First Day of School

First Day of School.

As tradition would have it, I get to sleep in, wake up with the kids, and go with Jen to take them to school. This year hit me a little harder than those in the past. Austin is about two months away from being 13 and he is right in the throws of middle school. The Taylor that used to be my little guy is growing up like a weed right before my eyes. Then there is my little princess. WHAT she is going to school this year and it ain't something called preschool. I can't believe daddy's girl is grown up enough to be out on her own at school. I don't care that it is only half days. She was supposed to wait until she was at least 18 or somewhere close. Take a real close look at the picture. I can't be old enough to have 3 kids and have them all in school also. Where did the time go. I am so proud of them and look forward to the challenges they will over come and the things they will do, but for this second right now I am saddened that they are growing up so fast...

The Great Outdoors

Jen was out of town this weekend so I thought what better way to spend it than taking the boys up to see some of God's finest creation. I feel so at ease and such a peace when I am outdoors and love to share the experience watching my boys see something for the first time or accomplish some task they did think they could. Backpacking pushing you to limits you never thought you could do. The boys are growing up so quickly but these are memories made that I will not soon forget and I hope they don't either.

The picture on the left is Middle Rainbow lake which we stayed at the second night. The fishing was okay we didn't catch a lot of fish but Jim caught a fatty and I caught one that was pretty decent for a high mountain lake. Yes they were both kept and fried up and were so tasty.

This picture is Austin hanging from a tree. He had a fetish at a very young age with ropes and tying stuff up and making really long ropes tying several together. This has not changed and now rather than pulling stuff on the ground he is rapelling himself from trees and rocks as he did on this trip.

The picture at left is Taylor and Lowman digging rocks out of the ground to build a fire ring. They have started this new tradition helping Jim and I get our fire (or what they like to call the adult fire) going and then they proceed to build and start there own fire. It is pretty cool because they go through all the precautions. Making sure that the ground is dug up a little so that only dirt is exposed and then forming a ring with rocks. And they very best part it kept them very busy.

The below is of Jim and Lowman (our backpacking partners) Austin, Taylor and I right before throwing our packs on our shoulders and making the trek from the backwoods back to the vehicle and down the mountain for home. It was a great trip.

I wore some cheap Keen type water shoes most of Friday evening and then all day while fishing on Saturday and I paid for it. Sorry for somewhat nasty picture.

God is GOOOOD!

I have been taking some heat from a few members of the family about my ability to consistently post. Two reasons come to mind as to why. The first is our dog. Now that she sleeps upstairs my daily ritual of being on the computer before going to work is gone. The second and biggest reason my lack of creativity. How can I come up with things to say everyday. Well to keep with the theme of Church tomorrow I thought I would share a few things about why God is good in my life right now.

1. I have gotten back into a daily routine of reading God's word before I go to work, it was with His help that this has happened because it is difficult to get up and spend time in His word when I have to be at work by 7

2. I am married to an amazing woman, the love of my life, my best friend, who some how always finds it in her heart to forgive me when I do or say stupid stuff, 11 and half years baby and going strong

3. God has given me three amazing kids, they are so fun and I love to be with them, He gave us quite the spectrum of personalities which can make it difficult to raise some times, but just shows how creative our God is

4. He has called us to an amazing Church that has a visionof love for His people and provided us with a ministry opportunity to help high school kids grow as well as ourselves

5. He has blessed us with an amazing home and allowed us to get in during an exploding market that has allowed us to use the home as an investment vehicle also

6. I am back in the gym.

7. He has provided in ways I never thought possible which has put us in a position to be debt free in the next year

God is good.

Opportunity

I love working in the Youth Group at Church. I have 2 reasons. The less important of the two is my own selfish reasons. Youth group helps me stay active and young. The more important reason is to be used by God in ways I never thought possible and to be possibly the only positive influence in these students lives. God is truly remarkable in how he can use what we think is the littlest most insignificant thing we have to offer to change or reach someone. Our youth group is so blessed that we have a church that fully supports it in anything and everything we do. One thing we have the ability to do is take a ski trip every year. It is pretty cool because we get to go to some pretty cool places. This year we are going to Snow Basin. See picture below of a view from the top. This trip allows kids in the youth group to invite any and all of their friends to join us. This is huge because it gives the adults and church a way to bridge the gap between the world and what they think of church. Who thought Christians could have fun. Well news flash for you we do have a blast. It is an amazing life as you live for the Lord. I am so excited about this trip. Not only because we get to do some amazing skiing but we are going to have an opportunity to meet kids we have never met and be able to show them the love that Jesus has for them. Please be praying for us. First for a safe trip, second that those God desires to be there will be, and finally that they will see Jesus through the friend that brought them and everyone else they meet.

Blue Man Group here we come!!!!

Tonight is the Blue Man Group show at the Idaho Center. Jen and I saw them in Vegas a couple years back and they were amazing. I got an email about 3 months ago that they were coming to town and had to go. The tickets were cheaper here than what we paid in Vegas. We just had to go and will be taking both the boys with us as well. We have great seats in the 8th row. Should be a blast. The only down fall is that it starts at 7:30 and probably won't end until 10 or so, but it will definitely be worth it. If you ever get a chance to see them pay the money it is well worth it.

Look MOM no training wheels!!!!

I have been trying to get the bikes out of the garage and started for several weeks now. The boys bikes took a little trying but started up the first day I tried. Mine on the other hand was quite a bit more difficult. I have had it out on several different occasions trying to get it started with no luck. I tried the electric start, kicking, jumping it off my truck. Nothing would do the trick. I thought today might be the day and so I got it out and used jumper cables to hopefully charge it enough to get it started. That didn't work. Finally after messing with some things I jumped back on it to give it one more kick to see if that would work. The sun was shinning on me today. It started and stayed running. I didn't know what to do nor did I have a clue what I did to get it going. While I was doing this Austin came out and wanted to start his also and with starting it of course comes riding. Not soon thereafter Taylor comes tearing into the drive way on his bicycle from a friends house. He said he was hungry and actually did eat something but my hunch is that he heard the roar of the bikes and didn't want to get left out.

My plan all winter was to get his training wheels off so he could start practicing without them before the heart of the riding season hit. Sounded like a pretty good time to do it. Since he hadn't been riding for awhile I told him and Austin to go to the backyard to ride for a little bit. When I finally got out there my lawn where the turned around was well let's just say it was aerated. This is what it looked like. It doesn't nearly do it justice.

I figured I better get Taylor's training wheels off quickly before my lawn was gone since I knew it was him that was doing it. I thought once they were off he might be a little reluctant to ride and may need a little help. Boy was I wrong. He is a little slower now than he was, but once he gets comfortable I know it won't be long before I am eating his dust.

Finally!

The last 2 weeks have been extremely long. We had a development team from Malaysia that came in on the 13th for 2 weeks of training on a new system we are implementing in May. That in itself was enough. The first week they were here the earliest I got home from work was 6 at that ws only once. The kids got sick that week also. Between the kids being sick and myself being run down from the week before I got sick on Wednesday and have been ever since. I missed 2 and half days of training. Not looking forward to trying to figure out how to make that up. Not looking forward to the hundreds of emails in my inbox either.

I want so bad to enjoy the weekend and I keep getting off the couch to try and do something and then go sit back down somewhere to rest. Being sick SUCKS! I am completely movie watched out. I think I have watched like 4 or 5 a day so 15 total yeah that is more tha enough. The weather outside is so inviting but yet I am still confined to the house for now. I am hoping tomorrow I am doing much better so I can go to church and enjoy the last part of the weekend before going back to work.