Just wanted to share these two things with anyone who still checks this site.  A couple of weeks ago two troopers were honored as “Safety Heroes,” by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.  Trooper Glen Barcus and Michael Haynes, they were tied for the most DUI stops this previous year.  It was an emotional ceremony, Tawny accepted the award on Mikes behalf.  The kids did get out of control, so we had them all take a time out under the window.  The big one on the left was causing most the trouble.

Another tribute that was done by Peggy Parker in honor of Mike was posted on her face book site and I felt it was pretty special.  Peggy Parker is someone my dad found on  facebook and cares deeply about the men and women who keep our country safe.

I miss my brother more every day, but it helps to know that his life touched so many people.  Thanks for sharing Peggy Parker.

July 7th, is Montana Mike’s birthday, obviously this year it is a painful reminder that Mike is no longer with us here on earth.  Yet, it is also a time to remember what a great life that Mike lived.  Tonight, we are having my Dad’s Spaghetti which was one of Mike’s favorite meals.  Last year I was lucky enough to be visiting while we celebrated Mike’s birthday last year.  It was a great week, I got to go on a ride along with Mike, and witness what a great Highway Patrolmen he was, and it was one of the rare times that Mike, Jo and I were together.  It was a fun time, we played Rock Band (Mike was insane good on guitar), zoom in on photo to see Mike in background rocking out.  Mike even took time out on his birthday to read Isaac a book, that was the kind of guy Mike was: selfless.  Lastly, Mike got to unwind and play some Battlefield Bad Company, the picture is of Mike pwning some newbs by calling in an artillery strike.  It hurts not to have Mike here today, but I feel lucky to have had a great brother, and friend for the 26 years that I knew him.  Today would have been Mikes 29th birthday…  Rest in Peace 159.

The 4th of July is a day to celebrate American Independence, which naturally leads to remembering all the men and women who have fought to keep our country that way.  The past week my father has been posting pictures and videos on face book of Mike in the military.  It has been good to remember the many different ways that my brother served his country.  My mother and sister placed American flags around Mike’s headstone, honoring an American hero that is fallen.  It is impossible to explain how much I miss my brother, but I will continue to remember and pay respect to this great man, that fought and died protecting our great nation.

This last week we took a family hike at Lone Pine State Park.  There are a few different trails that you can choose, and ours happened to be about a mile long.  There is a great lookout that gives  a great view to our new home the Flathead Valley.  I think you can see our house if you zoom in closely, just in the upper left corner.

We packed up a small lunch and headed out on the trail, the boys loved the hike and Isaac wants to come back and camp out.

The first part of the hike was pretty treacherous (as far as a 2 year old is concerned, or at least their parents).  Very steep inclines and a little bit of rock climbing.  As you can see though the boys conquered the trail and were very proud of themselves.

This past month I graduated from California State University of Fresno.  I still haven’t received my diploma in the mail, but I guess it takes awhile.  It was a long four years in Fresno, starting out at a Junior College then transferring into Fresno State.  I remember my first day going to register at Clovis Center, Isaac was a little over a year old, and Christina and Isaac waited in the car while I put in all the paper work.  It is hard for me to imagine how much has happened since that day.  There were many sacrifices to make in order to get to the finish line, not only by me but for my young family to be apart so often while I was at school and work. 

My good friends Mike Ingwell (middle), and Paul Vandersluis (Right) helped me out tremendously this past semester.  Coming home from Mike’s Funeral to school was one of the strangest experiences in my life.  I was numb, nothing mattered.  Writing papers and studying for tests felt pointless.  These guys came beside me and helped me finish this long journey.  God has a way of putting the right people in your life at the right time, I am convinced of this.

Many family and friends traveled to see my graduation ceremony which meant the world to me.  Grandpa got a great place for us to eat and hang out. 

Looking back at some of my favorite moments in college I can remember this time there was a class debate.  The debate was on foreign food assistance, and the person I was to debate was to speak first.  He gave a good speech, and the class was very impressed and even clapped.  When it was my turn I torched him, he never stood a chance.  I’ll never forget the guys face after I was done shredding everything he said, the look of defeat. 

My most precious memory of school though is of my Grandma Lilley.  As kids we spent many hours of home school at Grandma’s house.  One morning I woke up earlier than Mike, or Jo and Grandma had a jar of pennies and a game waiting for me.  The game was every multiplication I could remember I would receive a penny.  By afternoon I had memorized my multiplication, and had a couple dollars for the store. 

Graduating Magna Cum Laude I look back and give credit to my Grandmother and my Mom.  These two women taught me how to learn, not simply facts and figures, but a discipline for learning that has stayed with me over the years.  I’ve started the process of enrolling for law school, and have even tougher challenges ahead.  Yet, I’m excited to not end the journey, but to continue on to better things.

Tonight was Isaacs Award Ceremony for Awanas.  Isaac has been busting out his verses since last year, with some even making it to the web (videos: one and two).  He received his last badge for year one, and an award for finishing his book, and a participation certificate.  Watching Isaac perform the cubby song, and the classic “Father Abraham,” was truly a joy to my heart. 

I was clicking through blogs at random and came across this test that I thought was pretty interesting.  I won’t lie I didn’t do so well. . .  Click here to take test and see how you do.

On Friday the 22nd of May the graduation ceremony for the Craig School of Business will be held at 4PM.  I will be graduating this year and just wanted to extend an open invitation to my devoted blog readers.  Don’t feel any pressure to attend, cause you know I will be making a post on here anyways.  There are no limits to how many people can attend and their are no tickets, so come one come all.  Oh yeah, it is at the Save Mart Center.  There is also a main graduation on Saturday morning for the entire university, but I will not be attending due to the fact I would rather spend time with family who are traveling and the larger ceremony is not as personal.

I am super excited to graduate and will probably do a more in-depth post of my college experience after I graduate. 

I saw a headline on msn.com that seemed interesting.  After reading the article I had to see these kids in action to really grasp what the heck this sport was.  Now I just want to buy Isaac some cups so he can start stacking it like a champion.  The video is from a tournament between two teams, and apparently there are all kinds of variations of stacking competition.

About 4 months ago I decided it was time  for Isaac to ride his bike like a “big boy.”  Isaac didn’t agree and refused to ride his bike without the “two little wheels.”  On Tuesday Isaac told my lovely wife Christina that it was “time to ride his bike like a big boy.”  So, I got out my wrench and Isaac helped take off the training wheels, and Shazam he was a pro.

 

  

 

Zach, who gets no love on this blog, has not had a haircut for some time.  On Sunday I came to a striking realization, Zach looks like MacGruber, which is a SNL character based off my childhood hero MacGyver.  Isaac and I have been making up songs and putting whatever Zach is doing into the song, “MacGruber!  He is sucking on his thumb while taking a nap, MacGruber!”  Well mostly I am coming up with the lame songs, but it keeps me entertained. 

*Note- If you click on the images it enlarges with out leaving page.

Isaac had his second game this Saturday and team photo.   Isaac struggled on batting this week but we didn’t get a chance to practice this week so I need to do a better job getting him ready for this weekend.  All the same was a good time had by all and Grandpa even came out to see Isaac in action.  Best part was when the team photo was being taken the photographer said, “Is that a 50D, I was thinking of upgrading?”  Referring to my new most awesome camera that I recently purchased.  And with my Dads help (and his lens that he loaned) I’m finally learning how to use the camera.

After a lengthy contract negotiation, Isaac joined Team 26 for the 3rd game of the season.  Isaac had to shake off some rust in the out field, but is a pure hitter so had no trouble with that.  As far as the team, there was instant chemistry and fun was had by all.   During soccer it was fun to keep track of the score, but baseball everyone hits, and whoever has more kids on the team will naturally win.  I was pretty excited to see that Isaac wasn’t on the purple team this year, and even more excited when he was happy as well. 

Last September I pondered about which artist would hit the 1000 play first on my Zune account.  The Zune card that is on top of this blog is a list of recent plays, artists listened to, and badges given based on listening history.  To get a silver badge you need 1000 plays, and Moby eeked out Snow Patrol by about 200 plays. 

Moby is an artist I was introduced to by my brother.  We both shared an interest in Moby’s music but for different reasons.  Mike was ALL about the techno music, whereas I enjoy Moby for his simple soothing music.  Moby will always remind me of Mike, and Moby’s next album that comes out will be somewhat of a memorial for my love for Mike and our shared love for Moby’s music.  The album that comes out in June is described by Moby as ”a quieter and more melodic and more mournful and more personal record.”  I’ve never really looked forward to an albums release, but “wait for me” will be one I pick up on day 1.

Zune FTW

It is a hard thing to bury someone so close.  Until you have lost someone that is deeply close to you, you cannot imagine how it feels.  Reading newspapers headlines now has such a deeper meaning when the blurb simply states, “two died….”  Tragedy befalls many families every day, it impacts so many people. 

My comfort comes in that the one that we have lost is now in the presence of God.  And though this is a great comfort to me, it will never take away that I will sorely miss my big brother.  For as long as I can remember, there was Mike, leading me by setting an example of how to be a Godly man.  There are many who talk of Godly things, my brother Mike lived it.  I will miss him always, and yet I will remember him for the great man that he was.  Serving our country in Iraq and with the Montana Highway Patrol.  Mike always sacrificed himself for others, even until the end.  He freely accepted a job that he loved to protect others, that is how I will remember my brother. 

There are many memories that I have with Mike, and over time I will share them as I can.  Now, I will start at the end.  Mike’s Ceremony honoring his life, and his burial is the most special memory that I have.  How the men and women of the Montana Highway Patrol honored him that day will stay with me forever, and forever will I be grateful unto them.  The deep felt love and respect that I have for those who serve our country will never waiver, these are truly great men and women.

People traveled from across the country to pay their respects for Mike: Troopers came from Oregon, California, Texas, Canada, and probably others that I didn’t get a chance to meet.  Family also traveled cross country over snowy passes to honor, and to say one last farewell to one we all loved so dear.  People of Kalispell stood beside the roads waving flags, and showing support to a man they did not know, but respected for who he was and what he did.

For me, I wept over my brother who would no longer wake on this earth.  I said goodbye to my brother through tears, one last chance for me to tell any who would listen how great my brother Mike was.  And now I will remember him, I will think of Mike always.  Rest in Peace my brother.

Today was Isaac Mans’ 4th birthday.  He was very proud that he was turning four, and even woke us up around 1am to let us know that he had indeed turned four. 

Family had a small party at McDonalds (will be having a bounce house extravaganza later in the month) to celebrate this glorious occasion.  The boys had lots of fun climbing up and down the play house.

Christina made some delicious cupcakes and we sang Isaac happy birthday.

Isaac got some new slides for his view finder, and both boys really enjoyed the cupcakes.  It was interesting to see the different personalities in the boys in how they ate their cupcakes.  Zach pushed it down his throat, while Isaac slowly savored every bite.

How do you finish a perfect birthday?  You play some Vtech and lay back and think of all the trouble you can cause as a four year old.

Below is a link to an article written by Bill Frist.  The article goes over Bush’s foreign aid policy and the impact it  is having and will have in the future.  Thought it was pretty interesting and was even more surprised to find it on CNN.com.  What didn’t surprise me is the comments that were left by so many Americans who think George W. Bush was the antichrist.  As if they are some kind of experts on the matter.  Anyways, thanks for the past 8 years George and I guess history will have the final say.

BUSH SAVES 10 MILLION LIVES <<LINK

I signed up for the windows 7 beta last week with much excitement.  It took me about a week to get everything up and running which was an experience to say the least.  Setup new computer desk, got wire harnesses to get the rats nest of wires under control, reformatted computer to only find that my computer still magically had a virus, reformatted my computer, partitioned extra hard drive on desktop to put Windows 7 on, and finally on Tuesday night launched windows 7.  Not to mention I got the flu on Wednesday. 

I’ve had a lot of fun playing with it so far, and my favorite upgrades are the new task bar, and windows media center which is much more slick.  On top of the windows 7 beta, I’ve been playing around with new Windows Live software that is mostly in beta still.  The new photo gallery is really nice, and loving new improvements to windows mail/windows live writer.  All in all Microsoft seems to be pushing pretty hard to get caught up with the competition, and as I’ve felt all along they have the money to do what ever they want.

Here is the pamphlet I am using to read through the Bible in a year.  Feel free to save images and use it to become more righteous then you are now.  Just click on either image to enlarge it.  A couple good friends (Josh Smith, Nole Lilley) had asked to see how it was setup.