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This weekend Meg and I went to the local hardware store and happened to get there when they had Santa there and a little craft for the kids to do. At first I really didn't want to intrupt my mission to make a Christmas ornament and wait in line to see santa, but I figured that you only live once and she is only a kid once so I just needed to relax and let her do her thing. I am glad I did because she probably will not see another santa as we don't typically search one out. She has not been feeling very well this week and mom has had to take her to the doctor twice and she has had to miss 2 days of pre-school. The Dr. said she might have RSV, whatever that is, something viral in her lungs. So she has felt a little down the last few days and the medicine that she has to take (through a nebulizer) makes her kinda hyper and buzzed. Not much fun around christmas time but hopefully her (and everyone else in the family) will be 100% healthy in a week or so.

I hope your December is going well and that you are not getting bogged down in the busyness of life this time of year.

I guess life has been busy for the past few weeks and blogging has taken a back seat. I thought about writing several times and then just don't know what to write about. Since the last time I wrote my son has turned one year old. I can't believe that just a few months ago he was an infant and could not do much other than look at you. He now plays with toys, fights with his sister, eats mostly regular food and does the things most kids his age do. He is a joy to have around.

We went up in the mountains last week to cut our Christmas tree, some friends of ours went along with us to find the perfect tree. You realize if you haven't done that in a while how much pruning it must take to create the perfect tree. I guess perfect in our 2006 eyes. The tree we got is beautiful just not a full as the "normal" trees you get. So I guess the deep thought for today is that you have to be pruned to be full and perfect...as long as most of us have been alive we should all be full and perfect I guess since Jesus said the same thing 2000 years ago.

God is everywhere we just sometimes have to sit down and blog to find him.

I have been listening to some talk radio lately when I am not listening to something else...I also recently started listening to country music again, but that is a whole other topic. One of the people I like to listen to is Dennis Prager (www.pragerradio.com) he has a Happiness hour every Friday where he and other people that call in just talk about being happy. I think I always knew it but being reminded of a truth is always good and that is that Happiness is a choice. It is not something that you are when you feel like it. Something does not effect you to make you happy, you chose to be happy because it. If you are not happy it is because you (and I) have not chosen to be happy. It takes work and practice to keep yourself happy too.
With being a parent it seems that our kids absorb our happiness too just like they absorb our crabbyness, or worry, or whatever state we are in at the time. Just try it next time you are in your car with the kids and everyone is complaining and whining, sing a happy song or tell a joke or tickle someone and see how it changes the whole mood.
In working with people or dealing with people your happiness effects how they treat you and how you treat them. I think we would receive many more blessings in life if we all chose to be happy, and even when we don't feel like it :).

I have always wanted to be able to write song lyrics but just don't seem to have the gift to do it. If I could have written a song about my wife this one would have been very close to what I would have written.

Artist: Paisley Brad
Song: She's Everything
Album: Time Well Wasted
"She's Everything"

She's a yellow pair of running shoes
A holey pair of jeans
She looks great in cheap sunglasses
She looks great in anything
She's I want a piece of chocolate
Take me to a movie
She's I can't find a thing to wear
Now and then she's moody

She's a Saturn with a sunroof
With her brown hair a-blowing
She's a soft place to land
And a good feeling knowing
She's a warm conversation
That I wouldn't miss for nothing
She's a fighter when she's mad
And she's a lover when she's loving

And she's everything I ever wanted
And everything I need
I talk about her, I go on and on and on
'Cause she's everything to me

She's a Saturday out on the town
And a church girl on Sunday
She's a cross around her neck
And a cuss word 'cause its Monday
She's a bubble bath and candles
Baby come and kiss me
She's a one glass of wine
And she's feeling kinda tipsy

She's the giver I wish I could be
And the stealer of the covers
She's a picture in my wallet
Of my unborn children's mother
She's the hand that I'm holding
When I'm on my knees and praying
She's the answer to my prayer
And she's the song that I'm playing

She's the voice I love to hear
Someday when I'm ninety
She's that wooden rocking chair
I want rocking right beside me
Everyday that passes
I only love her more
Yeah, she's the one
That I'd lay down my own life for

And she's everything I ever wanted
And everything I need
She's everything to me
Yeah she's everything to me

Everything I ever wanted
And everything I need
She's everything to me

If you liked the lyrics go to http://www.cmt.com/loaded/ and search for Brad Paisley; She's Everything and you can hear the song and see the video.

Until Next time!

My pastor recently had an earth-shattering revelation that one has to be friendly to people if one wants to have friends. Sounds simple enough but is often difficult to do when people are not so friendly with you. When the person at the cash register has had a hard day and takes it out on you, or the neighbor next door doesn't see to like you for some reason, it is difficult to take the high road and be friendly anyway.

I think sometimes I am perceived as mean or unapproachable or unfriendly because many times I just don't think about saying hello or remember to smile at people. I usually don't have too much to say anyway and that is usually perceived as unfriendliness as well. A friend of mine had the revelation after going through a particularly hard time with people that "perception is reality." What a person perceives about you is their reality, right or wrong, that is who they think you are. We will conjure up all sorts of ideas and stories to make the person fit our perception. If In my position if people have the wrong perception of me it makes my job all the more difficult and ultimately I probably will not have the job as someone who is better with people will fill my shoes. I encourage you today to smile at everyone you come in contact with, say hello and say their name and try not to have bad perceptions of people, think of them as good and see if your attitude toward them changes.

Thanks for stopping by!

My how time flies! I guess I've been a big slacker at writing the last couple weeks. Things have been busy although I'm not sure what I've been doing...Funny how that happens. My wife and I are even not seeing each other much which is very unusual for us. I guess sometimes maybe its good it makes you remember how much you like them and how much fun they are to be around! So the summary of my last 2-3 weeks: Working on our laundry room (installing cabinets and a sink, oh and also finishing the cabinets since we were short on $$); Pronghon hunting (yes much like an Antelope and most of the time miss-named Antelope when they are actually Pronghorn); Cutting up the Pronghorn meat and making various things with it; and other than my normal work and kids that's about it. It does not sound like much when you write it down but has taken up quite a bit of time.

I know I need to be a better manager at work and certainly have not arrived yet. So I have been listening to a book again for the third time in the last couple years called "How to Win Friends and Influence People" I'm sure many of you have heard of it. It was written before most of our parents were born but still applies to the dealings with people today. I would encourage everyone to read or listen to it. I listen to it in pieces on my way to and from work. Basically I think I would be a better person if I applied the principles of the book. The principles are all from the Bible but sometimes when I hear them in a different light it allows me to apply them to my situations easier. Maybe I'll write more about my dealings with people lately later.

Thank you all for stopping by it is nice to hear from you.

It is Fall in the Colorado mountains and getting to be that way in the lower elevations. I was able to spend a few days last week up near Fairplay hunting. There is a reason it is called hunting rather than anything else because you do much more hunting them then you do harvesting! I think this is my fouth year archery hunting and although I don't spend a lot of time at it each year, usually 3 weekends or so, I still have yet to get anything. At first I thought that I had the wrong tag as I would always see Elk while hunging Deer and Deer while hunting Elk, well I get both tags now and still have had no luck.

I decided while up there that I would just try to enjoy the beauty of the day and take some pictures whenever something caught my eye. I'm glad I did as I would really have nothing to show for my trip if I didn't.

Thanks everyone for your comments and for stopping by it is nice to hear from you all. !

Well I guess I am not as young as I used to be. For some reason it is taking me a lot longer to recover from my run last weekend than expected. I must have injured myself or something because I can not get my back and hip to feel the same since the run. I am hoping that with some more time I will be back to normal. I still feel like I am 22 and for some reason 10 years has made recovery a little slower. I see my kids get "hurt" and in five minutes they are back to running jumping and as long as the bandaid stays on they are fine. I suppose they may hurt a little still but seem to notice it less than I would with the same injury.

Thanks everyone for visiting my blog I am hoping that someday it will amount to something other than my random thoughts and happenings. I hope you have a good weekend.

So we made it! The 10 of us ran 170 some miles from Idaho Springs to Glenwood Springs, and although we didn't finish in any sort of glorious time we had fun. The weather was terrible... someone joked that the only other thing that we could have delt with is lightening. Well, that and sunshine! It rained almost the entire time, snowed, and was cold and wet as a result. I think after a couple days of rest almost everyone has said that they would do it again too. It is strange that while you are in the middle of it I told myself that it is not worth it and didnt want to do it again but after some rest it sounds like a good idea again.

I am going to take a week or so off from training and especially running to try and give my body a rest and hopefully restore everything back to normal.
Thanks for stopping by!

Short week this week...with Labor Day off and being off on Friday it makes for having to do a week worth of stuff in three days! I suppose it wouldn't have to be that way but it seems like that is what life has thrown me for this week.

On Friday the reason I am off is that I am doing a relay run from Idaho Springs to Glenwood Springs (CO). There are 10 of us doing the relay along with other support staff and voluneers on our team. The relay is to support Outward Bound. You can find out more information at this link if you are interested. It has been fairly easy for me to train because I have been working on Triathlons all summer, hopefully it is easy in the race!

So I am new to this whole Blogging thing and actually got interested in it through my cousin. I am not sure what the blog is going to be about or how often I am going to be able to post. I hope that in some way it will serve to help me and hopefully others in our journey of life. I can't say that I am the best writer and only hope that I can have some inspired words on occation. I welcome any comments or suggestions and hope that those of you who visit will get a small picture into my life that you have not seen before.
Thanks for stopping by!.