Our Visit continued

Here are a few shots of our visit to California. I don't have many more because I spent a lot of my time playing video games with Ben. Ben & Skye got "Rock Band" for Christmas and that seemed to consume much of our time. See Skye's blog site at thevandykens.blogspot.com.

It was really good to see them. Ben & Skye's daughters are cute as ever (Abby's cute as a button, even though she didn't show her eyes - she just slept and ate, ate and slept). Ben's doing great with his job at Insomniac Games and Skye's doing great as a mom (and recovering well from her surgery with Abby). Heidi's doing well. I'm proud of the all.

It was difficult to go back to work after 2 1/2 weeks of vacation, but somehow I braved the cold and wet and made it to work.

Our Visit With Ben & Skye and Heidi

We headed to California to see Ben & Skye, Lizzie, Abby and Heidi. We were there for over a week. The trip down was great and it was really great to see them all. Now that I have recovered from lack of sleep, I can talk about our visit there. See next blog.

DEFINITIONS PART 4

I can remember
buying my first Spider-man comic. It was issue #50 and the graphic style of the cover grabbed my attention. I was immediately hooked and couldn't wait until the next issue. I didn't understand how the system worked, so I waited three months to buy the next issue (in the corner of the comics was a month and I thought it indicated when the next issue came out, opps).

Once I figured out how things worked, I was buying Spider-man, DareDevil, Fantastic Four, Iron Man, X-men, even the SubMariner (stopped buying that one after a few issues). When the Silver Surfer came out, I bought every issue (still have 'em).

Trouble began to brew in the comic realm and they became dark and almost pornographic. That was about 30 years ago. At that point I stopped buying comics and just reread the old ones. So now I see Spider-man tokens and such and will buy a few of them just to remember the old days.

So I was a big fan of Spider-man and still hold on to the fantasy that he will turn out alright, in spite of all the stuff that has happened to him (I don't know the whole story, but some of it was pretty wierd . . .)

Spider-man movies 1 & 2 were great (#3 . . . ?? what happened???)

Fantastic Four movies - looking good (please, oh please don't wreck #3 like they did with X-men 3 and Spider-man 3).

DEFINITIONS PART 3

Here are some early pictures of my mom. I have to say that my mom had a major influence on my life. I don't remember dad being around very often and when he was things seemed more difficult. In other words, there was much arguing and fighting.

I don't have a lot of pictures of dad during his childhood years. I do of mom because she kept up on the picture thing. Now it's fun to look back and see the old photos of her and her family.

I have to say that mom taught me to appreciate the little things in life. She loved to take drives up the canyon (we lived in the Bozeman, Montana area) and just watch the scenery. I remember we used to take drives to Eastern Montana and she would be unable to sleep along the way because she was too excited to see what was along the way. That always stuck with me.

CHRISTMAS DAY 2007 part 2

Then it's over to Grandma's house. Grandma reads something that has to do with the Christmas season and the importance of this time of year, then we watch her open her gifts and gather around the table for a Christmas dinner.


There were about 17 that made it to Grandma's this year. The gathering gets smaller each year with people spread out over the U.S. and going home to be with the Lord.

As I get older it seems I go to more funerals than I do weddings.

CHRISTMAS DAY 2007

Christmas 2007 was a little different. For the past several years we would have all our children home for Christmas. In the morning we would all get up at a decent time (usually around 9 a.m. because we spent most of Christmas Eve playing video games), eat a nice breakfast and then open gifts (one at at time - not rushing the joy of giving/opening gifts).

This year we didn't have Ben, Skye, Lizzie, Heidi, or our dog Fritz with us. Fritz died last year, but we still can hear him barking at the front door. After 13 years of greeting us at the door, it's hard not hearing his familiar bark. So we went from 9 gathered around the Christmas tree to 4 this year.

I would have to say that Steve had the biggest pile of gifts this year. He was still opening gifts while the rest of us were done a long time ago.

CANDLELIGHT SERVICE

Christmas Eve. This year is different from other years. We used to gather around the stockings with all the kids and Fritz, our Dachshund. Since Skye was pregnant this year we knew Ben, Skye, and Lizzie would not be here. We figured Heidi would have to work, so wouldn't be here this year. And Fritz died last year. So here we are, Brian, Steve, Jean and I. The stockings went from 9 to 4 in no time at all.

Brian and I attended a Candlelight Service at our church this year. Something we haven't done for a couple years (attending a Candlelight Service, we go to church just about every Sunday . . .)

What I thought was cool was watching the candles being lit and the soft glow illuminating from the faces of each individual. The candles created a warm, welcome glow. Made me think that is what I should be doing with the light of Jesus Christ. I should be creating a soft glow that dispels the darkness and invites others to see more of this Light of the World. I'm sure others have said the same, but it is what impressed me about the service.

Now it's time to open those presents stuffed in my stocking . . .