John Family

Sticks and Stones Hurt

2009-08-10T20:03:00.000-07:00

As most family knows, Cameron had a spell with a round of 2 kidney stones last weekend. He is not back to normal yet but real close. We went in this am and he had another CT scan. Then we went to the Doc appt and he can not see the 2 stones from last week. We are happy that that is over and he does not have other stones. We will now be going down to s child specialist down at Childrens Hospital here in a month or so to start the work on the how comes and whys.

So no more stones for our little guy for now! phew...

Back To Blogging..our summer update

2009-08-09T14:36:00.000-07:00

I have to admit that social media is a addictive venture. But how much do I really need to know about what people are doing? I enjoy connecting with people face to face, and have a real conversation and really make a difference and have a deep connection. So I am back to updating this blog for family and friends.

The summer started with a trip in June up to scout camp with Tyler and Conner. The camp was at the Medicine Mountian Scout Camp in South Dakota. The boys and I loaded up and we hauled ALL the Scouts packs in my DJ trailer to camp. We traveled on a Sunday and the rest of the scouts arrived late Sunday night. We got to our camp and it was a little rainy and after we got the tent up...it rained...hard....it hailed...hard and then it was clear.

I went as a "DAD" so I was just hanging out. I did take my outdoor cooking set up, which rocks so I lead the cooking adventures since we cooked at camp.

We made a nice area for them to cook and the food was not all that bad. I was glad we are able to cook at camp! The one thing I did do is not let the scouts cut stuff up that needed to get chopped. I thought us adults should do it...well...I should have let them do it.

I will tell you this...the top part of my thumb is just now 95% healed after I just about removed it with my 10" hunting knife while trying to cut a onion. I am now known as "Onion Man" by the scouts and was given an award for it. I do have to say that I did let the scouts do the first round of 1st aid for some real life experience.

I won "Most Painful Splash" in the scout master big splash....it hurt like__________!

I got some love from Chuck Springer and the other guys I went up with. They made this for me..a fake onion and all. Laugh it up people.

Tyler and Conner both did Indian Lore and I caught them in the TP.

We took a day off of camp and we all took off and hit Custer, Crazy horse and Mt.Rushmore. All very cool and I don't know why we have not taken the time to go just 5 hours away. I will say that those Black Mountians are really peaceful.

The boys also got the rifle, basketry, widerness survival, and a few other merit badges. Tyler is going to start his Eagle project in the next few weeks, so we are excited for him.

Football has started for Tyler and he is going to be the 2nd quarterback as well as linebacker and a few other things. I am not coaching this year but I am helping with warmups and stretching them out. School starts in a week, so there you have it.

Cameron is out of the hospital after a 3 day stay for Kindey stones and all that goes with that fun adventure. I dont have to much to say about that for now. He is going in for a CT scan tomorrow to see what he has passed. If they are not gone then they are going to get them moving or go in and get them out. Yep kidney stones at 7. no fun.

Enjoy your day!

WHATS UP PEOPLE?

2009-07-06T16:00:00.000-07:00

Long time NO update! Oh well, I think Facebook Killed the Blog but I think I would rather do the update than WASTE MY TIME ON FACEBOOK at this point.

The Fourth is now behind us and its time for summer to really settle in and get hot and all that stuff. I for one DO NOT LIKE THE HEAT. Brooke and I helped at the Fourth at Firestone, I was the Parade Marshall again and Brooke helped vendors get set up. The parade was excellent, no gaps and no one got the power lines all caught up in a grill like last year.

I have been filling my time working out doing P90X as of late. I am in a much better spot than I was, and Brooke and I have been doing it together. Alot of food changes and some great workouts.

Before P90X 30 days of P90X

60 Days of P90X

SO if your looking for a workout and food plan...look no further. I decided to become a Beachbody Coach so if you have questions ask away.

'pots on my pizza'

2009-04-22T16:29:00.000-07:00

We were making french bread pizzas tonight & had just put the cheese on. Pierson said, "I wanna put pots on my pizza!" Hmmmmmmm. It took me a few seconds to get what he was trying to say. When I guessed right he nodded enthusiastically. He wanted to put 'spots' on his pizza......pepperoni!

Fire "Banana" Hole!!!

2009-04-17T11:33:00.000-07:00

While on our trip to Utah someone said "Fire in the hole" Pierce said it...Fire Banana Hole and it has stuck! So in finishing the base plate in the basment I found myself saying it for fun.

Today brings alot of RAIN to our neck of the woods, our back yard is full of water and I am sure I will have to go do something to get it to move down the side of the house, I dont know what that is yet but will get wet finding out. For those who live where it rains all the time I will no be quiet!

The Basment has started to clear out. Years ago when I put the walls in I did not put presure treated base plate in. So I went back a tore out the old and put it in. Should have...anyway...I moved some walls and gained about 12" in the bedroom. A few years ago we had some mice in down there. I found that they had gone into the dirt under the cement pad. I had 3 shovel fulls of dirt that I had to move, not real happy about that. It did me good to kill them all off!

Here is a really cool thing that happed last night. I was working in Golden and our district 1 car was dispatched to a suspicous vehicle. It was on a street next to a hill side. As we were standing in the rain looking at the cars, Shawn hit the hill side with his spot light...off run 2 deer. Then he says " cool, a Mnt Lion" I say " bull crap" sure enough there he was, his eyes were orange in the light reflection and off he went. He was stalking those deer.

For a family update, just about all of us have been sick with a fever and cold, etc. Tyler is almost back to himself and others are still coming along.

That is about all I have for those who care!

well

2009-04-08T19:25:00.000-07:00

I need to keep this up to date or just stop doing it all around. Tyler had his first Track Meet today. I have been by 1 practice and same for the meets and find them full of kids just hanging out. I will leave my comments to myself about how great hanging out is.

We have settled in after our trip and the fever everyone had is now going around. Conner and Cameron are the only ones not sick as of this typing and could change by the time I am done. I am still waiting for the green grass and mid afternoon showers. I won't hold my breath.

I am in love with theP90X program that I got. I have enjoyed the new energy, the great food and working out till I lay on the floor and cant breath. I injured my foot in 04 one night while on patrol. I had to get shoe inserts and wear them all the time. Not no more. Yoga is part of the program and I love the way I feel and think that is why. We don't buy special food and they lay it all out for you. I am in phase 2 and could eat a horse most of the time during the day.

I have not touched the basement or garage since I got back..I need to really bad.

Long over due update!

2009-04-05T08:27:00.001-07:00

I am not sure why I have not updated but I am sure I can come up with some reasons. It is now the first week in April and I have been gone since the 12th of March. Here goes a run down on life.

Brooke and I are alive and well, most of our little ones are now sick after a spring break in Utah. I went to Lake Tahoe for a conference and had a great time. I was very disipointed from a work aspect to not get some things done that needed to be done. I don't think I will be going again to grow business. The great time I did have was spending time with the people we had met there last year. Due to my high interest in DJ work, lights and music several of us went around to different clubs in the Tahoe area and I have to say was most impressed with a club in the south shore area where the venue was HUGE. I think it could have been better with a better DJ, I have been around to alot of clubs and that DJ sucked.

When we arrived at the club it was raining. When we left it was a blizzard. We alomost had to stay in south shore but I was driving and I will not be stopped by a little blizzard! Later inthe week I found out that some other people from the confernece got stuck and slept in cars down there:(

While I was gone, Tyler took on Track and Field at school. He will be doing Sprint, Long Jump and Relay. He will be taller than me by the end of summer. Conner is stilll doing piano and other various Conner activities.

I spent the last day in Tahoe, sking with my buddy Howards from LA. Skiing in Tahoe was a beautiful experience. Clear blue sky, freash powder, good music and good company! I had one fight with the hill, it won. I then packed up after skiing and drove to Utah where I stayed the night and chased the blizzard that hit Tahoe. I got home, slept in my bed 2 times and got up the second morning and drove to UTAH again.

We got into Cove and made great time, our little ones are great travelers. Grandpas house was very cold since they do not stay there all the time. getting into bed was a little brisk to say the least. We just hung out for a few days and watched the snow fall. It would fall, melt and fall again.
We took a trip to get a box of "FatBoy" ice cream rejects, they were inhaled by the boys. We packed up again and headed to Pleasant Grove where we spent the week.

We went to Thanksgiving point where my thin pocket book was drained by a silly dino park. I dont think we will be going back for that anytime soon. I did enjoy the fish tank at Cabelas. Pierson LOVED IT. We were able to meet up with a old Sunday school student of mine that lives in Lehi.

We made a trip to Temple square and ran into the Briigs from Church. Kinda funny where you find people. We got Conner a new set of leather scriptures and gave them to him for turning 12, this July, happy early birthday!

We stayed for Brookes sister Brittanys BDAY on Friday. I am debating on brining up a subject here...it might get edited. For some reason, the Seely girls are very sensitive to others and don't want to hurt feelings and it effects making a decission. Us guys 2 of which are cops, make decissions and were ready to roll. So the decission was made early in the week to go to the Myan resturaunt. When it came time to go, it was back on the table not to go. We had 25 people going and that within its self is crazy. So I walk into the kitchen, " what do you think Trent" lets go!!!!!
Best move I made all week! I am not one for bad food and fun entertainment but that was a great time for all of us to hang out. For me it was one of the better times of the week.

That is about it. We drove home on I70 since I80 was closed. Made it on Dry raod 99% of the way. Got home to a safe house and gratful for a home and family. Back to school tomorrow!

A button, A screw, and no more potty seats and it only took a few minutes

2009-02-14T19:31:00.000-08:00

Have you ever found that something is broke? We all have. How many of us, leave it alone, use the broke item for a long time? Then for some reason, you fix it and it only took a minute and its been broke for years?

The sun visor in our Surburban had a screw fall out if about 3 years ago. So for the past 3 years it has saged, swung and been a pain in the head at times. Yesterday, I went to the store, spent 10 cents...screwed it back together and wa-la...it was fixed... 3 years...

About a year ago my button came off my 3 button suite. Then another button, I was down to one button. It took the guy 5 minutes and wa-la. It is fixed. took me a year. why do we/I do this?

This week marked a huge step in a new direction in our home. We are not going to have any more children, and we tossed the potty seat yesterday. Brooke called me as the garbage man hauled it off. She said something like "bring on the teenagers" I know... she is talking all crazy talk like that. She does have a new attitude with the new dew.

That is about it for now, we/I am working on the basement and hope to have the framing all done by the end of the week. We will see how that goes.

Peace out.

Only for my mom...The fish I caught.

2009-02-12T07:01:00.000-08:00

The one and only reason I am posting this is for my Mom, I am not patting myself on the back.

The following pictures are from the Gloden Police Departments 2008 Award Ceremony.
I was awarded the following. I cut it out of policy so you can all have the info.

Meritorious Service Medal:

A. The Meritorious Service Medal may be awarded to any member who:
1. Has conducted themselves in an exemplary manner, displaying
exceptional courage while serving in a duty of great responsibility
and importance during a critical incident.
2. In the performance of an act, a member is exposed to operational
risk and/or personal danger for a lifesaving or an attempted
lifesaving act in which extraordinary efforts were used.

This is my best buddy Seargeant Chad St. Aubin
He has been a great friend and...Ill leave it at that

There were 4 citizens who jumped into the river prior to me going in. With out that, we would have lost him. These are 2 of the citizens and the boy and his father.

Chief Bill Kilpaterick and I.

After for a group photo. It was a good night, glad it turned out this way.

Whats new

2009-02-10T12:42:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I kept hearing things like, " I want to cut my hair, I want to go shoping with Brittany....etc" So a week ago Saturday, I had heard enough and sent my wife on a 6 day trip up to see her sister Britany. I held down the fort, which did not burn down and nothing piled up, and she had "ME" time. She took her 4th Twilight book with her and she started and finished on the trip....phew....I don't know all the details, but she had a great time and I owe Kasey and Brittany BIG TIME. I don't know what I liked more the new hair dew or the big freaking smile she has had since she got back.

We pulled a permit to finish the basement a few weeks ago and decided that the big bathroom down there could be moved to make room for a nice work area. So....

I gave Tyler a hammer and Conner wanted nothing to do with it....and the drywall started to fly. We got it all laid out now, giving us 24"...might not seem like much...but it gave us a nice little work space and allows us to have a window that otherwise would have been in a furnace room.

I took ALL 5 children to the dentist...at the same time, while Brooke was gone. This is Pierce, with his cool shades on. They all did really good and I survived!

I had to get Taylor some new sheets and blanket...

Ohhh...Bella and Edward ate here...how sweet.....

It was fun to pick up Brooke, I still can't take my eyes off of her. I have only known her with LONG hair. That goes for all of you too. She has a little attitude with the new dew as well, but I like it.

I was notified this week that I will be getting a award at the Police Award function this week. I am so glad that everyone went home that night.

Center of Life

2009-02-01T20:06:00.000-08:00

After going to Church today I got to thinking about what is at the center of peoples lives. It made me think what is at the center of my life and how that has changed over the years. I have no desire to post personal things in my life so tuff.

Our world is a rushing river of information and everything now. The media can report form anywhere in he world in a instant. They know what is going on before the people involved knows what is going on. Addiction is rampant in all its fourms, food,drugs,sex,media,music,email,the internet,pills,parties,work.....you get the idea. In going through the challanges of life it has caused me to look at my own and look at what the center of my life is.

My brother Brandon asked me to read a booked called The New Earth by Eckhart Tolle. It brought me to discover the egoic mind/ aka the natural man. The book is over my head for the most part but I enjoyed the read and it will become part of my study through life. It did bring to light the way I have reacted to the events that occur in life. In doing so, I found that most people get so wrapped up in it that their hearts fail them. The get so caught up in the "world" all the media, all the hype and they forget that everything is really ok. If we really think that the things we belive in are true, we have prayed for the last days to come. We pray for Christ to come again, and here it is and some are running around thinking the sky is falling. No, your heart is failing you because of the center of your life, or lack of.

Don't belive the hype. It is OK.

Another Moment

2009-01-29T07:38:00.000-08:00

Last night Tyler and Conner had a scout court of honor. Both of them got the Emergency prepardness merit badge. Due to some dumb rule Conner did not get his yet since he needs to complete another merit badge before he gets this one. I think that is about dumb.

I still don't have my wife back from her Twilight book. She has about 100 pages left so that is good, maybe today she will show up. She has taken over the hard-expert setting on the drums in Rock Band. I was able to get her away yesteday and take one of my suits to get fixed, so that was nice. I have already been told that she will be finishing the book today.

It was 70 here last week, and then it went down to zero now were back up to 20! Gotta love Colorado weather. Our Mnts are getting big PHAT snow flakes this week;)

I will be picking up our permit to finish the basement today. I hope to make some progress with that in the next few months. We need the extra space!

I Have lost my family!

2009-01-24T20:37:00.000-08:00

During the holidays Tyler and Conner wanted to get Guitar Hero. No way on this earth was I going to get that game with all the crappy metal songs and wanna be hoes. I had heard of Rock Band but did not really look into it. We had dinner with good friends a few weeks ago..the night I fell, and Candice offered for us to play. We did not but Matt and her like the game and It got me thinking about it.

The boys wanted to get that a few weeks ago so I checked it out and it sounded good. SO they pooled the money and we went and got it last night. The VERY INTERESTING part of this is BROOKE! She is a Rock Band Star! We got this hooked up last night at about 6pm. She came to bed AFTER MIDNIGHT. Her and Tyler stayed up and I was OUT by the time she rolled in.

Now the best part. We went and picked up another guitar tonight so now we are running full on stuff. At 8 we started putting the little ones down and Brooke washed her hair. She informed me that she was going "down" to "kick the boys off, and were going to do scriptures and THEY ARE GOING TO BED." I told her that was great. Then SHE tells me that she has to go do a "SET" in London with the boys.....

SHE HAS LOST HER MIND!!!!

Never in my married life have I seen her like this...I am all smiles and think it is GREAT! She is like a kid in a candy store! I have surround sound and a projector down there and it is quite the set up.

Anyway, life is really good here, we have had 70's for highs last week and our grass was turning green. We are putting in for a permit to finish the basement. We are at that point. It will cost us $$$ to do it with the family TV set up we are putting in. The bathroom is already there and we will put in a small L shaped desk for computers and the rest of the room will be for our family to watch movies and play games and the boys bedroom down there.
I found the sore spot in my foot this week where I hurt it. When you kneel down on the ground, your feet lay flat...that is the spot I hurt. I did that this week and for a few moments could not put weight on it when I got up. Still very sore after 2 weeks. I went to Golden for a night this week and had a great time. Got myself a DUI driver and helped on a felony drug traffic stop. I really love working out there, I really enjoy the officers there. It is my home!
The children are all healthy and doing well in school. Brooke is busy and I help her alot since I work from home most days. I did 5 loads of laundry just today.

We are kicking the idea around of heading out to Utah in Febuary, Hillary I love you, With a very deep love but your snow sucks! But I would still love to fall in it and try out "riding."
I am going out to Tahoe in March for a conference and hope to do some skiing with my buddy from LA.
We are all excited about the decision to go to Mnt Rushmore for Scout camp. They have a family site and I will go as a adult leader. That will go down in July and were going to make a trip to see Brandon and family in June.
That is what I know for now...Love to all family and friends!!!
TJ

Ohhh...you have all seen the "shamwow" infomercial....I just ordered the "slap clap" from the same guy..I am looking forward to getting that thing...it is COOL!

5 Years ago Today..Happy Birthday Taylor

2009-01-16T17:26:00.000-08:00

5 years ago at the very moment I am typing this, my wonderful world was coming to a very sudden stop. Brooke and I started the day, heading off to Longmont United Hospital, and looking back if I knew then what I know now, I would not have had any concern during that day. Brooke was overdue with our only girl and the little girl was ready to come into this world with the help of modern medicine.

We got there and were settled in and met our Nurse, Polly. Brooke was to be induced and that is what happend. We went through a long day of contractions, the movie "freaky friday" and other stuff. It became time for Taylor to come and it went in a very interesting direction. Brooke had experienced 3 other births and we had no complications and this delivery would make up for that. If I remember right, Brooke was beyond tired and the room was full of doctors, nurses and people being busy for a new baby to come.

I have always loved watching our childs heart rate and listining to the heart beat. Soon this became my worst nightmare. Taylor's tones would drop, pause and stop and her hart rate would drop during contractions. This went on for some time and the concern was written all over our good doctors face. The feeling in the room changed and it became clear that Taylor would need to be delivered a diffrent way than expected. The doctor sat next to Brooke and told her what needed to happen and he checked her one more time and then, something changed again and it went from, "sorry" to " lets go NOW" (I am not going into details here but you get the drift.)

within a moment Brooke was out the door and down the hall with nurses and doctors moving really fast. I knew they had to move fast and I was right behind them with Polly trying to get me ready to go into the operating room. It was only a few minutes, but seemed like 10. The doc had swung into "get this baby out right now" mode and I was trying to be a good husband. Brooke was feeling no pain and was warm. Brooke could not see the doc but I sure could, within a moment he was trying to get Taylor out and he could not get her. Brooke was no longer happy and this is where it all started spinning for me. I heard the doctor say/yell that he had "cord around the neck and arm" the drug doctor was now concered about Brooke's stats and I saw her eyes roll. That is when it dawned on me that I might not be going home with a wife, or a baby.

Another doctor arrived and the tension was high. There were alot of very direct orders from the doctor to nurses and he finaly had Taylor, as blue as could be and not moving at all. I remember as though it was happining right now. I knew it was bad, Brooke was back and she kept asking why the baby was not crying. She turned to the drug doc and told him she wanted to be out, the nurses wrapped Taylor up, and showed her to Brooke and Brooke was out. Another doctor came in and took charge.....like a storm. The fury was around Taylor, her lung was collapsed, her blood pH level was way off and they could not get a "line" into her and the doctor turned to me and told me to start signing forms because Taylor was going to leave, "right now."

Being the "cop" where I fix things, I am in control, and I fix things. I could not fix this. My wife barley made it, Taylor was still blue and Iwas alone in the midst of controled chaos. I signed the forms and they performed a procedure to put a line into her belly button. I asked if Taylor would make it and the doc said she would but was not staying here but going to Childrens, ASAP and the call for the "flight for life" crew was already put in. They were en-route from Denver and Brooke was being taken to recovery. I got there and it was around 1030 at night. Brooke was not really with it when the flight crew showed up. They worked on Taylor for about 45 minutes and had her ready. The crew was very kind and I knew the nurse from my police work which lightened the load. There was my new daughter hooked up to several machines, lots of beeping things and Brooke reached out for her and put her hand into the incubator she was in. The flight nurse then handed me a black and white striped zebra with a flight for life bandana.

There I stood there with a stuffed animal in my hand as I watched them leave, Brooke was still out of it for the most part. I think some of my family showed up and I called Nelson and Trish. I can't remember what I said. I went home for a while and tried to sleep. I got up around 3am and went to Childrens. I lived in Childrens ICU for a week and went to see Brooke everyday. I remember the first time the hospital let Brooke go to see Taylor. It dranined Brooke, but so worth it. Taylor had a feeding tube that she pulled off her face and got rid of a week or so into it. Brooke was released and then we spent our time at Childrens for a few weeks.

Just typing this tonight takes me back to that night. And tonight, she is very strong, has very strong feelings and is TOUGH as nails with her brothers.

Brooke paid another price to get Pierson here, so needless to say, no more children out of this home.

Happy birthday to our one and only little girl!

The last week in review....Laugh if you want...don't let me catch you laughing...

2009-01-12T19:56:00.000-08:00

To the untrained eye this is just a simple set of stairs leading into the garage. You can see the items heading out to the trash and some plastic things. But to me..this was the site of the closest I have come to death. See the light gray case on the floor? That is a empty case for one of my hand guns. It was placed on the top step by me when I cleaned the garage Saturday. I left it on the step and turned out the lights and went inside. Brooke cleaned out a kitchen drawer and noticed it was in need of some handy man work and asked me to fix it.

I took the drawer and headed out into the garage. I opened the door and stepped with my right foot, that was the last thing I remember...except for the man yell that came out...and I hit the floor with my head by the pink po-go stick. For the record..I still had the drawer in hand...without a scratch. I hurt in ways I did not know I could hurt...(now is when you start laughing) I was in shock and did not move...even a little. I noticed that my left foot hurt like it just got ran over and my right hand was numb. At this point my wife came to the rescue....NOT........She opened the door and asked me if I was ok and she did not know what to do so she went back inside. I was trying to tell her NOT to leave. It felt like my foot had moved somewhere close to my waistline and my hand next to my elbow. I was really glad I did not hit my head, that I figured out quickly. Brooke came back, only after the little ones had thought I died.

I began to move my hand at first..touching it and feeling for bones sticking out of the skin. Then I sat up. If I knew what it felt like to break a foot, that pain was my guess. after a few minutes I got the backbone to try and stand. It took a few minutes to get on it but I did and it was VERY sore, but little sharp pain. I had pain in spots all over my body all day saturday, we had a great evening with Matt and Candice at their place. Candice asked if I "caught air" which I am sure I did. A few minutes after the crash Brooke said I had "Rachelle-itis" from Rachelle's tendency to tumble down stairs & break bones in her feet.

So we went down to the Jones and had a very peaceful evening, excellent food and great conversation, with a very sore foot. But today it has been very good. So I am grateful I did not smash my head and die!

On Sunday I made a pork roast and it looked so yummy!

Pierson and Taylor made a mess and did not look so yummy!

and Pierce and I don't like to take pictures!

I spent the whole day in Weld County Court for Jury duty. It is tough to be seated on a Jury when you have been a cop and have several wins under the belt for child assault cases.

By the way.... the grey plastic case....it ended up across the garage......laugh it up.....

It is OVER :(

2009-01-07T08:08:00.000-08:00

Yesterday marked the final day of the Holidays for our house. ALl the lights are down, both trees are down, it took all day yesterday to get the tree down after several breaks. Some of it is still in the garage that needs to be boxed and put up which will happpen today. We will also be going through things we dont need. The Christmas decorations take up a 4x8 deck in the garage. I built it when we first moved in. I park my DJ trailer in the gargae and so right above that is the deck. I added another 4x8 deck neck next to it last year for items from our shop when we moved. I put another deck up for more camping stuff. It will now be time to rearange the decks and THROW out the things we do not use. I have enough tools to build about anything.

SO the Children are all back in school, I am doing work stuff and Brooke is back to her normal things...I think. Here is to a different year from the rest.

Peace out

The final hunting trip and 2009 (caution dead Elk Photos)

2009-01-01T15:18:00.000-08:00

I find it intersting how a new day and new year makes you feel.

The day after Christmas Tyler Conner and I were back on the road with my dear friends heading to Craig for one last go at getting a ELK. On Friday afternoon we got there and we got STUCK AGAIN.

Notice the Chains on the tire.....We suck. We dug our way out and went back to the hotel wondering why we went.

We got at it early and got into a large heard of Elk that had come across during the night. Tyler and I gave chase on foot while Conner hung out in the car and stayed warm, it was about ZERO freaking degrees with a wind chill of freeze your butt off. We watched a several hunters shot at the heard and took some cows out. We could see where they were at and took off. I noticed a few tracks leaving the heard so we followed those, looking for the dumb ones of the heard. We found one and Tyler got his first and only chance at a cow at about 250-300 yards. His first shot got the left rear hoof, not sure how we got there, the next one went through the lungs. I watched her go down in some deep snow and we took off and tracked her down.

Bone from 1st shot

2nd shot,

I will spare the weak, and not post the other photos I got. It was so Cold that within a few minutes Tyler got really cold and thanks to Brent, he was able to get warm and we got the elk cleaned out and taken care of. We had a great time and were glad to get home. Brent got 3 elk and it was a bit later in the day and a lot colder. I never knew it could get that cold. Tylers Elk got cut up last night into hamburger and steaks, I have pictures of it all if you want to see, even Tyler cutting up his steaks.

All the steaks are in the freezer!

Brooke's Christmas Musings

2008-12-26T19:45:00.000-08:00

It's the day after Christmas & we're still trying to dig ourselves out of the clutter! Because of the holiday, the trash man will come a day later this week which does not help matters.

Today I was reading a book in the family room and from the kitchen I heard a mournful sound coming from our 7-year-old, Cameron. "Ohhh, I am SO tired of CANDY!" (As I type this I still laugh.) He had me rolling and he didn't understand why. Like all children who love to be the twinkle in their parents' eye he promptly sat down by me on the couch and watched me expectantly, repeating his line over and over with his big (front-)toothless smile.

Along those lines, for those of you who were curious, Cam did *not* get his two front teeth for Christmas, even though we sang and laughed through that song a lot. A little white poking through on one side is promising, however!

A fun memory from Christmas day: Santa brought Taylor a new bike - which of course thrilled her little girl heart. It had all the tassles and the trimmings and the sparkles. You get the idea. She immediately got a crayon and marked her territory. Her name - in red - on the white seat. In her short few years in a home where she is surrounded by boys she has learned to protect her interests. Bravo, Sis!

I hope the holiday warmed your hearts as it did ours. Merry Christmas!

~B

Merry Christmas

2008-12-25T08:01:00.000-08:00

Christmas is here!!!!
Last night we had dinner with my family here in Co. I spent some of it in Travis's DJ room mixing some of my fav tunes. I need to set that up in my basement! I love MUZIK! We exchanged some gifts and watched my OLD sister play games. We came home and I read Luke Chapter 2 and The Night Before Christmas.

We were all in bed by midnight. Santa made a visit and the kids were up at 6am but Brooke and I did not roll out until 7. There is alot of noise, toy guns, cap guns, and warm smells from the kitchen thanks to Trent and Corrin. I am going to enjoy the day, my wife and children and get ready for part 2 of the Elk hunt, we leave in the morning.

Peace out and Peace on Earth Good Will to those I like. :)

Let us go Hunting and get a ticket, stuck and lots of snow!

2008-12-23T07:26:00.000-08:00

Last Friday, Tyler and Conner and I loaded up and headed to Grandjunction to do a water test for my work and were going to throw in some Elk hunting for Tyler.

We made it out there and of course the people at the site were not ready for us and I could make a list of things that were not ready, but....

We took off on Saturday afternoon to a place south of Grandjunction and I thought we were in a 75 mph zone. Boy, that is what I get for thinking. I had a very nice Colorado State Trooper infourm me that it was in fact a 55mph zone. He wanted to leave me with a "thank you for speeding card" first one in a long time, 73 in a 55 and $162 to boot.

We got to the land we were hunitng and marched into it. It was cold and 12" of snow, but worth the hike. We kicked up some deer and we were 10 feet away form several deer including a very nice buck we could have hit with a stone. In all my years hunting I have never been that close to a buck like that. We hung out until dark, no elk and went back to our hotel.

The next day we did ou test and headed to Craig. We had a nice Trooper check on us when we stopped to take a break. We got into Craig and went into a spot where my good friend hunts, no elk but a great sunset.

We had been hauling my trailor so we had to go get it and ended up in the ditch!

A simple, put it in 4 wheele drive got us out, Tyler made a happy face on the back and Conner wrote, "we are stuck" then wrote "were" after we got out. Sorry for the blurry, iphone at night.

Then yesterday we drove around and covered ALOT of ground. It snowed all day and we decided to go back to the place where we took the sunset pictures. We got in there and hit a drift from hell and just like that, got stuck. This was not just a little stuck, this was 3 hours of digging and putting on chains stuck. I did some dumb stuff, like, got wet, over did it, got wet, could have had the suburban fall on me, got wet, it was about 20 degrees, got wet.

I got chains on 3 tires, they did not fit but I made it work. I stood there looked at the car, knew I was in touble if it did not move. I told the boys to gather and I said a prayer, got in a drove it out. We got back to the main road after 20 minutes and I got the chains off. It was now dark and I was very gratful not to be stuck.

Did I mention I got wet? Dumb move on my part. We got back to the hotel where we stayed and I got out of the warm car, it was dark, wind blowing, and 20 or so outside. I spent 3 minutes hooking up the trailor and getting dry clothes out of the back when it hit. Being wet, tired, cold and 3 minutes in the wind and I was in trouble. I could not breath, I stared to shake and could barley walk. I was chattering and Conner and I walked across the parking lot to the hotel. I got into a bath room and started to pull off wet clothes, and for a moment thought I would have to call the medics, no joking, I did not feel right and knew I had done a bad thing. I got the dry clothes on and it settled down. I think I got Tyler concerned, he asked me 3 times if I was ok.

We got on the road and drove 40-50 mph for 5.5 hours home. It snowed all the way to Golden.

This is what we saw for 4 hours, but we were warm and dry!

We stopped in Steamboat and hit the candy store and BoJo's Pizza. They made the wrong pizza and gave us the right one, so we walked out with 2 pizzas and hit the road. We got in a 1AM and were all very glad to be home with our family and eating MOMS food!

Gingerbread Mania

2008-12-21T16:15:00.000-08:00

How often do you question your sanity?

Late summer when we preschool moms sat down to plan our upcoming year, I (happily!) volunteered to teach preschool in December and host the Christmas party. I really wanted to make gingerbread houses for everyone to decorate! The day before the party our house smelled like gingerbread heaven, but I was a frazzled wreck. I had no idea what I had gotten myself into...

I am grateful to relate that it was all worth it, though. Happy moms, happy preschool kids & fun memories! Pictured are: Lindsay, Zoie, Taylor, Keira & Brooklyn. Jefferson left with his gingerbread house before we took the picture, otherwise it would have been perfect!

~Brooke

Christmas Cards part 2

2008-12-18T18:11:00.000-08:00

Just to be clear, this is TRENT and TRENT'S thoughts alone!!!!

HILLARY WINS BEST CHRISTMAS CARD OF THE YEAR!!!!! I am still laughing. I have really enjoyed all the cards we have gotten.

The children are all out of school and it snowed as they all came home giving the day a nice touch. I had to be out and about and traffic was a mess. I am going to load up the big boys tonight and head to Utah tomorrow for a few days to run a test and do some Elk hunting along the way.

TJ

Christmas Cards

2008-12-16T18:25:00.000-08:00

How many people like Christmas cards? I like the ones that are down to earth. I REALLY like the ones that tell me how great their children are and how WONDERFULL life is. While I enjoy hearing how everyone is, I don't really care how great life is cuz I know it's not.

All Iknow is that somehow we made it through this year, no one got killed, we still live in a house, I still have a car, and my wife has not kicked me to the couch! That is a great year! I can shoot straight, my boys can play ball, my girl can fight, my sons hurt me when we rough house, and somehow we have money to pay bills...I think.

TJ

The Busy Month of December

2008-12-14T18:01:00.000-08:00

Above is a video shot while I played at our big party of the year. Is had to get shrunk to put on her so get out your glasses. We love this party, the crowd is the best and love to dance!

We have begun having our close friends come over to build Ginger Bread Houses. It is alot of work on our end but is quickly becoming a tradition for us and our friends. The children will be in school this week then be off for Christmas. Me and the big boys will go hunting for Tylers cow elk next weekend or right after Christmas. I am not ruling out the posibility of a road trip during the break.

I don't have loads to say right now but needed to update our blog a bit. I am begining to think alot about Trent and Corrin. I will never forget those moments with Brooke when I did not know if I was going to bring her home. So, Trent Seely, you don't have to worry about anything cuz I have it covered.

Peace out for now.

Tree amp load

2008-12-02T21:09:00.000-08:00

I created a new light switch just to turn the power on for our tree. In doing so I left the line wire seperate from the common so I could get a true amp load reading. Our tree runs 12.5 amps. I think I need to start looking at a bulk LED purchase. I do not like the cold feel of the lights but that is alot of amps for a niffty tree.

Teeth and Turkey

2008-11-28T09:03:00.000-08:00

The last week has been a very interesting week, involving pain, turkey, xbox,fixing the wii, and putting the finishing touches on the decorations.

For the last 2 years I have had a little pain in one of my teeth. I would bit just right and it got my attention and it hurt. I have a friend I have known since we were 5 or so who does root canals. So I went up to his office a few weeks ago and he took a look at it. He found a crack in my #19 tooth, bottom back left side. He thought a crown would work, but the pain was coming from the tooth in front of it.

I went around for another few weeks and could not take the pain anymore and set up the work for the day before Thanksgiving. I have to say, when you hear of this you only hear horror stories. The worst part was the 5 ' long needle to numb my tooth. The Doc thought I has going to rip my own hands apart. I had some discomfort during the whole thing, but I have to say, it was better than ANY other thing I have had done.

So his assistant is a good friend of mine, and I have known Scott for all my life so during it, we all got to laughing and He stopped and I was crying trying to hold the glasses on my face. Who would have thought you could have so much fun. I had a little pain during the night but nothing much, less than what I was having before.

I ate yesterday and never once felt the pain, not even sore.

Now...

On the day I had my tooth done, Cameron had one front tooth hanging my a thread, so I helped get that one, then yesterday morning, I looked at the other one and it was just as loose. But around here....Dad cannot pull teeth since it was a bad experience for someone else...So I told Cam just to pull it out...and he did!

So all he wants for christmas is his 2 front teeth!

Oh and here is a pic of his new glasses. I can't remember if I posted them or not.

We had 18 people over for Thanksgiving dinner!!!

It was fun, I had all the house done up with the trees and decorations. We set up some other tables and I made white chocolate pretzels, yummy warms drinks, and Rachelle made her shrimp dip. It was so yummy.

I did the Turkey, I was going to do it int he Dutch Oven, but Dad did not want it done that way, so I did it in the bag int he oven. I took onions, POtayTOES, apples, oranges and pineapples and put them in, on and around the turkey. I covered it with salt and pepper and LOTS of butter. cooked in a bag for 3.5 hours and it was the best turkey I have had. I think the timing was just right. I have decided I will be getting the stuff to deep fry one.

We had lots of left overs for eveyone.

It is always funny to bust on who ever needs it and there was alot of laughs, I said the prayer for dinner and Mike busted a picture during it and almost brought the place down with giggles. Nichole was shooting up afrin and Rachelle had Vicks at the table, Travis had a bad hair cut and....well never mind.

It was fun to have the little ones at their own table

And that is that.

Tis the Season.....

2008-11-21T20:40:00.000-08:00

Well...the lights are up on the house....we have decorated half the house......and tomorrow...it will happen.........THE tree will go up....not the 4 ft tree....not the 8 ft tree......the 14 ft tree will take shape and heat the house for the next 2 months.

Here is a run down on the AMP load that is required for our home.

Each strand of 100 multi color lights pulls 0.2 amps

So, our 8 foot tree has 1300 lights on it running 2.6 amps...not bad for 13 strands of 100 lights.

The village has 300 white lights under it.

The house pulls 14.6 amps. These are the C6 lights.

THE TREE runs 20 amps....just for the tree. That's 10,000 lights on the tree.
it will take 4 hours just to do the lights.

The runaway and a sleep over

2008-11-08T08:16:00.000-08:00

Last night I tried to find a young man who had been reported as a runaway. As I worked the call, I found myself thinking of our boys. I am so glad I have the challenges I have with them and not the challanges others have. I will take the things like....he is texting all the time, he wants to go over to a friends house and play games, he has a full plate etc.

TJ was funny last night, he called and asked if I had "beat anyone up yet?" I laughed, the preception of me getting into a fight...Ha...comeone not me. For the record, I have not had a fist to cuffs fight in 4 years and that was with a woman that tossed me across the room.... she lost....taser won.... Mind over fist works much better! Verbal Judo!

Anyway, he wanted to have a sleep over. We do not let them sleep somewhere else, you can blame me for that, it's not going to happen...EVER! But on my way home Ipicked up some goodies and came home. It was 930 and the house was DARK. ALL the lights were off. Why are all the lights off? I thought we were having a sleep over? Where is Brooke and all the little ones??? I walked into the house with a bag off goodies in my left hand and came into the kitchen. This is where I had a moment....why is someone standing in my kitchen...in the dark....and its not someone I know? Need I remind you......I am in full uniform......there is someone in my house...........
I was going to a kneeling position as I stepped back and turned on the lights and there stood Evan, my sons friend. Playing hide and seek in the dark and Ty and his buddy were under the table.

Glad it was Evan and not some freak in my house. So this am the house smells like rolls and they are like walking dead. Sleep over = stay up all night and get NO sleep.

How much cash would you take?

2008-11-08T08:00:00.000-08:00

GOLDEN - Three schools were put into lockdown on Friday afternoon while police searched for a suspect who had robbed a nearby bank. They believe the same man has robbed two other banks.

The FBI says the man they have dubbed the JV Bandit robbed the U.S. Bank on Jackson Street in Golden around 12:45 p.m. on Friday. He got the name JV Bandit because he wore a varsity or letterman type jacket during one of the robberies. The jacket is described a dark jacket with tan sleeves and has no noticeable markings. Friday, the robber passed a note to the teller demanding money and hid his hand inside his jacket as if concealing a weapon. He left the bank after getting an undisclosed amount of money, according to the FBI. No one was injured. Police requested that Golden High School, Bell Middle School and the Johnson Program go into lockdown during the search for the man, but the lockdown has been lifted. Police believe the JV Bandit also robbed a Chase Bank on Colfax Avenue in Lakewood on Oct. 9 and a bank on Arapahoe Street in Golden on Oct. 14. If anyone has any information regarding any of the robberies, please call the FBI Rocky Mountain Safe Streets Task Force at 303-629-7171.

So I wont go into too much detail with this since this is ongoing. I had just put all my gear into my car, was testing my lights and siren in the back lot when this came out. I was 3 minutes out and followed another officer into the area. We did contact a man with a simular jacket, it was a bad day in Golden to be wearing that style of jacket. It was a very impressive moment to be involved in, but wont spell it out here, if you really want to know, I would love a phone call. We thought we had eyes on him a few times but all trails ended in a big fat nothing.

I know how much he got, but how much would make it worth it?
If the guy would just hold on for a while longer help is on the way, all the "spreading the wealth around" should start in a few months.

Three Women in Church and our new President

2008-11-07T07:08:00.000-08:00

What a sad week for our country and a great moment in history.
I have found it so sad that our republican party has been given such a black eye for a President who has kept you safe and sound in your homes at night. How fast the media can change your minds and perception of reality. What a great mastermind Lucifer is when it comes to him spreading his work on this earth.

President Bush will and should go down as one of the greatest presidents. While I can find faults, I choose to thank him for making hard choices on taking on today's Gadiantion Robbers. If I was not married with children, I would be in some remote villiage with my .50 waiting to take on any enemy of God I could find. When I think of this war our country is in, I have to think of the wars from the Book of Mormon. To fight for your freedom of speech, religion, and the list goes on, is a direct mirror of those wars. The media would want you to think something else, and some do.

When I am done with this blog I will walk Cameron to school, come home and polish my black boots, iron my uniform and place under my badge the flag of our great nation. There is a chance I will not come home. I will go out and serve the City of Golden in my duties and enjoy every second of it. Besides my badge, the flag pin I wear is something I wear with great pride. I fight for those who cannot. I speak for those who have no voice, I save strangers' lives, from fire, water with no regard for my own. To have a new president that removes the USA flag from his plane, who does not place his hand over his heart during the National Anthem, should not hold the office of president.

I had the chance to be arms length away from him during a visit to Colorado. I heard him speak. He is a charming man, a man who uses his skill to convince people to look past difference and come together. Sounds good. Let's look past a living prophet of God, who clearly states that marriage is between and man and woman. I know first hand what life is like when you choose to not follow His words and the pain it leaves in the wake.

Three Women in Church

Two teenage girls sit side by side
Behind them, an older woman
Hands age-spotted and wrinkled,
Slowly smoothes the long soft hair of one girl.
Long-fingered slow caresses.
The girl rest her head on the friend's sweatered shoulder.
The older woman strokes the finely intertwined hair.
Soon she has braided the strands of the girl's hair
Together;
Wrapped around and around, in and out, tightly fitted.
All in the brightly-lit, hardwood-pewed, stone-walled chapel.

- Ken Haubrock

Our new President is smooth, I will give him that.

Having said that, I find it a great moment for him to be elected. Take away the evil, the man will be the leader of our great nation. Some look at him as the first "black man" to be president. I find that funny. When I look at him, I do not see his black skin, I see our new president & a great moment in history.

-TJ

How can you not vote for a woman who likes to hunt and shoot guns?

The Broncos!

2008-11-07T07:07:00.000-08:00

How about some injured players, how about a 2008 drive to win the game. That is some stuff. No running game, they all got hurt. So lets throw the ball to a big W.
I can rest easy for a week.

So...

2008-11-03T07:36:00.000-08:00

I had some harsh words for the Broncos last night...but they do suck.

I love them they are my #1 team....but come on!

So anyway...... during the game we had a fatality....Cameron's glasses....

For some reason when it rains.....it pours. When you start to add up all the little things, like the oven, glasses....oh BTW I need a crown on my tooth. You get the picture. So we are off this morning to get some new glasses. The sad face was a forced one. He had a huge smile at first, then I had to ask for the sad face for the photo. After all the rough playing with those glasses, they broke after getting caught in a blanket and pulled off his grill.

~TJ

The Denver Broncos STINK!

2008-11-02T19:45:00.000-08:00

4-4 need I say more.....what a shame. Were going to have to draft TJ for a slot on that team. My football team did not have that many turn overs ALL YEAR!

~TJ

Let's get High!?

2008-10-31T20:01:00.001-07:00

How much sugar can kids eat in one night? We have enough candy in house to kill a cow. If we eat all of it we will look like a cow! We started our night at the Church with Trunk-or-Treat. Then home for some cardboard pizza and off again. THis year is a bit different, our Big Boys are too BIG to hang with us low folk and my hair is not long enough to be cool so we got ditched.

THe long hair is bringing me to the fact that my boys should thank the Man upstairs for a loving mom. If it were up to me, they would have hair cuts every week, HIGH AND TIGHT! SO what is wrong having a nice High and tight hair cut? This shaggy DA hair trend is coming to a end tomorrow in this house. And I have already heard the crys from the BIG boys who now sound like wrimpering girls, look deep into my eyes and ask me if I give a crap about your long hair. Cry me a river.

So, Brooke has not posted about this so I will, I won't be surpirsed if this part if deleted really soon, so read fast.

The other night we had a firework show....inside our house....in the oven! You would have thought the house was going to blow up form the gasp from Brooke as the heating element in the oven started to .....do what ever it was doing, but there was liquid steel in there and lots of bright flashes of multi-colored lights.

I found a new heating element, and the guy said that one reason they go out is due to food getting on them and wearing that spot out.

SO I tell Brooke this........I have to ask you first...when was the last time you cleaned your oven and how?

She tells me that she has NOT cleaned the oven....EVER! She has ran it in the self cleaning cycle a few times but never got a can of Easy Off tocleanit....She is now MAD at me for putting this on our Blog. If I die you know at who's hands I fall!!!!

SO being the excellent husband I am...I pulled the oven out, observed food that had been there since the creation of earth, and cleaned the oven. Easy off made it a snap. And our oven is now back in service, never to be cleaned again!

Happy Freak's Day Out!

2008-10-26T20:29:00.000-07:00

We threw a party for Cam's 7th b-day this last week. 9 friends came, so it was energy overload for 2 hours! He said it was the best day of his life, so I think we did okay.

~Brooke

34-0 We WIN!

2008-10-25T20:19:00.000-07:00

Tyler and Derek watching the game before ours.

Then Tyler and his buddy Ryan wearing the #1 medal for smokin Altona...can you say

34-ZERO

My D was more than the BEST!!!!

TJ scored on a 30 yard pass in the 1st quarter, he had some great stops. It was a great way to end the season.

Ashlie & Adrian & Zoie, Mom and George and Grandpa John all came to watch. I was really happy that they all made it and Tyler was all smiles when he found out who came. My Mom was screaming...."That's my GRANDSON" when he scored....she was sitting by Brooke....on ALTONA'S side.....That is my mom...always looking for a fight!

As a dad I don't even know what to say about watching a healthy young man go out and play great at his positions. He is fast, smart, and very good. As a coach he made me look good and as a dad...he makes my heart smile.

Big week!

2008-10-20T14:39:00.001-07:00

Tyler and his team pulled off another win and will now be heading to the Championship game aganist the the only team that beat them this year. We had our QB go out early in that game and I have every expectation that we will win and win big.

Tyler also got a surprise this week from Grandpa John. While my dad worked in the steel business, years ago, he got several guns from different people. He got a Browing 30.06 BAR along time ago and I have hunted with it for years and shot alot of animals with it. Grandpa gave it to Tyler on Saturday. So now he has himself a really nice hunting rifle and a new .22.

Conner has started his Coalridge Basketball practice. They only play 8th graders and some 7th graders,but not 6th graders. I hope he enjoys basketball as much as I did.

Camerons birthday is this weeks, I hope we get the right presents for him. He is SO into his toys!!!!

We are going to have to move to the country so we can enjoy shooting and Brooke can get a horse.

We have lots of pictures that I am to lazy to download and put on here.

Never let school get in the way of education

2008-10-15T21:05:00.000-07:00

I was making a trip for the 2nd time this week up to Oak Creek ( Steamboat Springs, CO) today and had to ask the boss if I could take Tyler and Conner. After pulling teeth, she agreed and We took off this am. We made a little stop on the way to the mine, and pulled out the guns we took and spent 1.5 hours shooting. Ty wanted to buy some fruit on the way up so he could shoot it. The .06 was sighted in 6 " high at 50 yards to he layed the smack down witht the .243. I was missing my .223 which would have been a really nice add for a fruit smoothie.

We went and did our business at the mine and turned and burned. We saw the best the rockies have to offer in the area and we stopped by a Dominos Pizza place and had dinner on the way back.

I love my boys!!!! They make me smile!

TJ

2008-10-10T13:37:00.000-07:00

I love fall. If any of you watched the movie 'You've Got Mail,' I feel exactly like Meg Ryan's character about autumn & new school supplies!

Taylor is in preschool & thriving. It is largely a social experience for her, but girls need that, right? Preschool fieldtrips have also begun, thus the firestation picture. Pierson tagged along with us & was in hog heaven! Speaking of our (3-year-old) baby, I love his sweet little chubby cheeks.

Back to the gym

2008-10-08T20:10:00.001-07:00

After fighting a foot injury, hand injury, and just being lazy, I returned to the gym this week to live a healthy life. I went in and found several of the same people working out that were there 3 years ago. The funny thing....THEY LOOK THE SAME! That is good and bad. A friend who was in shape is still in shape and a friend who has a gut....STILL HAS A GUT! It was so funny, when I asked him how it has been he was quick to tell me he has been working out since I last saw him. I told him that was great and went about my way.

If I do not look different in 6 weeks...someone tell me, or smack me.

So I will work my way back into the weekly work out and I hope my friends will get past the rut they are in.

I have alot to blog about.....but I will wait until Brooke and I have a grasp on our new life with a teen in the house.

Our parents can stop laughing now.

Stuff

2008-10-05T10:31:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos, this one is from Frederick HS homecoming game, the young lady in the middle is Tylers

"girlfriend" I am not sure what that means....and there you have it. The phone rings and rings all day after school. I guess that I scare them when they call, but I do not mean to...maybe they feel guilty cuz they are up to no good.

Do I really need to say anything about this one of Brooke? That couch is VERY soft, when she reads a book, she checks out, and in the sunlight, enough said.

Here is a picture of Challenger, his wing spand is 7-8 feet. very cool.

Turntables set up during the forum. I look at this and smile for the times that view casued so many people to dance.

What just happened?

2008-10-04T20:12:00.000-07:00

Where do I begin? I have not updated the blog for a few/several weeks and have been out of town.

Dad Travis and I packed up and headed out to LA for 9 days for a CEO space forum. I staffed the event and Dad and Travis did the forum. We had speakers from Howard & Kimber Lim to Mark Victor Hansen and Lisa Nichols. Being on Staff I was able to meet all of them and even had Lisa Nichols steal my badge and play cop while we escorted her around. Lisa is one of the people behind the secret. Howard is a dear friend and we had a chance to grab dinner before it all started and I got a ride in his band new Aston Martin.

I also got a hour or so with Challenger. Challenger is a bald Eagel that flew over the crowd during the National Anthem. VERY COOL.

On Saturday night we all got together, Howard, Travis, Evan, Katie, and Jillian went to a club on Hermosa Beach called Cruz Room where DJ Meegs and her 2 boys were playing the best house Tunes I have heard in a long time. We took over the dance floor and closed the place after dancing all night.

After a long week we headed home and here we are.

While I was gone, Tyler turned 13! That is right, We are getting OLD! Guess what we bought him....go on guess........

A cell phone. at this point in the night he has sent around 100 text messages. Thus the title of the blog.....

I will try to update with pics and stuff tomorrow!

Football

2008-09-14T16:41:00.000-07:00

We started off our Saturday with TJ and his team pulling off a big W. He picked up his first TD on a nice catch in the END ZONE! I was really pleased. We knew we had some skill on the other team who goes to our Church, so we ran interception drills on Friday. It payed off, my DB's picked up 3 interceptions!!!!!!

How about them BRONCOS!!!!! 2-0 Nice win today on the Chargers!

The weekend

2008-09-12T15:37:00.000-07:00

The weekend is here and I would just like to go to bed and call it a day. It has rained most of the day and the sun just broke through and Brooke is on the couch reading a book. I have given Pierce to many kisses and have caught his cold and I feel like.......

Tyler is going to play game #3 and I hope he can do it without any injury. We had 6 players go down last night in practice. On of our guys was running onthe cement with those new fancy cleats. He twisted his ankle, and discovered that his "sore foot" 2 weeks ago was really 2 breaks.

I think I will lay low and redo our blog template ...... again .......

Can you say...Go Broncos? Nice Monday night game in LA.....Reminded me of Elway.

My Music

2008-09-10T21:25:00.000-07:00

I put a few tunes up in here. Those that DJ with me will love the ones you hate. I threw in some of the boys tunes and Brooke is not coming up with anything right now.

This will be a fun add for me....being a DJ and all.

what's new

2008-09-10T20:46:00.000-07:00

Well...what's new....

1.Conner picked to play the trumpet this year in band. I thought we had a wounded goose in the house the other day. I can say that since I played the same about the same age he is.

2.Cameron is getting new lenses in his glasses this week and they will be adjusted. That might not be a big deal for any of you, but it is big here.

3.Pierce is being potty trained....I have no comment on that....

4.Taylor is going 2 school 2 days a week and has now been introduced to the number 1 and letter A. If life were so simple....maybe it is.

5.Tyler is black and blue from his football pursuit. We had 6 guys go down tonight in practice so I filled in on the D line. The 1st play went well and the second was my last. I told the guys to go full speed and the pulled left and the young man to my left went down and the guys pulled....the last thing I remeber was......I am still trying to remember, all I know is my leg hurts like hell and my head still hurts. I AM GETTING OLD!

Brooke, she is...refer to 3 and fill in the blank.

Me, I got a new phone and I am adjusting. I also take meds for actions lined out in #5.

Somewhere in the near future the boys and I will turn into hillbillys and go chase Elk, Deer and sore feet. For the record, Tyler has not shot anything in his 1 year of hunting and I have only shot 4 Deer and 1 Elk. So the Elk and Deer are quite safe.

What do you use?

2008-09-10T20:35:00.000-07:00

What do you use most in life? What "thing" do you use most? A remote control or your car or your gun...maybe not...

I have a personal problem, letting go of the one thing I use the most. My cell phone. I get all my email, most of my internet access, then all the calls and texting etc. So my Palm Treo was giving me some fits, I have had it for 3 years dropped it at least 300 times, so I decided to get a new phone. So what do you use your phone for? I decided to go with a phone that has all the things I use all in one. I picked up a iPhone and if you love pictures, muzik, email, cool text, you should give it a spin.

Tyler and conner love it since they will be getting it down the line.

My, My, My

2008-09-05T19:59:00.000-07:00

The title comes from one of my fav house tunes and will fit this post to a T. T as in Tyler being 12 going on 13 and I just picked him up from his 1st middle school dance. Brooke and I dropped him off and I, of course, had to go check out the DJ and his set up. Very nice very high end sound system. When we pulled into the parking lot I told him he could go first and then we would go in. He could not get out of the car fast enough and was GONE!

Brooke and I went in for a few, Ty was far away from us and was hanging with his football buddies. We went to DQ and then home then he called about 30 mintues before it was over. When I got there he was out front with several boys from the team and SEVERAL young women. I pulled up to see Ty with his head in the sprinkler and all the boys SCREWING AROUND! Not a big suprise. Boys will be boys. He got in the car and had to give out several hand shakes to the girls..."sloppy joe" what kind of hand shake is that?

He then told me about how one of the boys got the boot from a teacher who "got all up in his grill" and kicked out his friend. all up in his grill.....I am not sure what to say......

I remember some punk kid saying that to another cop not long ago.... and now MY son is saying the same thing.

So now we are home and he told me not to post this here, he said he would "get up in my grill" so I informed him I was about to smash his grill....I think I will now spend the rest of my night wondering what the next few years will bring....

September is here!!!!

2008-09-02T21:11:00.000-07:00

The fan is in the window and the COLD Rocky Mnt air is here. Brooke calls it the "Arctic blast" and I call it Heaven. There is nothing better than a cool night and a warm bed.

I have taken the time over the weekend to clean up the garage. With us moving our shop I took in alot of the tools and things to work from home. So last fall I ran electrical through the garage and insulated the walls, put up dry wall and over that put bright checker plate aluminum. Kind of redneck but it looks good and I have every tool known to man in the garage. I think I have another day of putting the non-tool items up and I will be set. I need to finish one more project and I will be ready. Then I hope that next summer I can seal the floor in the garage.

Brooke's folks will leave tomorrow and head to Colo Springs and I will put some new paint on the stairs going to the basement and start that project.

Now that it is getting cool...it is time to break out the guns again and get ready to go hunting with the big boys. Depending on what we do we might even drag Cameron along this year. I was hunting with my dad right around 4 years old. I think Tyler will go after deer and elk...Im not sure what I will do yet.

peace out!

Y'all in Trouble!!

2008-08-30T20:44:00.000-07:00

Nice save Hillary! It is 15 minutes to 10 and Hillary just checked out the blog and called to say happy birthday to Nelson! That was funny! The power of the BLOG!

Happy B-Day Grandpa and Pierson

2008-08-30T19:32:00.000-07:00

Pierson and Nelson had a little B-Day party after Grandma & Grandpa Seely arrived. Grandpa is 62 and Pierce is 3. I went out to Golden and worked for a while today to help cover the short crews. Not too much going on, quite for a holiday weekend. So Brooke and Grandpa cooked steaks for everyone and I came home to hang out.

We blew out the candles how many times?????

DNC Stuff

2008-08-29T11:26:00.000-07:00

I had to take some time on Monday and visit the downtown area. 1 to support the police, and 2 to see some stupid people, 3 see some famous people. I got to thank several police officers and got to see them in action with some stupid people and bumped into Ted Kopel. The ding songs were chanting "power to the people" so I had to chim in " power to the cops" I got a nice smile from one cop who had to wipe it off his face fast. What a cool event to come to town. We had several officers from our PD go down and help cover the streets. We helped cover for those officers who were down there. We had a bunch of protestors in town a few nights ago, no big deal. It was fun to watch and see the behind the scene action here and to see all the things that were missed by the TV. Obama sure talked smooth, nice try.

Sore feet and a smile

2008-08-27T22:28:00.000-07:00

EVERYONE is fast asleep tongiht! Tonight was the start of Football with a nice win that started with TJ (Tyler John) # 35 as one of the team leaders marching onto the field for the meeting with the officials and coin toss. My job was to count plays, yell at missed tackles and to make sure our boys got a chance to play. Somewhere in there I watched a large # 35 work his way into the face of a smaller QB and help him get introduced with the grass. TJ ran a 6-2 with the middle linebacker rushig and NO ONE touched him and the QB was seeing stars...many times. He even got a safety and the ref placed the ball in the wrong spot that took it away. But he came through in the last few minutes and got another safety tying the game and then that led to a TD and we took the game.

We are at a interesting point with our big boys, they are now are friends and I see them spreading wings and doing their own thing.

During half time we were tied at 0 and we had a guy always putting presure on our QB. I got one of the big boys on the team and took him aside. I told him that there is a time when I am a cop, time to play ball, a time to fight. I told him that it was time for this other guy to be introduced with the stars. I told him to bring the rain. A few plays into the next half and I wathced him pull and he got that look on his face and squared off with this kid and KA BOOM!!! Party over! the kid dropped like a brick, body limp stright to the ground. I was like...Holy crap... don't kill him and the play went and we scored. After a good 5 minutes and some movement the kid got up....thinking he was in Kansas Toto. After we punched in the extra point...he came back to the sideline....stright faced...with a crazy look in his eyes....."how did you like the rain storm coach?" I shook my head..."that is what I mean"

I would never want any of our guys to hurt someone, but the life leason they can learn from doing a good job will last a lifetime.

TJ got his safety and I am well pleased with him, he is turning into a fine young man...who has girls at church counting how many times they see him on Sunday.

Tomorrow I will Blog about the STUPID people of America at the DNC!

Chief

2008-08-24T15:51:00.000-07:00

Forgot a important thing this week. On Tuesday morning Brooke went in a woke up the big boys and noticed that Chief the gerbil was not moving. We got Chief and Nibbles 4-5 years ago for Christmas. Nibbles died a few years ago, but Chief kept on ticking. So Tuesday we had a little time and buried Chief next to Nibbles. We now are a pet free zone.

~TJ

1 week down

2008-08-23T20:51:00.000-07:00

After a long week of back to school items and the whole "get up by 7am" thing. Everyone is dead tired around here and I am tryng to get my old man nerve pain to go away.

The week started last Saturday with my brother Travis looking for help with his new wood floor. Having done this type of work in the past.....So I upset one of my nerves in my wrist and it has caused my left hand to go numb and with a few days rest now it is only a few fingers. It has driven me up a wall. I spent part of everyday down there helping/doing it, it looks great and now I am getting ready to put in the bathroom since I had to move the water connections into the wall because some plumber did not want to work in the tiny space I did to do it right the first time.

Cameron and Conner went to school on Monday and Tyler went on Tuesday. It is a new phase for us since Pierce is our last baby and now we are in the raise-them-all phase. Taylor starts her pre-school next week 2 days a week. We had football every night this week and it has been fun to watch Tyler (aka TJ) start at middle linebacker and tight end. He said he has "mad skill" and I told him he will have "dead skill" if he does not watch for the free safety on his 10 and in pattern he runs. We had a scrimage today and he did really good and caught some good passes and made some nice plays on D. Brooke walked the little ones down to the park this a.m. and watched us play and we were home by noon.

I put on my gear and went out to Golden and did my thing. When I got out there were no cars to drive so I jumped into one of our big expeditions....it is like driving a tank while on patrol. As I was doing my thing I came around the back side of our Kohls store and saw a HUGE 5x6 mule deer sitting behind the store. So I told dispatch that I was going to check on it. I was hoping to see it limp or show some sign of it needing to be put down and put on my wall at home. No such luck. He got up and walked off. Some poor guy went and bought a used motorcycle today, only to find out that it had been stolen last year. He is now out 800.00 and the look on his wife's face summed up the whole thing. That whole "I love you, but I don't like you" look.

The whole DNC thing is here this week, the FREAKS are in full force doing STUPID things downtown. It effects our PD since we will have 10 guys down there, which leaves our shifts with 2-3 guys on. We have Al-Jeerez (sp) doing a broadcast from Golden on Tuesday so I will be out there, and then they asked if we could help fill in the gaps all week.

I hope that all of our family and friends are well. As I was working, I listened to Jefferson County work a fatal accident tonight. It made me grateful for the safety we all enjoy. I think I will take the challenges I have over that kind of challenge. A woman died in the accident, someone's mom, wife, sister, friend, gone in a instant.

Well...sorry for the long blah blah blah,
PEACE OUT!

TJ

And so it begins...

2008-08-11T19:54:00.000-07:00

With a slight chill in the air last night, and a NICE thunder storm to boot, fall is right around the corner and so is football. We missed last weeks practice and started a full night of pads and had some really nice size young men on the team. It is the 7th grade team for Coal Ridge Middle school and Tyler is our line backer and tight end.

I was asked last year to help with coaching this year so I am helping with defense and I have NO idea what I am doing and laugh at myself when the kids ask me if they are pulling on a 35 dive. I just tell them how to tackle and put on some pain.

I did have to help one young man catch his breath after I told one of the line men to let him have it. He said there were 2 coaches looking at him and it was only me.

School starts in 1 week and then it will be time to catch some fish and chase some elk and get ready for Christmas and the annual ginger bread house parties at our place.

~TJ

Summer Trip

2008-08-10T18:57:00.000-07:00

Well, a week ago we were rollin' into Mc Alister, OK to visit my brother Brandon and his family. 808 miles and 12 hours in the SUV and I think 4 movies one way. We spent the 3 days on the lake where NO ONE was around. Brandon said there was about 700 miles beach around it and you could go at 60mph in one direction and go nowhere fast.

We stayed at his home and took over any and all carpet in the place with air beds and our kids ate all the food in his house. Christi was down in Dallas with John-Collin who was in Childrens Hospital ICU for 10 days. They came up the day before we left.

Tyler and Conner got the hang of the jet skies and took every chance they could to go out all alone and go fast. Tyler was proud to go 68mph on one. I tried to explain to him what would happen to him if he were to come off of that at that speed. He smiled and still thought it was cool. I did do a 60mph superman fly by once, so I guess I should take my own advice.

The water felt like warm bath water and some spots it was just hot. We all have a burn somewhere on us, mine is above my knees where the sun block was not.

The drive home was 11.5 hours and we were glad to pull into our driveway. I dont know why we don't go on more trips, it was really fun!

So back to getting ready for school which starts in a week and football practice starts tomorrow for Tyler.

~TJ

Watch out for the Fly Rod and 5 gallon buckets!

2008-07-24T21:44:00.001-07:00

So, I went up to Steamboat today for work and on my way back I met up with my buddy in Dillon. We were off to do some fly fishing. We got all set up and I shut my front door of the Suburban and there went the fly rod! I shortend it up by about 12". NOT a good thing. I tried to fish and the only thing I caught was my left ear, due to a VERY poor cast. I dont know what hurt more my broken nose or the fly stuck in my ear.

Oh....I forgot to tell the story of the broken nose......I think this is the 5 time it has been smashed. a bike crash or 2, basketball, some dumb drunk woman and now a 9 year old Cub Scout.

Notice that I have a 1" water line, I was filling the scouts 5 gallon buckets of water for them and that water ended up on me. Just out side the picture is the fire truck blasting water over 200 feet in the air. It was quite the water fight. I got a 5 gallon bucket of water in the face with the rim of the bucket on the bridge of the nose. So I have spent the last 2 days with black and blue eyes and it kills to wear shades! That is why we have Advil!

Tyler is TALL

2008-07-14T10:48:00.001-07:00

Well, it has happened, Tyler is taller than Brooke!

Tyler and Cameron

2008-07-14T10:28:00.000-07:00

I just got back from Canada from a 5 day trip to Vancover Island, Naniamo to be exact. Installed a system there, what a beautiful place. I would love to spend some time there without the preasure of brining a system online.

I wanted to post some pics of Tlyer buying his bike and Cam sitting in Air Life. I will post a pic I took from the north side of Naniamo.

4th of July

2008-07-06T19:51:00.000-07:00

We had a good 4th - there was a ward breakfast at the park, a parade & then we spent the evening with some friends & watched fireworks from their backyard. 2 casualties - Conner crashed on his bike & Pierce tried to pick up a glowing ember from a sparkler!

~B

Ben Delatour Scout Camp 2008

2008-06-29T12:07:00.000-07:00

I went with Tyler to Scout Camp this past week and had some good laughs. I just about got myself kicked out of camp for a little situation with some young men that wanted to have a disagreement with me over carving some wood with my knife. They needed a little attitude adjustment and they were caught off gaurd that I stood my ground with their "Billy Bad *@#" attitudes.

Tyler was able to get his canoeing and leather working merit badges. He got class time for rifle and still needs to shoot some targets. We got rained on a little and walked......A LOT.

I left for one night and came home and went back. The next day Tyler and I had bought some boondoggles and were making them. I left camp and returned to find Tyler walking away from camp covered in dust and dirt. He told me he had stood up, stretched, passed out and hit his head. So I got him some Gatorade and took him to see the medic. He had a low pulse o2 reading, but after some more fluids and tilt testing, the reading came back up and off we went.

Later that night he was the only one to get mail and got a new fanny pack/day pack from his parents. He will get his Star rank in July and then we are on the count down until he can get his Eagle.

TJ

Hmmmmm

2008-06-29T12:03:00.000-07:00

I did go back to Clear Creek the week after the rescue when there was no one around and found the water to be moving VERY FAST and VERY COLD and tried to replay the scene again. There is no way I would "jump in for fun." Very glad it worked out. It did get submited for an award and the Chief of Police talked with me about it. He and some other cops rescued a person several years ago and he shared his experience. Just happy to be at the right place at the right time.

TJ

A Hero!

2008-06-15T13:50:00.000-07:00

Trent is playing this one down, but he is a hero! There is already talk that he will receive an award for the rescue. He saved that boy's life!

Proud wife!

~Brooke

A quiet night in Golden Colorado

2008-06-15T12:00:00.000-07:00

Most know that I am a Reserve Officer with the City of Golden Police Department. Golden has been my home away from home and I love working with the Department and helping out. We were in briefing and the day guys were wrapping up reports when dispatch aired a "child in the creek" right behind our PD. We all ran out the door and I got the throw rope bag and made a mad dash east, since the "creek" runs east. The "creek" is really full and moving fast this time of year and is very popular with the community. The City has really made it nice to walk on the paths. We had over 100 people in the path area and park.

When I ran up on scene, I saw a woman getting out of the creek and 3 adult men in the water and a child caught in the white water and going up and down in and out of the water. I threw out the rope bag and one of the men got the rope and the child and we pulled him out of the middle and they got stuck. So into the water I went and got the child and the men were then able to get out. I won't go into all the detail but we got the boy out and all the people got out. Job well done and I was a bit wet!

We ended up assisting Jeffco with shutting down W/B I-70 and other cops stuff.

LA 508 Forum

2008-06-08T21:10:00.000-07:00

Recently I was in LA for CEO space class 508 forum. The forum is held every 60 days at the Westin LAX hotel. After a week of classes and expo I had dinner at the hotel with Lane to sit back and relax. While we were talking a table got a bit rowdy and some women started singing Madonna's "Vouge." Having a fine taste in female vocals from my DJ years they had my attention.

I got up and met "Shanti"She can sing! We found out that there was a music forum going on in a different area of the hotel, so that wrapped up the night.

The next day Ron Domingo and I...(Check out Ron in action...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mB08ZVeP_U4

yep he is the dancer....were meeting and met Mc Mars. The guy was amazing!http://www.mcmars.net/

They were having a Friday night concert at the hotel so we all went. Mc Mars dedicated his act to his new friend Trent and he was amazing! The guy is smooth and can rap till no end. I picked up his CD and he was out of books. Check out his video and check out his ride. The guy was amazing.

Postings

2008-06-08T20:58:00.001-07:00

I don't think any of you that read this will need this explained, but cop pictures, DJ items, hunting items etc are from Trent. All links to DJ videos are from...I will let you guess....TJ

Sunday

2008-06-08T20:29:00.000-07:00

We've had Seattle weather in Colorado for the last week - but the payoff is a lush, happy lawn. School is out for summer and the boys are already complaining of boredom! We are hoping to go camping, fishing and shooting before they all go back to school this fall. Tentatively, we're planning to drive to OK to visit Brandon & Christi towards the end of August. Also, Mom & Dad might be heading out to Colorado before fall comes.

Meanwhile the kids keep growing & time passes faster and faster. Today we are all healthy & happy...life is good!

~Brooke

Summer Time in Colorado

2008-05-25T15:00:00.001-07:00

We decided to start a rant since everyone else is and this seems to be the way to do it. I am working for Water Logic and have spent the last year installing systems in Mexico, Colorado and will leave in 2 days to install our first system in Canada. The company is going through a stock offering right now and will be doing that over the summer and scaling back production. I own Synergy Sound & Light and DJ house, trance, and dance music for all types of crowds. I am currently a police officer with the City of Golden police department reserve unit.

Brooke is running the front line at home with Tyler, Conner, Cameron, Taylor and Pierson. The 3 boys are now out for the summer and Tyler is 1" shorter than Brooke and will have us both passed up within the year thanks to the Seely and Munson side of the families.

We are looking to spend our summer around home and spend some time going to see family on the coast and out east. Tyler and Conner will be camping working towards merit badges. Trent will be going to LA again for conferences in July and who knows where else after that.

I will leave other info for Brooke to update.