Parade Of Lights

The family got together at the Tailgate and then took in the Parade of Lights afterwards. We got a pretty extensive family picture, some key folks are missing. Like Sheila and Aaron's dog Bailey and the other half of Scotty's head, but pretty good for a quickly.

P-Dog is old.

My nephew Preston is like 11 today? When you get old you forget how old people are. I remember when Jason and Angie had him I thought, oh no, now Steph is gonna want to have kids. Well, I put that off for a while, but would never take it back now that we have them.

That brings us to the nickname...I don't remember where it came from, but to our family Preston is P-Dog, and Jason became "Uncle Red" a few weeks ago, and Brecken LOVES to call them by their nicknames...so Happy Birthday P-DOG!

Birthdays.

I am now 37.

Funny how that sounded really old when I was 27.

For some reason when I have a birthday I always reflect on the person that I am, well, at least since I was about 30.

I know sounds a bit strange...but after all these years on Earth I realize there is only a few things that really matter.

Love without limits, your wife, your kids, your parents, your sister, your in-laws, your co-workers and complete strangers.

Embrace creation, play in it, work in it and capture it.

Take pride in your family history, your country, and your community...do what you can to make those things shine, no matter how dysfunctional it may seem. :)

Finally love the One who died to set you free.

SIDE NOTE:

For those of you who feel obligated to buy me a present (Skipper and Eric) you really don't have to...instead check out our new line of fine photographic artwork by clicking on this link. HIS Signature is a celebration of our family love of the outdoors and my outdoor/nature photography. These photos come either printed on canvas wrapped frames or studio mounted frames, no framing or matting needed just put them on your wall. Call Steph to place your order.

M-R Ducks...S-M-R Ducks

When we lived in Sioux Falls I used to hunt ducks and geese...a ton. When we moved to the lake I felt like I didn't have the time, so my waders and decoys sat in a storage bin for almost 3 years. Steph's folks came this weekend and her dad and his hunting sidekick Mike brought their duck gear so I thought, why not.

I forgot how much I love duck hunting...I honestly almost enjoy it more than hunting pheasants...especially this year as the pheasant hunting has been more like work.

We had some super good hunts in the last 3 days...I kind of don't want to go back to work tomorrow, but I have a load of things to get done, so duty calls.

Here are some pictures I took with my BlackBerry's camera. They turned out way better than I thought they would!

Mike, aka, DuckMan, and my father-in-law waiting for me to call them in.

Mike...waiting for me to say "Take 'em!"

Roger's silhouette on another gorgeous morning!

The Photographer's Kids

You know the standards, the Preacher's kids are naughty (right Brad), the Doctor's kids are always sick, the photographer's kids...well, this picture says it all. This is not staged, this was real attempt at a family photo.

This might be our Christmas card from LakeHaus Productions....

3 Rabbits.

Buster and Beauty

Sometimes I wish my dad wanted a Harley Davidson, or about 4 snowmobiles, or a couple 4 wheelers, but a lot of guys don't want to hang out with their dad, or don't have a dad, so I don't complain. I just give him a hard time about his Old West purchases.

Here is the latest...Buster and Beauty, and the "breaking cart" not pretty, but it is for working a young team. The boys and I had fun bouncing around the prairie on Sunday afternoon.

Mr. Mom Weekend

Steph and her best friend went to Minnesota for a Heart's at Home seminar/shopping spree/get away from life for a few days trip. I manned up and took the kids, with tons of help from Penny and Bob, and let me tell you it's not easy.

I totally respect any stay at home mom or single parent for that matter...it's not sweatsuits and lattes all day long. I didn't get much sleep on Friday night because Kolby thought it would be good to watch the moon come up over the lake for a few hours...until 1:30 AM, and Saturday morning the boys woke up at 6:35 AM...Kolby was 5 minutes behind them. (just hang on for a second I have to go change Kolby's diaper......)

Saturday we went to the SDSU football game with Grandpa Bob and the Jacks had a very off day to say the least, but it was fun to hang with Grandpa and the boys. Kolby and Grandma went to some gathering of women and had fun too.

I learned a couple things over the weekend: Girls are harder to get dressed than boys...style-wise boys get jeans and a shirt...but the little princess gets "stylized", I also had no idea where any of the kids' clothes were, also just because I don't eat breakfast doesn't mean the boys shouldn't either. Sunday on the way to church, Brecken says, "Dad, I'm like totally starving." Also the funniest one of all came out of Brecken, "Dad, I want to watch Sponge Bob Wears Pants."

Dear Steph, you can't get home soon enough, we all miss you very much!