Happy Thanksgiving!
Just got back from South Texas visiting friends and family. It’s colder up here in Minneapolis :). We have tons of pictures I’m going to post this coming week! Stay tuned..
Magical Pennies?
Ella, whose mother is a CPA, likes to arrange her money. She did this all on her own without us even in the room! I love you Ella!
Site Format Changed (Finally!)
Well friends, I’ve decided to update the site to a more picture friendly website considering that most of my posts now involve pictures of our family. I’ve got to iron out the archives pages, but that will come soon. There are also some other cool features with this template as well, but the old one had to definitely go. You can do searches by category at the top of the site if your interested in finding specific posts that suit your viewing pleasure. Otherwise you can simply use the search drop down at the top and search by a key word.
On a side note, I left Speakeasy last month due to a significant economic change there. The primary drivers are a change in business direction and I decided it was best to take an exit and continue to further my career elsewhere. Right now I’m interviewing and am being fairly selective about it as well as reviewing a couple of start up opportunities. For those of you that know me, that’s how I got started in internet/hosting years back.
Hope you are all well, expect much more frequent updates. I may even begin to blog about my experiences about working at a company like Speakeasy and going through the various milestones of the BestBuy acquisition and post acquisition. Until then, be well!
What’s up with the socks, yo?
Heh.. out of all the toys Ella has, she chooses to play with the weirdest things. Mommy’s socks.. go figure.
Look What I Caught!!
Ella Defies Gravity
Hello Friends and Family!
Been a while since my last post, but things are starting to slow down now some. We have a lot going on, including work related stuff. More importantly, however, is that we really feel like the Lord is calling us to begin to pray for the Middle East - specifically Iran. We had an incredible speaker come to our church this past Sunday named Tom Doyle. Maybe you’ve heard of him? We are not sure where the Lord is going to be taking us or what the next steps are, but we are beginning to pray none the less.
I’ll have some work related news to post either later this month or next, so please stay tuned!
Linley went to the doctor for her 2-month checkin and she weighed a whopping (and I mean whopping) 14.7lbs! Yeah, she’s like off the charts. Perhaps she’ll become Daddy’s little (or tall) basketball player. Ahh early retirement! Go ahead, say it outloud - I did!
We had a great Christmas with friends and family this year. Because we had the new baby Jenn’s family came up to Dallas for Christmas, so that was fun. We also had my Dad in from Scotland as well and greatly lifted our spirits for the Holiday season.
Ahh yeah, Jenn and I bought an elyptical machine and have been flogging that thing big time. I’m having to get ready for basketball season and I didn’t want to start running to save my joints. Been doing really well on that together. Slim and sexy, that’s me!
Below is a picture of Jenn and the Girls during Christmas. Will write more soon - i’ve got to update this website, ugh!
Happy New Year
May the Lord bring you peace and mercy this New Year. Hello, 2009!
Linley and Ella Together - First Video
Jenn and her mom, Linda, gave Linley her first bath tonight. After that Ella laid down with her for the first time.
Linley & Mommy
Well, she’s here. Linley Kay was born at 9:33am CST on Monday November 17th. She weighs 10Lbs!
Welp, Tomorrow’s the Big Day
We are getting ready to bring Linley Kay into the world. Jenn is going to be giving birth to her tomorrow morning via scheduled surgery. I’ll be sure to post pictures, thoughts, etc on this site.
Stay tuned!
Did you go vote today?
We did - lines were not too long (actually, non-existent). We both voted for McCain, not because we believe in what he’s doing, but primarily we didn’t want the other guy to win. I think other guy’s statements around what he will change is unrealistic. I think for the most part he’s a good public communicator, but don’t believe him in what he’ll do. I also question his Christian background as well. Has anyone seen the type of abortion he approved as a State Senator? Look it up, it’s pretty unbelievable.
We’ll see what happens, but I don’t have much confidence right now.
Ok, So I Admit…
I told you that we were back, but deep down in side I just wanted to post for the month of September for keeping my string of posts alive.
We have been so busy since the move - getting the house fixed up, Ella going to gymnastics and various other places, in addition to being slammed with work. Jenn’s doing well, we are 4-weeks away from our new baby girl being born. Lots of other stuff going on as well…
More to come, i’ve got some final pictures of the house I want to post in addition to new videos.
We’re back..
To all - been jammed up with moving, selling home, traveling and other opportunities. We’ve finally got settled in our new home and I’ll post more pictures here shortly. Wanted to let everyone know to check back frequently as I’ll be ramping things up again. Just been super slammed!
We’ve Bought a House!
Ok, lots going on so that’s why I haven’t had time to update everyone on family, life, etc. Been running around crazy trying to get a house since we sold ours. If you want the long version, call me. Otherwise, here’s the short version.
We sold our house as you can see from my previous post and therefore had to find a new one in the matter of 5-7 days. For those of you that don’t know, we have been looking for a house for a while expecting our existing one to sell. We had all but given up on selling our house and all the sudden we did. We narrowed it down to a neighborhood that we wanted to live in, but couldn’t find one on the market. So what did we do? I went up and knocked on a door of a house I liked to see if they wanted to sell it. After much debate (and me thinking hey would do it), they wouldn’t sell. However, we saw a house across the street that we liked, but needed a lot of updating in the interior/exterior of the home. So, here’s what we are going to do, which I’m going to try and document as best I can:
1) Tear up the entire bottom floor (it’s a two-story home)
2) Replace most of the floor (but the kitchen) with all hardwood nail-down floors
3) Replace kitchen with 18″x18″ tile set diagonally
4) Replace carpet in Master and Bedroom #2 downstairs
5) Replace stair case spindles with rought iron spindles
6) Replace base boards with custom 5 1/4″ base boards on entire bottom floor (but bedrooms)
7) Install speakers in family room inset into the walls
If we can, we want to try and fit in the following as well, but doubtful:
1) Install all new crown molding in all major rooms downstairs (foyer, kitchen, family room, breakfast room, etc.
2) Install double ovens
3) Put cast concrete outlining around the borders of all the windows (just like it’s around the front door foyer area outside)
4) Replace the entire flower beds
5) Re-paint the outside.
I’ll be posting progress as we make the changes to the house as best I can. Following this post will be Day 1 (Before Pics).
Ella’s Swim Survival Lessons
A few months ago Jenn and I signed Ella up for a program that teaches children to survive if they fall into a pool or water. It’s 20-something lessons every single day in a row for 10-minutes each. What’s amazing is that the program teaches children to float on their backs to breathe (even with full clothes on) and then swim under water to safety (or just wait for help by floating on their back). Below is one of Ella’s final lessons.
Longest Day of the Year… No, really long
Yesterday we were driving back from Destin, FL (close to Pensacola) that took about 14 hours. It so happened it was the longest day of the year as well (June 21st). However, it apparently wasn’t as long as the day my parents saw in northern Scotland, which is where they now live as missionaries. Below are pictures taken at 12am (yeah, Midnight) last night - technically June 22nd.
Vacation: First Day of travel - Destin, FL
Welp, we’ve left for vacation and drove about 8 or 9 hours today with our friends. We (along with 3 other families) have taken off to Florida. It’s good to get away - but with 8 adults and 7 kids (5 of which are 2 yrs old) I’m not sure that we are actually “getting away”; you know? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining - in fact I love being around all the children and away from work, it’s just that’s a lot of children!
It’s like I’m Clark W. Griswald on family vacation, but multiply that times 4 (minus the dog peeing on the picnic basket with all the sandwiches in it). So you’ve got 4 Clark’s leading the charge trying to figure this thing out - but we’ve got CB Radios!
We took pictures of Louisiana as we went through the bayou so that was fun. If I had the USB wire to my camera I would have posted some.
Good thing that our friend John and Cristi are house sitting for us while we’re gone, especially as we are trying to sell it. Thanks guys!
More to come as the days continue…
Still Here..
Been busy with family stuff as of late, so I haven’t been writing much. I posted some pics of Ella in the below post. She’s becoming the most darling thing I’ve ever seen. We are so blessed to have her in our lives.
Jenn is now in her 13′ish week of pregnancy. Baby’s doing fine and healthy. We don’t know the sex yet, but should in a few weeks.
We’ve got a vacation in Florida coming up in June and are excited to get a way finally. I haven’t had a vacation for quite some time, so getting away is going to be good.
Lost season finale is tomorrow tonight - I recommend that you watch it! If you’re behind and want to catch up, you can start with Season 1. You’ll need to watch about 3.9 Seasons worth of episodes, which is about 80-something episodes. Get busy!
Go Spurs Go? Not really; the “Go’in” has been tough and are down 3-1 to the Lake show. I know, I know - Barry was fouled at the end, but he’s got to create more contact. Pop - give the ball to Ginobili.
Ella’s First Memory Verse
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Reflection: Faith & Deeds
Over the past couple of months I’ve been doing a lot of reflection on my life, God’s Will for my life, and serving his greater purpose. This is something that I have really been convicted about:
“Because I have faith that God will always meet my needs and take care of me, I am able to be on mission for the Lord as he has called me to be.”
This stemmed from me innately trying to do everything on my own (even if in fact it is noble and honorable) and realizing that I’m missing what the Lord has for me in furthering his Kindom.