What HAPPened?

I can't believe it's been almost 2 years since I've graced you with my glorious words!

I love the way my fingers smell after I eat at a BBQ place. I sit back down in front of my computer and put hand on my chin to think and what do I catch a whiff of? Awesome BBQ!

Let's see... what happened after March 2012? Who knows... that was too long ago! I can tell you I stopped the blog and other things probably because I started training so massively hard for my triathlons. I bought a bike in March and took off from there. Since then I've raced in two sprints, an Olympic, and the Leadman triathlons. I'm hoping to do the half iron man this Oct, but that's for another post. Right now, I'm training my butt off for the Phoenix marathon Mar 1st. 26.2 Baby! Oh yeah, the world didn't end in Dec '12 either, so there's that... moving on to 2013.

2013 was a fantastic year! Rach and I got to know our Chilean neighbor Christian and his American wife Karla. They have been such a blessing to us helping us out, inviting us to their cabin and letting me play absurd amounts of ping pong in their backyard. I'd like to say that I dominate like a wild bore charging a squirrel, but Christian's got some weird Chilean ju-ju that manages to beat me. Lookout! I'm closing the gap. Rachael started her new job in Aug at our Church, Mission Community in the marriage dept. Added pressure! Don't screw up your marriage Joe! Lacie and Austin turned 5 and started kindergarten. They love it because of all the games and easy assignments. Wait until college little ones! We went on a week long vacation (in June I think) to San Diego to Sea World, the zoo, the zoo saphari, and the beach. It was fun and crazy to go so many places all in a week. About a month later we went up to Christian and Karla's cabin and had a great time! Jim, Karla's dad taught us all that it really wasn't a big deal to pickup those squirmy little crawdads... Sean turned 7 and had so much fun at his backyard party with the tent (with the big screen inside) and a fire pit going for s'mores. For Christmas we got them all their Razor scooters which I think is the only present left that isn't broken/lost or lost their interest. Sean finished his 3rd season of soccer. Lacie finished her first and didn't like it and probably will not do it again. Austin finished his second and loved it!

This year is going to be a blast! I hope... not much has happened yet, but it better be or my posts are going to suck.

Let's look at how I might age in the coming years...

First I'll get fat and grow a mustache

Then I'm going to get concerned and lose a little weight, but in the process lose my hair

 

Then finally I'm going to lose my lips, get a bunch of wrinkles, and keep the mustache. But I never get gray hair!

 

 

Let's look at the kids to date to see some funny pics...

 

I can't remember what he did to his nose here. I think it's marker.

 

 

Austin decided a stamp all over his face would be fun...

 

Halloween. My two favorite girls!

 

 

I know there should be a lot more for me to write because I missed two years, but really? I just don't think my fingers can handle anymore.

 

Girl Hurt while Boy Visits Pets

Ouch! That really hurts!

Lacie rolled off her bed during nap time and landed on her shoulder. She can't lift her arm all the way up, or lift herself up onto things. Good news is she probably didn't break anything. Still waiting for the X-rays to come back.













I took Austin out on a date yesterday. Just me and him having fun at PetSmart and Party City looking at pets and toys. Sean was sick and Lacie was hurt. Austin LOVED it! We also went out and had lunch and I treated him with a soda. It's amazing how much he eats. He ate a 6" turkey, two pickles, macaroni salad, and his soda. Then he had his Air Head candy. All our kids were supposed to go to the zoo with the Fenter's, but due to our unfortunate events we couldn't. Instead Oz got to see fish, cats, birds, mice, and guinea pigs. A pet extravaganza!!

I bought a nice road bike about a week and a half ago. It's tons of fun and a great workout! I'm hoping to enter a sprint triatholon this fall. I figure I'll get into better shape before I enter into the April one. It's really amazing how quickly I can bike 8 miles (30min) on that thing! I beat my old record for a 5K run of 25min 44sec, it's now 24min 33sec. I welcome the challenge :-) I biked to Billy's house (13 miles round trip) and I felt like I was going to die! Not because of physical exhaustion, but because Apache Junction doesn't have bike lanes, AND all their roads are falling apart! I felt like I was riding a bucking horse on crack. Needless to say, I'm not doing that again!

Rach is still very excited to graduate in May! She's extremely busy with her current load of work. So needless to say, she can't wait to get back to doing other things. Still though, somehow she finds time to go out and do some things with the kids. We went to the park last Fri night with some friends. Sean and Austin are really starting to like soccer and are getting pretty good at dribbling the ball.

Sean is into video games a lot now. Mostly Mario and PBSkids.org. It's hard to get him to play outside now when he knows there are video games to be played. Even Austin is asking to play angry birds lol! Lacie has little interest in playing, but she likes watching Sean play. She still loves coloring and painting. All the kids pictures are getting much better with much more clarity. I had FUDGE day again with the kids at their school. I was a little worried this time because I'd have to be doing different stations (shaving cream, eating ice-cream, and hammering nails into wood) by myself with all three kids. Fortunately, Rach is interning in their classrooms so I had lots of help thank goodness! It was funny to watch the difference between Oz and Sean while putting the shaving cream on my face. I put the cream in Oz's hands and he put it on my face and then all over his hands and arms making a big mess. Sean didn't want to touch the stuff so I had the put the cream on the popsicle stick (later used for cream removal) and he applied it that way. As expected, Lacie wanted to do it like Sean. I don't have any pictures downloaded from the camera for this yet. The funniest part was that all the kids were tasked to draw them with their dad. So I got a lot of good drawings of me. I'll have to post those later.

Picture Taken Last Month

Picture Taken Last Month

In the playset in our backyard

Having cupcakes in our backyard

Rock Climbing with a Bat

How much force does one apply to ones head with a bat to knock one out? There is really no way to know! There are too many variables!!! Everyone has a different tolerance of impact on the brain before it shuts down. What part of the head is struck? Is it a metal bat, or wooden? At what angle is the bat swung, etc...

If someone breaks into my house and I want to knock them out and not kill them, this is a tricky little dealio!

Thinking...

So what's been going on? I took Sean rock climbing for his first time! He loved it and outlasted me (and I didn't climb!). He climbed for over 2.5hrs and didn't seem tired at all! My neck and back were hurting from standing and looking up at him for that long. He never really fell. He would let go to rest, but then got right back on the wall.

He reached the top with no rope!

Afterward, we ate at The Waffle House for dinner.

He loved every minute of it!

Right now, I'm really addicted to grilling up some juicy hamburgers with the buffalo hot sauce on it... I think this one is almost 1lb.

Finger-Lickin' Good!!!

Lacie and Oz are doing great! Healthy and wonderful as usual!

Ready to have fun!




My camera was not on the right setting at all for this picture. Oh well.

Playing baseball with his brother

Farting Hang Glider Survives Lightening Storm

Holy lightening Batman! A few days ago we were surrounded by butt-loads of lightening. So I did what any good father would do, I brought the kids outside to watch! There was some good thunder. Lacie was the first to want to go in, surprise surprise. She reminds me of a smurf wearing Sean's slippers.

Almost like a seance huh?

Oz and Lacie should be starting school soon, hopefully next week.

I won my first match of my fall tennis league. We'll see how the remainder of the season goes. I'm still trying to get in shape and cope with my crappy shoulder. I don't know how a 70 yr old man feels with arthritis, but after my match I can imagine!

I saw the funniest fail video the other day. You gotta watch it!
http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/81839852/
You gotta wonder... at what point did this guy stop enjoying the ride and just want to get off? If the instructor didn't start a rapid descent after number 4, I think I'd put the 5th all over him.

I just tasted one of Rach's desserts that has a pineapple glaze and is kind of like a pound cake. It was really good, but my breath faked me out and caused me to think one of the kids left a crap filled present for me nearby! I gotta rap this up and brush my teeth-sorry!

Okay I'm back... turns out I just farted.

Pretty much sums it up!

Friends?

So Sean did the cutest thing ever!  -Let me give you a little background. Sean had spilled my beer on the carpet a few days ago from the side table and I admit I reacted like a grumpy old man. I yelled out a loud grunt while quickly getting some paper towels and telling Sean he shouldn't have been playing near my beer. All the while, Sean is saying "sorry sorry sorry, it was an accident" over and over. I felt bad later apologizing and making sure he knew I wasn't mad at him and that yes, it was just an accident.

So it's a couple days later now and I'm sitting in the recliner and he comes up to me with a smile. He says, "I spilled your beer daddy and it was just an accident. Okay?" I said, "Yep, you're right, it was just an accident." His smile grows and he leans in and touches his forehead to mine looking into my eyes and says, "Friends?" I said, "Yes, friends" Then he backs away and not two seconds later he looks at me and calls me his pal.  Gotta love it!

Sean and Oz are bunking up a lot more now in Austin's room. They really like keeping each other company. Lacie is still as sneaky as ever sneaking out of her room at 9 or 10 at night to spy on me and Rach. Rach has pretty much finished her first class since she's been back to school. I saw her course load for next semester and almost peed my pants! All I can say is that I'm sooo glad I'm done with school!

X-men Trim Their Toe Nails on the Pot

So I found the perfect place to trim  pick my toe nails. On the pot! I don't know why I never thought of it before! I mean, I'm already hunched over 3 feet away and I'm sitting on my trash can!

My daughter came over to me while in my recliner and handed me an empty little toy water gun, you know, just so I could have it. She left to do who knows what else. I proceeded to pull the trigger of the empty water gun over and over and  over and over... I couldn't stop! I had the toy gun in my hand, and my finger on the trigger. It was like some weird crazy impulse. You try it. Pick up an empty toy water gun and put your finger on the trigger and tell me you're not temped to pull the trigger at least three times!

Stacy came over Friday night to babysit so Rach and I could go out. Thx Stace! We went to Carrabba's Italian Grill, our new favorite spot where I had one of the best dishes ever! I had their Sirloin (rhymes with groin) Marsala with garlic mashed potato's and  Rach had some grilled chicken dish with her all time favorite blackberry sangria. We saw X-men once we had quenched our belly's and were happy to be sitting down to allow for ample flow of blood to our stomachs. X-men was good and kept me entertained. Rach didn't seem to into it. Before the movie started she asked if Hugh J. or Wolverine was in it. When I said no, I knew from that moment on it was going to be rough for her. I wanted to take my shirt off and take a pic and send it to her phone so she could have some eye candy throughout the movie, but the theater didn't seem the right place to be pulling a stunt like that :-)

I was an idiot and and wanted to get some sun on my white body yesterday, so I did my yard work w/o a shirt on. Now I have red all over my shoulders and back! And that's what we call cause and effect at its finest. Don't forget to pickup Aloe Vera at the grocery store babe...

Christopher Creek and a Dressed Up Flying Kite That Graduated

So we (our totally awesome family) went on a vacation to Christopher Creek instead of our previously planned vacation to Greer. Why did we change plans a day before we left? Crazy Wallow fire blazing with its infamous fury!

Despite the terrible tragedy and utter destruction of helpless trees, foliage, and cabins, we all enjoyed the peaceful serenity of God's beauty. We stayed in a 600 sq ft cabin that had 5 beds! Four of them were in the attic. The creek was literally 15ft from our back door!

This is the back door. The wooden fence to the right guards the creek.

It was a 2 night vacation that was maximized to the fullest! We saw a trout hatchery, went on many little hikes, and had many spills in the creek. I was able to catch two baby crawdads! I didn't see any full sized ones, probably because I didn't want to go deep enough. If for some reason I had an insatiable hunger for crayfish I probably would've rolled around in the creek like a pig in slop!

On the way to the playground in the CC loop area we'd run into the Mogillon Monster carved out of wood. 

Lacie's not in the pic with the monster because she was really afraid of it. The pic of her is a true Happ reaction to Sean going to touch it hahaha. I mean, we kept passing it and she just never got used to it. I love how the artist felt that the monster should have some abs :-) The kids called him grumpy old troll.

We are trying to plan another vacation for August to get out of the heat as soon as possible!

As I write this Sean is throwing the foam airplane at me trying to get my attention. What?! Me?? Neglect my children?! That's preposterous!

Sean wanted to start with some extra air

Should a women approaching 30 be standing on a picnic bench? You decide...

 Don't forget SMORES (Super Marshmallows On Ridiculously Exquisite Squares) for those of you who aren't familiar with the dessert...

Fire restrictions force SMORE action over a grill

Along with this vacation we all went to Sedona for Mother's day last month. We went hiking up the West Fork trail again. Sean's second time, the twins first. Sean's first time that he'll remember though. We stayed one night at a hotel in Cottonwood and flew a kite for the first time ever out in the parking lot! I can't find any pics from that vacation for some reason. I blame technology. I'm obviously leaving out a whole lot of details about this trip. This is due to my outrageously tired fingers!

Sean graduated (kind of) he'll still do another year of pre-school. He got the Mr. Personality award this year. That's because I taught him everything he knows! His teacher may just have a list and randomly give out awards, who knows...

Awesome Pose Buddy!

Mom and Dad visited. We all went to the children's museum.

Grandparents watched the kids so Rach and I could have a date night and get dressed up to see a play in old town Gilbert. The play was pretty good. I haven't gone to see an actual live performance like that in a very long time. Thanks Mom and Dad!