my take on Christmas....

Another Christmas is now behind us.. as I look back on it, honestly "the season" commercially is great for UPS business but it is a total pain in the butt for the employee of said company who work feverishly & tirelessly 6-7 days a week to get boxes from point A to point B efficiently & expeditiously as is possible.. I've worked their 28 Christmas's and for me peak season starts in October and stops next week.. I share this thought with anyone who works in a service based commodity where "tension of the season" adds to a personal stress level. I hear the exhaustion in the conversations with others, I read it in the facebook posts of friends who are stressed with rehearsals for productions of choir/drama, decorating, shopping, wrapping, entertaining, traveling, being with family, being without family, cleaning up, putting it away.  whew!


I too got wrapped up in this while our kids grew up in our home, the expectations to "show" my Christmas spirit, while "losing" it in the process.  Add the work stress of deadlines with constant changes, plans that have to be altered, and than I go home.... oh so exhausted & stressed... to just what everyone else goes through... LIFE.. but...


Now that our kids are grown, here's where I've made a change that I can control and I WISH I'D done it many years ago..  I'm absolutely NOT into the commercial side of Christmas what-so-ever. Instead I've tried to spread the love towards family/friends out over the course of the year, mainly with visits more often, gifts while shopping when I see them for someone in particular who comes to mind. Nothing heroic but it is absolutely stress free, enjoyable, and I survive the holiday season based totally on the commercial demands of society ~ unscathed.  There do end up to be a few things under the tree, or lovingly placed into an envelope for them to enjoy in whatever delights their hearts given with love.  


““Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” - Matthew 11:28   Isn't that great... all other "religions" promises ONLY that if "you do something for it, than you will receive something in return if its granted to you".. How did Christmas becomes so out of control, we let it get that way by choice.

And the trade off is; that the actual "reason for the season" the celebration of the birth of Jesus can be the focus of December 25th. Jesus who was given as a gift to humanity whose sinful nature separates us from eternity in Heaven with God upon our for sure deaths. He lived a short life, but came with the intention to spread the Gospel of the Lord, to be the example of love, grace, mercy & to teach the disciples how to disciple this and he lived sinless amongst mankind while being a human. And than he died a horrible dreadful death on the cross to atone for our sins and to bridge "our" gap that separates us.. What do we have to do to gain eternal life.. simply to believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God and make him the Lord of our life..  that's it..


But there is more... because we are left to live here on earth.. to just accept Christ for eternity sake and than to go back to our sinning life without following his example given with reading & learning the bible for the truth of the Christian faith. Without scripture, fellowship of believers, leaves us empty & missing out on the abundant life.  Because the abundant life HERE ON EARTH is a promise written in scripture for you and for me.. 

1. 2 Corinthians 9:8
   And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
2. 1 Timothy 1:14
   The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

isn't that fantastic..  Here's to a tremendous 2011 lived to glorify God.... and joyfully

Hiking in Utah adventure in October ~

I recently celebrated a birthday that is just a number of no significance, BUT it comes 13 months afte the second surgery required to allow my spine to heal from the fracture the first surgery two months prior caused... So this birthdays significance is that "I can and want to, therefore I am" now that I can walk/run And have been working hard to get into shape.

On Friday, October 8th, we eventually headed out at 2:30pm for a 6 day trip. A little behind schedule from the 7am planned departure due to a last minute meeting Greg had to pull off but into Friday Vegas bound highways we head.. destination Bryce Canyon National Park outside of quaint little Panguitch, UT and than back to Zion National Park in Springdale, UT. We got to Las Vegas after some minor traffic delays and found a room at Holiday Inn Express at 8pm.

In the morning we realize HOW CLOSE we are to Nellis AFB.. Literally at the end of the runway is what we figured as we were rocked from our sleep at 7am by a wave of jets taking off for about 10 minutes! Wow! Since we're now awake, on the road we go. Stopping in St George, UT at our usual Big 5 off the 15 Freeway for something we are needing and they are always there to provide in the past..(i.e. Jackets, viewing scope, tennis shoes) This time it's sunglasses for me that aren't scratched. and than away we go..

We arrive in Zion National Park which you need to drive through in order to get to highway 89 to head north to Bryce. They had road construction which slowed us down and we enjoyed the view of this magnificent park.. We arrived at our little Country Color Motel in Panguitch Ut around 4:00 where an envelope with our name on it with the old style room key was taped to the glass door. Now it was an 1950's style motel with basics plus a few cable stations. Unloaded our stuff and head the 14 miles out to Bryce and we see all the observation points. Many shadows casting over the hoo doo's in the late afternoon for which the changing atmosphere of light is changing the look of the horizon, coloring, depth. It really just captures your (well ours anyway) attention and imagination. And I'm telling you late afternoon in October in Bryce at the elevation of approx 8500 ft was.... Chilly.... But the next day is the FIRST time we will venture down below the rim... So 100 pics and we head back towards heated places..

Sunday morning we have checked our map for a vague idea of where were starting the trek and that's about it.. we park and walk to the trailhead for Sunrise Point and at 10am down the trail we go, toting enuff water for an overnight stay or a sudden heat wave, two cameras, snacks and excitement to what we will see (and hopeful we make it out) cuz it is a way down. It was almost overwhelming as we started down the beginning of the trail as to what you are seeing as you slowly sink down below the rim of Bryce Canyon.  What you see in one direction, completely changes as you shift a small distance and look at it again. (hence almost a 1000 pictures taken) and also that it was a good reason to "stop" and rest as you make a few ups and downs in the traversing!  about 2 hours into the day, Greg agrees to "shoot away" he needed  a breather~!

Our Bryce hike started at roughly 10am and we came out the other end of our day at approx 3pm... a hike of approx 8-10 miles with all the trails we took and the distance we went down in the valley..  beautiful.

Monday we slept late, had breakfast, packed up our things in the motel and headed out.  One last drive through the park seeing some of the sights in the full sunlight (rather than afternoon shadows) from above the rim.  And then we headed east of Bryce a few miles and did a short hike to Mossy Cave, and a short waterfall of a river that runs with light silty soil from sediment off the rocks.  We then took off and headed back to Zion National Park for a couple of days. As we rolled back into Zion and stopped at the visitor center for a talk with a ranger as to the height of the river in the Narrows... So I called the hotels in Springdale (town of Zion) and found an available room at Quality Inn and took it. After settling stuff into our room, we headed downtown had a good dinner in a bar/grill, and than walked a few shops and galleries.. calling it a night early and to head back and watch Monday night football Vikings vs Jets which was having a rain/lightning delay earlier..

Tuesday we got up had our continental breakfast, met the really nice guy who works this hotel each morning seven days a week, Gabriel.  He was happy to make our waffles which were great.. and he chatted with us quite a bit. We appreciate his attention to each person that walked in and getting them familiar with what was available and offering to help them by making waffles if they so wanted.  Before we headed out to the park, we extended our stay for another night. You ride the shuttle from town picking us up in front of our hotel, to the visitor center, and than from the visitor center into the park and all points within.. Great system for the amount of visitors.  We stopped at the main lodge and walked across the road to the trail up to the Emerald Pools, loving the2.5 mile hike but really the .3 mile one that went to the Upper pool the best.. Traversing a rocky sandy path that was nice and steep and challenging... loved it.  This was a 3.0 trail all the way around, and than we took the Grotto trail alongside the mountain 1 mile and down to the bus shuttle to keep advancing deeper into the park. Last stop was the Virgin River Narrows 1 mile walk out to the end at the river, walked a short distance only after this as we didn't have waterproof pants/shoes (rental possibility back in town) and than we walked the mile back to the shuttle.. This is where Greg declared he was "done tired" (he actually said this before the Narrows, but I sort of just kind of "didn't encourage" this idea)  heehee he cried Uncle before I did woo hoo.... made my week!  So by the time we made the shuttle ride back to the visitor center to catch the different shuttle back to town which stopped right in front of our hotel, it was late in the afternoon. It would have been easy to just stay put and take a shower and hit the sack.. but we pulled it together.

 The lower Emerald Pool area in the next four pictures

The view off the edge of the trail up to the Pools

The "up" trail to the Upper Emerald Pool, he was on his way down

 This is the look up from the Upper Emerald Pool

The weeping rocks are what feeds into the pools

The sign at the bottom of the Upper Emerald Pool, took this after both directions... smiling!

 The middle Emerald Pool trailing over the cliff

our trail  to the Grotto trail...  much more interesting than the flat paths

The look across the valley back at the cliffs of the Emerald Pools from The Grotto trail

From the Grotto trail looking south into the Canyon

 people did not phase this little critter, he was comfortable with the passerby's... just kept chewing

A peaceful soothing sound of river rushing over the rocks

This older man had hiked the overnight 16 miles of the Narrows, he was over wrought by his heavy pack

The Virgin River Narrows

 notice the moon is above this mountain top at about 4pm

We showered, and than walked across the street to a restaurant who's name indicated what we thought was going to be a more casual burger place, but the name was deceiving and it was a Italian restaurant big prices small servings! We sat out on the balcony with the view, food was good, and who brings us our water... our breakfast server Gabriel.. we talked to him a minute and than he introduces us to his brother chiachi who got him this job a few nights a week.. and Chiachi is a waiter. Gabriel is a hard worker that is for sure.. assured him we'd see him at breakfast in the morning.  We headed back to our hotel, walked through the campground, down to the river and along it for a short walk up to a water drop off. Then back to our room for a relaxing night.  I quickly packed up all of our stuff so that in the morning we didn't have to hassle with it.

Wednesday we really slept in, had our last breakfast with our new friend Gabriel (who I think was going to miss our smiling faces and the interest we took in him and his family, where they lived and that he was from the Harbor City area near us)  And than off towards home we head!

I've included a few random hike pictures here and will include the link to my flickr account where I post all pictures (and need to do a little catch up of the past year)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/symens

Sick day, I'll try this..

This morning as is usual on Tuesday / Thursday at 5:45am, I crawled out of bed to walk with Virginia. It was a bit of a on again off again mist or drip as we walked 3.5 miles. Boy did it seem dark out later in the morning than usual.. About 10 minutes after we returned to my house, the downpour began and has contented off and on during the day. Good stuff.

As I started to get ready this morning, the nagging headache gave me a reason to lay down to hope it was a short lived one.. Greg had been sick this wknd, and by the time I woke up it was obvious that the chills and the sweating had me. It was nearly noon before I got up. After a quick lunch and parked on the couch under a blanket.

I put in last nights $1 movie rental "To Save a Life". I highly recommend it as a movie that is about high school youth, friendship, being popular or in the unpopular crow and how it impacts lives.. Those without Christ and those with him and their stories. And finding Christ and the journey the actor goes on. It's well worth your time and a very moral conversation with the youth of today.

Well time for a nap...

I suck at this... blogging

Yes, I really do suck at this consistent blogging in the real world.. With a full work day, and a workout, by the time I check facebook... I'm done in with nothing left to say.

Tonight, I came home late from work to find the house empty with all out in different directions. So I attempted to make a quick grilled cheese and do you think I could find the butter dish in the cupboard where it belongs.. heck no... so I gave up and decided the new NBC lineup was about to start and am now in my pj's in my room.. Why in my room when the house is empty.. well, because the boys have both downstairs tv's DVR'ing a fight, and two shows that are of no interest to me..

I sent them a text to find later tapings of these darn things, and one son's response was "well you do it in the afternoon with two shows"  ha, for one thing.. no one is home at that time of the day and one tv is still available, and second............................. shocker I PAY FOR THE DISH NETWORK and that's all that needs to be said..

So after a very long day staring at the computer screen and proofreading two different projects with final changes crisscrossing my brain cells and lots of requests for honey do's from management for ASAP and than coming home to NO butter dish and TV's occupied downstairs..  I had myself a private pity party..

so here's my end of the blog, waiting for the Law and Order SVU and Law and Order Los Angeles seasons to kick off and than it's bedtime... good night.

first half of July catchup

Well, I really don't do well at this blog cuz I just plain forget.. between being at work on the computer, and than catching up on FB.. and texting.. I guess I can get all talked out by the end of the day..

So a quick note on the trip to AZ., at the end of June, other details were in an earlier blog..  Chase's team went undefeated all week and made it to the Saturday noon championship game.. against a Northern California based team who had two losses during the week of pool play.  Now we apparantly had it to easy as with 1 close game, 3 blowouts, and 4 mercy games, we were a bit underwhelmed at the big "show".  Team Rawlins ended up taking a loss 2-9, and couldn't have been less had the coach made a pitching change at inning four as he did all week rather than go into the 5th and let the pitcher get 6 runs behind before making a change that was effective.. so after getting there 2nd place medals, and a picture, we were off for lunch at Mc Duffy's where one of our coaches Craig Grebeck (former MLB player) who knows Roger Clemens, had him meeting us there to meet our boys..  Roger Clemens son had been playing in the tournament as well for a Texas team, and I had taken a picture of Bonnie shaking his hand.. and than we heard later that he had gotten kicked out of a game.. heehee..geez it's just 16 yr old ballgames!  some parents!  But I wasn't all that impressed with him before nor after seeing him from where I was seated during our lunch.. his beautiful trophy wife had said hello to me as I passed them outside while walking to our car as they arrived, he only looked away..

Team Rawlins 16U

Chase and Jeremy (catcher)

Chase and his Dad Clayton

Clayton, Bonnie and Chase

A night in Phoenix meeting HS friends of Bonnie

Chase and his beautiful momma

geez, not a good hair day for me in the heat!

Chase standing with Roger Clemens at Mc Duffy's

Chase, Roger, and Jeremy ~ Texas Longhorn fans

Out for dinner at Texas Roadhouse for Solomons birthday

The group that went out for Solomons 17th birthday ~ Solomon is right side white shirt..

We travelers returned home Saturday night about 9:30pm and a shower felt so good and sleeping in your own bed.  Sunday was a casual day of church, lunch with Greg and Shane and than not much of anything else except waiting for work to roll around on Monday morning on June 28th..

The end of the next week was the 4th of July weekend. We started out on Friday afternoon at 2pm for Madera to stop overnight at my youngest sister Stacy's family..  We had some quality "baby loving" time, conversation, and Shane took his two girl cousins to see the new Twilight movie at 9:30pm.  The girls had been frantically watching the first two movies in this series on Friday to be ready to see number 3.. In the morning we all left for the 2.5 hour further north drive to Lisa's in Grass Valley.  My sister Lisa and her husband Kelly have for many years now had a big bash on their "10 acre ranch" in the country. Usually 150 of their closest friends and family from both sides.. Last year they didn't do the party, and even if they had, we wouldn't have gone as I was not out of the hospital yet from the 1st back surgery.. This year they only invited 50 peeps, and so it always involves volleyball of the masses, swimming, basketball pickup games, horse shoes, boche ball.. and in the past softball when the crowd is larger.. (they have a full size baseball diamond in the back forty).  I didn't take any pictures of my own..

On Saturday night, they had the dinner catered from a local family that makes the most awesome bbq ribs and bbq tri tip that you have to just stay away from the table or you'd never stop going back, they also had beans, potato salad, and a pasta salad along with rolls... m.m.m good..  they had great leftovers on Sunday night before going to fireworks show that is for sure, darn we left in the afternoon for home.  We left on Sunday afternoon at 2:30 after lounging a few hours around the pool with the families. I drove the first couple of hours and than Shane took over we only stopped to eat at In-N-Out burger at the grapevine.. We arrived back in the LA area on the south side of the grapevine pass in time to see about 20,000 illegal fireworks being shot off across the basin no matter which freeway we were on.. at times it sounded like our tire was blown out in the sound bouncing between the two sound walls, and the 710 freeway was a haze of smoke just like fog. Landed in our driveway around 9:30pm so we made good time and managed to get home early enough that Monday the holiday was still ours to do something with.

So after 1400 mile quick round trip, I still got up on Monday early and ran some errands, had the car washed, and than went and worked out with the trainer Jeremiah at 2pm.. Right now I'm glad it's Friday night, after having been to a short 4day work week, working out 3 times with Jeremiah, walking many miles with Virginia at 5:45 am and one night with Greg and the numerous errands run in between.

Tuesday nights Brian plays on a slow pitch softball team with HS friends.. He returned to playing this year after returning from his work in Madera.. They were short players this night and he asked Shane to fill in. So I have one of them together and than the other picture is what is part of the team mystique that should you strike out, your next at bat has you wearing this banana suit.. it's quite a funny spectacle. Some night no one wears it and tonight it was quite a wardrobe accessory for the team.. This picture is Shane wearing it and it actually did not slow down his hitting streak!

Brian and Shane

Shane in the banana suit following a strike out previously ~ still got a hit and an RBI ~ that a boy!

A couple of hours ago, Ashley and I were "chatting" on FB and I said "lets skype, dad is sitting here also" and so Matt was at her house as well.  So we chatted for awhile and than signed off.. She is very happy, and the two of them will be making a trip to CA via car leaving TX on Aug 9 and leaving here on Aug 16th for their homes in TX.  She has a busy schedule while here so hoping we will get to have a day with them in that mix.

Shane just arrived home after a 11 hour ride along with the Santa Fe Springs Fire Department today. He has been explaining his day and we're having a few laughs.. He has a few weeks left in his makeup EMT summer session.. and than he will have about 3 weeks before the fall school semester will start.  He will have to wait for the January academy class to come around, as the summer make up class clashed with the start this week of the July academy class he was counting on.

Well, there you have it.. catch up session right up to the current minute for us here.. good night