On a lighter note...

My friend did this husband post on her blog and I thought it was cute, so I'm stealing it from her. Thanks Chelsea! :)

What is his name? goes by Ben

How long have you been married? It will be 9 years next month! We're no longer newlyweds, I guess!

How long did you date? We met August of 1997 and had mutual friends but didn't start dating until June of 1998. We had our first kiss at the beginning of July and were engaged by the end of July! So we didn't seem to date very long but we knew each other well! :)

How old is he? He'll be 33 next month. He robbed the cradle with lil' ol' me.

Who eats more? Definitely him. He eats everything I make and never complains, which is very nice! He'll even "offer" to finish what's on the girls' plates -- sometimes before they're even done! :)

Who said I love you first? Man, I should really know this. I would guess that I said it first because I'm more verbal with my "I love you" but maybe I should ask if he remembers. Yeah right! :)

Who is taller? He is! 6'2". I'm 5'7.5" and I think I'm tall until I give him a hug and he towers over me!

Who sings better? I am a choir/musical/sing-all-the-time kind of girl and he's a "sing along with my 80's hair band or hard rock music" kind of guy. He would say I sing better but I think I just do it more. And in public. :)

Who is smarter? He would say he is. :) He thinks he's right about everything and he usually is but I still try to make him be humble. :) He respects me and thinks I'm brilliant about lots of things. But if we're talking about historical or scientific facts or playing Trivial Pursuit, he is ALWAYS right. Argh!!!

Whose temper is worse? His. It's not as bad as it used to be thankfully (I'm such a good influence!) but he gets really upset about things really fast! But he also calms down quickly too. Anyone who knows him but doesn't know him that well would never believe he isn't always calm and laidback. :)

Who does the laundry? I do. It is very hard to keep it all done all the time in this growing family but he is very sweet about asking if his certain shirt or pants or whatever will be clean for him to wear the next day. I really appreciate that!

Who does the dishes? I do. He can do them and would be fine helping with things but I like stuff done my way, so I kindly ask him to leave it to me. He likes to stack everything on the counter in piles (he's a bit OCD), even though I'm just about to load the dishwasher. Just move outta the way!!! :)

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? If we're laying in bed, he is to my right. If you're looking at our bed, I'm on the right. :)

Who pays the bills? I do. And it causes me great anxiety when he says, "What?! I thought we had 'x' number of dollars left?" But whenever I kindly offer to let him take over, he says, "No, I trust you and you're doing a great job." :) I love taking care of the bills when we have enough money to pay them all and save some.

Who mows the lawn? Ben does but he hates it. I actually like planting flowers but it's really hard to do yard work with the kids. I vow to do better next year!

Who cooks dinner? I do most of the time. Sometimes he'll offer to make quesadillas or some other specialty of his and I love that!

Who drives when you are together? He thinks he's the best driver on the road and really can't stand to let me drive. Sometimes I insist though!

Who is more stubborn? Definitely him.

Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Probably him. It's hard for both of us! :)

Whose parents do you see the most? Probably his since they are only 1 hour away but my mom visits pretty often, so that might be a tie! :)

Who proposed? Um... we were kind of just discussing marriage and realized we both wanted to marry the other. Then we announced to our friends that we were engaged! But he did get down on one knee to give me my ring a month later on my birthday! :)

Who is more sensitive? Definitely me!

Who has more friends? I do. He doesn't need friends and social interaction the same way that I do!

Who has more siblings? He's one of 5 kids and I have one great brother. Ben wins this one.

Who wears the pants in the family? I think we both do. I kind of just do what needs to be done and take care of a lot, with regard to the family and our home, but I defer to "Dad" in matters that I think he should be involved in and I think he appreciates that. We are a good team.

How to forget yourself

Is my life hard? Sometimes. Am I frustrated by things in my life? Often. Do I like to have a pity party for myself? Every once in a while. But the cure for ALL of that is service. I've been told that before and it is very true. The last few weeks have been so amazing. I've been doing what I can and joining with my friends in trying to raise money for our friend Courtney who is battling leukemia, while her sweet husband is taking care of their crew at home (with some family and friends helping of course). Things have really come together so nicely and in the last week alone, there was a blood drive, garage sale, bake sale, booth at the town's annual celebration selling t-shirts, cookbooks, and tons of other stuff, and the general collection of donations through canisters in businesses throughout the community. The outpouring of love and support for our dear friend is just amazing. I ordered 50 cookbooks to be printed and they are all gone! I'm going to order more tomorrow to be sold at the garage sale coming up on this Saturday. A leader of our church said recently that a ward (our local congregation) should be like a family. "What happens to one, happens to all." I think our ward has truly embodied that statement. I've also decided that life is too short to NOT let your friends know how much you care for them and how grateful you are for them BEFORE they are enduring a scary disease and you have no opportunity to talk to them for over a month! So all of you who are reading this and are my friends, I APPRECIATE YOUR FRIENDSHIP! :)

If anyone out there in blogland would like to help out a truly awesome lady, we are still selling the t-shirts for $15 or the cookbooks for $10. My mom volunteered her time to make the cookbook (type it, format it, etc.) and a local printer gave us a nice discount to show their support for Courtney too. They turned out SO great and there are a lot of great recipes in there! Quick and easy, which I love! Just post a comment or e-mail me if you would like one. They make great Christmas gifts too! :)

As I was helping sell the cookbooks at the booth yesterday, a man came walking by with his family and my friend Amy and I started talking to him and telling him why we were there. He was sympathetic but wasn't interested in buying our things. He offered some money and said he'd just like to donate. That was so nice. But as he was walking away, Courtney's husband, Todd, and her 4 little ones walked up to the booth and I told the man, "Oh, this is actually Courtney's family right here." He walked over to Todd and started talking to him and about 15 minutes later the man came back over to me and with tears in his eyes, he slid me an even larger bill than before and walked away quickly before I could see him cry. I think it hit a little too close to home when he realized this could be his wife and children going through this. There were a lot of extremely generous people that didn't know her and others whose children go to school with Courtney's and they just weren't sure what else to do to help. The PTA also held their own bake sale for her. She has affected a lot of lives.

So anyway, I am grateful for great friends and I am grateful for service!

For anyone that wants to help a friend

Hey all. Here is the official "Courtney's Angels" t-shirt to raise money for my friend Courtney and her family. My friend had the great idea and we brought it to fruition with several people's talents. The silhouette is supposed to be comparable to "Charlie's Angels," only the girls are wielding a baby, a vacuum, and a casserole dish for helping Courtney. :) Click on the pic to see it close up! If you'd like to buy one as a donation for Courtney, the price is $15 and you can contact Amy at amynpennington@yahoo.com. Thanks!

Yet Another High School Musical Fan!

J received a birthday card from her cousins that played a song from High School Musical when you open it. Late at night when the older sisters are in bed, N plays with her favorite toy!!! Check out her music video!