not have anything against homosexuals, I just believe that marriage has been ordained between only a man and woman by God.

Sometimes I have the tendency to get stuck in the lie that all families are the same. That everybody gets taught the same morals by their families. And that every eight year-old's bedtime was 8:30. (I was shocked when I found out that my eight year-old friend's bedtime was 9:30!). The difference also comes with our cultures and their customs. Studying cultures and contrasting them is fascinating