Primary Program

I wasn't sure what to expect of Carter's very first primary program. I prepared for fear, silliness, and downright naughtiness. I did not prepare for this:
Yep, that is him, SOUND ASLEEP while the rest of the kids are singing! He did a great job, until about halfway through when he fell asleep. I guess he's preparing for the rest of his church career.

Big thanks to Lynn who took the picture from the stand. Thank goodness for a bishop and cousin who knows how much Grandma loves to scrapbook. This is a true "scrapbook moment!"

Houses and Homes

Sometimes you have a moment, and while it is happening, you realize you'll remember it forever. I had that moment yesterday. It wasn't anything dramatic, but I was sweeping out the basement of our new house and Jeff was outside cleaning up the construction mess. Spike was at my mom's and Carter was at primary practice. It reminded me of six years ago when Jeff and I were cleaning up the construction on the house we live in now. What struck me was how different it felt.

When we built our first house, we'd been married two years and had no kids, just Zoiee. Building the house was so exciting. We were grown ups! When I looked at the house I thought about where I'd put pieces of furniture. I wanted everything to look perfect. We were going to have a house, but I don't know if I really thought of it as a home for my family.

Building a home for a family is entirely different. It is fulfilling a primal need that every parent throughout time has worried about, it is providing shelter for your family. I know that the paint on the walls will get nicked and worn. I know the floor will have scratches. But I guess that is okay. Because this time, I care about our home protecting us. I caught myself looking at the heating ducts and praying they'd keep my babies warm on cold nights. I saw the electrical work and hoped it was done correctly so that there was never a fire in our home. I looked at the roof and decided it would keep us dry no matter what nature gave us. I prayed this house would give our family shelter from the storms of life.

When I was a baby, my mom and dad built their home from a kit that came on a semi. They did it all themselves with a one year old in tow. As the years went on and they talked of a new house, my dad was always adamant that he wasn't moving. He had built this house and wasn't leaving. I, of course, thought he was crazy. Then today, I understood. He knew the house. He knew every part of it. He'd built it as a a labor of love to keep his family safe. The house had served him well. How could he abandon it because it showed signs of wear?

I don't know how long we'll be in our Midway home, but I do know this, it will be a home and not just a house.

Help from my Peeps?

I've been on the internet all afternoon, trying to decide what type of washer to buy. I've read reviews, looked at specifications, second guessed everything. When it comes down to it, I guess I don't trust reviews from people I don't know. However, I know my blog friends will never lie and have (unfortunately) LOTS of combined laundry experience. So, I'm throwing it out to you. If you have experience with a front load washer, please send me your advice. I'm looking at the Whirlpool Duet, Bosch 500, and LG. D o you love one of these or hate one? Is there something better? What about steam? Do you have it? Do you need it?

Changes

It seems that no matter how hard we fight it, change is an inevitable part of life. Generally, change terrifies me and I go into it with heels dug in, fighting the whole way. Later, I look back and realize that the change was for the better. My problem with change is that it requires faith, trust and patience. It requires that my stronger, zen-like self, must squash the hysterical woman inside me. I heard a few months ago that faith is a choice. That is, we must choose to be faithful. So, as our family goes through a serious of small and large changes over the next few months, I'm trying very hard to choose faithfulness. Armed with an arsenal of long baths, herbal tea, calming music, exercise, books that are more dramatic than my own life and prayer, I'm beginning the journey. The following is a quick list of some of the changes occuring this week:

1. The season has changed, fall is OVER and winter is here.
2. Apparently Carter grew over the summer. We'll be changing for all new snow clothes.
3. Barack Obama is the new president.
4. Spike is hungry and hasn't thrown up. The change to prevacid seems to be helping!
5.Our new house is almost done. We hope to be changing the ownership of our current home to someone else. Please, won't someone buy it?
6. Jeff has a new office. Oh wait, Jeff has a new job! Jeff is the new Solutions Architect for Prowess Consutling. His old company was bought out the same week that he got a great offer for this position in SLC.

It seems faith does work.


P.S.
So as I'm writing this, I have that stupid song, "cha, cha, cha changes..." in my head. If you don't know it, that makes sense because I only know the dumbest songs ever. If you do know it, then I hope it gets stuck in your head to :)

John McCain

Heard in our car Saturday night:

Carter: "Mom, do you know who the next president of the United States is?"
Me: "No Carter, who?"
Carter: "John McCain is the next president"
Me: "Really? I'm not sure I support John McCain"
Carter: "Well, too bad. I'm a John McCain supporter."

How has this happened? My little Carter has grown up in a house of democrats, and yet at four years old, he's a John McCain supporter? I'm all for letting everyone pick their own politics, but I didn't expect him to pick so early!

How Can Someone so Cute be so Bad?

I had planned to write a post about our vacation today, but Spike just trumped it. I took him out of the bath this morning and put him down for a nap wearing just a diaper. Bad move. He has taken off his diaper a few times before, but it's never been a big mess. Usually, it's just been kind of funny to walk in on a kid with a bare bum in his bed. That said, I should have learned my lesson. I didn't.

I heard him fussing and went in to get him out of his bed. I opened the door and the smell hit me. You guessed it, poop. I quickly assessed the situation, disaster. He'd taken off the perfectly dry, clean diaper. Peed his bed, pooped his bed and then played in it. POOP EVERYWHERE! Everywhere but the diaper that is. I looked at him and screamed, "You didn't!" He looked back at me, pointed at the poo pile and said, "uh oh". Yeah, uh oh.

I thought about taking a picture. Then decided that was disgusting and he would be forever mortified. So, we took another bath and cleaned his room. Spike has now lost "diaper only" privileges and will be wearing a onsie at all times.

Men

Okay, I've been ignoring the tags because I'm pretty boring. But....I am now caving to peer pressure.

The Man Tag!!

A. The rules are posted at the beginning.B. Each Person answers questions about their sweethearts C. At the End of the post, the person then tags people and posts their names; then goes to their blog and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged.Alright people here are the facts and details.

What is your husbands name? Jeffrey G. Drury
How long have you been married? 8 1/2 years
How long did you date? Dated 7 months, engaged 9 months
How old is he? 31
Who eats more sweets? Me
Who said I love you first? Jeff
Who is taller? Jeff would say he is, but I'll call it a draw.
Who can sing the best? Jeff, I have no musical skills.
Who is smarter? I hate to admit it, but Jeff probably is. I hope he doesn't read this blog post.
Who does the laundry? Me. When it gets fully out of control (as in no clean underwear) Jeff pitches in.
Who pays the bills? Jeff. We both know what money we have and spend, but he does the juggling.
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Jeff, I take the left, closest to the door and screaming kids.
Who mows the lawn?Jeff, I've never, ever mowed a lawn. Lame huh?
Who cooks dinner? Usually I do, but Jeff is a great cook when he wants to. When he can see I'm on the edge, he handles it.
Who drives? Jeff. He loves to drive. I hate to drive and am terrible at it.
Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Usually Jeff. He hates to fight and apologizes even when we both know it was my fault.
Who kissed who first? Jeff, he couldn't resist me ;)
Who asked who out first? Jeff, but we didn't really start going out until after a camping trip in Mexico.
Who wears the pants? I act like I do, but at the end of the day I can't make decisions. Jeff is a lot more rational than I am.

PS--the picture of Jeff was taken at some bbq place in North Carolina. I made Jeff take it and he hates it. Seriously, it is hilarious to me . I don't know why.