Drury life in 2009...

We've made a few changes to our life. We decide that I would stay home again. I am loving it! I have really missed doing the little things that I didn't get to do when I was going to work at 7 a.m. such as get my girls ready for school, play all day with Bryson, and not having to stay up until midnight cleaning since I always had so much to do. My church calling keeps me pretty busy and I have lots of meetings. It's nice to take care of some of those things in the day while the girls are at school so I'm not dragging the children all of the place in the evenings. Dennis kept them a lot, but he was working until 7 p.m. since he waited for the girls to get on the bus before going to work. Their school doesn't start until 9:15 so that's why he had to work so late. It's nice just being able to have dinner together again.Dennis is usually home before 5 p.m. I feel like I am doing a little less juggling, but life is still keeping me on my toes. I am babysitting a 4 month old named Carter. He is a sweet baby boy. Bryson does pretty well with him, but of course he has his jealous moments. It's a great situation since Carter doesn't usually come until 10 a.m. and I'm off every other Friday. On the Friday he does come, but doesn't arrive until around noon. He usually leaves around 5 p.m. so we still have family time without too much commotion.

Time to Update Again...

I was waiting to blog until I got our pictures from Chelle from our AZ trip. We made a disk while we were in AZ off of her camera because that's the one we used the most. Needless to say the disk didn't copy correctly and now we're just waiting for Michelle. HINT! HINT! I guess her memory card is a little messed up and she's having difficulties copying the pictures. I've decided to skip a little history and start with what I have. I'll just update those later. I'm not just being a slacker. OK, maybe a little.

Our Temple Day

We had a wonderful day at the Arizona Temple. Dennis received his endowments at 9 a.m. and we were sealed for time and all eternity at noon today. It was so amazing. It was nice being in the temple with Dennis. I've been looking forward to this day for a long time.

Why am I up at 4 a.m.?

We are leaving for AZ in 4 hours and I'm awake typing on my blog at 4 a.m. What is my problem???? I think I'm just excited and can't wind down enough to go back to sleep. We were running a little late for bedtime so by the time I got Bryson a bath and in bed it was already 9 p.m. I fell asleep next to his crib. We put a twin mattress on the floor because he continually wanted to be in our bed. I couldn't do it anymore. If we let him cry in his bed, he would make himself vomit from crying so much. It was just too sad and not worth having to clean up the mess. He did it on two different occasions and I felt too guilty. Needless to say we needed to get some sleep and he needed to be back in the crib. We got tired of laying on the floor so we just put the extra mattress on his floor. Now we can be comfortable until he goes to sleep. I know he's spoiled, but what can I say. Sorry for the long story. Back to why I am up. I fell asleep next to the crib until 12:45 a.m. I can't believe Dennis didn't come wake me up, but he was busy finishing up some work that didn't get done today. He's been so busy at work lately. We're excited for a vacation. We actually had most of the packing done, but I still had all of the odds and ends to finish. I'm going to try to go get an hour or two nap, but we have to leave for the airport by 7:00 a.m. so we'll see. We are just so excited to see everyone and have our special day on Saturday. We hope each of you have a very Merry Christmas. Sorry I didn't get cards out this year. Maybe next year I'll do better.

More Cute Pictures from December 13th

Visiting Santa

Sat., 12/13 we took the kids to visit Santa. Shelby enjoyed getting Rudolph painted on her face. Bryson loved riding the train and getting a balloon (He wasn't happy to talk to Santa), and Alyssa enjoyed talking to Santa and drinking hot chocolate. We had a good afternoon.

Thanksgiving 2008

We have so much to be thankful for this year. We are enduring many trials, but our blessings far outweigh our challenges. Life has been extremely busy since I have gone back to work out of the home. In June I was also called to be the Enrichment Counselor in Relief Society, and Dennis works with the Cub Scouts on Tuesday evenings, Alyssa is in Brownies and has Achievement night twice a month, Shelby is in dance, and Bryson just keeps us on our toes. We are so grateful for the people we serve with in the church. They have brought such hope and strength to our family. I am very thankful for our ward family. I still get homesick from time to time. My family knew how much I wanted to get sealed in the Mesa temple. We feel so grateful for your help in getting us there. Also Steph and Mom sent us such beautiful roses for Thanksgiving. That was the best surprise. It's amazing how flowers can really brighten your day, especially when they are unexpected. Dennis' parents have also helped us in many ways throughout our marriage. We are truly blessed to have such thoughtful parents. All of you are wonderful grandparents to our children as well. We appreciate it every day. It's been great having Dennis' parents here, although it makes me miss my family even more. We had the flowers sitting on the dinner table and Dennis said we wouldn't have room for the food if they were there. I told him they represented all of the aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents that we loved and we couldn't be with today. Sorry guys you did get booted to the mantle. Turkey and fixings are very important too. We are very grateful for our children that help us lighten up and enjoy life even when it's challenging. I am especially thankful for Dennis taking the leap of faith and listening to the missionaries over a year ago. November 17, 2007 will always be a special day in our family. Dennis' baptism was the beginning of a new life for our family. I love you so much. I am grateful to all of our family and friends that have put up with us throughout the years. I treasure the times we have spent together even more now that we are in Charlotte. We hope each of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We will be leaving for AZ on December 17th. We will be getting sealed on December 20th. We can't wait!