The Rise's

Leave Rich and Jean a Message

2010-04-27T09:21:00.002-06:00

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Song of the Day

2009-11-11T08:47:00.002-07:00

The Great Filling Station Hold by Jimmy Buffett
Download now or listen on posterous

02_-_The_Great_Filling_Station_Holdup__live_.mp3 (4130 KB)

Jimmy Buffett via last.fm

Today's Song of the Day is Jimmy Buffett's, The Great Filling Station Holdup, from his Life at Fenway Park album.

The Song of the Day is randomly picked by Songbird from my music collection.

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Posted via email from The Music Posterous

Whiskey Bottle over Jesus.....Not forever, just for now

2009-11-10T19:49:00.001-07:00

Whiskey Bottle by Uncle Tupelo
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Uncle Tupelo-Whiskey Bottle.mp3 (4476 KB)

Image via Wikipedia

Uncle Tupelo! With Whiskey Bottle from the No Depression album.

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Posted via email from The Music Posterous

2009-10-14T14:47:00.001-06:00

The fireplace is finished! Just the carpet to go. It gets put in a week from Saturday.

Fly Fishing in Wyoming

2009-09-18T10:12:00.001-06:00

Got to go on a 4 day fishing trip with my dad and my good friend Gavin. We had a great time in beautiful places.

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Blue Lake Hike

2009-07-22T16:23:00.003-06:00

I had the day off on Monday, so we went for a hike. We decided to go somewhere we hadn't been to yet. We went to the Indian Peaks Wilderness Area. Since the twins were going hiking with us we had to make it a reasonable hike. We picked the Mitchell Lake Trail to Blue Lake. The hike didn't look too bad on paper.....5.1 miles with 830' net elevation gain. How would it be for two six year olds though?

We started hiking at about 9 AM. We had plenty of time to reach the lake and get back home in time for supper. We had great weather.....cool, sunny, with enough breeze to keep the hordes of mosquitoes away for the most part. We found out that this isn't a Rocky Mountain National Park trail.....it's a true wilderness trail. It was a trail in the sense that people walk on it and it's fairly identifiable (you won't get lost). But, the trail is far from the maintained trails of the Park. Large boulders dominated the path and kept the twins climbing up a great part of it. There was also a wet stream crossing.....no foot bridge, no boulder hopping, no jumping it. It was wide and wet....but fortunately no more than ankle deep in the deepest part.

We made it to the lake around noon and hung out there for about an hour. We admired the beautiful waterfall on the far side. I was able to get a line wet with a little fly fishing. No fish to be had or seen though. Rain squalls kept coming over the top of Mt. Toll the entire time.

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The twins did a GREAT job hiking and were happy and enthusiastic.....most of the way. About the last 15 minutes of hiking were full of, "How much longer?", "I'm tired.". That was to be expected for a 5.1 mile hike for six year olds.

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Fast and Furious Summer

2009-07-17T09:38:00.002-06:00

It's been a busy glorious summer! We've been to Moab, Walden, Dillon, Colorado Springs, Lake McConaughy, and had birthdays, Mother's day, Father's Day, been fishing, camping, and hiking too. As a result I haven't posted anything since May. Here's our summer in 12 pictures.

Dusk.

2009-04-21T20:20:00.001-06:00

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Town Hall for Hope

2009-04-20T19:00:00.002-06:00

If the economy's got you worried. If the change that was promised isn't what you hoped for. Check out Dave Ramsey's Town Hall for Hope on April 23rd at 8PM ET.

There are about 13 venues in Northern Colorado hosting this....for free. Click HERE to find one close to you. From listening to Dave Ramsey's radio show, it might also be on the Fox Business Network. I'm not sure I will be able to attend one, but I will definitely find it online after. If I find it online I will post a link here too.

What is exactly is the Town Hall for Hope?

From The Town Hall for Hope website.

Town Hall for Hope is your opportunity to sit down with people in your community for a nationwide town hall meeting led by Dave Ramsey. Thousands of venues across the country will host the event, broadcasting Dave's live presentation. In the opening half hour, Dave will offer straight talk about the economy, recession, foreclosures and more. He'll carefully explain where we've come from, where we are now, and what we should be doing with our money during this time. Then, Dave will spend an hour answering your questions live!

Check out the Town Hall website and attend if you can. There is hope!

Who is Dave Ramsey? Click HERE

Do you know Him?

2009-04-12T08:58:00.001-06:00

Happy Easter! He is Risen!

Technorati Tags: Easter, Jesus

Football!

2009-04-03T15:21:00.001-06:00

Ok, I know it's a loooooooong time before the college football season kicks of. But, spring practice has started and it makes me want to jump straight to fall (until I think about camping, hiking, fishing in the mountains). So to make the wait easier, here's a video recap of last season.

Husker Football 2008 Season from Jeff Stiles on Vimeo.Technorati Tags: Huskers, football, video, college football

The fireplace is in!

2009-03-28T11:02:00.000-06:00

Just needs hooked up, but it's here.

This is what you get....

2009-03-23T18:06:00.002-06:00

for 8 hours of running around Denver and visiting every Crate and Barrel store in town.

Basement progress

2009-03-15T18:57:00.001-06:00

We are getting our basement finished. The framing is mostly completed, as is the wiring, and plumbing. Greg, who is doing all the work, is awesome! Thanks, Rich and Jean for the great referral!! Anyway here are some pictures:

Sink Shopping

2009-03-14T12:58:00.000-06:00

Sam thinks that shopping for bathroom sinks, ROCKS!!!

Are you ready to go camping? We are!

2009-03-09T15:50:00.001-06:00

Image via Wikipedia

I love getting my daily email from All Pro Dad. All Pro Dad is a web site committed to helping men become better fathers. The daily email is always challenging and helps remind me of my priorities. They frequently have a Christian focus as well.

Friday's email was on Push Back. How we as fathers need to "push back against the sea of media messages that threaten to suck our kids in. One of the email suggestions was to get "unplugged". Tough to do in this day and age. I agree with their number one suggestion....camping. About the only way to get away from all of the media is to head to the mountains. The email links to a resources page for camping ideas, tips, and other links.

We are very fortunate, as a family, to live in Colorado. With Rocky Mountain National Park and the Roosevelt National Forest an hour or less away and the Snowy Range Mountains of Wyoming about 2 hours away, we have many appealing options.

The twins love the outdoors. They love fishing, hiking, camping, and most of all smores!! We started camping with them when they were about 2 1/2 years old. It was tough. Imagine a two year old at home and then add dirt, rocks, fire, and large bodies of water. We apparently didn't ruin them on the idea, as they still like to go. We get at least one trip in each summer as a family and more if we can. Sam and I go on a father/son trip with some of my buddies and their boys who are close to the same age. He looks forward to that and will start asking about it months before hand.

My suggestions for camping with kids. First, Keep It Simple! The simpler the better. Second, Lower or completely remove your expectations. The less you expect out of the trip the better. Your anger and frustration level goes waaay down if you aren't trying to meet a deadline, get a certain trail completely hiked, or trying to get out of camp at exactly 8 am to head to the lake. Third, Relax and let kids be kids. Boys like to pee on everything. Let them wizz on the trees, rocks, and chip munks. They'll be happy and you'll be laughing over the living, peeing, cherub fountains! Fourth and last, Food!!! Make food kids love. Hot dogs, burgers, smores, and snacks. You can be healthy, but bribery goes a long way with treats and candy. A good friend of of mine makes up games on hikes using candy as a reward. A little survival or nature trivia with a starburst for right answer keeps the kids going. He also uses starburst as reward for making certain "mile marks" on hikes.

Make these times fun and about your kids. They will love the time with you and remember it for years to come. I still recall camping trips with my dad and want my kids to have the same memories!

From Agnes Creek Hut Trip

Technorati Tags: family, camping, kids

2009-03-05T19:00:00.000-07:00

It's fun to stay at the YMCA! We had a blast with our friends at the Y last weekend.

2009-01-31T18:32:00.000-07:00

With the recent nice weather the last few weeks, we got out for a couple of short hikes. We made it out to the Devil's Backbone on a Saturday and out to Horsetooth Mountain Park on a Wednesday afternoon. With my new job from home, we are planning on doing a lot of hiking this summer. We should be able to take off for some mid-week afternoon hikes in the park.

Life is good. God is good!

2008-12-24T19:20:00.000-07:00

Merry Christmas!!

2008-07-28T14:31:00.000-06:00

Live from the Agnes Creek hut!

2008-06-09T19:59:00.000-06:00

2008-06-09T18:56:00.000-06:00

2008-06-09T17:18:00.001-06:00

Underwearman!!

2008-06-08T09:09:00.000-06:00

Windsor Fire Department Open House 2008