Dude Trip.

Maxim and I went on our first ever "dude trip"...just us two and nobody else.  We were going to head out to the Black Hills to climb and bounce around for a few days, but I was dumb and scheduled the trip on the same weekend as the opener for Sturgis...so while all the Harleys were headed west, we headed east to the Palisades...here is the trip in photos.

Our hike at 0-6-hundred...Maxim's idea, because he couldn't sleep...

Our shadows at 0-6-something

Maxim holding King Rock in the palm of his hand.

Me squishing Maxim's melon.

Because 1 Maxim just isn't enough, and 6 would be too many.

My favorite photo...Maxim packing in our climbing rope for the day, that was the first time he carried any gear on our climbing trips.

Getting started on a great route on Queen Rock.

(yes, he should have had his helmet on, but his dad forgot it in the garage...God protects better than a plastic brain bucket!)

Topping it out, one of 4 times in about 10 minutes!

HE LOVES TO SWING DURING THE RAPPEL.

THANKS FOR MAKING THIS TRIP POSSIBLE MOM!

Love, Maxim and Dad...

Happy Anniversary LHP...

LakeHaus Productions is now a year old...give or take a little bit.  Technically we had the tax id number earlier in 2009 than August, but last August is when it really took off and now it is going like a 4 year old hopped up on Red Bull.  (Wait I have one of those already, now we have 2?)

Steph and I talked about having a "One Year Anniversary Open "Haus" some weekend at our home, but we are so busy with LHP work that we don't have a free weekend until late September.

We have been blessed to say the least, we started this thing to maybe pick up a little extra cash now and then, and it has turned into a full-fledged photography, video, graphic design and Internet business, with side projects and a couple extremely large assignments that will last over 2 years.

So just in case we don't have that OpenHaus for LakeHaus...thank you to all who have made this thing possible...be it through baby sitting, helping clean up or giving us business ideas, you are all very much appreciated.

Also, we would like to welcome our first part time employee.  She went from model to "photography assistant/kid wrangler/model", and her name is Morgan K.  Morgan has been our go to baby sitter for a while and a week ago she helped us on a family photo shoot and she rocked it.  She holds the flash, the diffuser, fixes hair and clothes and makes kids smile...she will also be logging a lot of time at the State Fair at our booth in the South Dakota Marketplace (where you buy milk and shakes).

Cassidy Bay

My brother-in-law Brad and my neice Cassidy recently visited the Dominican Republic, which is the country where Brad was born.  He snapped this picture of Cassidy walking down the beach on afternoon and posted it to his blog.

Our entire family loves this shot, so I thought I would take the original and give it a little LakeHaus Productions editing flair.

On a final note: Cassidy is "the bees' knees"...she is growing up way to fast, and it makes her uncle feel a bit old.  She is so beautiful and has a beautiful soul to match....the total package, right?

Water Feature.

So we were supposed to go camping this weekend with our best friends from Sioux Falls, but our camp sites were flooded out.  They decided to go to Omaha and hit the zoo and Ginger Cove, the lake our friend's parents live on, we decided to stay home since we needed to be at church on Sunday morning since Steph was singing and I was playing drums.

So on Saturday we went to work on our "water feature" that looks sooo nice on one of our back patios.  When we told some friends we put a little pond thing in, he said, "you guys live on a lake, why do you need a pond feature?"  I hadn't thought of it that way, but it looks nice and it is land that I don't have to weed eat or mow, so it is good!

Downtown MLPS

Most of my photography is based in an outdoor rural setting so it was nice to get to go downtown MLPS and get some shots.  Here is one.

Jack

Steph and I had a great weekend without the kids, thanks to both sets of grandparents.  We went to MLPS and then on to Wisconsin for a Jack Johnson concert.  We loved Jack's music before we went to the concert, and after we love him even more. 

White Rabbit???

May I Have Your Attention, Please.

Grandma Clarice and Grandpa Roger are here for a couple weeks and our family couldn't be more happy...especially Kolby, she has Grandpa Roger wrapped around her sticky little fingers.

Here are some pictures from the first day of their arrival yesterday...note, Grandpa's constant attention to Koco...

Of course our house has been pretty busy with the 4th of July on the lake...we had a great time with a lot of friends over the 4 days of fun.  Here are some of the photos I took when I had some time to myself.

Storm Chasing, Fine Art and Energy Drinks

Most of you know about our side business http://www.lakehausproductions.com/ ... well, we also have some fine art prints that Steph and I sell under that same business name, we call them the "HIS signature" series.  They are landscape photos that I have taken over the years and we add a piece of scripture to them that ties in nicely with the print.

This weekend we were at the Brookings Arts Festival selling our prints.  My dad came up with the idea of using the covered wagon and cookfly (sort of like an open sided tent shade) to use as our "booth"  it worked out great and Steph decorated it sooooo classy.  We sold a lot of prints and I am always humbled to know that people will buy pictures I have taken and pay hard earned money for them to hang in their home...it is flattering to say the least.

We had a great first ever show, the Brookings Arts Festival Staff gave us several comments, and we were also invited by a head hunter to go to another art show in Minneapolis to sell our work, and they waived the booth fee for us...I think they are hard up for artists?!?!?!?

There was a slight change in weekend plans as on Friday the TV show Inside Edition called a fellow free-lance photojournalist friend of mine and offered a gig on Sunday that paid so well, we couldn't pass it up.

We left Huron around 11pm headed West...slammed a lot of Monster, Red Bull, RockStar and sunflower seeds and arrived in Rapid around 2AM, got up at 7AM and were ready for work.

We were shooting video for a story that Inside Edition is doing on Silverline Tours a storm chasing tour operation that is based out of Denver.  So we ended up all around the western edge South Dakota, got close to Nebraska and spent most of the day in Wyoming.  We didn't see any tornadoes, but the super cells we saw were really cool...(don't be surprised if I have some prairie weather pictures to sell soon)

So we worked from about 9 to 7pm MT and were somewhere in Wyoming and we drove all night to get back to Huron around 3AM or 4AM.  I slept at Bob and Pennys house and was at my desk a little after 8am.

I am on a high from our booth at the arts festival and my work for Inside Edition...now the follow up, my mother and father-in-law arrived at the house at 11AM this morning...it never slows down at our house!

Brilliant.

Giving Up...

I have started many things...only to give them up later.  I was gonna be a boxer after watching Rocky III, but getting hit all the time sucks.  I rode bulls until I was about 23, my shoulder kept popping out of it's socket which isn't normal, so I quit that...(but still have the desire to climb back on one!)  I stared reading a bunch of books that didn't hold my ADD attention span.  I have a mountain bike rebuild project that has been sitting in my garage for 2 years now.  I haven't filled the nail holes on our trim in the kitchen.

It happens, we get into different routines in our life...things change, and our changing dreams and life patterns force us to basically give up on somethings.

What brings on this post about quitting, you ask?

I ran into a friend of mine's little brother...he's like 27 or something.  I haven't seen him in quite a while, and I almost didn't recognize him.  He was wearing farmer-style overalls and had put on like 80 pounds.  I told him I liked his overalls...he said yeah, "I gave up trying to find jeans that fit...the overalls don't fall down and they make them for fat guys who eat a lot of cake."

Now I have "wintered-well" a few times and 10 or 15 pounds goes on pretty easy, but at some point don't you say...I have to do something about my clothes not fitting?

So if you ever see me wearing overalls, take me out for a run...a long run.  I have always said, "I work out like a maniac so I can eat like an idiot!"

Brecken the T-Baller

Here is a couple shots of Brecken playing for his t-ball team the Twins.

Note the batting glove dangling out of the back pocket...he saw a big leaguer do that.

He's 8.

So today at 6:17 p.m. Maxim will have officially been in the world for 8 years.

I decided to post these pictures of Maxim from Sanford's Cradle Roll archive...I remember thinking, "What am I going to do with a kid...am I ready to be a dad...what if I drop him?"  Well, Maxim has survived 8 years with Stephanie and I and I think he is doing quite well.

When they hand you that little human wrapped up in hospital-issued blankets you never know what is in the package.

Maxim is insightful, caring, free thinking, comical, and creative.  Some days when his little mind is wandering, and he is lost in his own little world, I can't help but want to get inside his thoughts to see what makes him tick.  He has made Stephanie and I much different people, for the better.  Thank you, Maxim...and Happy Birthday.

Lake Byron Falls

Our rain gauge actually overflowed this weekend.  It holds 6 inches.  I don't know if Maxim was playing a trick on us or not, but this picture shows that we did get a little rain.  The lake came up almost 2 feet.

If you have activeX installed and click on the photo it will make it full screen...I think.

Different Day Than You Planned

Ever wake up with this really productive day planned and you end up in a conference call for 2 hours, eating chips and dip at your mom's house for lunch, running out of time for a workout, and to cap the night off...removing a virus from your computer, while your wife, and 2 of 3 kids suffer from a virus?

Most days don't go as planned, but if you do plan a day...it will most likely just go.  -ME

Kolby is crying.

Since Kolby woke me up so early this morning her nap time happened at about 7:30am, so I was going to blog a little, and now she is crying again, and it is only 9:00am.

I now know why Steph can't mow the yard, feed the kids, hang up my laundry, clean the house, get the kids ready for all of their sports, and so on, and so on...I have just Kolby and I can't even do the one Saturday job Steph gave me to do, and that was water a few flowers...I hope it rains...not really.

"Woof, Woof." said Maxim.

So Maxim is pretty much self-sufficient in the personal care department, of course with some prompting by Steph...he will brush his teeth, shower and pick out clothes all by himself.

Tonight after a good day of "outsideness", Maxim needed a shower and when Steph went into the bathroom to get something she smelled a familiar smell of shampoo, but it wasn't the one you want your son using.  She asked him if he was using Kia's (our dog) shampoo and he said, "Yes, after I got it scrubbed up on me I realized it was Kia's!"

So he just rolled with it, I guess there is no sense in wasting good dog shampoo...Steph laughed at him and when she walked out of the bathroom, Maxim said, "woof, woof!"

The Lone Rangers

The boys got out on the horses last night and played a little Lone Ranger, fully equipped with cap guns and WILD imaginations.

The highlight of the night was when Grandpa showed the boys how the old western movie stunt guys used to bail off horses when they got shot....or did Grandpa really get bucked off his new horse?  Call him Casey Tibbs and see what kind of reaction he gives you.

Summer Break...now Brecken has some friends.

Maxim's last day of 1st grade was on Friday, and summer break has officially begun.

That is good news for Brecken, as he was starting to get a little bit sad for "friends".  I guess the other day Steph and Brecken were outside, on the trampoline and Brecken was playing his "butar" AKA guitar.  His song went something like this....

"Ohhhh, I don't got no friends,
But I got my grandpa....
I don't got no friends,
But I got my grandpa...."

My first thought was to correct his use of "got no" to "I don't have any friends," but then I realized that it was more of a country song, so the use of improper English is accommodated in this instance for song writing purposes.

Well, his friend/brother will be around for about 90 days now, all the time.  By the end of the week he will be begging for Maxim to go back to school.

We are sure this song will live on in infamy as Grandpa thinks it is pretty much the best song ever written.

Great Shirt

Cinco De Rogero.

Happy Birthday Grandpa Roger!

Marc.

Click Here For Marc's Caring Bridge Site.

The Cowboy Is 4.

I'm a little late on this post, but I have been driving a car for the last 4 days...the 13th was Brecken's birthday.  The little wild man is 4 years old now.

Many of you know he loves skateboarding, wakeboarding, playing hockey and being a cowboy...quite the combination of loves we know, and it makes for some interesting playtime.

I am not sure but I think every dad has been a "bull"  for their children to ride.  My dad did it for me and I do it for my boys as well, and lately Kolby wants in on the rodeos too.  Brecken and Grandpa share quite a bit of time on horseback, and with all the growing B-Wreck has been doing lately he didn't fit into many of his clothes, so for his birthday he got clothes, and he was pumped about it.  New cowboy jeans, a bullriding vest and brand new boots just like the High School kids are wearing.  He is pretty proud of his new duds and can't wait to go ride Juneau with his new boots on.

Here is the little picture I did to make him look like he was a real bullrider on the PBR tour.

Take Another Bow Maxim...

Maxim's Spring Speech Festival was on Friday and if you remember from last year, he was kind of the hit of the show as he did his speech and then took a bow.

(Click Here To Watch 2009's Performance)

In the back of my head I wondered if he would do that again this year....

RIP Noah the Fish

My dad took off for a meeting in Pierre yesterday and I asked him if he was staying at the Ramkota, he wasn't sure...so I said, "you know the one with the monster fish from the Amazon".  That jogged his memory and he said that was the spot.

He got into Pierre late last night and then texted me this AM that Noah the monster Pacu fish was dead.

I was stunned.  With all my travels to Pierre over the years that fish had become a friend of mine, ok an acquaintance...OK, OK I looked at him at least once every trip, but he was the mascot of the Ram.

Here is the story from KSFY...
A 41-year-old fish that entertained visitors to a Pierre hotel for nearly a quarter century has died.

Ramkota General Manager Rick Murray says Noah died Wednesday. The Pacu fish was born in 1969 in South America and was brought to the hotel in 1987, a few months after it opened.

During his time, Noah outgrew four fish tanks.
Murray says the hotel might have Noah stuffed and mounted.

I think mounting Noah is a great idea, but you have to make sure he can sing "Wild Thing" or something like that.

Hotels don't do things like that anymore, now they brag about their cool 153' water slides,some are known for gigantic waffles at their continental breakfast and some are know for their awesome shower heads.  I prefer super old fish that seem too big for their tank.

My friend Pam told me of the funny thing that happened when the hotel announced that Noah was dead on their outdoor sign...it read...We will miss you...then below that their Lenten special notice of "Fish Fry on Friday!"  Epic.

Brecken The Skype Monster

Skype is a wonderful tool for keeping up with relatives, conference calls with co-workers, or just getting to see your kids via a visual phone call when you are traveling.

Steph and I have actually Skyped with our kids while driving in a car...crazy to think you can video call your children in a moving object.

Well, it was bound to happen...Brecken (3 years old) figured out what buttons to click on to dial up daddy on Skype, and while a neighbor was visiting with Steph, Brecken decided to call me at work on Skype about 10 times.

So I was entertained for about the first 3 minutes, then I felt like I was babysitting him from a distance. Pretty funny actually...here is the photo of Brecken telling me about his baseball jersey, and how he wants all the baseball jerseys in the world, and football shoes with nails on them.

Kolby In Grandpa's Sleigh and James River Water Level

Christmas is a loooong time away...but...

all I want for Christmas is.....

Last Run...

My crew reffed our final games this weekend at the President's Cup in Rapid.  We did 8 games in about 36 hours of life.  Honestly, I have spent more time with these guys over the last 3 weekends than my wife, so I promise I will make it up to her.

I had a very good year, and only about a handful of calls that I would love to have back...don't kid yourself, every ref knows when they blew a call...although none of the calls were big-time game deciding mistakes. 

Yes, Brookings fans, there was 2 tenths of a second left on the clock when Huron scored the goal to send the semi-final JV state tourney game into overtime...blame it on DakTronics for inventing such a good scoreboard!

So I'll hang up the skates for another year, and I can say for all of my family, that we were ready for hockey season to be over this year.

H2O Overload.

I know the title of this blog is Living On Liquid, but this Spring is ridiclous. 

Our neighbors with low-lying houses are sandbagging, the ditches are full, it keeps raining and snowing, I saw a cow standing in mud up to it's belly the other day.

Knee-high rubber boots are high fashion, like we live in southeast Alaska.

If this keeps up I re-naming our kids Ham, Shem and Japeth.

A good day behind the camera...

4 Day Recovery

We went out snowmobiling with our friends last weekend; and today...Friday...is the first day I have felt "not super sore". My buddy is a great rider, and I learned a lot by just following him around in the deep powder.

I can't begin to tell you how much of a workout back country riding is...and we put on a lot of trail miles too. I didn't feel the need to lift a weight this week. I did run 2 times but that was to make sure that I still had some cardio ability for the weekend as I am reffing the State JV hockey tourney this weekend, the State Varsity hockey tourney next weekend and the President's Cup regional tourney the following weekend.

I guess when you need a 4 day recovery from riding a machine that goes through snow you are either getting old or you rode really hard and worked your body to it's limits. OR BOTH.

PICTURES FROM LAKEHAUS PRODUCTIONS - HIS SIGNATURE SERIES

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

USA Hockey

Blame it on the Olympics that I haven't been blogging...but I thought this picture summed up my olympic experience so far.

The win over Canada was not as epic as 1980, but still pretty big time stuff.

And it gives me fodder to hand it out to my Canadian friends.

Go USA.

Oh Canada...

The Olympics always captures my attention, I think it started in 1980 with the hockey team. My sister always made me watch figure skating too, which somehow gave me a guilty pleasure of liking dudes with better skating skills than mine.

Nonetheless, it is Olympic season again, and this year it is in Canada...our friends to the North. I love Canada...don't get me wrong, but lately on ESPN.com there has been a bit of fighting about Canada's inability to host and do well at the Olympics. Rick Reilly, who is one of my favorite sports writers posted this apology after writing this story.

The thing reminded me of a conversation I had with a Canadian hockey coach prior to a game a few months ago. He wondered if we were playing both anthems (not sure how that was going to affect his game plan) but I knew the PA announcer was going to play them both.

So off the cuff I said, "you mean the American National Anthem and our American National Anthem For Canada?"

He said, "what???"

I said, "Oh, Canada"..."it is really just a love song from a powerful, strong and protective man to his loving woman who needs him to take care of her."

Think of the words...Americans should really be singing Oh, Canada to Canadians.

O Canada!
Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all thy sons command.
With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North strong and free!
From far and wide,
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
God keep our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

Yes Canada "WE", being America, stand on guard for thee...after all, if you were to not like us where else would all our really macho American men go fishing and elk hunting.

Big Birthdays and a tumble down the stairs.

I know I usually do something for birthdays around here and the 3 most important girls in my life are celebrating back to back to kind of back.

Steph turned 29 again last Saturday, and I had a bunch of surprises for her, I even bought her a dozen roses. Let's just say the price of roses has doubled since the last time I did that.

Grandma Penny is the Groundhog Day birthday and we kind of celebrated that on Sunday, and the boys sang to her on Tuesday morning.

Last but not least is Kolby. She is going to be 1 in a week. I can't wait to see her dive into her cake...because if it is anything like her fall down the stairs yesterday it will be epic.

Yeah, she took her first big tumble, but it was down the set of stairs in the house that are not tiled, so that was a good thing. The bad thing, they are the longest set of stairs in the house. If you have never seen your child fall down stairs it is very interesting, especially if you are chasing them.

I almost caught her at the top of the steps, but she went head over heels, then moved into a barrel roll for the rest of the way. I almost caught her at 2 points as I was running after her, but she was fast!

With the Winter X games still fresh in our minds and the Olympics coming up we named her fall The SLO-MO it consisted of a 1620 (body revolutions), a body varial to headstand to 10 minute cry session. I am buying her a helmet and some knee pads for her birthday.

Conversations you are in, but not really.

Do you ever have those conversations, let's say at work, the store, at a public gathering or church, where someone who you are talking to, or are forced to talk to, is completely talking about quite possibly the most boring thing in the world?

I had a 20 minute listen today about a totally random subject, I won't say where I was, but the conversation was dumb, and I felt trapped and I couldn't get out of it...my mind was wandering about this and that.

Then the thought, "does this person know I'm not listening" came into my head. I panicked and thought that I should ask a question about what the person was talking about to let them know I cared about their rambling...all I did was prolong the most boring conversation in my life.

You are probably thinking the same thing about my blog...but hey, you don't have to click here all the time to read my ramblings!

Ken Block and a Subaru.

Rally car driver Ken Block just announced that he is leaving Subaru for the Ford team, but this video of him driving a Subs will always be one of my favorite.

Music Formula Broken Down

One of my favorite bands of the past 8 or so years is a group called Falling Up out of Oregon. I met the guys a couple times thanks to my boy Dave. The sad news is the band is breaking up later this month, but I found a quote by Jessy the lead singer that I thought was so true, but I didn't realize it until I read it.

This is Jessy explaining the basic format of every song on most Christian Radio:

"The Christian radio structure is as follows: Heavy hitting intro, toned down into the first verse, short pre chorus, chorus. Then verse two, no second pre chorus ( that’s supposed to be tricky ), more intense second chorus. Then this is always my favorite- The bridge that’s “supposed to take you to a different place for a brief moment.” ( which really is just a slight key change and, for most of the listeners, their least favorite part of the song ) and then a musical pause with just the singer beginning the last chorus and into…the pay off chorus at the end, usually played twice, in which the climax then concludes with a ring out of feedback or a small drum loop." Jessy Ribordy - Falling Up

If you are not into music, this doesn't mean much to you, but if you do listen you are having an "Ahhh-haa moment". The reason he said this is because they were criticized for not having a radio friendly single on their last album...he also said, "I really don't want my creativity to be put in a box that makes executives happy." I wish I could say that sometimes...

Not much, just a great Jon Stewart quote...

I read this the other day...thought it was funny, since over the weekend a way under-powered North Dakota Jr. Gold hockey team played in a game I reffed, and I am pretty sure every mom of the players from North Dakota thought we lost the game for them, even though they got out shot 55 to 18, and lost 6 to 2.

Anyway I thought the quote fit.

"Korea, like Dakota, has two parts. A relatively friendly South... and a North that hates the world." - Jon Stewart, The Daily Show

Like We Didn't Know Already

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/34809569/ns/sports-baseball/

The link above is Mark McGwire's admission of using roids...yeah, this is a thing that will be held against him forever, but I respect him way more than all the other guys who are still denying it.

Kolby Walks

Kolby has been taking her first steps lately. She gets really excited about standing on her own and usually falls over, or stumbles to where ever she is trying to go to.

She has only knocked her head on the wood floor a few times, and Brecken finds humor in that. She has also showed some signs of being a little bit sassy. We tell her know and she shakes her head "no" and waves her hand at Steph, as if to say, "don't tell me no".

All this walking is also increasing her already large appetite...she ate more ham, corn and stuffing than I did a few nights ago.

The Gap

Maxim had a big hockey tournament over the weekend, and he now looks like a real hockey player as he lost the front tooth just above the tooth on the bottom that he lost a few weeks ago.

The huge hole is making his speech a little slurred and he is constantly sticking his tongue in the empty space and looking in the mirror.

I was proud of him trying to make an extra buck off the tooth fairy, as he grabbed his old tooth and the new one he lost and put them both out for the fairy to leave money for.

Away In A Manger

The Christmas Letter...online edition.

I didn't include a letter with our usual Christmas card picture this year, because I procrastinate alot...but as some of you know, I do my best work when procrastinating!

Kolby:

Kolby had a big year this year...first of all she was born, which is a crazy experince in it's self. She has my heart in a way the boys never could, but we won't tell them that. Her smile, eyes and love of snuggle time while watching hockey is something I will cherish forever. She got her ears pierced in August and will be working on earning her driver's license next month.

Brecken:

Brecken is the life of the party, he needs, and I MEAN NEEDS your attention at all times. He learned how to kneeboard this summer and loves to ride on the tube with his brother and cousins. I can still wakeboard with him standing on my board, but I think those days are over as he is getting pretty big. He loves to wrestle, give snuggies and "proper kisses". He can ride a horse by himself, thanks to Grandpa Bob. He started hockey this year, and at 3 years old is keeping up with the 5 and 6 year olds he skates with. (He got on the team because his dad is the coach)

Maxim:

Is the big first grader, is learning to read, write and listen in class. He even has a crush on a girl in his class, and we tease him about her, but he brings it on himself most of the time. Maxim learned to kneeboard, rides Juneau the horse really well, and likes riding on jetskis. He played baseball and continues to create epic battlefield scenarios in the basement or on the deck with his Star Wars, Transformer, and Super Hero figures. He had his first assist during a game last weekend, and he said he "loves everything about hockey"...and even when the Varsity Girls team teases his brother and he. (the boys are, to quote one of the girl's varsity players, "the mascots of Huron Hockey" as all the older kids seem to love the boys).

Steph and I:

I'm still at the electricity factory working in communications and demand side management. Steph works full time for our company...we started a photography/multimedia company this year...hours upon hours were spent in our office and shooting family pictures for clients.

We couldn't believe all the business we have had for a company that has been in existence since August. It is a lot of work, but we love it. Sometimes we fight like those guys that build motorcycles on TV, but we always kiss and make up. Check out our website if you want http://www.lakehausproductions.com/ it is probably the main reason why I haven't been blogging as much as I used to.

I also forgot to blog about something major that Steph got this year...a dog. Kia joined the house hold in November...she is a lap dog and super cute and doesn't bark, so that is the only rules I had for a little muppet dog, Maxim loves her, Brecken wrestles her, and Kolby sometimes shares her pacifier with her.

Plain and simple, our family is over-blessed. Thanks for caring enough to visit the site all the time and may you enjoy Jesus' Birthday party on Friday.

Hockey Brothers.

Keeping out the "riff-raff".

I have always heard people say that the winter seasons in places like South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota and Montana helps to keep out the "riff-raff". I assume in this statement that "riff raff" means less fortunate people, folks that didn't grow up in the area or like it says, just plain old "riff raffers".

Well, this morning I woke up to -25 degree wind chills and some snow falling sideways...and I thought, wouldn't it be nice to live somewhere else?

Does that make me "riff raff"?

T-Shirt of the Day.

The website http://www.shirtaday.com/ has a new shirt on their site every day...some of them are not in good taste, but some have witty sayings like: Communism...it's a Party!, you know stuff like that.

I almost bought the one from today...here is the script.

Bear Grylls...Man vs. Wild

Over the long weekend we had some pretty nice weather so I decided to drop in the kayak and go for an early winter paddle.

When I got about a half mile from shore I thought I would hate to fall in the water today. I paddled for about a half hour and watched the geese swarm the lake. As I got back to the house I realized that my usual method of getting out of the kayak was not available due to the fact that I took out the dock and my ladder for the winter months ahead.

I thought of a couple different options and the best one seemed pretty easy, until I tried to stand in the kayak and push off of the seat to get up to our permanent dock. Kayaks don't set still in the water and it takes no force at all to move them. The kayak slid out from under me and I caught myself on the dock...then my hand slipped and I fell backwards, "Neste' Plunge Style" into the water which couldn't have been more than 33 degrees.

I don't remember much right after I fell in as I went into shock right away, but I drug the kayak out of the water and then ran up to the house dripping wet and as cold as I have been in a long time. (Donnie H. if you are reading this, I was as cold as the time we sided that old farm house of Brad T's in the dead of winter.)

I pounded on the window and waited for Steph to come to the patio door to rescue me. It took her a while, so while I waited I remembered an episode of Man vs. Wild where Bear fell into cold water and when he got out he stripped down to his gitch to warm up...you know what...it works.

Steph and the family had a good laugh at me and I took a long hot shower.

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!

When the Doctor is your friend...

I have a had a few close friends that also doubled as my various medical care givers...one of those is a dentist in town that we lovingly call Doc. I have been known to eat a bit of hard candy and my teeth have paid for it.

I had 2 fillings to get today, and Doc stuck one side with the 12 gauge needle full of diesel fuel (cause that's what it tastes like) and then proceeded to stick the other side to complete the mouth numbing needed to perform the work without me crying. I don't mind going to the dentist, and since he is my friend it is fun to hang out with him, (Even if it cost about $300 every half hour...that is what insurance is for) but the WORST part is the shot.

My right side numbed up fast, like I took a dodge ball right to the nose, my eyes watered and I felt nothing...my left side different story. If I remember right I took 4 or 5 shots to the left cheek...then we waited, and waited and tried to drill a little bit, but nothing.

Doc and his assistant joked about the older lady a couple days earlier that took her fillings but refused anesthetic, and that she was tougher than me. Finally Doc tried one more spot, he said it was his last trick. I would never be a good prisoner of war, because if the choice was giving up information or taking that shot again, I would tell them where the weapons of mass destruction were.

So we waited some more, nothing...I said it's a little numb let's go...so Doc did a couple little test drills and I felt it, but not bad. So basically he did all his drilling with my mouth still feeling the love from the spinning bit. Then about 3 minutes before he put the stuff in my tooth for the new filling, my lip falls asleep like a dog in the sun on a Sunday afternoon.

I guess the nerves in my mouth are very slow to react, which makes me wonder why my mouth got me into trouble all the time growing up...you would think I wouldn't be so quick-tongued.

Also, have you ever tried spitting with a limp lip? It's more like drooling.

Kolby in her favorite chair.

Living On Liquid...really.

Our boys have the fever.

Nothing else, just the soul-sucking fever.

Well, it actually hasn't affected Brecken's ability to be wild while sick, or tell me, "I'll show you where you are going you RAT SCALLION." I'm not even making this up, last night between 7:00 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. I think he broke the Guinness Book Record for repeating a certain phrase...Just over and over and over and over, you get the picture. (Thanks, Veggie Tales)

Maxim hasn't eaten for a couple days and Breck slowed down last night pretty quickly, they have survived on G2, Chocolate Milk and a ton of water...so they are truly living on liquids.

I am feeling well, as are Kolby and Steph, but I keep using Purell almost every hour on the hour, I think I put it on my tongue at one point yesterday...just to be safe!

Big Bird

I don't agree with this video, but I always get a good laugh out of over-dubbed video spoofs.

Birthday Party Meltdown

These young parents should be reprimanded for letting this boy scream and pout about not being able to get his brother's presents.

Kolby

Yes, we have 2 other boys, and I'll post a photo of them later...Kolby owns her daddy though.

Bathroom Remodel.

Most people plan long and hard about any major renovation to their home...we are kind of the same way, but we fast track the planning process. (Notice I didn't say we fast track the entire process.)

On Tuesday I decided to take Friday off, and in another conversation Steph told me she wanted to remodel the main bathroom. I called her on her desire to rip it apart, and we were at the lumber yard on Thursday night and down to studs in the bathroom by Friday night.

Maxim and Brecken were big helpers...I even let Brecken put a hole in the wall with a hammer.

I got most of the needed sheetrock up today, and the new shower and tub will be hauled into the house tomorrow after my buddies get done watching the football game at our house.

I am so pleased with my speedy progress that I am almost thinking that I will have the bathroom back together before next summer.

Kolby is mobile.

Kolby has been crawling around pretty good for the last 2 weeks, and as I type this, she is pulling herself up to the coffee table. 7 months old and she is standing on her own.

I am pretty sure I'll be buying her a Jeep Wrangler and pink BlackBerry here in a month or two.

100% on the first spelling test.

So I guess I might have been a little more nervous about Maxim's first spelling test than he was. Today was the day he had to spell words like: can, man, is, it, cat, mat, had, hat, I, and the hardest one of all...the.

I didn't realize it but "the" is spelled nothing like it sounds...ta-ha-eee. So Maxim and I made up a song about "the" to help him remember. It must of worked because he aced the test.

I'm a little nervous about this method of learning through song...I'm reminded of a certain episode of "Cheers"...you remember..."Albania, Albania, you boarder on the Adriatic...".

The Beauty of Skype.

I don't know if any of you use SKYPE's services, but I have recently found the joy of talking to someone on a computer and being able to see their faces...the only problem is, I have a couple of buddies who live on the other side of the Earth, and in order to hook up on the Skyper I would have to get out of bed at 4:30 a.m. to get them during their evening.

Now if Skype could invent some way to bend time so that we could have the ease of video calling our friends in other parts of the world, AND being able to do it during normal Central Time Evening Hours...that would be great.

If you want to Skype us it's pretty easy our Skype userid is my name...Thomas...and so on.

Just don't make me get up in the middle of the night to talk to you.

New United Way Website

I just launched the new website I built for the Huron United Way...check it out...if you want.

This is another LakeHaus Productions website...now I should probably make a website for LakeHaus Productions...but hey, paying customers first!

United Way 2009 Campaign Video.

Chris Studer and I put this together for the Huron United Way.

DOUBLE CLICK ON THE VIDEO TO GET THE YOUTUBE.COM VERSION OPEN.

THEN YOU WILL SEE IT IN WIDESCREEN.

Phelps the Painted Turtle...goes back Into The Wild

We let Phelps the Turtle go last night...due to the heavy pressure we were getting from the general public not agreeing with our keeping of a turtle in captivity...note the comments we got this morning on yesterday's story. (So if you do the math we let the turtle go before this dude commented...and I am writing with my tongue planted firmly in my cheek)

Enjoy the video of Phelp's happy reunion with the lake.

(For the record, as I know some people have asked me...yes, Brecken owns shirts...he just refuses to wear them most of the time.)

Phelps the Turtle...

Our friends gave the boys a turtle to "release" back into the wild of Lake Byron. So we brought it home, put it in a tub, gave it a name...with plans to release it the next morning or so.

I think the problem was giving the thing a name...Maxim wanted to call it "Swimmy" but he tends to name everything after it's most dominant characteristic. Remember "Shaky" the cat...I am surprised he doesn't call Brecken "Crazy" or "Screamy" or "Psychotic". Anyway, I came up with the name Phelps, because he's the best swimmer I know and this turtle is super fast compared to the turtles I have known before.

For the last 3 evenings, I have tried to get the boys ready to let Phelps go back "into the wild", but Brecken's heart completely breaks, and I can't bring myself to let the turtle go.

I am not sure what to do, and I even googled "what to feed a painted turtle".

I don't think I am the first parent to let their kid keep a wild animal for a little longer than it was supposed to be around, but with Brecken this is tough. Remember the dead baby rabbits he carried around for a day?

So for now Phelps is the guard turtle in front of our house!

Somebody is old today..

I think it is Skipper's birthday today...so if you see him throw him over your lap and give him some BARN BURNERS on behalf of his nieces and nephews.

Happy B-day Uncle Skip.

Catching Up...quickly.

I've been off the BLOGSPOT for a little bit...I'll catch you up with a busy week by using only a couple words to describe the events of the last 6 days...

Wednesday:
fair set up
kicked it with the family

Thursday:
start the fair
booth duty
pork loin sandwich
ring of fire with maxim
felt sick
didn't puke
worked out
almost puked

Friday:
booth duty
foot and mouth virus
lots of hand washing
more booth time
made fun of Studer and Johnny
pork loin sandwich
Godfather's pizza
lots of mints at the booth
closed the booth down

Saturday:
work out
booth duty
out at 10am
lifelight
Jon Ruben
Silverline
hung out with dave decker and willet
Willet
Sanctus Real
Spoken
Everyday Sunday
Run Kid Run
Remedy Drive (bad show)
TFK...rocked it as usual
drove home
dropped Gus and Angie off at 2:30am
bed at 3:30 am

Sunday:
Opened the booth
worked out
back to the booth
porkloin sandwich
left the booth at 2pm
helped Steph with the sick kids
foot and mouth virus
more handwashing
mowed the lawn
sprayed weeds
sprayed for insects
sprayed for insects again
MOVIE NIGHT

Monday:
opened the booth
pork loin for breakfast
booth
booth
more booth
closed the fair down
home

Tuesday:
tore down the booth
Brecken helped
little work
picked up Maxim from school
home
WAKEBOARD
WAKEBOARD
fish supper
held Kolby
fed Kolby
cleaned kitchen with beautiful bride
logged on...told you about it.

Tomorrow: work...on the golf course...I know rough...PR work you know.