Wednesday, January 15, 2014

14 years!

Today is my boy's 14th birthday!

14 years, where does the time go?  I remember the day he was born as if it were yesterday.  Waking up early.  Cooking a big breakfast for my wife and driving to the hospital so they could induce my bride.  I remember how beautiful my bride looked.  How much she hurt.  I remember keeping my wife from killing a nurse and how absolutely perfect my boy was as he was born just before noon on that beautiful January day!

I remember them taking him away to clean up and how happy I was.  The heartbreak and the fear I felt when they told me he had stopped breathing twice to the point of turning blue and that he was put into NICU.

I remember how large he was compared to other babies, but how small he was in my arms.

I remember how happy I was when we took our boy home just a couple days later, and how scared I was that this small, helpless boy was now our responsibility.

He has brought so much joy into our lives.  Into my life.  He's no longer the small, helpless little boy.  He's growing into a tall, strong, capable young man.  A young man that I love so very much!


3 days old


13 years, 341 days old (24 days short of 14)



Wednesday, January 01, 2014

Food Prep

I am trying to lose some weight and get into shape for a canoe/hiking/camping trip this summer.  Also, we bought a new pickup truck yesterday and need to save some money by not going out to eat for lunch.

Because of that, I spent some time today doing some cooking.  I cooked up 6 pounds of chicken this morning.  I grilled 3 chicken breasts and put some hot wing rub on the rest and put them into the smoker.


6 pounds of chicken is a lot to go through before it goes bad, so I used my wife's vacuum sealer to store a bag of each the smoked and grilled chicken.

I'm ready to eat some chicken!




Picture Details of Grilling Chicken
Focal length 26 mm 
exposure 1/60 
F/9 
ISO 100

Hello, Goodbye

Happy New Years!  I hope everyone has a great year!

For me, I'm glad 2013 is over, and I hope and pray 2014 is much, much better than 2013 was.

However, I did have some great points of last year

My son turned 13.  He had a small party and his cake was Minecraft Psy


I took some pictures of my son and grandson.  They were the first pictures I've every had printed.



Found a small sink hole in my backyard


I did my first ever 5K with me running the Warrior Dash!


I was able to take my grandson to his first ever soccer game when we went to watch the Tulsa Athletics.


My second grandson was born!


My wife, son and I took a cross country trip to AtlantaFest.


On one of my many Boy Scout campouts, I got to sleep in a cave!


My son started his last year of middle school!


I enjoyed going on a trout fishing trip with my dad, uncle and grandfather.




I did a lot of work on our pickup.  It's really cool to be able to do the work and know it's possible without having to pay someone else to do it.


Over Fall break, we went to Greenleaf State Park for our annual camp out.


My wife did a great job making an elf costume for our son for Halloween!


We got a new dog named Ziggy!


Our son was in All District Choir!


My son earned his Black Belt in Karate




Had a wonderful Christmas time with all my family!


We ended the year with me buying a new truck for my wife as an early birthday present.  We replaced our 93 GMC Sierra which we've had for around 12 years with a 2011 GMC Sierra



At the beginning of the year, I set a goal to read 36 books this year.  I managed to read 51!!!