Hello Fall!

     I can't believe it's been nearly a month since I've posted anything on here!  I know that's kind of a repeated comment anymore for me but I just can't seem to find the time that I once had.  I guess that could be chalked up to the fact that we've once again had an amazing summer!  Early on in the year Kelli and I made a mental list of all the fun stuff we wanted to try and do and I think we did nearly all of it!  We even got a few house projects done along the way:)  So as we enter into fall officially and I am getting ready to pack my hunting bag to join Jill and Ryan for an elk hunt, I can't help but think about all the fun we had this summer and I can't wait to see what next summer will bring!

                                               Hanging out with the little man

                                              Splash pad with the nuggets

                                 Doggie swim day(aka: Duchess's favorite day ever!)

                                              Biking the Hiawatha Trail

                                         Spokane Symphony concert in the park

     This was just a sampling of all the fun things we did this summer but it gives you the idea:)  We have been blessed to live in an area of the country that sees all four seasons and as a result of that we thoroughly enjoy every opportunity each season brings with it.  If you don't pack in as much outdoor fun as possible in the summer than you can bet you will be regretting it when there's snow on the ground!  Fall is probably the toughest season for me because it seems like it is the shortest.  We are smack dab in the middle of some of the best golfing weather of the year, elk season is in full swing, waterfowl season is just around the corner, fall hatches are happening as I type which brings some of the best fly-fishing of the year, and the leaves are about to change color making us want to go for long walks and hikes taking in all the beauty.  All of this happens in just a couple very short months!  SO I find myself in the fall coming up with an elaborate mental plan of attack to be able to enjoy as much of these as possible, it resembles a stock market ticker inside my head.  Golf, fish, hunt, walk, fish, walk, golf, fish, hunt, walk, golf, hunt, fish........

     Yet even with this constant ticker tape of activities rolling through my head, fall is still my favorite season of the year.  There's something magical about watching the grasses and the trees prepare themselves for a deep sleep, and something refreshing about waking up to a chill in the air.  Fall reminds me that we need to keep our attention on the current day we are living and not the 10 day forecast!  The weather can change so dramatically in the fall that you have no choice but to take every advantage of the nice weather while you have it!  I look forward to fall for many reasons, even though it can be challenging to fit in all that I want to do, it's still my favorite time of year!  I can only hope that in the next few weeks I can compile even more good photos to share on here of all the fun we have had:)  

Remember, live each and every day to the fullest, no matter what season you are in!

What a weekend!

     This past weekend is one we won't soon forget!  It flew by in a flash but man was it fun, one of the funniest weekends of the summer, and we didn't even leave the South Hill!  It all started with a round of golf with dad and a couple of coworkers on Friday afternoon in perfect weather!  I told dad I love this time of year as the weather is perfect for golfing, I probably play more golf in September and October than I do all summer.  When the golf was over Kelli and I went to a potluck desert game night and social that was held for an adoption agency(that's another story for a different time:), and it was held at a church on the south hill that we've been to a few times.  There was a great group of people there and we had a really fun time playing Scategories and sampling just about every desert there!

     Saturday brought with it a date night with our niece Tatum!  Jill was out of town running her second half marathon of the year so Kelli and I decided it would be a perfect weekend to babysit T for a night.  The last outdoor movie of the season at the Shop in the Perry district was Frozen and unless you've been under a rock most of the year you understand how popular that movie is with kids.  So Ryan dropped T off for our date around 5 and we went down to Perry Street Pizza for dinner, followed by some time in the park, then the movie.  Of course we spoiled the crap out of her, that's our duties as godparents, so she had some ice cream, popcorn, candy, and face paint, all in one night!!  As the movie drew to a close Tatum started to get cold so I held her in my arms and she fell asleep before it was over.  As I carried her back to the car while Kelli lugged all of our chairs, I could only imagine how much fun she had!  

     

     We didn't get home until 11 so we quickly got ready for bed and hit the sack.  Tatum was really excited to sleep in a "real person bed" cause as she put it, she likes to squirm around while she sleeps:).  The next morning we got up around 7, got ready for the day and went to Rockwood Bakery for breakfast, and some more spoiling!  Tatum had a cinnamon roll and a kids mocha, also known as hot chocolate, and once we were good and sugared up we took her back home.  All in all if she had half the fun we had it was a fantastic weekend!  We can't wait for our next date night:)

     Then we capped the weekend off by taking our babies, Kashi and Duchess to the Comstock pool for the annual doggie dip.  The city pools open up to dogs on the last day of the year for what was probably the coolest thing we've ever been involved with for the dogs!  There were so many dogs there the pool resembled the pool in Caddyshack on caddy swim day, including a couple brief evacuations for turdie removal, and every dog there seemed to be in heaven!  Kashi just roamed around the pool trying to meet new friends, and Duchess dove in repeatedly after her tennis ball, each time returning it to my feet with a look of pure joy in her eyes!  I think both of them could have died right then and been completely satisfied, life could not get much better than it was in that moment!

Remember, some of the most memorable times in life come when you least expect it!

Time flies!

     It's hard to believe that 8 years ago today this striking young couple got married!

     In the past eight years we have moved 4 times, been employed by 11 different people, survived one forest fire, more nights on the road for work than at home, made 2 trips to the emergency vet, and coped with male pattern baldness.  That's just a brief recap but as you can see it's been an interesting journey!  One thing has remained a constant throughout all of the years, and that is we're still just a couple of crazy kids who are still madly in love with each other!!

     I don't have the time or the words to express just how much I love this girl, but as we sat down and had our annual viewing of our wedding day video, I was reminded yet again that our love for each other is just as strong today as it was back then!  Kelli asked me a while back if I would go back and change any of it if given the chance and my answer was an easy one, not a chance!  Every little bump in the road life has thrown us has only made us stronger and I can't wait to see how out love will grow in the next 8 years.  No amount of time will ever make me stop feeling like the luckiest man alive!

Remember, no matter how much hair you lose or how many wrinkles you may acquire, love can overcome all of it!

Plans

     Oh how funny life can be when we try to plan it out too!  This week Ryan and I had to fly down to Klamath Falls for work and on the surface it looked like a pretty easy trip.  We were going to get here Monday, meet with all of our growers Tuesday, and fly back to Spokane early Wednesday morning.  We've made this trip enough times to where we have it down to a science, from which rental car company is the most efficient, to first name basis with the front desk staff at the hotel.  After working in this area for two claims seasons now the trips down here tend to feel like dejavu!  That was until this trip!

     In my plan by this time Tuesday night I was supposed to be in my usual hotel pit stop in Medford, waiting for the early morning flight back home.  That all changed Monday afternoon when the Klamath basin was hit with a hail storm.  A bunch of hail claim were opened up as a result and we needed to call in the reinforcements so dad showed up a couple hours ago and Ryan and I changed our flights to tomorrow night.  There is also a huge forest fire near here so all of the rental cars were gone so Ryan and I had to go pick him up, a 3 hour round trip!  Oh, and on the way to pick up dad the basin was getting hit with a second storm!  The fun just kept on coming:)

     So as I sit here getting ready for bed I'm not even thinking about making much of a plan for tomorrow!  I guess today has showed me that it really doesn't matter how much planning and control we think we have, things are always subject to change!  When your plans fall apart like ours did today all that really matters is how you react to the redirection.  You can either gripe about it in a failed attempt to feel sorry for yourself, or you can roll with it and take it in stride.  Today we just went with it and decided we had to make the most of it and just be thankful that our rental car wasn't headed to a firefighters base camp!!  Sometimes it's easy for us all to forget when life throws us a curve ball that things could always be worse!  So we'll go into tomorrow with a tentative plan in place, but open minds to just about anything happening:)

Remember, it's okay to make plans, just make sure you plan for a little bit of change in all of your plans!:)

More good days:)

     Yesterday was Kelli's birthday and after the day we had I can't help but feel like it was mine too!  We started the day off by sleeping in, always a must on your birthday, then kicked it off with croissants at home.  We then went to the mall downtown for a little shopping for the birthday girl followed by a fantastic lunch at a local soup and sandwich shop.  Once we were finished with our great lunch we headed out to Liberty Lake in pursuit of stand up paddle board rentals! We'd done this last year with the Nagles and we fell in love with it!  It's so peacefull and relaxing to be coasting around a lake on one of these boards!  We found the rental place, as well as probably the best kept secret of the greater Spokane area, the Liberty Lake Community Park.  This place is a small sand beach on the far south end of the lake with ample picnic tables, a playground, and a roped off swimming area complete with a floating island dock!  We signed a quick release form and we were off and paddling.  The lake was beautiful with tons of great scenery as it is tucked into a small mountain range, for a minute we both felt like we were back in Montana!  

     The water was the perfect temperature for us to take a quick dip as we paddled our way around the edge of the lake wishing we owned one of the many houses with private beaches!  We called off our great day by having a wonderful dinner downtown.  Overall it was not just a great day for Kelli, it was just simply a great day!  And as I've mentioned on here before that's exactly what we've been trying to do!:)

Remember, if you can't beat the heat, get in the water!:)

Enjoy all the days!

     Last week I had another birthday and many of you would probably agree with me when I say that the older I get the more these days seem to happen!:). Every year my family finds the way to my heart through my love of ice cream cake and other sweets, but it turns out each year there are more candles on these deserts and I just don't think that's very fair:).  Every year I try to convince Kelli that instead of one day of fun that I am entitled to an entire birthday week!  Kelli, being the much wiser half of our team, came up with a far better idea than my birthday week.  She said instead of making your birthday a special day where you attempt to cram in as many fun activities as possible, why not treat EVERY day like your birthday and do something fun every day of the year!!  This of course sounded like a fantastic idea to me!  

     We do a fairly good job of this right now but her point was why wait to do that one special thing on a special day, aren't they all just as special as the rest?  She makes a very valid point, why hold off on taking that trip to the ocean, or playing that really nice golf course, or going out to that fancy dinner, for that one special day each year when you could do it any day of the year!?  None of us have any more of an idea than the next of what will happen from day to day so why not live each one to the fullest?  Kelli is absolutely right when she says that every single day we have on this earth is a special one so we better live them like they are!:)

This newfound philosophy of ours is why a couple days after my birthday I got online and made a tee time for that "once in a lifetime" type golf course!:). I'm going to be in Dallas in a couple weeks for a training so I figured I better take advantage of being in the hometown of my beloved Cowboys by taking in a round of golf on the worlds only NFL themed golf course, Cowboys Golf Club!!  From the replica of five Lombardi trophies to the blue stars in the middle of the fairway, I look forward to this round of golf more than possibly any other round I've ever played in my entire life!  Having my dad join me, a devout Minnesota Vikings fan, will only make the experience that much more enjoyable.  I look forward to this being just one of many special days to come!

Remember, it's too easy to forget just how special each and every day really is, don't lose sight of how lucky we all are just to have another day:)

Accomplishment!

     This past week I had a few things happen that made me think about just how blessed I have been to accomplish what I have in my life!  If you are unfamiliar with my past then that comment may come as a bit surprising, if you know where I've been and what I've done then you completely understand it.  It all started when I shared my story of my alcoholism and the wreck that nearly killed me with a stranger.  As I shared some of the details of the events with her she was brought to tears and said that it was too moving of a story for her to hide her emotions.  Naturally I was in tears by this point, cause I'm a bit of a crier, and as this lady left I began to understand again just how thankful I am that God has given me another chance at this life on Earth!  It has been nearly 12 years since that accident and although I have some lingering physical effects that I continue to deal with, they are very minor and it is easy for me to almost forget about what could have been.
     I have been running now for about five or six years, mostly recreational runs to try to stay in somewhat decent shape because as it turns out my steady diet of anything containing sugar started to slowly catch up with me when I turned 30!  I have run a few 5k's with Jill and a couple fun runs for the Diabetes Association and Susan G. Komen, but nothing longer than Bloomsday here in Spokane which is somewhere around a 10k.  So when Jill proposed earlier this year that we run a half marathon together I initially thought she was nuts!  But I agreed to do one with her as long as we trained together so we could help push each other into condition for it and we signed up for the Missoula Half Marathon.  I figured if I'm going to do one might as well be in the town in which my soul resides:)  So we trained for about three months and ran it yesterday on a beautiful day in a great little city.  While we were running it I was shocked at how "Missoulian" this event is!  At about the 3 mile mark there was a man wearing a tuxedo playing a grand piano in his yard cheering us on, as we crossed the McKlay bridge there were a couple of spectators rooting us on with their husky dogs, by the time we reached the university district there was 90's rap and classical music being played on the same block, and just when I thought we'd witnessed enough cultural commingling for the day at about the 12 mile mark we were passed by a guy signing Katy Perry's Roar as though he was the only one around.  The whole day I was amazed at just how much the entire community of Missoula has fully embraced this event and put their own stamp on it.  As we turned onto Higgins to head over the bridge and cross the finish line the sides of the road were lined with people cheering on strangers, coaxing us to push it to the finish line!  Once across the line we were adorned with our huge medals and as we cooled down with water and snacks I felt like an Olympian!!  

     Finishing this race was an extremely gratifying experience that was only made better by the fact that I got to share it with my sister.  We ran the entire race side by side so we could help each other stay at the pace we needed to, and at about the 7 mile mark I told Jill if I finish this thing it might be one of my prouder moments in life.  She asked why and I told her about sharing my story with that lady who had not known it and I explained to Jill how it gave me a reminder of how lucky I am to even be able to run, let alone run a half marathon!  It sometimes slips my mind that more than one doctor had told me that I might not ever walk again!  Because of the fact that my day to day life has really not been affected that much, I often forget how staggering my chances were of doing the things in this life that I love to do without having to clear a major obstacle first.  As I pounded the pavement yesterday working my way to the finish line I couldn't help but feel completely blessed to be able to take each step!  It may be surprising but even I need a reminder sometimes of how blessed I am and how lucky I am to be doing the things that I do.  I can only hope that I never stop taking advantage of my fortunes and never stop experiencing this life to fullest!!

Remember, sometimes all of us need a brief wake up call to remind us of the things that really matter in life!