New wheels, pedals, complete drivetrain, bars, tape, saddle, computer, power meter. Thanks to my wife for being so supportive!
Our Journey
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
New bike!
New wheels, pedals, complete drivetrain, bars, tape, saddle, computer, power meter. Thanks to my wife for being so supportive!
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Dr. Niles Thomason
Blogging kind of fell apart the last several weeks. We got busy with the Holidays, maybe lacked some blogging motivation, and then this happened. We lost a close friend. Christmas morning 2013, Niles Thomason, left this world for the next. It was such a shock to everyone that knew him. It really hit Natalie and I hard and close to home because we had just spent a couple days before with his family and in-laws in Carbondale, IL. Niles was supposed to be there with us to go to the Saluki's game, but his flight out of Denver had gotten canceled, and he arrived after we had departed for the night.
We were at Natalie's parents when we got the news. Natalie was browsing Facebook and said to me, kind of out of the blue, "Niles died." I of course couldn't comprehend the news, and didn't really want to believe her. Shortly after that, after texting some friends, it was confirmed. It really was true. He was 31. Had a young child that I had spent a school year caring for, and a wife who is close friends with mine. We shared a few common interests, namely a love for good beer and the mountains of Colorado. He and his family were part of our Colorado family. I kind of suppressed my emotions for a couple of hours, but soon had to let go. I was just so sad. Sad for him not getting to go to more concerts, taste more beers, go on more camping and hiking adventures. Sad for his wife, who had just become a single mother. Who would have to go back to Colorado and try to figure out life without her husband. Sad for Carter. So sad that Carter would not know his daddy. Everything hits home so much harder once you have kids.
Natalie and I have discussed many things since getting this terrible news. (That's what happens when you spend 17 hours in the car together...) We drove down to Tulsa to attend the memorial service. It was so beautiful too! In a worship center up on a hill over looking a lake surrounded by woods. It was very pretty and peaceful. Capped off perfectly by a song by Yonder Mountain String Band (Niles Fave) Most notably we have just agreed that you have to be appreciative of what you have and not take anything for granted. You never know when God will call you to join him. I will do a better job of letting those around me know how much I love and appreciate them. Live life to the fullest, you only get one chance.
I am the one who always says that everything happens for a reason. Sometimes we don't know what that reason is, and we may never know what that reason is. I will never understand why it was time for Niles to go. It's not for me to understand. But I can learn from it and make the most of what I have!
We will all miss you Niles. You were a good man!
To paraphrase one of Niles best friends who gave a short speech at his memorial...
It's life. It goes on. Make the most of it!
To paraphrase one of Niles best friends who gave a short speech at his memorial...
It's life. It goes on. Make the most of it!
Words are not enough
Words cannot begin to describe the flood of emotions I have felt since finding out Niles passed away on Christmas morning. I am heartbroken, sad, and physically ill when I think of the journey that lies ahead for Tiffany, Carter, and their families. I can never begin to understand why a 31-year-old man would be taken from the Earth so young, why his wife is without her partner, and why his son will never know what an outstanding human his dad was.
My favorite memory of Niles is from a few years ago, when my first-born pup Wrigley was ill. His back went out and he had a herniated disk. His back legs did not work, and we had to make a decision to put him down or try an expensive surgery. As I talked with Niles on the phone, we discussed all of the options. I then asked Niles, "If he were your dog, what would you do?" Tiffany told me afterward that Niles never answers this question, but he actually did in this instance for me. His thoughts were Wrigley was still young and had lots of life left in him. Although the surgery was expensive, he would have it done. I so appreciated Niles' understanding that I needed that direction, not from a doctor's view, but from a friend's view. Niles arranged for Wrigley to be seen by a neurosurgeon, and he regained full use of his legs and back, and is still doing very well today.
I appreciated Niles for his dry sense of humor and witty responses. I also appreciated him for enjoying good beer and time in the mountains of Colorado. :)
Although things don't always make sense, I know God is in control and I have to remember everything happens for a reason. All I can do to try and make sense of things is use this experience as a
reminder of how we are not guaranteed anything in life - not tonight, or
tomorrow, or next year year. To live life to its fullest and take every
opportunity you are given. This is my New Year's Resolution: to remember Niles every day, to pray for Tiffany and Carter every day, and to appreciate all this life has to offer - every single moment of every single day.
My favorite memory of Niles is from a few years ago, when my first-born pup Wrigley was ill. His back went out and he had a herniated disk. His back legs did not work, and we had to make a decision to put him down or try an expensive surgery. As I talked with Niles on the phone, we discussed all of the options. I then asked Niles, "If he were your dog, what would you do?" Tiffany told me afterward that Niles never answers this question, but he actually did in this instance for me. His thoughts were Wrigley was still young and had lots of life left in him. Although the surgery was expensive, he would have it done. I so appreciated Niles' understanding that I needed that direction, not from a doctor's view, but from a friend's view. Niles arranged for Wrigley to be seen by a neurosurgeon, and he regained full use of his legs and back, and is still doing very well today.
I appreciated Niles for his dry sense of humor and witty responses. I also appreciated him for enjoying good beer and time in the mountains of Colorado. :)
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| Oktoberfest 2010 |
Wednesday, December 25, 2013
Final Advent Update
Here's how our activities ended...
Dec 18 - make Christmas cards for friends
Nick loved me for this one :) Cayle made some snowflake cards and wrote on them and then sent them in some of the Christmas cards we sent out to people.
Dec 19 - take food to the food bank
Cayle packed up a bag of cans and boxes of food to take over to Catholic Charities. I explained to him that some families don't have as much food as we do, and they could really use some extra food. He was very sad for these families and was so cheerful about delivering the food. So proud of his sweet heart :)
Dec 20 - red and green breakfast
Yikes, almost messed this one up majorly! I had forgotten to look ahead to see if there was anything to plan for in the upcoming days. So this day happened to be my final day of work before the break, and I was super late in even getting out of bed, let alone having time to make a fancy red and green breakfast like I had initially planned. So as I scrambled around just trying to get to work in time, Cayle picked his number and informed me today was the red and green breakfast. Some quick thinking really paid off - I quickly poured the kids some milk in sippy cups, colored Cayle's green and Lindy's red, and Nick headed off to Daylight Donuts in search of red and green donuts. Thankfully, they delivered :)
Dec 21 - read and watch The Polar Express
Another near-fail on this one. It actually was supposed to be earlier in the week, but I just so happened to check the TV guide that morning and found the schedule had changed, and our movie would be on from 8-10 pm that night, instead of my intended 6-8 pm. So, that morning, I quickly rearranged things and taped the movie so it would be ready for this day. Whew!
Dec 22 - family game/puzzle night
This was lots of fun. We each picked a game to play, and Lindy picked a puzzle for us to do together. We continue to spend time reminding Cayle it's "not all about winning...sometimes we just play for fun...".
Dec 23 - get a picture taken with Santa
This was pretty exciting since the Santa we planned to see was located in Carbondale and we would be going with Tiffany and Carter. It was a great day seeing them! PS - Lindy was nit a big Santa fan, so I joined the pic :)
Dec 24 - read the nativity story and sleep in Christmas jammies
We read the story before bed, and then had a little lesson around the manger set we have by the fireplace. The kids had their Christmas jammies on, then we got them up and dressed for church at 11 pm, then they came back home and put their jammies back on. And wore them all day on Christmas.
Dec 25 - have a sleepover under the Christmas tree
Cayle was pretty tired by the time this activity rolled around. He seemed pretty excited about his sleepover :)
Cayle was sad that today was our last number on our chart. I am really sad too. He has loved all of the activities, and I've loved using the Advent activities as a way to teach him what Christmas is about. I can't wait until next year :)
Dec 18 - make Christmas cards for friends
Nick loved me for this one :) Cayle made some snowflake cards and wrote on them and then sent them in some of the Christmas cards we sent out to people.
Dec 19 - take food to the food bank
Cayle packed up a bag of cans and boxes of food to take over to Catholic Charities. I explained to him that some families don't have as much food as we do, and they could really use some extra food. He was very sad for these families and was so cheerful about delivering the food. So proud of his sweet heart :)
Dec 20 - red and green breakfast
Yikes, almost messed this one up majorly! I had forgotten to look ahead to see if there was anything to plan for in the upcoming days. So this day happened to be my final day of work before the break, and I was super late in even getting out of bed, let alone having time to make a fancy red and green breakfast like I had initially planned. So as I scrambled around just trying to get to work in time, Cayle picked his number and informed me today was the red and green breakfast. Some quick thinking really paid off - I quickly poured the kids some milk in sippy cups, colored Cayle's green and Lindy's red, and Nick headed off to Daylight Donuts in search of red and green donuts. Thankfully, they delivered :)
Dec 21 - read and watch The Polar Express
Another near-fail on this one. It actually was supposed to be earlier in the week, but I just so happened to check the TV guide that morning and found the schedule had changed, and our movie would be on from 8-10 pm that night, instead of my intended 6-8 pm. So, that morning, I quickly rearranged things and taped the movie so it would be ready for this day. Whew!
Dec 22 - family game/puzzle night
This was lots of fun. We each picked a game to play, and Lindy picked a puzzle for us to do together. We continue to spend time reminding Cayle it's "not all about winning...sometimes we just play for fun...".
This was pretty exciting since the Santa we planned to see was located in Carbondale and we would be going with Tiffany and Carter. It was a great day seeing them! PS - Lindy was nit a big Santa fan, so I joined the pic :)
Dec 24 - read the nativity story and sleep in Christmas jammies
We read the story before bed, and then had a little lesson around the manger set we have by the fireplace. The kids had their Christmas jammies on, then we got them up and dressed for church at 11 pm, then they came back home and put their jammies back on. And wore them all day on Christmas.
Cayle was pretty tired by the time this activity rolled around. He seemed pretty excited about his sleepover :)
Cayle was sad that today was our last number on our chart. I am really sad too. He has loved all of the activities, and I've loved using the Advent activities as a way to teach him what Christmas is about. I can't wait until next year :)
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
Saluki's!
Monday we got the opportunity to go visit friends (Tiffany, Niles, and Carter) from Colorado in Carbondale, IL. It's a 2 hour drive south for us. The day included pictures with Santa, time to chill and let Cayle play with his best bud Carter, and the Saluki basketball game of which Tiffany's dad is the head coach. It was a super fun day!
Saturday, December 21, 2013
33!!!
Bike ride and disc golf!
2 six packs of my favorite beer!
BWW for dinner with my family. $.60 boneless night!
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
I love this season!
We didn't have much to do on Saturday - make some Christmas treats, ring bells for the Salvation Army, and get go church. It was a perfect day!
Cayle helped me ring bells at K-Mart. He did so awesome! And people loved him!
After we baked a bit and had church, Nick made me a fire in the fireplace. And I was asleep by 7 pm. No shame in that...
More Christmas Activities
Picking up where I left off before with our daily Advent activities...
Dec 8 - make gingerbread houses
A few weeks ago, we attended a festival of lights event and they had lots of gingerbread houses. Like houses people entered in competitions. I was sure our houses would be so awesome this year. They turned out very...amateurish :) Note to self: chocolate graham crackers are much less sturdy than regular graham crackers.
Dec 9 - have french toast and hot chocolate for dinner
Dec 10 - have a Christmas music dance party
This was hilarious. I bought a $5 CD of kids Christmas tunes at Wal-Mart. Poor Lindy was so dizzy she could barely stand...
Our dance party
Dec 11 - take snacks to the retirement home
We have a retirement village across the street from our house. Cayle and I made white chocolate dipped pretzels to take to the residents. It just so happened to be a 1/2 day SIP day, so I was able to come home at lunch and run over with Nick and the kids to share our goodies. The residents loved the kids and Cayle did a great job walking around asking if anyone wanted a pretzel :)
Dec 12 - have sparkling cider with dinner
Dec 13 - make snow flakes
Cayle made snow flakes with daddy the other day. He hung them on the windows in his bedroom and Lindy's bedroom.
Dec 14 - donate old toys to charity
I was super proud of Cayle (and Lindy) this day. I explained to Cayle that some boys and girls don't have any toys to play with, and we have so many. So we went through every toy we had and got rid of duplicates or toys they don't use any more. He was really excited to help out and didn't complain a bit.
Dec 15 - decorate cookies and deliver to neighbors/family/friends
Mommy cheated a little on this one. We just so happened to make rolo/pretzels, chocolate chews, and peppermint brittle the day before. So on this day we just made the sugar cookies and the oreo balls
Dec 16 - drive around and look at Christmas lights
Last night, we drove around town and found two houses whose lights are synched to music. I find that so fascinating! And the kids loved listening to the radio station that matches the house lights. We also drove through a Winter Wonderland of lights set up by the park district. The kids got to take some snacks and drinks with them, and wore their jammies. It was easy to carry them both straight from the car to bed after our drive :)
Dec 17 - wrap Christmas presents
Finally getting started on wrapping gifts. Since we don't have to ship everything, I've completely procrastinated in this area this year.
Dec 8 - make gingerbread houses
A few weeks ago, we attended a festival of lights event and they had lots of gingerbread houses. Like houses people entered in competitions. I was sure our houses would be so awesome this year. They turned out very...amateurish :) Note to self: chocolate graham crackers are much less sturdy than regular graham crackers.
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| our finished products, from left to right: cayle's house, mommy's house, lindy's/daddy's house |
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| I used cookie cutters to cut out fun shapes. Tasty, tasty dinner! |
Dec 10 - have a Christmas music dance party
This was hilarious. I bought a $5 CD of kids Christmas tunes at Wal-Mart. Poor Lindy was so dizzy she could barely stand...
Our dance party
Dec 11 - take snacks to the retirement home
We have a retirement village across the street from our house. Cayle and I made white chocolate dipped pretzels to take to the residents. It just so happened to be a 1/2 day SIP day, so I was able to come home at lunch and run over with Nick and the kids to share our goodies. The residents loved the kids and Cayle did a great job walking around asking if anyone wanted a pretzel :)
Dec 12 - have sparkling cider with dinner
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| What pretty drinks! Sparkling apple cider with a drop or two of red/green food coloring :) |
Dec 13 - make snow flakes
Cayle made snow flakes with daddy the other day. He hung them on the windows in his bedroom and Lindy's bedroom.
I was super proud of Cayle (and Lindy) this day. I explained to Cayle that some boys and girls don't have any toys to play with, and we have so many. So we went through every toy we had and got rid of duplicates or toys they don't use any more. He was really excited to help out and didn't complain a bit.
Dec 15 - decorate cookies and deliver to neighbors/family/friends
Mommy cheated a little on this one. We just so happened to make rolo/pretzels, chocolate chews, and peppermint brittle the day before. So on this day we just made the sugar cookies and the oreo balls
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| Our finished products! |
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| close-up |
Last night, we drove around town and found two houses whose lights are synched to music. I find that so fascinating! And the kids loved listening to the radio station that matches the house lights. We also drove through a Winter Wonderland of lights set up by the park district. The kids got to take some snacks and drinks with them, and wore their jammies. It was easy to carry them both straight from the car to bed after our drive :)
Dec 17 - wrap Christmas presents
Finally getting started on wrapping gifts. Since we don't have to ship everything, I've completely procrastinated in this area this year.
Redneck Thanksgiving
I've been meaning to write this post for some time now... well at least since Thanksgiving. My dad has somewhat of a reputation for thinking outside the box. Especially when it comes to celebrating the holidays. From riding bicycles to go pick out a Christmas tree to renting a stretch Hummer Limo to celebrate Thanksgiving...
Yes, this Thanksgiving, 2013, Dad rented a stretch Hummer Limo to take a tour of Redneckville, IL. We were going to be hitting all the classic stops, kids included. Limo was fully stocked with snacks and drinks, and we were set for the day. Trust me, we got plenty of stares... :-)
First stop for the day was Moonshine, IL. Population 2. Yep, you read that right. It's a barn like building that serves as a kind of general store/hamburger stop. Good burgers too! Just don't try to get 2 doubles with bacon like my brother Bob did. They were HUGE and he needed HELP! This place is apparently big with the biker crowd, but today there were none, but there were other tourists doing the same thing we were... getting some hamburgers and sightseeing.
Next stop after Moonshine was MVP bar near Newton, IL. (These are all within an hour of our house) Despite running around in this area growing up, I had never been to MVP. The place is notorious for it's rough crowd! It's apparently tame enough during the day to bring kids along. After being there during the day, it's easy to see how the place gets it's reputation. Tough to believe that places like this really do exist...
Next stop was the MUG Tree in Yale, IL. Just a tree along the road in the middle of nowhere that has a bunch of coffee mugs on it. Interesting!
4th stop on tour was a supposed "petting zoo" at an apple orchard nearby Greenup, IL. It really just turned out to be an apple orchard with some animals... It provided good entertainment for sure, and Cayle and Santi enjoyed it.
5th stop on our tour was a Winery in Greenup, IL. Much classier place than our previous 2 stops... It was really nice! We would have a glass or 2 of wine here, then visit the covered bridge down the road about a mile.
We then headed back to my parents for dinner and several games of pool. Quite the unique experience and opportunity to see lots of things that I had never seen before. We all loved the limo, especially Cayle!
First stop for the day was Moonshine, IL. Population 2. Yep, you read that right. It's a barn like building that serves as a kind of general store/hamburger stop. Good burgers too! Just don't try to get 2 doubles with bacon like my brother Bob did. They were HUGE and he needed HELP! This place is apparently big with the biker crowd, but today there were none, but there were other tourists doing the same thing we were... getting some hamburgers and sightseeing.
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| Bob with his double with Bacon |
Next stop after Moonshine was MVP bar near Newton, IL. (These are all within an hour of our house) Despite running around in this area growing up, I had never been to MVP. The place is notorious for it's rough crowd! It's apparently tame enough during the day to bring kids along. After being there during the day, it's easy to see how the place gets it's reputation. Tough to believe that places like this really do exist...
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| self explanatory |
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| concert venue |
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| the bar walks out onto the sandbar in the Embarras River |
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| DJ Booth |
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| the pig... |
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| that's a monster!!! |
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| Pretty self explanatory really... |
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| Not working out so well... |
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| Maybe a better method... |
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| Finally! |
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| Dad seemed to want to ride everything today... Too much time cooped up in the Limo probably... |
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| A baby goat! |
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| Lindy crashed on mommy's lap during this stop |
5th stop on our tour was a Winery in Greenup, IL. Much classier place than our previous 2 stops... It was really nice! We would have a glass or 2 of wine here, then visit the covered bridge down the road about a mile.
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| attempting a family pic... |
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| Covered Bridge |
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| Some drinks may have been consumed... |
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| My Brothers |
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| Michael reflecting on the days happenings... |
We then headed back to my parents for dinner and several games of pool. Quite the unique experience and opportunity to see lots of things that I had never seen before. We all loved the limo, especially Cayle!
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| goofing off at Moonshine |
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| Grandma and Grandsons |
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| Apple from the orchard |
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