the nephews

we had the pleasure of babysitting our nephews overnight a couple weeks ago-another practice in parenting. here are some highlights...

the washing machine has always been a fascinating thing at our house. the top is clear so the kids like to sit on top of it and just watch as water pours down and the clothes swish around. this is our version of baby sitting. here is eric..i wanna say about a year ago. and here's his younger brother corbin... :)

and i do have to add that eric did not teach corbin this move..we put him on first this time and he assumed the position. adorably hilarious. :)

uncle dave and eric (okay, uncle dave) built a fort in the loft. and here is uncle dave reading a story to eric, corbin, and coco. :) eric is potty training and was so into the story he let it go on uncle dave's lap!

corbin had a good time exploring the stairs..it was hard to get him to forget they were there. anytime we set him down he went straight for the stairs. eric even got into letting us know when corbin was heading in that direction. he's such a great big brother. we found the perfect spot for corbin to master the stairs. we have a landing just before you reach upstairs with like four steps so thankfully i was able to sit on the landing and just reach out a hand if he started to tip in the wrong direction. and up and down he went..over and over again. :)

as we were explaining to eric that beniah was in me, he said, "oh, beniahs in there." i said, "very good eric". he then proceeded to lift up my shirt and asked, "how do you open it?"

here is a short video we shot of eric running into uncle dave's arms (this is the less-violent video) i swear he did this like 20 times. :) thankfully it was uncle dave's arms and not aunt kiki's.

ok, last story. dave was sitting with eric and picked up coco. eric pointed to coco's tail and said, "whats this?" dave responded, "you know what that is"

"coco's tail?"

"that's right!"

"whats this?"

"coco's paw...how many paws does coco have?"

"one...two...whats this, whats this (pointing to coco's manhood)?"

dave continues, "three...four! four paws!"

my big brother

i recently went to las vegas for my brother steve's bachelor party. it turns out six hours each way in a honda accord with four other smelly guys was worth it. don't you love the sexy look jason is giving the camera.

we had a lot of fun and played a lot of cards. i almost won enough to cover the entire trip, gas, hotel, food and all. phil and i took $345 each in a hold'em tournament and as sure as i am that i would have beat him if we kept playing instead of splitting, he was defiantly the big winner making it to the final table again later that evening. a tournament i got bounced from pretty quick.

we hit up an all you can eat sea food buffet at the rio which was amazing...man i ate so much lobster tail and crab legs. here's a shot of steve and his buddy chris loading up.

im sure kristen isn't completely aware of what she's getting. under the loose clothes and gruff exterior is a waxed, glistening, chiseled man of which resembles that of a greek god. here is a shot of steve next to a blown up picture of himself.

another thing kristen may not know is all that time steve spends in vegas is not just for playing cards but also for his performances with the chip 'n dales. does she really think he makes all that jack doing free-lance with the golf channel ?

anyway, the reason i wanted to make this post is to say how pumped i am for steve. i admire him a lot. it made my month when i heard the words, "i have never been happier in my life" come from him. i admire his moving from new york to denver possibly limiting some career options to settle in an area that he would want to start a family. looks like at least that has worked out for him. i admire that my staunch republican of a brother is open minded enough to see when he is wrong and jump on the obama bandwagon! honestly, who would have thought my big brother would be sending the family youtube clips such as...

yes we can


i'm voting republican


and the irack


love you steve! not just because you have stepped away from the dark side. congrats, can't wait until july 13!

its all coming together

we are blessed!! this weekend we got a crib, changing table, stroller, pack and play, 2 gates, and other baby stuff from friends from church. i'm overwhelmed with the love we have experienced. not just from the material things we have recieved but also the friendships, advice, and just good times.

dave finished painting beniah's room-a labor of love for him because he is such a perfectionist *a situation in which i reap the benefits without having to go through the stress* and it looks great!! :) here are the quotes we decided to put up on the wall. the first one from daddy himself (from his 8th grade promotion speech) and the second one from the book, in a pit with a lion on a snowy day.

and here are pictures of the nursery..it actually looks like one now!! how exciting!

preacher man

About a month ago, just prior to giving my promotion speech, 8 Goals for the Next 8 Years, I was irritable and not very loving to my wife. When this happens it is usually one of two reasons because I am either tired or stressed. Every day we have been married, Christe has gotten better at dealing with me when I get that way. I wish I could say I have improved that much. Anyway, she simply asked me, "Is there something wrong?" and I responded, "have you ever poured your heart out in front of 400 people before?"

"No"

"OK, try to imagine you are going to and hopefully that will give you a better understanding of how I am feeling right now...sorry if I'm being a jerk."

Which I'm sure I was being. I was significantly less stressed before preaching last night at church, maybe the reason was because I didn't feel like I was going to pour my heart out. When Christe asked how I felt about it, I told her I definitely didn't think it was my most compelling stuff. For whatever reason I never really got into my element with this one.

I try to learn from my experiences so I can make my next one better, like the first time I spoke at InterVarsity at the U of A, which was my first sermon of any length, not only did I not not have water up with me, we had a random schedule at school that day so I took one of my classes to play dodge ball, an hour of screaming didn't do so hot for my voice...about half way through my talk my voice gave out almost completely. So there I was in front of 75 college students with no voice begging the guy in the front row for some of his Gatorade.

Last night never really clicked, maybe because I was sitting instead of standing, maybe because I had to work from a large chunk of scripture, something I have never done before, maybe because I didn't tell enough stories or quote enough smart people? Maybe I just wasn't passionate enough about the topic? All things I will consider when I preach again on July 19 at Revolution.

Anyway, needless to say, no standing ovation like at the promotion speech, no one asking for a copy of my Sex Talk. What I did get was a learning experience. Amongst the prior list of things I need to consider I discovered why public speaking is a top three fear of in the United States along with fear of spiders and a fear of heights...all finishing higher than fear of . I had a moment, just after my opening, that I thought I was reading the wrong scripture, I froze, don't know if anyone else noticed but I freaked and stumbled through the next five to ten minutes of the sermon. Maybe you can notice once I get podcasted.

Here are links to the videos I wanted I show at church last night that tied in with the sermon.
Cardboard Testimony


Lifehouse Everything Drama


With all said and done I still think that A Story Like No Other is a relevant topic and I hope the congregation could see past the speaker and let God move in their hearts through it.

As scary as preaching/public speaking is I am happy to do it again and continue to try and master the craft...just don't call me Pastor.

Just prior to church last night Christie H. said, "Hey Preacher Man! Do you mind if I call you that?" I Said, "'Preacher' is fine, just don't call me Pastor."

See, I can speak in front of people, I can preach, and I am even fine with negative critiques of my talks, people can take or leave what they want. However, Pastors are Shepard's, there's a whole lot more into it than just preaching. If one sheep is lost its the pastors responsibility to find it...that's not something I'm ready for and something my pastor may be finding out just how difficult that can be.

Shout Outs:

James & Diane, Phil & Tyler for making a special trip to hear me last night. I appreciate it more than you guys know.

Seth & Kindra, thanks for the text and prayers, we missed you guys last night.

My beautiful wife, I love you more today than I did yesterday if that's even possible. Thanks for our first blog.

Other Business:

• I know blog posts are not supposed to be this long, I'll keep that in mind for next time
• Coco is still the best dog in the world...at least in his weight class
• I went to Vegas for my brothers bachelor party last week which I will post about later
• We watched our nephews this weekend which I'm sure Christe will post about later
• Beniah's room is almost done, a big step for me
• Summer has not been as chill as I had hoped but at least I'm livin'

sleepover

Harley, Coco's cousin and the only dog Coco will play with/tolerate got to come over for a sleepover about a month ago. Here are some photo highlights..

Here's Harley trying to fit into Coco's bed...she tries everytime.

We took the dogs to the dog park. We were sitting in the shade with other owners at a picnic table. On the table was the cutest puppy!! So tiny...so I put Coco down on the table too...and Coco was afraid of the puppy who was smaller than him! He spent the majority of his time trying to jump into our arms to get away from the puppy. After running around for five or ten minutes Harley was done at the park too. So we left and went to a gelato shop and sat outside with the dogs. An older couple sitting near us called Harley over and offered a spoonfull of gelato to her. She gladly took it and I thanked him and offered to get him a new spoon, but he said he was fine and proceeded to eat his gelato with the spoon. Yuck.

Later that night Dave made some delicious beef ribs and we threw the dogs each a bone. Harley went at it like there was no tomorrow and Coco didn't quite know what to do with it.

proud to be the wife of..

So since we created this blog to keep friends & family updated I thought I would start with how proud I am to be the wife of my husband. Let me explain.

This year Dave was asked to be the speaker at the middle school promotion ceremony. He was chosen by the students *which was no surprise, he's been the favorite teacher since he started two years ago* and wasn't given much prompt as to what they wanted to hear from him. Dave struggled with different topics to speak on for several days. Finally he decided to combine them all into a talk entitled "8 Goals for the Next 8 Years of Your Life".

1: Learn How to Choose Friends

2: Learn How to Learn

3: Learn to Care

4: Learn to Give

5: Learn to Laugh, Specifically at Yourself

6: Learn Work Ethic

7: Learn to Take Risks

8: Learn to be OK With Who You Are

I think this was very appropriate for his final speech to his students...all year long they listened to him in the classroom speak on these life topics while he challenged them to think outside the box (or even just THINK). Not only did Dave get a standing ovation at the end of his speech many parents came up to him afterward to thank him and one even asked for a copy of speech. I know he's going to challenge his future high school students in the same way and that's one of the reasons I am proud to be "the wife" (as he so lovingly refers to me in the classroom).