Had a freaky/weird dream last night

I had limited sleep because of the 4th of July and the fact that I had to be into work early for a Conference call back east (those Easterners think the whole 2-3 hour time difference revolves around them!)

Anyway, it starts out with my brother Russ coming over to the house looking for my brother Jeff. I asked what for and he said they were going to be doing a job for some guy where they could make $2500 in one day. Jeff wasn't around, so I said I wanted to do it with him. He said OK. I asked him what it was and he didn't know, but was told it was so easy to do.

So, next thing I know I'm getting off a small plane in a small town in Mexico. My brother and I are lead into this big hanger-type building and taken to an upstairs room.

An American dude comes out and for some reason I know who he is (not personally, but by reputation). The American is very intimidating in his presence alone. Not that he's big and full of muscles, but there is something about his presense that makes you address him as "sir". So, back to how I know him. He's a known terrorist and wanted. This is the reason why we are there. He starts to give us a speech, but it was more about orders. He doesn't specifically say what we are to do, but he talks about certain monuments, buildings, government officials, etc. and what they have done to corrupt America or how they represent the corruption of America.

As we are given our speech, we see out the window many other young American males coming and going as if they're having a good time there. Some are even as young as 18 year olds (so they act very immature).

We find out our job is to place a certain leather bag/breif case thingy in a certain area of a building. That is all we do. We walk away and it detonates. My first thought is that we're just to destroy property, not people....right? Anyway, the answer is never really clear. My brother and I, out of complete fear, tell the terrorist we are going to do it. We had heard that if you don't agree with it, he executes you on the spot.

So, Mr. Terrorist breaks out this huge book full of names inside of it. He also goes back to his office and brings out this huge knife. He makes us sign our names with ink, then makes us cut our finger and sign it in blood. Russ goes first, I go second. As we sign our names, Mr. Terrorist continues to give us our orders and motivational speeches about how what we are doing is good and right and what we destroy is only helping bring America back to what it should be. My issue during this speech is that the knife was so dull that I couldn't get it to break my skin. I was pushing and pushing and pushing so hard. I was afraid that if I didn't get the skin broken before the speech was done, that Mr. Terrorist would just hold my finger down and chop it off in order to draw some blood. I finally made it break the skin and signed away.

So, Mr. Terrorist gives us our bags and let's us know when we are leaving. He tells us to "Enjoy our short stay in Mexico before it's time to leave". This whole time, my thoughts are on how wrong this is and how scared I was and how I didn't want to hurt anyone. I was too afraid to ask Mr. Terrorist if people were going to be hurt. I had thoughts of not following the orders. Of placing the breifcase in a dumpster, or in a land fill somewhere far away. I was afraid of even being caught with the case. My brother was like a statue the whole time, not saying a thing and just going with it. I was so afraid to even have a negative thought about the whole thing, thinking that Mr. Terrorist would be able to read my mind.

So my brother and I head straight for the small airport. We are so petrified about what we are about to do, that we don't take time to "Enjoy our short stay in Mexico". We get to our terminal for our small private plane that we were originally flown down for. As we get to the area, we see many young men like us, all carrying similar breif cases. We were all getting ready to board the same plane. One particular person that was waiting to board was Mr. Jon Heder of Naploeon Dynamite fame. He was a terrorist hench-man just like us. Since my brother and I recognized him, we walked over and sat next to him. We talked to him as if we somewhat knew him, or were familiar with him. He seemed very calm and relaxed and didn't seem to have a care in the world. We tried to talk to him in some kind of made-up-on-the-spot code. "So, are you working for the man that owns this airplane?" and "So, when you accidentally forget your breifcase somewhere, are there others around to find it"? This was the most important question I wanted answered. He told me there are and others will not be around after they find it.

I was shocked and scared. I asked how his conscious could go through with it. He said this was his 18th trip. Just then, I flash back to the time I finish signing my blood and Mr. Terrorist says we are to come back once a month on the first thursday to do another job. As he walked away, he says something to the effect of, "I see Mr. Ben Griffith hasn't been back. Looks like my boys in Arizona will have to pay him and his family a little visit". That lead me to believe that if we didn't continue what he told us we needed to, that he'd have me and my family killed.

So anyway, back at the terminal, a big, black cop comes walking around our area. He's an American and is there to check security or something? He looks at Russ, Jon, and I very suspiciously. He walks over to us and starts to make small talk about our trip, etc. He keeps looking at Jon's bag and every time he gazes in that direction, I ask him about a certain painting or something outside the window. The cop leaves and doesn't prod around anymore.

Then I realize I forgot to cross my "T" in my blood signature at the hangar. I rush back over there (it was across the street) and go up into the small room and find the book, opened on the table. I go to cross my "T" and notice my name is scratched out with a "He's dead" stamp next to it. This freaked me out and I feel that I must have said or done something to piss Mr. Terrorist off.

So, I run outside, across the road to the airport. I tell my brother we have to get out, that someone is out to get me. My thoughts go crazy. I think of what they'd do to me if they catch me? Will they just blow my brains out and get it over with? Will they take that same dull knife and cut me up slowly? What about my family? What if I can escape back? I wouldn't even know how to get home? I have no idea where in Mexico we are. I'd likely starve to death trying to walk home. What if I could get home, then get the FBI to place us under the witness protection program? Yeah, that would be a good one.

Just then, I see a group of hench-men approaching us from a distance. (this is where reality sets in) I then wake up sweating like crazy and turn on the swamp cooler. So relieved it was just a dream, Alene asks if everything is OK. Just being glad to see her safe and me not being cut up in some hangar in Mexico, I told her everything was fine.

Some dreams are so real, it's crazy. I'm wondering what would have happened if I had kept sleeping. Would I have become a hero and busted out some Jackie Chan-like moves? Or would I have been like Harrison Ford in the Fugitive and kind of clumsily escape every situation and get back to Mr. Terrorist (who, if following the Fugitive story, by this time would be the one-armed man). Who knows.

Anyone else find this story to be freaky? Or is it just some deamon/memory that I have to deal with?

I'm still a little freaked out about it.

Random Thoughts......

Meat pies aren't too bad (try them you might like them). Topped one off with some of my homeade chilli that I make.

It's a very proud/tender moment hearing your child say their prayer (even if you have to help them along).

I'm tired all the time.

Got a new bike for Alene. Got a child seat for the back of my bike (if Alene and I want to go on a long bike ride with Caiden; he get's tired on his little bike). We took a night ride over to Liberty park. Caiden did a good job of keeping up. He looks so cute in his little bike helmet.

I wish I had enough money to remodel our kitchen. We will eventually (putting away money into savings is priority right now). It will happen soon. I just want the house to be a place that's nice to come home to.

I have to change the belts on my truck before we go camping this Sunday/Monday. Not looking forward to it.

I love my wife dearly. She's amazing and I sincerely believe I'm the luckiest guy in the world.

I've been a little bored with music lately. I've found at times that silence is golden. I've actually been fine just riding in my truck with no music and no thoughts.

I'm so impatient. I can't wait until I can teach/coach full time.

I wish I had a wave runner to do some water sports. In addition to that thought, I find it funny how greedy I can be. I always have this little wish list of the pricy items in my head. I always think, "If I can just have that one item, I'd be totally happy....." and it seems I'll get one thing, then I'll want something bigger and more expensive. I'm so lame. Still, would be nice to have a wave runner. They're so easy to pull, store, get in and out of a lake, pull a skiier, get wet, etc. Would be fun to get two used ones with a trailer, head to the lake and invite some friends for the day (or half day). Do some BBQing, have some laughs, maybe a few (root) beers. Am I too greedy for coveting something like that? I feel so guilty for some reason?

Anyway, I've got to get my act in gear with my church calling. I'm doing OK, but I always feel like I need to do more. I feel like I should be visiting my boys every other day or something. Like I should take them to the batting cages, or for a little walk-a-man-talk or something? I don't know. I'm sure it will come. I feel so intimidated by their parents though. I don't want them to think I'm taking their boys away from them. Hmmmmmmmmmm.

I'm so glad it's friday.

I have so much more on my mind. I have a friend that is going through cancer right now. He lives in North Carolina and owns a bunch of property here in Utah. He has me do fix-up stuff on them for my spare time extra work. The only hard part is that both places are in Park City or Provo, which are both 30-45 minutes away. I like the extra work, but I hate the drive and by the time I'm home from work, I don't feel like going anywhere for more work. It's tough. He has a few more projects for me, but after that I'm going to have to let him know I can't take them on anymore. I have a wife that I want to spend my extra time with. When I was single, it was so easy to do these extra jobs because I had nothing to come home to. I could take Caiden with me to these jobs if I had him on that day and he would just play with some toys. I can't take my wife with me because she'd be bored out of her mind.

Anyway, I have other side jobs to do coming up too. It's not the whole marriage thing that turns me off of side work lately. I think it's just the fact that I'm always feeling tired. I don't know what's wrong with my body....I'm just tired. Argh.

Anyway, I enjoy that kind of work when I have the energy for it.

I've got a lot of extra work to get done on Saturday. Plus I have to study my lesson for church and get other things done. Lot's to do.

Alene and I might go for a bike ride through the city tonight. Should be fun.

Not to be too sappy

but I REALLY love my wife and feel like I'm the luckiest guy in the world because of her.

That is all.

Had a good weekend. A little sore though

So, as for my plans that I was excited for, this is what it was.

My best friend Roman was graduating from college at UC Davis. He at one time mentioned when he graduated and I mentioned that my (then) future brother in-law might be getting married around that time, but I wasn't positive. I soon found out he wasn't getting married until September, so I'd be able to make it out to his graduation.

However, Roman's wife called me (which isn't normal) and asked if it was a money issue as to why I couldn't make it out. I told her no and that I would be able to make it. She told me to keep it a secret and not tell him and that she would arrange for tickets for Alene and I when we came out.

So, I told Roman I wasn't going to be able to make it. Said I would be at a wedding.

Alene and I got our tickets and flew into Sacramento on Thursday night (the 16th). I had been chatting with Roman off and on because I got my new iMac and had a bunch of questions (by the way, I'm STOKED about having the sucker; it's so beautiful). As we drove toward his house, I called him when we pulled up to his apartment complex. I just chatted with him about nothing and walked up to his door while talking to him. I then knocked on his door and he asked me to hold on. I hung up and was standing in his doorway. He was shocked and stoked (as was I). It was cool.

Homeboy felt bad though because he had not prepared the house for visitors and was half dressed. I told him it didn't matter because I've lived with him before. Funny stuff.

Anyway, so we hung out that night. I got to see his 5 month old son Baron and his other son Jalen, and just have a good time. Betsy (his wife) showed up from work about 1/2 hour later. It was a blast. She was suprised a bit too because I had originally planned to show up on Friday night, but I was so stoked when we got to Sac-town that I had to go see him.

The next day (Friday). I took Alene on a tour of my old stomping grounds (as I was born and with an exception of a 4 year hiatus to Utah and Arizona, was pretty much raised in that area until I was 20 years old). I took her on the back roads up to my old hometown of ElDorado. We went into Coloma, where the gold rush started. We saw all kinds of great things. I hadn't been there since about 2000 and so much has changed. It was crazy.

We went to my old house that I grew up in. We lived on about 3 acres and behind our property there was tons of other acreage owned by ther people. It was basically used to graze cattle, but it was wooded and fun to play in. When I went hiking back there to see how it looked, I was amazed at the change. The whole area behind my old house was completely over-grown. It looked weird. I could hardly get through any of it and couldn't even get close enough to see my old house. There were these wild blackberry bushes that had grown like crazy. It was rediculous. Still, had a lot of good memories come back. It just amazes me how much could change over the course of 10 or so years can take place. This field behind our house had a small vehicle trail, waking paths, etc. The fact that it was so over-grown that I couldn't get through it made me think about the world we live in and the history involved and how fast things can become covered up by nature if they are not touched.

Amazing.

Later that evening we met up with Roman and his family and my good buddy Mark Wills (along with his brother Eric and Eric's girlfriend) and went to a sushi place called Mikuni's. Now, I'm not a big fan of sushi and wasn't too stoked about going there, but it was Roman's night and I went with it. I tried a few items here and there, but mainly stuck with my sesame chicken and rice. Not to shabby though and we had a good time.

Saturday was fun. Saw my buddy graduate and then we had a BBQ at his apartment complex. After eating, we had a touch football game. It was a blast playing (I tossed 3 balls to Alene and she caught and ran with all of them) however, I was SORE the next day (and still am). I'm so out of shape. I always complain about it, but never do anything about it. Oh well. Anyway, we also played whiffle ball (or as Roman would say "Whoofle ball") and that was fun too.

We had to get up EARLY on Sunday morning because our flight left at 6:20am. Not fun. Anyway, I got back in time to give a lesson in church to my young men and then get down to my parents house in Springville for a fathers day BBQ.

All of us kids got together and bought him a gas BBQ grill. The thing is nice and he was shocked when I snuck it into the back yard onto the porch. He figured I was bringing his charcoal cooker that he left at my house. He's stoked.

So it was a good day. I'm tired and sore as hell, but had good times.

Oh yeah! Yesterday I tried wake boarding for the first time. My brother in law (Jere) took me out on his boat early Tuesday morning. It took me about 15 tries before I got up. I was so sore from the previous few days, so my muscles were weak. Once I did get up though, I was in heaven. I felt like I was snowboarding again. It was a blast. Finally my legs gave out and I was too tired to get up again. Jere is really good at it and actually jumped the entire wake.

I love just being out on a lake. It was so nice. I'm trying to talk Alene into financing a couple of wave runners, but I don't think she's too keen on the idea. Someone give her some pressure to give in! :-)

Anyway, one side-effect from wake boarding is how sore your forarms are the next day. I can hardly move my arms with out them being in serious pain. I have to keep bending my hands back to stretch them. They feel like they're going to cramp up any time.

Anyway, that is that for now.

OH FREAKING YEAH!!!!!

I forgot to add something else that I'm STOKED about. My new computer.

Jeff mentioned he wanted to buy my eMac. He offered $600 and I immediately told him $500, if I was even going to sell it.

Anyway, I started looking into the new iMac and pricing. They have re-furbished and last years models on sale for $1000. I went to my better half and asked her if it would be OK if we got one, threw it on a credit card and paid off half of it once Jeff paid us for the eMac. Plus, I have a tub-tile job coming up where I can make $250 and a few other odd jobs. She, being the loving wife who just wants me to be happy, said "yes". I was stoked.

I immediately called Roman and he did some research for me (dude knows all the deals). He found that with my student discount, I could get a BRAND NEW one WITH a printer for about $300 more. Again, the wife said yes.

So anyway, I ordered it and I can't wait. The sucker is loaded. I got the 17" 2GHz with a 160 GB hard drive and a 128mb graphics card. Plus it comes with built-in airport extreme and bluetooth 2.0. Needless to say, I'm happy.

So here is what I'm getting in a few days. The ONLY thing I plan on changing is upgrading the memor to 1GB:

The latest

Hmmmmm, life has been moving much faster after getting married. A breif run-down on what I've been doing.

Marriage
Marriage is great though. No complaints, no regrets. Not as though I expected them going in. I knew Alene was the right person for me and I only hoped I could be the right person for her, but I think I'm doing a good job of just being me and she loves me. It's so nice to come home to someone you love so much, share ideas, talk about "nothing" and get through the day. She makes me very happy and I love seeing her most brightening smile every day. It warms my heart.

We have some pictures from the wedding. I'm getting around to posting them on my web site, but it takes some time. Patience every one :-).

Caiden
Had a little "scare" or a reality check last week. Caiden's mother text messaged me and asked how long I planned on staying in Utah. My automatic reply was "indefinite. Caiden is my priority and I'll never leave him". She replied, "well, there is a chance we will be moving to San Diego. Sounds like we need to talk". My heart sunk and I was immediately saddened by even the mere thought of it. I called her immediately to talk about it.

She basically said she's been seeing some guy that lives in Chicago and is moving onto Med school. The only cities he can go to it are in Chicago, New York, San Diego and some other place. Anyway, they were considering getting married and with that, she would move to where he is. She said it wasn't set in stone that they were getting married, but they've been talking about it.

So I asked her to consider a few things besides taking Caiden. I asked her to consider him staying here with Alene and I. I also asked her to consider what Caiden wants.

We have Joint custody going on, but she has the physical custody. I have Caiden every Tues/Thurs/Saturday and every other Sunday. It works well (so far) and Caiden seems very happy with the situation.

Still, with that I have/had no idea what my rights were as far as him leaving.

To me, it naturally made sense that since he is used to Alene as his step-mom, he has all of his cousins, grandparents he's grown up with, and friends he's made, that he should stay here. If he goes to San Diego, he knows his mother and will barely know his new step-father (if it comes down to that).

Anyway, I guess we'll see how that shakes out. I just hope it doesn't come down to that. One thing is for sure, I've tried to make a little more quality time with Caiden then I have in the past. It would kill me to have him gone for months at a time. He's a part of me and I'm close to him (as I know his mother is too). To know he is somewhere else and to know he will be missing me just pains me to no end.

Web site
I've been wanting to make a quality web-site for some time. I plan on working on one during the course of this summer and hopefully have something dope and not lame like that dang geocities stuff. I just want something that is easy to check out and easy to update.

Travel
I'm stoked. Alene and I are going to be taking a little trip this weekend. I'll talk more about what we did when I get back. Needless to say, I'm excited.

Home Improvement
I've been doing a lot of work on the two front rooms of my house. Alene and I picked out some paint for each room and some pergo-like flooring for the immediate front room. The tough part has been working with the plaster in these rooms. I could tear it all out (as I've done in other rooms in the past) but these rooms are special. The ceilings don't come to a corner and start, the walls just go up, then gradually curve into the ceilings. It looks really cool. Anyway, the plaster is really old and crumbled off in some parts, mostly around the bottom where I tore off the old base-boards (I put new ones in). I had a lot of patching to do. (side-note: If you ever have to patch plaster, use the stuff called "fix-all". It's in the paint department at Home Depot and the stuff is STRONG and dries in like 20-30 minutes so use it quickly and spread it smooth; it's almost impossible to sand down).

So I patched the walls, threw some more orange-peel texture to match the existing, then painted the suckers. The TV room is a dark Green and looks dope. The front room is a brown-ish color.

I laid a light maple-looking color pergo floor, which looks really nice. Once I put down the base boards, it was even better. Now we just need some carpet for the front room and our bedroom, and a new door for our bedroom and we're all set with half the house.

Here are a few pictures of the progress:







I still have a TON to do on the house though. Kitchen is next (someday) and we are going to tile it, along with the bathroom and the back laundry/office area. Should look good when it's done, but that will be a little here and there. I have to shim and level out the floor in the kitchen. That is going to be fun :-). In addition to the kitchen, I have to put on a new roof next year. I should do it now as I found a nice little leake that ran down the wall in the front room and caused a big bubble on my new paint. I'll have to temporarily patch that for this winter, then actually fix it with a new roof next year. It's going to cost about $3000 or so. I have to tear off 3 layers of roof shingles (which include asphalt and wood shingles). It's going to be a plast. Then after that I have to put down some new 7/16" OSB (for those that don't know, OSB stands for Oriented Strand Board, which is basically a sheet of that 4'x8' plywood that looks like shreds of wood glued together. It's basically used on most houses these days). I actually look forward to doing it. I've only roofed a garage and my little shed in the back, however, I did those both by hand w/o a compressor or nail gun. Now I have a dope compressor and a framing nailer (which I can use to tack down the OSB). All I have to do now is rent a roofing nailer, which won't be that much.

Church Calling
I have a calling at church now. For those of you not familiar with the LDS (Mormon) church, we are all asked to be available to have some sort of "position" or "job" or "calling" to do w/in our ward (it's the designated group of us that meet at a certain time). Callings can range from being the Bishop, one of his councelors, Sunday School teacher, Youth teacher, Librarian, Nursery, etc. They are all done on a non-paying basis. Anyway, my calling when I arrived was the Young Men's President. With this, I'm in charge of teaching and all activities for the Young men in our ward ages 12-17. Should be interesting. I don't know how prepared I am for this, but being that I coach football for kids in this age range, I think I'll be able to handle it. The only difference is I can't yell at them (well, OK, I guess I can a little) and I can't make them do down-ups or push-ups. I hope I'm able to reach out to these kids and give them some good guidance.

Food
Went to Ruby River last Friday night with Alene. Had a DANG GOOD 16 oz New York steak. Probably should have gotten the 12 oz because I was force-feeding myself by the time I got to the last 1/4 of the steak. Still, it was yummy. Most people dog me for using A-1 on my steak. They say it's not a good steak if I use it. I just like the dang stuff and put it on everything I eat (potatoes are really good with it). The steak was good as it was, but I just prefer it with A-1.

Misc.
Anyway, that is about it. Got a lot of work to get done before this weekend comes up. I'm excited for my family reunion, which is coming up in early July. Alene and I have not been able to get out camping at all lately, so I'm hoping to get out at least once before that. My new calling is going to limit my camping through a whole weekend experience a little, but I'm cool with some good Friday/Saturday camping I guess.

My son is funny

Caiden is a character. For the past 3 weeks, homeboy has refused to turn right. He told me that "every day is a left day". I asked him who made this rule up, he said he did. So, whenever I turn right while driving, he gets all over me.

Still, the dude refuses to turn right. As he walks around, he will only make left turns. How does he make right turns you ask? Simple, he walks to the area where he would normall turn right, then he does a 270 degree circle to the left in order to make his right turn. Dude will do it even when he's half-alseep. When I woke him up this morning, he was groggy, but awake. He was getting into the tub and before he made his right turn, he did a complete circle to the left in order to make it.

It makes me wonder where all this attention to detail comes from? He's so funny.

I'm a married man now

I'm greatful and I feel blessed. I'm humbled. I'm in love.

I'm aware that it's early in the marriage, but I am so confident I married "the right one" that I know if there ever are issues in my marriage, that we will be able to work through them. I feel like I married my best friend (no offense to my other best friends: Tim, Roman, and Damon; you are all of my "I like you as a friend, not as a boyfriend" best friends).

Alene is so good to me. It's so weird getting used to. She works so hard at her regular job, then goes to school for 4 hours straight after that, and still finds time to make sure I'm happy. The great thing is that I strive to do the same for her.

We went and saw the final instalment to George Lucas' Star Wars movies and both loved it. My brother Jeff and Russ, as well as my sister Krystal and her husband Nate, waited from about 5:30 to 10:30 before they started to seat us. Alene showed up about 11 because she had class that night until 10.

It was a great flick and I think they did a good job at explaining everything. Lucas, I believe, is a great writer, but his ego is too big for a directors hat. Still, the movie delievered on it's promised "darkness" and explained why it was that Anikan became Darth Vader.

Alene and I are still trying to catch up on lost sleep though. She is such a trooper though. Homegirl works out religiously and is always up at 6:15am every day to do it, weather she went to sleep 15 minutes before or not! I lover her for that though and I love her dedication to staying healthy for herself.

Anyway, I'm so stoked with all the gift cards we got. I've got a TON of projects to do this summer, but I'm motivated and ready. I love working on the house, but at the same time I can't wait to see some progress. Patience is a virtue I guess.

OK, I'm off to get Alene for lunch. We're going to get a checking account.

Man, 28, survives lightening strike while eating breakfast

Salt Lake City, AP - A 28 year old Salt Lake City man was struck by lightening while sitting on his back patio enjoying a plate of eggo waffles.

Ryler Toot said he wanted to enjoy the flavor of his eggo waffles on the patio of his back porch, regardless of bad weather. He was aware of the fact that lightening has stricken near him many times, but never figured it would have wanted to attach itself to the fork he was holding.

As Ryler sat on his deck, pretending to lead an orchestra with his fork (in between bites) when a bolt of lightening struck down and went through his body. How he survived it, no one knows, but Ryler believes the electricity exited through is belly button.

"I've always had a big belly button and I figured if I ever got struck by lightening, this would be where it would exit" said Ryler.

Incidentally, the birthmark on Ryler's belly button, which bore what Ryler called "a combination of the silouette of Abraham Lincoln as well as a framing nailer", has been changed to the shape of a billy goat.

"I'm a little saddened at the changes to my body because I figured my calling in life was to grow a beard sans mustache like Lincoln, and to frame houses with my nail gun. Now I guess I'll have to become a goat hearder" said Mr. Toot.

"But I'm OK. I still have my health, the rest of my eggo's, and even the fork, although it looks more like a spoon now. I guess I'll use that to eat a bowl of cereal now."

Ryler's family members were not available for comment at the time.

So it's been a long time :-)

I've been pretty busy with school/finals, preparing a wedding, and working in the yard (when we have nice weather).

I'm not taking classes this summer and the future missus is jealous (I'm sorry honey).

All is well in my life though. I can honestly say I've never been a happier person. Alene brings this happiness into my life. She is amazing and I think God every day for someone like her in my life. I could brag and go on and on about her and never stop. I feel like the luckiest man in this world.

Alene is perfect.

Caiden is doing well. He's been sick lately and has not been able to get over his cough/cold. I drug him up a ton, but it does nothing. I'm worried. I'm going to try to get him into the Dr's office shortly if it doesn't go away by this weekend. The little guy is such a trooper though; he just hacks and coughs and sniffs, but continues to go bonkers everywhere he goes.

I've had so much on my mind lately. Issues relating from the wedding (obviously), home improvement projects, coaching football this fall, and finishing a family DVD slide-show/movie that I promised them for Christmas of last year :-). Oh well, I hope to have it done by July.

I'm stoked for this summer. I have a lot I want to get done. I wish I had the Bling to put a new roof on the house, but it's going to cost about $4k to do it. I'll have to save up for a while. It's going to be a big project because I'm going to "raise the roof" (literally) at the back of my house. It was an add-on and whoever the Genius that added it on back in the 50's made the slope end with barely 6' of head-space for a door. I had to specially order a door for that area, but if I'm going to re-roof it, I'm going to make it "normal" (7.5' roof). I wish I could describe it in words, but needless to say: It sucks. I just wish I had some friggin' dough to fix it. My roof is so bad that I was not able to get the house re-financed because of thd damage. They said I'd have to have it re-roofed before they did it. Oh well.

Anyway, I also have plans on building Caiden the ultimate play-house/fort :-). It's going to give him something he can climb up into as well as a slide, and a larger sandbox underneath. I can't wait to get this built for him.

I'm sooooooo excited about my up-coming wedding. Only 10 more days and it's a done deal. It's the greatest feeling in the world when you know you will be happy forever with this person. We've not had any serious fights or arguments and if anything does seem to bother us, we are good at just communicating it before it gets out of hand. I'm so happy.

Anyway, that is about it for me at this time. I'm going to try to update my blog more often this summer and I'm also going to look into building a web site (not the crappy geocities site I have). Should be dope.