HAPPY BIRTHDAY RAEANN!

Happy 6th Birthday to my little girl! Now...quit growing up!

Pictures of her birthday madness will be up sometime in the next week.

Cardinals Win!

Dad got 4 tickets to the Cards vs. Astros game on Sunday for Taylor, me, mom and himself. Taylor got to see his first "live" Pujols homer last weekend. He also got to see Glaus's first homer as a Cardinal. Another first for both of us was that we got to see our first fight at a baseball game. Apparently the pitcher of the Astro's fed Molina some unappreciated chin music. He was about to storm the mound and as both teams cleared the dugouts the fight was stopped. The Cardinals won the game so we celebrated by tearing through some White Castle!

Things to do in Colorado starting in the spring:

For those fishermen out there: Blue Mesa Fishing Tournament (May 2nd - 4th). I hear their is going to be a Grand Prize of some sort and I don't believe there is a cost involved.

Cinco de Mayo Funfest (May 2nd - May 4th). Sounds like you can try some of the local food favorites and home made salsa and there is even a jalapeno shoot out contest!

Downtown Art & Jazz festival (May 8th - 11th) Jazz and Blues? No need to say anymore.

Spring Barrel Tasting in Grand Junction (May 17th - 18th) For the Wine tasters in ourselves.

Got my license!

I got to tell ya, I haven't had that much fun in a long time. I finished second in my class and the trainers said that after a year of practice, they want me to put my application in for trainer because they can tell already that I should have been on a bike a long time ago. That makes ya feel pretty darn good coming from someone that trains close to 800 people in a year. It was a pretty wild trip but Chris and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Friday night, we headed down to Warrensburg for our motorcycle training. When we got there we stopped off at a motel we booked earlier in the week. It was called the "Belmont". As we opened the door to our room, we first noticed the stale smell that permeated the entire room. It was in pretty bad shape. Our beds looked as though they had just been slept in and the only light in the room came from two light bulbs dangling from the middle of the room one of which was burnt out. The bathroom was horrendous! It had crap stains on the underseat of the toilet lid and the shower looked as though it was last used by an oily muddy and moldy hairy sumo wrestler. Needless to say we had our concerns. We both decided to stay the night cuz the room was so darn cheap...less than half of the next step up. As we got back from our first night of training at about 10:30 pm, we arrived just in time to see that the room next to us was rented out to two dirty bottom dwellers one with his shirt off smoking outside his non smoking room with the door open and the other leaning up against his trashy truck drunk off his butt. We both decided to skip a shower due to the fact that I couldn't remember how long it had been since my last tetanus shot and we put our coats over top our beds to lay on as getting into the covers was not an option. The neighbors started yelling, punching walls, fighting, crying, telling each other they loved each other, more fighting and yelling around 11:00 pm. It almost reminded me of my current neighbors at my real home. At around 2:30 AM a gunshot was heard that sounded as though it was shot in our own room. Chris and I bounced up and realized that the noise came from the room next door. Honestly, I was hoping that one or the other ended it for themselves due to the fact that I needed my sleep badly. About 10 minutes later I heard "PUT YOUR HANDS UP!" coming from outside my door. Realizing that the cops were there I turned on my lights as to not make them any more suspicious then they already were. They knocked on my door and asked if we were ok..with hand gun and M16 drawn. We opened the door and advised them of what we heard and wrote a statement for the local PD. Come to find out, the neighbors fired 2 shots that night...one about 10 feet from where I was sleeping on the other side of my wall into the ceiling. Long story short...the next morning we got our money back...booked a new room in the Holiday Inn (which was awesome!) and got the hell out of there. As for the motorcycle training coarse...it was a blast. Even though we got about 45 minutes of sleep the night before I have not had that much fun in a long time. My next goal...to get me a bike. I already have one in mind. Its a Honda Shadow Aero.

Beautiful bike eh? Nice starter bike. Its a 750 and has that cool throwback look. I will probably get it in black and white but red is kinda working for me too. I learned on a 08 Honda Nighthawk like the one below. It was a 250 and they advised that I get a 750 or an 1100 at least due to the fact that they think I would regret such a small engine on the Nighthawk.

Don't know, but I wont wait long. It will be nice to get from home to work on this thing when the weather is nice. If I get one before I move to Colorado...Ill have to drive it out there...cuz...well just cuz! Time to stock up on skull caps and chaps...and oh yes...my goatee will be back sooner rather than later! I have come up with a biker gang name....the Belmont Brawlers! To get in you must weather one night in the Belmont motel. Trust me..if you can do that..even the Hells Angels will show you respect..lol!

-Thanks for the comment Mike...here is the Yamaha V-Star Classic you were talking about...it is now officially on my (wish) list. Any other advise is always welcome!

Taylor's School Cardinal Game

Taylor got to go to a St. Louis Cardinals game for a school trip yesterday and he brought along his mom. I would have loved to go, but Deidra deserved it more than I did. She's been working her butt off. As for as the trip, I hear they had a great time! The Cardinals won which for me is cool. Of coarse if the Rocks would have won I would not have been too mad. I will always have loyalty to the Cards. They were my team of choice as a kid and always will be my team. Ever since the Rocks came about I can't help but cheer for them as well but when It comes to which one I am loyal too...the Cards baby! "I'm sold on St. Louis...I'M SOLD!" If you don't know what I meant by that..then you have not been a fan for as long as I.

Deidra took a pic by the Arch to show how the flood waters have risen. That is the Mighty Mississippi creeping illegally onto a No Parking spot! I tell ya...Mother Nature has no respect for the local laws!

As for me...here I am again...drinking my morning coffee..blogging. I love it. This weekend a buddy from work and I will be taking the MMSP motorcycle safety program in Warrensburg to get our motorcycle license. Always wanted to have one...now I'm getting one. Turns out gas prices can revert a grown man into thinking like a young man. It is an all weekend program. We leave tonight after work and wont get back until Sunday afternoon. Don't worry Ill be careful. I can just see Chris and I riding away from the coarse on our test bike now...both with shiny new licenses..........

(...Wha?..where?...*snort*...uh..sorry..just daydreaming.)

Spring is here!

Spring is here at last! Got to tell ya, I'm happy about it too. You all know I love my snowy winters, but once Spring gets close I get to wanting my camping months. Six Flaggs opens up in a couple weeks and we are looking forward to heading up to the Lou. It's supposed to be 67 tomorrow and in the lower 70's by Monday. This time of year makes me want to take a long road trip with my camera and shoot some great photo's. The photo of the cardinal on the left is not mine...but now that the cardinals are starting to come around again the other birds are not far behind. We have done some serious spring cleaning and now Deidra and I have the bug to start fixing up the house to put it on the market in the near future. Mom and dad came by tonight and we had a great evening. We watched "Meet the Fockers" and dad whooped me in chess twice. Got to tell ya, its nice to hear my parents talk about dads upcoming retirement from the state. He seems to be really pumped up about it as he should be. Its about time for him and mom to be able to do whatever they want whenever they want. Deidra and I are getting ready to begin our first free summer since she started school. Now that its all done with, we are going to make this year unforgettable. Can you believe that I'm once again saying "the year is almost 1/4 over!" Last year I had a similar blog entry. It doesn't seem as though it were that long ago...which means that we are going to be heading west sooner rather than later. Its flying by. Time to go up stairs and get the coffee for tomorrow ready...Hope you all have a wonderful start to the spring!

Had a good weekend!

Well we had some car problems but they were no match for me on my day off! That's right folks, I took a day off! Friday was a full day for me. I decided to make it a "surprise the wife" day. She never asks for anything and does everything she can to make sure the kids and I have everything we need so I decided to repay the love. Lets start from the top:

Thursday: Finally decide enough is enough with the car. Time to get it fixed. Took it to Dodge and dropped it off.

Friday: Woke up and started getting ready for work when it hit me...I have enough vacation saved up to take time off to hike the Yukon so why not take a day off to get some "car" problems dealt with. After finding out what was wrong (and boy was there a bunch) I decided to go ahead and give them the green light to do whatever it takes to make it as close to perfect as possible. During the time it took for Dodge to fix the car, I also decided to price some new car stereo units with the iPod hookup. Deidra has had nothing but problems with our current car stereo for the last 6 months and for the last 2 weeks it stopped working completely. I found the unit that would work best for us and talked them into installing it later that day. Mom helped with the driving from here to there and dropping the car off at the car stereo shop. While stereo was being put in, I went to Best Buy and got her what she has been wanting for a long time now...her very own iPod.

When all was said and done, the car got fixed...completely! A new stereo was glowing its soft blue light on the dash and the iPod was being charged and songs were being downloaded..all 986 of them! Deidra got home expecting her car to be fixed..but got her very own "Pimp my Ride" show! BOOYA! After many smooches and naughty winks we were both happy I took the day off.

Saturday was great as well. We decided to head up to the St. Louis Zoo early Saturday morning after a much needed stop at our new favorite coffee shop (Dunn Bro's). The temp got up to an almost warm low 60's and Sunday got to around 70! The pictures below are only a few that we took with our newest point and shoot camera we got this weekend. Why another camera you may ask? Well cuz its waterproof! Why would we need that? Cuz we are going to take it to all the places I cant take the D40x. Still considering whether or not to take the D40x to the Virgin Islands this fall. Whats that??? You didn't hear??? WOO HOO! My mom and dad have decided to take their loving kids to the Virgin Islands one family at a time starting from oldest to youngest...and my turn is this fall sometime. Can't wait. It will be the experience of a lifetime for Deidra and I as well as for RaeAnn and Taylor.

Rae in front of grandma's favorite animal.

Here is Taylor on the way in the door. Such a handsome lad!

This is a pic that Taylor took. Not a bad 1st pic I would say. Photo man in the making!

This is one of my dads favorite places to visit at the zoo. They had to block off the path this day due to the gorilla's throwing rocks at the people. I don't blame them.

As you can see from the pic, this gorilla had some decency! Strategically having the only patch of standing grass in the right spot at the right time!

This elephant however had no decency. I had to leave this pic more distant. Lets just say he is a male and is happy that it is springtime. (CJ, you will have to email me to get the full uncensored version)

Here is a cute baby ele. He sure drew a crowd.

Still not sure why she chose to be with me. Despite what they tell you in all the after school specials...when used correctly...alcohol can be used to your advantage.

These are the cutest darn kids in the world.

We just love that darned naked monkey!

Two more pics taken by Taylor. He's got the eye for picture taking I believe.

Happy Valentines day to all the shmoogie woogies and schnookum wookums out there. Time to cuddle up next to the fireplace with your Pookie noogums and pop in one of those movies that all you men out there pretend you dont like. Don't worry, I wont tell on ya.

HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!

HA HA HA HA HA HA! HEH HEH HEE HEE HA!

BLAH HA HA HA EH Eh ehem. Hopefully they can take all the pre-printed "Patriots Win" memorabilia and recycle it to feed all the homeless people in the world. HA! Go have yourself a waa burger and some french cries Tom. Your "greatest team ever" just lost.

GO BRONCOS - Fall 2008!

MY BIRTHDAY!

Happy Birthday to me! So what did I do for my Birthday? It was a nice quite day at home. Got to play some online hockey with my Colorado brutha CJ! That was fun. We played 2 games vs. each other and split the games 1 - 1 then we played as the same team and we got dominated by the computer! In our defense we played at All Star level which we now know to change to Rookie..at least until we get better. Kids are staying over at my sisters house tonight which means we get to watch a movie tonight. Probably going to rent "knocked up". We've been wanting to see that. On another note, I couldn't be more proud of my wife. Not only is she eating healthy with me but she is also going to the YMCA with me every day! Have not skipped a day yet and she has been at my side on the elliptical every step of the way! It makes it a whole lot easier when you have someone you love doing the same things as you. Deidra is loving her job at the hospital and we are now on the final stage of our time here in Missouri. This will be our final year in this place and we are going to try and sell almost everything so we can start new in our next location. Wow! Just to think of how quick the last two years have been! Makes me realize that there isnt much time to waste here in JC. Need to get on the ball and get this house sold soon! We will be completely paying off another debt this month! Final payment will be mailed in a couple weeks! Booya baby! Feels good! Mo money Mo money Mo money! With every debt paid off it feels like a small monthly raise! Speaking of raise, I get a promotion in two more weeks myself. It should be a pretty nice one and that will make our debt go away so much faster. Deidra gets a promotion in March and I will hopefully get a state raise in the summer. Why am I telling you this? Because with each up in pay, we move that much closer to our final goal! That is what this blog is all about. I started this blog when Deidra was first going to College to keep my mind off of the wait. Now that we are so close, I don't have as much time to blog anymore. I hope to post at least once a week and as we get closer to the summer. I feel that I will. Deidra and I are planning a trip to Colorado for this summer. It will be a city scouting trip but we will also be going to have some fun. CJ...better buy your fishing license and oil up the fishing poles!

9 today 67 by Sunday!

Can you believe that with the wind chill we got to the single digits today in Jeff City? Weather channel shows 60's this weekend. Weird. Oh well, seems to happen every year about this time around here. My friend from work had some pretty bad tree damage during the ice storm we had a couple weeks ago. Sucks. Some good did come out of it though. About 3 full trailer loads of free wood in my back yard! He needed it off his lawn..I needed it in my fireplace! Everyone is happy! BOOYA!