Happy Thanksgiving!
I am so thankful for everything in my life. I wake up everyday and am truly thankful for each and every day. Matt and I have an absolutely wonderful life and I wouldn’t change a thing, well except for Tom and Jerry to be here, but I am thankful for the process and all the sorrow and joy it brings.
I hope everyone has an absolutely wonderful Thanksgiving and that the Cowboys and Cardinals win!
friday update. matt edition
“woah halloween is fun. candy is good!” was what we heard tonight from one cute kid while handing out candy.
This is the matt edition of the friday update. so it’s probably not as in depth as stephanie would be.
Adoption
same deal as the usual. no sibling referals this week. I think how it feels for us, and i feel bad for who ever is number 1 on the sibling list. they have been waiting a long time, and I hope they are matched with a sibling group soon!
Work outs
Stephanie has been doing lots of walking, and is still rocking on her push ups. Me, i kind of work on them. I have lost some motivation. not sure why, i do like the results so far. I’ve been back cycling on the road bike in wee hours of the dark mornings (with headlights!) a lot this week. I guess my road bike and i just need a relationship break. We are friends again.
The garden is coming along. Maybe next week some pics may be needed. Things are still alive, and sprouting a bit more.
Grass is coming in nicely for the winter rye
we carved some mean pumpkins with Steph’s parents & steph’s bro & wife. the results:
Christmas
Yes I know it is October and is a bit early to bring the subject up, but I saw this video today and wanted to share some thoughts.
Matt and I want to raise Tom and Jerry to truly appreciate the meaning of the Christmas season. We don’t want them growing up thinking that it is all about the presents. We haven’t fully figured out how it will all work, all we know is we want it to be about time spent together, the fun had, and love shared. The things I remember most about Christmas past are the fun times, the baking, and just being together.
I saw the video above on our church’s blog and was shocked to find out Americans spend 450 billion every year on Christmas. Wow that is a lot of money! I am sure some of that is spent on travel to see loved ones, but a decent chunk of it is spent on presents that most Americans quickly forget about and that no longer satisfy. I was also shocked to find out it is estimated that we only 10 billion of that to provide clean, safe drinking water to EVERYONE. Churches have been encouraging people the last few years to give the gift of presence over presents and have begun raising funds to provide fresh water wells to those who need them. I personally could not imagine not having clean water to drink, or to give to my children.
I encourage everyone to focus more on the gift of presence this year and help provide clean water to the world. You don’t have to go to church to participate and if you do go to church and your church isn’t interested, YOU can still do something. Talk to your friends and family encourage them to donate to charities that provide clean water to people who need instead of giving gifts this holiday season. Here are some charities to get you started:
I am not saying don’t give gifts, you can give gifts, please just make them meaningful gifts instead of something that is just going to get thrown away, put up on a shelf to be forgotten, or re-gifted.
vacation & road trippin.
I love road trips. For some reason 13+ hours in a car doesn’t really bother me, as long as Stephanie is with me. Sure sitting that long wears on me. But I LOVE the time we spend together, We enjoy loading up the ipod with great music of past and present, great fun reminiscing of yesteryear, the deep god conversations we have, the odd conversations we have- were we some how created a non-profit (more on that later, maybe), overall I think I just enjoy the fun with great company, no matter what the destination.
Colorado Rocked. They had record heat, but its 20 – 30 degrees cooler still. So mornings and evenings outside were perfect.
***Photos Coming Soon. I have been up since 3am AZ time, and am too tired to finish editing all of my 500+ photos I took (the new camera rocks!).
We enjoyed time with my parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and cousins.
Thursday & Friday were spent with my parents, decompressing from the ride up, and general around town fun.
Saturday We headed up to Castlewood Canyon Park. The site of the second largest dam burst / flooding in colorado history. It was a great hike. and we had fun playing in the rocks and water.
Sunday we drove home from Elizabeth, CO (near Castle Rock) the back way, which yielded some fun pics.
Monday morning Stephanie and I were able to break away and hike some trails around Garden of the gods. I have been there hundreds of times as a kid, and I still love going. This was the best year so far. Usually we are plagued by clouds, but this year was a bight, warm sunny day.
Tuesday we hung out with my grandparents, and toured around old town pueblo. I really dig old buildings and houses for some reason.
By The Way, I think Stephanie was getting tired of all the photo shoots.
We had fun, but also glad to have routines, our bed, and our furry kids back. Even if it is 200° out in the valley.
Afternoon at the Ballpark
On Thursday my little brother and I took my dad to a baseball game to celebrate Father’s Day/his Birthday. We had a lot of fun and thankfully not a lot of sun as the roof was closed and the a/c was on. We also enjoyed way more calories than a human should consume. Oh and it was camp day, so we were joined by a few thousand kids. None of us had ever heard the ballpark that noisy. Overall it was a great day and wonderful way to celebrate with just the three of us. Here are some pictures from the game.
We even convinced dad to scalp some extra tickets we had, we asked the cop sitting there on his bike what was legal first. Good thing too, apparently you need a permit, but don’t worry there was a scalper with a permit able to do it for us.
Me and Jason
Me and dad
Our View
This last one is what the temperature gauge in the car said when we were stuck on top of the parking garage for about 15 minutes. It was hot!
Happy Mothers day
Just wanted to say happy mothers day to our moms.
Stephanie’s mom is up in pine. I assume steph will call her later today, and we are celebrating mothers day with them on wednesday night. I think bowling and dinner is the plan.
I have no idea what my mom is doing, but I will be calling her later today.
Next year Stephanie can have her own mothers day celebration with tom & jerry.
Merry Christmas!
So some of you are thinking has Stephanie lost her mind? It is way past Christmas, plus she has already done a Merry Christmas post.
No, I have not lost my mind. Today, January 7, is the day they celebrate Christmas in Ethiopia. I hope to celebrate it next year with Tom and Jerry and a traditional Ethiopian feast of Injera and Dora Wat, and maybe with some fellow Ethiopian adopters.
Here is a little info on Christmas in Ethiopia and some more here.
NHL Winter Classic 2008!
I am super pumped about this. On New years day, the NHL is holding the first US outdoor, NHL regular season game in history. The game is between the Penguins and the Sabers, and should be a great game.
The game will be held in front of 70,000 fans in the buffalo Bills Stadium (tickets sold out in minutes).
The preparations have been impressive.
Last year the first NHL game held outdoors was in Alberta Canada, and the temps were in the -20° range. This year it should be a bit warmer at 24 – 30° at game time.
This is exciting for me, as my best friend and I lived on the pond hockey rink for 4 months each winter as kids. If we weren’t in school, you could find us on the pond. It was a great place to play hockey, and most of the NHL players playing in this game are also just as excited.
Merry Christmas!
We had a wonderful Christmas this year. We celebrated on Christmas Eve because my dad had to work Christmas day. We had a lovely feast of tacos and tostadas, put on our pajamas and opened gifts. We played the new games Michelle and I got after all the gifts were opened, and we ate Matt’s creation for dessert, let’s just say it was really, really sweet.
My mom hard at work in the kitchen
Jason and Michelle
My dad and his new wooden fire truck
Tom and Jerry even scored some toys.
Matt and his mega block fire truck (he admitted he would have trouble sharing legos)
Me and their new fisher price train
They even got a singing and dancing Christmas frog for their bathroom from Great Grandpa And Grandma Adams
I hope everyone else had a fantastic Christmas. We wish we could see all our friends and family for Christmas. Love and miss you guys!
I have uploaded more photos to the photo gallery.
Christmas Goodies!
We have spent the last two Sundays baking goodies for Christmas. We had a lot of fun and have lots of goodies! I thought I would share some pics.
Last weekend we made goodies to give away. (and yeah we ate plenty ourselves)
Here is my sister-in-law Michelle holding one of her beautiful candy trees and the trees themselves are below.
Matt really got into making the trees!
Me making some kiss and peanut butter cookies.
Jason, my little brother, got to help out this Sunday. Here he is making peanut clusters.
I think Matt and Michelle are addicted to making candy!
Me entertaining the dogs, who never got in the way. (yeah right)
Snowman cookies!
I cannot wait to make cookies for Santa next year with Tom and Jerry!
Musical Christmas Card
Today I got one of those cute musical Christmas cards from some dogs I take care off. I thought I would share Tank’s opinion of it:
Polar Bear Pic (for those of you waiting)
Also, dad helped us fixed the nativity, we had it set-up all wrong. It looks much better now.
Need a holiday gift idea?
Greendimes is perfect for someone who is sick of all that junk mail. Plus you don’t have to hope it arrives in time to wrap, you just select the date you want it sent to their email.
They will also plant 10 trees for the recipient.