CHUCK E. CHEESE

It was a wild and crazy night in Greeley last night, as we headed to Chuck E. Cheese to celebrate Nathanael's 8th birthday. We were joined by his friends Levi and Nat. Jim and Janet were also able to stop by and celebrate with the birthday boy. It was a really fun party. Nathanael was treated so well, earning lots of tokens, and special birthday crown and medal, balloon, 30 seconds in the ticket blower thingy, and a personal visit from Chuck himself. All told, Nathanael cashed in almost 1400 tickets at the end of the night.

#8

Happy birthday to my favorite youngest son! I can't believe how fast 8 years has passed. I love you. And I am so glad you are in our family. I love your excitement, ideas, love of hiking and swimming, your love of reading, and how much fun you bring to our family. I hope today was great. Happy birthday Nathanael.

Trumpet!

Look what showed up in the mail today from Aunt Kim! No, she hasn't been taking care of that 11 year old. She sent us her trumpet for Noah to use in band this year!! We are so excited for the hours of practice we will be treated to in the coming years. On a serious note (pardon the pun) thank you so much Aunt Kim. We promise to take great care of it.

Happy Birthday!

August 16th is also Grandma Roth's birthday! All of us here at Campingdad would like to wish mom/grandma/mother-in-law an amazing birthday. Thanks for everything you do, not only for us here in Greeley, but in Sturgis, LHS, and of course for dad. We love you so much, and can never express to you how thankful we are that the "nurse with the purse" is in our lives. Have a great day grandma, we love you!

13

August 16th seems to be a big day in our family. Today, Jennifer and I celebrate 13 years of marriage! Like most (all?) marriages, it has been a roller-coaster ride, filled with joy, happiness, frustrations, hope, loss, trials, and celebrations. Through it all, Jen has been with me, for better or worse, until death do us apart. Thank you Jennifer for loving me, believing in me, helping me, encouraging me, and being there for me. I love you.

Cookout!

Had the chance to hang out with a co-worker and his beautiful family on Saturday night. Unfortunately, Andrew and Nathanael were at the end-of-summer water party at Christ Community, so the four of us attended the cookout. It was great to finally introduce Sarabeth to their daughter, and the two girls hit it off really well. Hopefully there will be more play-dates in the future. We also had a fire pit. Like Grandpa Roth says, "Build big fire, stand WAY back!"

Mile High Music Festival

Thanks to the people at Cricket, the show tonight is being streamed at www.mycricket.com. The beer is cheaper at home, the air conditioning is on, and the entire family can enjoy the show. We are using moms laptop for the internet stream, then connecting it to the big screen via an HDMI cable. Isn't technology great? Its so realistic, you can almost smell the weed.

Period 9, Week 1

Well, the business I hoped would show up this period has yet to materialize. I guess we are still in the late summer lull, where the CSU kids aren't back yet, and parents are busy spending their money on back to school supplies and new clothes. The good news is that the NFL season has started and college football is just around the corner. I did have a good work-with on Friday with my new boss. She said it went well, and gave me an 8.9 out of 10. The route missed plan for the 3rd or 4th week in a row, only running $16,346 and missing plan by $548. Stales were high again at $355. Sometimes I wish I was back here, instead of in a hot truck trying to surpass an almost unreachable plan. Come on Albertsons, run a better deal!!

Middle School

Summer vacation has officially ended for two members of the Roth family today. Jennifer has been working in her new classroom quite a bit these last few weeks and is finally ready for students. Noah starts 6th grade today. I can't believe how big our firstborn is. He will have his mom as a teacher first thing in the morning and last in the afternoon. Should be a fun, interesting year!

This Moment

{this moment inspired by SouleMama}

A Sunday ritual.
A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week.
A simple, special, extraordinary moment.
A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Wishing you a wonderful week!

Period 8, Week 4

Look at the execution in that Western Convenience!  There must be a reason it is running 122% to prior year. I wish I could say the same for the route this week. With no hot ads at Albertsons and only a few CSU students trickling back into town, the route missed plan by $3245, running only $17,367. And so ends a terrible period. Hopefully period 9 will be better.

INK!

All done! Almost 4 hours later my first tattoo is complete. Sooz, my tattoo artist, is an amazing woman! Her attention to detail and love of her work was incredible. She even added the small butterfly in honor of the baby that we lost 6 years ago.

As far as the tattoo goes, there is quite a bit of meaning. Where the Wild Things Are is one of my all time favorite books. I can't count the number of times I have read it to the kids. Each of the kids picked a Wild Thing to hang from the vines. The vines represent Jennifer and I, intertwined, leading to each of the kids. The vines also spell out NANS, which is the first letter of each of the kids names. The butterfly is in honor of our baby, and is placed between Nathanael and Sarabeth. 

I have been planning and thinking about this for years. Thanks to my beautiful wife for encouraging me to finally get it. I'm so excited its done!!

Dinner

What on earth did families do at dinner before the invention of cell phones? The group did do pretty well on Star Wars trivia on moms DROID.

Blood!

Today was the yearly blood drive at the place of employment.  Since I am getting the big tattoo done this coming weekend, I thought I'd warm up with one needle today before lots of needle sticks on Saturday.  Only took 8 minutes to push out a pint! And I haven't passed out or thrown up yet. Nathanael was especially interested in the entire process when I got home. That boy is going to be a doctor someday. Or a scientists. Possibly NASA.

Sunday Night BBQ

It was a great evening in Greeley last night, with Jim and Janet hosting a BBQ for the entire family. Bob and Bonnie brought Nathanael back to Greeley and were able to stay for dinner! The Lambs also attended and enjoyed talking baseball and golf with Bob and Jim. The four siblings were also together for the first time since my vacation. They enjoyed playing with the new puppy while dinner was cooking on the grill. Jim make some amazing margaritas that everyone enjoyed. The weather even cooperated, and we didn't have the heavy rain like other parts of Colorado did last night. Everything went well, until we were getting ready to leave and Sarabeth did a face plant in the driveway while racing her brothers. Thankfully, she is just scraped up, and there wasn't a concussion. She sure is a tough little girl!