The kid's got skills......

Another picture taken by Aragorn....on my camera phone........

Go Rouge.....

You have to get under what God has put over you so that you can get over what he has put under you.

Had a wonderful service today, Pastor Ryan spoke about Courageous living. He spoke of Caleb and Joshua and how it's amazing how 2 people can see the exact same situation, and react to it differently. This is part two of his series MAN UP. As always, Gena rocked the room, getting into her more rock side for the final song, LOVED it!!

Don't forget You can visit the edge church at

http://www.edgecommunity.net/

Or visit Pastor Heller's blog

http://www.ryanheller.org/

Date night at the rodeo

For the last couple of years i have gotten Eric tickets to the rodeo at the stock show. It's held every year here at the stock show complex. They have the animals being sold/auctioned vendor's, food, and a petting zoo for the kids. Eric loves the rodeo, it lets him go home to Kansas (if only for a few hours). I love to watch him, he is a kid again every time we go, letting go of the normally reserved person, and letting the excited kid shine through. We went to dinner before this time (last year we ate at the stock show). For Christmas this year we we got a gift certificate to Rioja a restaurant here in downtown Denver. It was amazing!! A total 5 star adventure. We started with a cocktail at the bar, toasting Eric's birthday and a fun night out. When we were seated we enjoyed different types of bread, i chose the lavender infused sourdough. Eric and i each picked an appetizer, he chose Real bacon, I got hand made mozzarella. For dinner Eric chose seared sea scallops while i had the spaghettini. I passed on desert, but the restaurant as a gift to Eric gave him the house specialty. Hazelnut Tortamisu. It was a wonderful experience. After dinner we headed to the stock show. It's always so much fun to get a drink and walk around. Just look at the exhibits and talk. At the rodeo, we got to see the usual Barrel racing, team roping, bareback riding and bull riding. We also got to see one of the broncing bucks retired last night after her 26th year. It was very cool. All in all we had a very good date night.

Sugar covered mint leaves-Better than chocolate

Eric's dessert-Hazelnut tortimasu

My dinner- spaghettini

Eric's dinner-Seared Scallops

My appetizer-Hand made mozzarella

Eric's appetizer-Fresh bacon

i loved the salt and pepper

Space....the final.........

Amber has achieved the goal of every writer. She is getting published. She has given those of us with dreams of seeing our name on the cover hope. Her story will be in Pill Hill Press' upcoming anthology The Four Horseman: An Anthology of Conquest, War, Famine, and Death. Scheduled for release June 2010. As an amateur writer myself I have nothing but complete admiration for her (and just a teensy bit of jealousy). I can only hope this is the beginning for her and soon A.R. Norris will be the author of the next big thing!! Be sure to check out her blog

http://sci-fiadventures.blogspot.com/

Friends are relatives you make for yourself.

I hold my friendships very close refusing most of time to let go. I try my hardest to be the glue that sticks everyone together. My family is mostly friends, people that have stuck by me through thick and thin. They have been there for the tears and laughs, joys and heartbreaks. And although I consider all of my friends to be dear to me. There are 2 that no matter what will I always love and cherish. Amber and Lisa. We met in middle school, quit possibly the most inhumane torture a parent can legally put their child through. We met by fate, and it was fate that kept us together for so many years. Through middle school and my move to Arkansas, we always managed to stay in touch. We even managed to maintained our friendship into high school were the pressure to fit in is always nagging, we stood our ground and remained true to eachother. But fate can sometimes be a mean women and made decisions for us that we had no control over. Amber was forced to leave Colorado and moved away from us. Leaving Lisa and I to fend for ourselves. We managed, and remained friends, but Amber got lost in the shuffle. Her life having taken a different role than mine and Lisa's, that of mother. Sadly, Lisa and I lost contact with Amber. I can honestly say I felt as though a piece of my heart had been ripped away. As it seems my heart is not really mine, but belongs to everyone I love. There was not a day that went by that I did not think of Amber and how we were missing each other's lives. Graduation came, and Lisa moved to Texas, and fell in love, marrying her now husband. I married too, and along came our children. Aragorn born in November and her daughter Miranda in December. We celebrated these times with e-mails and pictures. All the while both of us wondering what Amber was doing, had she married? did she have more kids? what did she decide to do with her life? we always thought the best for her, that she had become famous with her writing, or drawing, we often joked, that it would be great to walk into a store and see something by her on the shelf. Every time we talked, there was always a slight sigh of sadness, when we each had to say "No, not yet" to the question if we had heard from her. Then in October of '09, Lisa sent me and e-mail

"Hey I got a friend request on face book for an Amber……do you think it's her?"
"I don't know, but god I hope so" I replied

Lisa and I stayed up late that night her until 11pm and myself until well after midnight, in hopes that this Amber would log on and answer our burning question. Lisa sent me an e-mail early that morning
"If you hear from her, let me know as soon as you can"
"I will, I promise" was my response

I do not think ever in my life I have had a day seem to last as long as that day. I waited and watched. The day was half over when she accepted my friend request and all I could do was cry. My life, was now 100% complete. I e-mailed Lisa immediately

"It's HER oh my god!!!"

We have fallen right back into a friendship that although missing for so many years, was never erased. We have decided to try and do a family trip this summer, Lisa, Amber, myself and the family's we have created. I look forward to many many years of growing up together…………again.

The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart. ~Elisabeth Foley

If you're alone, I'll be your shadow. If you want to cry, I'll be your shoulder. If you want a hug, I'll be your pillow. If you need to be happy, I'll be your smile. But anytime you need a friend, I'll just be me. ~Author Unknown

The things my kids say

So last week the boys and I are driving home from Mrs. Rena's. I have an eclectic taste in music, and I like to change it up every now and then. I have found that Aragorn follows in my footsteps appreciating just about all kinds of music, country, hip-hop, pop, classic, show tunes. He can dig them all. Rohan is more his daddy's boy his taste tends to stick with country and old school rock and roll. So as usual I am flipping between channels on the radio and Justin Timberlake's "Sexy Back" comes on. This is a POP song, and as every other pop song these days the lyrics are…….questionable at best. Anyway, the song comes on the beat starts, and from the back seat I hear

"HEY mom I like this song!!"

I smile at first……and then say

Wait……What?!?!?

Maybe time to change the station……….

To the future me......

I heard about this website on the radio the other day and decided to check it out. You can write a letter to yourself and set it to be deliverd to you as far in the future as you want. I know we did this in highschool, and the idea was to see how life had changed since you had written the letter. Check it out, and write something to yourself……..I did :-)

http://www.futureme.org/