Alyssa Baptism

      Today was another great day.  My oldest daughter had gone forward in church a couple of weeks ago and wanted to be Baptized as a public display of her faith.  Today was that day.  

      Crossroads Church believes in full emersion under the water just like it was done in the days of Christ of the New Testament.  

     It was an honor to be the one baptizing her and having the whole family around her was awesome!!!!

     

     I am proud of you Alyssa:)

 

No Way

After spending the late afternoon/evening at the Fire Station, I went back to my bunk and found this posted to my locker door!!!!!

Here's the story.  My Friend and co-worker Boe Rummel and his wife Blair have this beautiful daughter named Bella.  Cindy wanted to hold her all evening long.  She loves kids!!!  She loves babies!!!!

I made sure I told her that the next baby that I want will be a Grand baby (and because I have no kids that are  even married, that shouldn't be for a while).  

. . . . .I'm going to go take my cardiac meds. . . . . . !!!!!

Thanksgiving Day

One of the many joys and adventures my family and especially the kids get to experience is spending time in the Fire Station.  More specifically the holidays in the Firehouse.  

This is fun for all of us.  

It is tradition.

Who else has to work and then gets their family to come to their work and have Thanksgiving, in the midst of all the fire engines, the emergency calls, and tons of food.  

My family fits here, they grew up here, in this environment, with this family.

Breakfast at the Talbert's

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How is it that our house always turns into the fun house.  Last night Shelby decided to have a few friends over to spend the night.  The next thing I know is the "few friends" turned into 5 friends and the late night was spent watching movies and shows with vampires.  A hearty breakfast in the morning with chocolate chip pancakes and bacon with juice or every kids favorite...... Chocolate milk!  Anyway I am thankful that we get to cook for all these kids and provide a house that is fun and comfortable for them to be in.  And yes, I did almost all of the cooking with help from Jenna. Either way, fun was had by all.

Shelby's Recital

Sometimes I cannot believe how talented my 13 year old is.  She is incredible and I am amazed and proud every time she takes the stage. Be sure to pause the music on the "pop-up music player" on the bottom of the page before you listen, it makes it easier :)

Hanging Out in Big Bear

Had an Great time in Big Bear hanging with good friends and having good times!!!!

Big Bear Vacation

Awesome!!!! One of the only words to truly convey how this vacation went. First I got to hang out with my baby for three days with no kids. We slept in, hung out talked, slept in, ate out, did I mention slept in. Total fun. Then they came up mid week and the fun just continued. We were told that Snow Summit was not going to open until Thanksgiving week but when we got to Big Bear, Their website said that they would be opening on Thursday, so we decided to go. No one in the parking lot, no lift lines, no one even on the slopes. Just me, Jenna and her two friends. It was like we had the whole mountain to ourselves. Groomed runs. I skied right onto the chairlift. This is going to be a great season!!!!!!

1906

I met a lady today, through the course of my work that was 105 years old. 105 YEARS OLD!!!!!!!! She was born in 1906. She was not feeling well and was unable to talk with us but after we left her I started to think about what would it be like to have 1 hour of uninterrupted conversation with her. What could I learn? What would she tell me? What were her experiences?

Theodor Roosevelt was President, WWI, The Roaring Twenties, The Great Depression (and the Recession), WWII, The Korean War, The Vietnam War, all the Gulf Wars, the first TV, the first computer (not to mention the ipod/iphone/ipad), JFK, FDR, Ike, Martin Luther King.

When she was born, there were only 45 states in the United States. No Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, Alaska and Hawaii.

And then she had the opportunity to watch her kids, grandkids, great grandkid, (and possibly more) all grow up.

I cannot even begin to imagine the world through her eyes. I would have loved to see it!!! I would have loved for an hour to talk to her.

105 . . . . wow!!!

Calendario

I was cleaning out my garage lately and I ran across this calendar that I had received when Cindy and I traveled to Venice, less than five months after 9/11. It struck me that even on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, that there is a brotherhood that exists. When we entered into that station, with Fire Boats in place of Fire Engines, we were welcomed with open arms, a southern California Firefighter 3000 miles west of Ground Zero and Venice Italy Firefighters 3000+ miles east of Ground Zero. A brotherhood does exist and I am proud to be a part of it!!!