Friday - 3/12
We left Denver this morning on the flight to Miami where we are staying the night and heading to Haiti Tomorrow. I think this is going to be a great trip and a good perspective adjustment. Everyone on the team has expressed that the have had a tough week leading up to the trip with a lot of challenges. It is encouraging to know that it wasn't just me. It has been interesting so far as people have asked us what we are going to be doing while in Haiti and everyone thinks that what we're doing is great, but still to want to keep Haiti at arms length and not be affected by it personally. Maybe because it isn't something that we can directly relate to on a daily basis makes it easier to overlook.
I'm excited to get there and to get started with things. I'm a little nervous about the trip, but at the same time curious to see how I will be affected when we get there and see some of the things we have talked about like the extreme poverty, sickness, injured and devastation of the area after the earthquake. Still I believe this is an important trip and is what God wants me to do. I want to be fully engaged this week and try not to be distracted or be unaffected by the things we'll see and the people we encounter. I believe God wants to teach me some important things through this experience and I'm excited to learn what they are.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Christmas 2009
Ok, so i'm WAY behind schedule posting about Christmas, but I'm going to try to get caught up...
Christmas was really nice...we stayed home just us for Christmas and had a really nice relaxing time. I decided that i think i like having Christmas on Friday the best...take Christmas Eve off, make it a 4 day weekend and it really seems longer. We had snow a few days before Christmas, so it wasn't snowing on Christmas day, but we still had pretty substantial snow on the ground. We took Blake out through the neighborhood in his little sled (that we found at a garage sale this summer...for $3!). He REALLY likes the snow...the funny thing is he doesn't seem to get cold. Maybe it's just that he can't 'tell' us that he is cold. Either way, he seems to like it a lot.
We made it out to The Cheesecake Factory on Christmas Eve for a family dinner together. We decided we want to work on getting some yearly traditions together for the Christmas holidays that we and the kids can look forward to each year. So, we're taking suggestions. If anyone has any that they have done with their families that has been fun, we'd love to hear about them. We have some friends that do a big seafood dinner Christmas Eve and others that open gifts that night and so on. We're just trying to pin down a few unique fun ones that we can adopt. Let us know if you have any good ones :)
Kona and Blake were in charge of opening gifts. It was pretty entertaining to watch. Kona learned a couple of years ago how to open gifts and so she taught Blake what it was all about. Didn't take long for him to catch on and pretty soon they were both tearing the presents apart. The hardest part was explaning which ones were theirs. We still wanted to open our gifts :) They had a great time. Blake's second Christmas was even better than the first. It's pretty fun to see him get excited about it. I'm sure next year will be even better!
Grammy and Grampy & Rachel Bankson came out the week after Christmas to visit and also to watch Blake for us for a week while we escaped the cold and made a trip out to Hawaii. We had a really nice time visiting with them for a little time on either end of the trip. It was a lot of fun to see them. It's nice to see family during the holidays and even though it wasn't on Christmas we still enjoyed getting to spend some time with them. I had talked with a few clients and friends the weeks leading up to Christmas and in talking about what everyone was doing for the holidays they had mentioned family coming or going to visit and most of them would make a comment about how 'well, it's the holiday's and that's just what we have to do' making it sound like it was a painful experience. I'm glad that we don't feel that way about it and always look forward to spending time with family. It's unfortunate that people see it that way i think. As a side note, we went bowling while they were here, just for fun one day, and had some of the best bowling ever. Collectively we were able to break 300 as a team of 3...i consider that pretty good :) AND, i had my best game EVER throwing 5 strikes in a row (i was in a groove) and breaking 200. Not too shabby. Makes me wonder if i need to look into the bowling club :) Not really...maybe in like 20 years.
Christmas was really nice...we stayed home just us for Christmas and had a really nice relaxing time. I decided that i think i like having Christmas on Friday the best...take Christmas Eve off, make it a 4 day weekend and it really seems longer. We had snow a few days before Christmas, so it wasn't snowing on Christmas day, but we still had pretty substantial snow on the ground. We took Blake out through the neighborhood in his little sled (that we found at a garage sale this summer...for $3!). He REALLY likes the snow...the funny thing is he doesn't seem to get cold. Maybe it's just that he can't 'tell' us that he is cold. Either way, he seems to like it a lot.
We made it out to The Cheesecake Factory on Christmas Eve for a family dinner together. We decided we want to work on getting some yearly traditions together for the Christmas holidays that we and the kids can look forward to each year. So, we're taking suggestions. If anyone has any that they have done with their families that has been fun, we'd love to hear about them. We have some friends that do a big seafood dinner Christmas Eve and others that open gifts that night and so on. We're just trying to pin down a few unique fun ones that we can adopt. Let us know if you have any good ones :)
Kona and Blake were in charge of opening gifts. It was pretty entertaining to watch. Kona learned a couple of years ago how to open gifts and so she taught Blake what it was all about. Didn't take long for him to catch on and pretty soon they were both tearing the presents apart. The hardest part was explaning which ones were theirs. We still wanted to open our gifts :) They had a great time. Blake's second Christmas was even better than the first. It's pretty fun to see him get excited about it. I'm sure next year will be even better!
Grammy and Grampy & Rachel Bankson came out the week after Christmas to visit and also to watch Blake for us for a week while we escaped the cold and made a trip out to Hawaii. We had a really nice time visiting with them for a little time on either end of the trip. It was a lot of fun to see them. It's nice to see family during the holidays and even though it wasn't on Christmas we still enjoyed getting to spend some time with them. I had talked with a few clients and friends the weeks leading up to Christmas and in talking about what everyone was doing for the holidays they had mentioned family coming or going to visit and most of them would make a comment about how 'well, it's the holiday's and that's just what we have to do' making it sound like it was a painful experience. I'm glad that we don't feel that way about it and always look forward to spending time with family. It's unfortunate that people see it that way i think. As a side note, we went bowling while they were here, just for fun one day, and had some of the best bowling ever. Collectively we were able to break 300 as a team of 3...i consider that pretty good :) AND, i had my best game EVER throwing 5 strikes in a row (i was in a groove) and breaking 200. Not too shabby. Makes me wonder if i need to look into the bowling club :) Not really...maybe in like 20 years.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
It's a Girl!!!
This week was the 20 week ultrasound and it's a girl! We're pretty excited. We'll start things off with a boy and girl. Not too shabby. Guess we don't have to worry about not having any girls :) The ultrasound went great...everything looked good, all measurements were right and the due date is the same (May 6, 2010). We'll see if she comes on her due date as Blake did. We can't wait. We were excited to have Abby's grandparents and cousin in town for the ultrasound and to visit with this last week. We had a lot of fun and it's always nice to visit with family. We're glad they came.
It's been a busy few weeks leading up to Christmas...we've been shopping, getting our tree, putting lights up and chasing Blake around. It's been a lot of fun, but the holidays seem to be coming up very quickly and will probably be over before we know it. Blake is excited and thinks the Christmas tree is a lot of fun. He keeps pulling ornaments off of it and trying to crawl behind it. But otherwise hasn't got into too much trouble with it.
We have had the chance to go to a Christmas parade in Boulder a few weeks back. That was cold but fun. We had a cold streak there for a few weeks but since have warmed up again and it's been really nice the last week or so. We've been going to the various Christmas parties for this time of the year and those have been a lot of fun. I've never been a big fan of white elephant gift exchanges (just seems like 'here have my junk and you can have mine'), but this year they seemed a little better than usual. Hard to believe Christmas is less than a week away now, but I think we're ready. Blake is excited to see Grammy and Grampy and Rachel the week after Christmas and so are we.
We've been thinking the last week or so about the year as we wrote the Christmas letter and as the year comes to an end and it has made us think about the blessings that we have in each other as family and how God provides. It has been a crazy year in many ways, but overall good. We have had the opportunity to go on some adventures this year and have learned a lot as parents (still have a long way to go). We really value our friendships and although we miss seeing our family we really enjoy the times we have got to spend with them this year and hopefully all the more next year.
Merry Christmas!
It's been a busy few weeks leading up to Christmas...we've been shopping, getting our tree, putting lights up and chasing Blake around. It's been a lot of fun, but the holidays seem to be coming up very quickly and will probably be over before we know it. Blake is excited and thinks the Christmas tree is a lot of fun. He keeps pulling ornaments off of it and trying to crawl behind it. But otherwise hasn't got into too much trouble with it.
We have had the chance to go to a Christmas parade in Boulder a few weeks back. That was cold but fun. We had a cold streak there for a few weeks but since have warmed up again and it's been really nice the last week or so. We've been going to the various Christmas parties for this time of the year and those have been a lot of fun. I've never been a big fan of white elephant gift exchanges (just seems like 'here have my junk and you can have mine'), but this year they seemed a little better than usual. Hard to believe Christmas is less than a week away now, but I think we're ready. Blake is excited to see Grammy and Grampy and Rachel the week after Christmas and so are we.
We've been thinking the last week or so about the year as we wrote the Christmas letter and as the year comes to an end and it has made us think about the blessings that we have in each other as family and how God provides. It has been a crazy year in many ways, but overall good. We have had the opportunity to go on some adventures this year and have learned a lot as parents (still have a long way to go). We really value our friendships and although we miss seeing our family we really enjoy the times we have got to spend with them this year and hopefully all the more next year.
Merry Christmas!
Sunday, November 15, 2009
November
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| From 2009-11-07 |
Guess i have a little catching up to do...just realized i hadn't posted to the blog in a few weeks. Well, we have been pretty busy these last few weeks getting ready for the Christmas season already. Seems like it gets earlier every year, but that's alright. When the snow falls a few times and they start playing Christmas music and serving the Christmas drinks at Starbucks you start getting excited for Christmas. Just the same, it is still a ways off so we're trying not to jump the gun too early.
Blake is keeping us busy and is good entertainment. He likes to run and tackle us if we're sitting on the floor now, so that's fun. Only problem is he thinks it is fun to charge at you head first and his head is harder than ours. He is also dancing, climbing and running everywhere. It's fun but keeps you moving :) He'd really like to be able to do some talking because he wants to say something sometimes, but just can't get it out. We did some sign language with him, but he really just doesn't like to do it. Every once in a while he'll do something, but most of the time he just points and shrieks....unless there are doughnuts involved...then he's very willing to use sign language. So, either more doughnuts or forget the sign language...well that's kind of a no-brainer....doughnuts of course :) j/k
We just got the second storm of the season this weekend...about a foot. I think it is going to be pretty snowy this year. Two storms that have been pretty substantial in November...not normal. We may just be making up for the lack of snow last year...i think we had one substantial storm (more than a foot) last year. Guess we'll see.
We're getting pretty excited for baby #2 coming in the spring. Still a ways off at this point, so not much other than a thought right now, but excting nonetheless. Seems to be in the water again right now b/c a lot of our friends are having kids too.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Fall
You know fall has arrived when you drive down the street and see pumpkins smashed all over the place, we're starting to wonder when we are going to get the first substantial snow and the boat goes into storage for the season. Just the other day we were out for a walk and the smell of fall was in the air and leaves were everywhere...pretty sweet. We're never too sure about the change of seasons when they first start because it seems like we just got used to the season and it changes, but then you get all the great colors of fall and the first snow is always exciting.
Last weekend we went out to the pumpkin patch with Blake and wandered through the fields of pumpkins, ran around on the hay bails and checked out the farm animals. Blake thought it was pretty awesome. It was pretty fun...i don't think i've been to a big pumpkin patch quite this large before...it was fun (even it it did take us like 30 minutes to get out of there because the pumpkin patch traffic was so crazy...dang).
We spent a nice day downtown at REI and walking around the park down there. It was a beautiful day...people were swimming in the river down there. Blake would have liked to and probably would have if we had let him :)
We have Blake already for Halloween...and he went to a costume birthday party for his buddies first birthday a few weeks ago. Only problem is he is growing so fast we're not sure he'll fit in the costume by Halloween, but at least he had a chance to wear it. He also got a couple treats from grammy for Halloween and was pretty excited about what he found in the box.
Last weekend we went out to the pumpkin patch with Blake and wandered through the fields of pumpkins, ran around on the hay bails and checked out the farm animals. Blake thought it was pretty awesome. It was pretty fun...i don't think i've been to a big pumpkin patch quite this large before...it was fun (even it it did take us like 30 minutes to get out of there because the pumpkin patch traffic was so crazy...dang).
We spent a nice day downtown at REI and walking around the park down there. It was a beautiful day...people were swimming in the river down there. Blake would have liked to and probably would have if we had let him :)
We have Blake already for Halloween...and he went to a costume birthday party for his buddies first birthday a few weeks ago. Only problem is he is growing so fast we're not sure he'll fit in the costume by Halloween, but at least he had a chance to wear it. He also got a couple treats from grammy for Halloween and was pretty excited about what he found in the box.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Lake Powell
Over this last weekend we were able to squeeze in a quick trip to Lake Powell with a few of the neighbors on our block. They had been talking to us about going out there since last summer, but our schedules hadn't worked until now. It's a pretty cool place. It's like being in a river in the grand canyon (which i suppose it is...just not quite to Grand Canyon). We met up with some of Abby's cousins there and it was Blake's first camping trip. So, we tackled his first camping trip in a place we hadn't been before...probably not a good idea in most cases, but it worked out well. We made our way down the river about 10 miles on Saturday to Annie's Canyon where we spent lunch in a cove of giant rocks. It's hard to imagine the size of them without seeing it, but it's pretty impressive. We met up with the neighbors on our way back...they came a little after us with some friends of there's.
Camping went good. Blake did great actually. We put him in dirty clothes and let him run around at the campsite. He thought it was pretty awesome. He would site down and just play in the dirt, then he would run around and try to eat rocks...good times.
Sunday we went and explored a canyon about 10 miles up the river where there's a hike known as the slot. Basically you boat in as far as you can, then you anchor down and hike the rest of the way and the canyon gets narrower and narrower the further you go. Pretty soon it is only like 4 feet wide and straight up for at least 50 feet. Pretty cool.
We got in some good end of the season wakeboarding and feel like we had a good end to the season. I think we're ready for the next season to start. Time to shut it down for the season and get ready for the next.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Blake turns 1!
Wow, one year already...seems like this last year has just flown by. It's been a ton of fun with the little guy. It's been really cool to see him learn things and grow. Abby did a great job of getting his birthday plans together and it went off without a hitch. We had his great grandparents, a few of the grandparents, an aunt and a couple cousins that came out from Utah and California and then a handful of friends from around here....a few being like 40. Crazy. It was a good time though, we did a surfer themed party and had the kids take pictures on the surfboard in front of a beach scene. It was a good time.
Blake thoroughly enjoyed his birthday cake and made a huge mess eating it. Pretty fun to watch. Presents must be big on the 1st birthday, it looked like Christmas....he did just fine....only problem is he didn't really understand the opening gifts part. One of the best gifts Blake got was a rocking chair that Grampy made for him. It's just his size and has the Broncos logo on it. Only 1 and already has his team.
It was a really fun weekend with all the family and friends. Monday Abby, Blake, Tony and me made it out to the lake for a couple hours in the afternoon. It was a little cloudy/hazy from the smoke for the CA wildfires, so it wasn't REALLY hot, but there was nobody at the lake. It was a great day. It tied for second best day of the summer. Glassy and warm water. Would have tied for best day of the summer if the sun had been out. Pretty fun.
Well, now we're into September and getting ready to wind down for the summer. Blake is running around and we can hardly keep up. We're looking forward to seeing what he learns next.
At dinner a few nights ago he was getting a kick out of us slapping sugar packets on the table. You have to watch this video it'll make you smile...
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