Whitney already posted the first official photo of our house...
But, after talking to some people about the house I realized that the floor plans were not accurate to our home. I found some new plans on-line that show some of the options that we're getting. Upstairs, there aren't too many changes. Just the optional master bath.
Downstairs is going to include the optional study off the entry and an island in the kitchen.
We still need to finalize some of our selections for tile, but the deal is just about complete. We are very ready for the building to begin.
Summer has started school and is already back in the learning mode. We thought with her shyness that she would have a hard time going to a new class, but she has adjusted very well. What we put her through with all the moving is horrible, but it may have done her some good. Having gone through FOUR schools in just two grades has helped her learn how to meet other kids, find friends, and adjust to new teachers quickly. We're very proud of her.
Jace saw his and Summer's new school yesterday and didn't want to leave after Whitney was done talking to the staff about registering him there. If we lived closer to our new house we could have registered Summer there and had her start there instead of her school in Garland. So, unfortunately, she'll be in her fifth school starting second grade. Jace is ready for school. We're trying to find some good classes, sports programs, or activities that we can get him and Summer involved in. Hopefully we'll find something soon. I think that Whitney could use the break from her four year-old clown/funny-man.
I've always enjoyed keeping an eye on politics, and have found Mitt Romney's entrance into the arena as an interesting and enjoyable twist to the regular story. I seem to agree with he ideas and stance on most issues and like that he has been successful as a venture capitalist and businessman. To make sure that I don't agree with him due to the halo effect I took the Match-o-Matic poll to see who I aligned myself closest to on some of the major issues of this election. My results surprised me a little, but not too much. Here are my closest matches below:
Take the poll and let me know in the comments who you were matched up with!
I've neved liked doing these games, but I like reading them every once in a while when it's someone close to me. Whitney tagged me to do it so here goes...
5 things I was doing ten years ago:
1. Going to BYU as a Freshman
2. Preparing for my mission
3. Buying my first pair of Doc Martens
4. Working at the Smith Field House as a Janitor
5. Tinkering around on my 486 running Windows 3.11
5 things on my to-do list today:
1. Get the kids in the bath
2. Go over the finances
3. Work on my resume
4. Read some of the last Harry Potter book
5. Get ready for an early morning
5 Snacks I enjoy:
1. Chocolate!
2. Haagen-Daz Sticky Toffee Pudding Ice Cream
3. Brownie bottom sundaes with hot fudge
4. Granola bars
5. Chips and Salsa (and just about anything else Mexican)
5 things I would do if I were a billionare:
1. Build a geeky home full of gadgets
2. Build some homes for all of my family on the same street
3. Build a reunion home for all us to hang out at
4. Get a some vehicles (some sensible cars, a motorcycle or two, some ATV's, a boat....)
5. Pay my tithing (that should be first, huh?)
3 of my bad habits
1. Procrastinating
2. Thinking about somethings else while someone is talking to me
3. Smiling for no reason at all
5 places I have lived:
1. Midland, TX
2. Provo, UT
3. Panama
4. Biloxi, MS
5. Colorado Springs, CO
5 jobs I've had:
1. Donut Maker at BYU
2. Go-Cart guy at Putt-Putt
3. Telemarketer
4. Working at the family gas station
5. Landscaper
5 things people probably don't know about me:
1. I speak Spanish (or used to)
2. I wish I was geekier
3. I wake up 5-10 times every night
4. I have to eat cereal every morning
5. I'm almost a pro-bowler on the Wii
It's been cold these last couple of days and we got 3-4 inches of snow today with more to come tonight.
The kids are getting so big. When you're around them everyday you notice the little accomplishments that indicate progression and learning - a new word, skill, smile, thought. It's amazing to be a part of something so monumental. It seems that Psychologists always want people to go back to their childhood, and I suppose it's because of how much it affects their lives. I love revisiting my childhood memories because of the wonderful parents I had.
Mom and Dad have told me to enjoy the kids while they're young because they grow up so fast. I have to stand back a little to see how much they have grown. Ella is sitting up, rolling over, clapping, spitting bubbles, and trying to gab. Cade is still clumsy as ever, but he's really talking and communicating and loving every sport there is. Cade is learning to be a little ham for his sister...
Jace is a goof. He is really growing up and can't wait to get older.
The fastest, strongest, smartest, and best athlete lives in our house. How lucky for us! He's been playing Disney's Cars on the Wii with me and loves to try and
beat me (of course I don't let him win - someone has to knock that ego down a little).
Summer is growing into such a beautiful little girl. Her real father asked for some of her pictures today and we sent him some after talking to Summer about it. She seemed to really understand it all and wanted to know when she was going to meet him. It made me wonder how long it will be until she doesn't look at me the same way she does now. I'm cherishing every moment with her, because growing up isn't always easy for the parents either.
Jessica is such an awesome addition to our family. I feel so lucky knowing that Chad's last days on this earth were with such an amazing girl. We still miss Chad so much in our family, and it is amazing to see Jessica's strength. Although it's hard to sum up in few words how special Chad is, Jessica did a great job in this BYU Idaho clip.
Our shop at work has been moving offices this week and we've been bouncing back between computers. For the most part, the move has been smooth and we've been able to set up our new workstations and computers the way that we have been wanting to. One issue our office has is getting all of our guys to use the more secure SSH versus Telnet for our Switch/Router management. Telnet is getting disabled on every SSH capable device so I've been part of the push to use PuTTY.
PuTTY's weakness is in the fact that it stores all of its settings and saved sessions in the registry. Migrating the registry settings for PuTTY from computer to computer isn't an option for our shop due to the lack of Admin priviledges on our boxes (I know, that's a whole other story). So we've moved to PortaPuTTY. PortaPuTTY stores all its settings in local file. Sessions can be saved on one computer, stored on the network, and then imported on to any computer/laptop. Extremely cool if you have a ton of devices to manage (using "saved sessions" allows you to save each device name with an IP address) and don't want to set up PuTTY more than once.
I don't really remember having a blankie when I was a kid. I don't think that any of us kids had something that we carried around, slept with, or used for comfort. Some how, Jace and Cade are blankie junkies. If they don't get their blankie fix at night time - or after some emotional showdown with a sibling - they have some major withdrawal fits.
Jace claims that he's a big boy now... He says he's ready to drop his habit and go cold turkey on his favorite blankie.
