new life amongst the ruins

My Nephew is going to have some great photos taken during his life but this one sets the bar pretty high. His daddy is so talented with a camera, and I know that working with such a cute subject makes his job that much easier. Tobias Aaron Rohl at 5 weeks old in a old mining town in Jerome, AZ.

back to life, back to reality

It's getting late and the boys and I are heading home tomorrow with Grandma and Papa. It has been a great visit with Mark and Kendra and their baby is beautiful. Getting and opportunity to get to see the community that has fought for them and cried with them and now is celebrating with them has been a real treat. They in amongst great people and the boys and I have been lucky to get to spend some time with them. Finn has had the most fun I think. He has gotten to play with so many kids at so many different house and with so many different toys. Just tonight he was playing with Haley and they were running around eating up imaginary things. He was really great to see that huge social development of imaginative play with another kid. He was gotten a lot of that here and I think he is going to miss that when we go back home. It really underscores the need to get him into a community with more kids around his age. I'm pretty excited to get home and get started with that and now that our roommates both have 9 to 5s it will be one more little man in the group. I will be responsible for Ian as well as Finn and Henry. Luckily we have experience with 3 kids thanks to our wonderful time with Beefy. That was primarily Beautiful's responsibility so this my chance to step like she did. With no more trips on the horizon I am looking forward to getting some sense of normalcy back for the boys. Find our rhythm back in Portland before the rain comes back. Still no full time job for us but we are making it. We are hopeful and having fun and super thankful for our friends and families. You have shown us love and your prayers have helped sustain us. Thank you.

Arizona

It is Friday already and because of our vacation in Arizona this has been a short week for me. After the whirl-wind weekend that just past that is a good thing, as is the slow weekend we have planned. We got the chance to visit family and friends in Arizona and Finn got to ride on an airplane with Papa. That might just be the greatest thing that has happened in his young life. When we hit turbulence or had a rough landing Finn clapped and said " One more time?" Neither Finn nor Henry were any trouble at all on the ride out or the ride back and whether you have good kids or not that is amazing.

We flew in early Thursday and went right to lunch with Mark and Kendra. We hadn't lubed Finn up with sunscreen yet and his sensitive skin was turning pinker and pinker by the minute. It was a nice change from the 40 degree rainy days we have been having here in Oregon. We then headed to my brothers house to watch Finn and Tyson run around while we basked in the warmth and napped. For me going to Arizona is like going back to your old neighborhood. Almost all of my friends moved to Arizona so it is a one stop shopping opportunity to catch up. We are all a little thicker now and have much more responsibilities but we still make fun of each other in ways no one else can and know the back ground stories that make current events so poignant.

Friday night we went to a John Mark McMillian concert and got to have some time with my sister Zonda and her husband James. They are doing great and it was so much fun to have that one on one time with just them. We told stories and laughed over Ice Cream and Cheese Cake while Grandma and Papa took care of the 5 kids. Their kids are better behaved then your kids will ever be. I am not sure what they do but it's working, those kids are wonderful.

Saturday we played some golf in the desert heat and I got to ride around and talk to Kyle a bunch. Then Mark and Bing challenged us on the back 9 to a best ball two-some battle which was comparable to the Atlanta-Boston series with Kyle and Playing Atlanta. We held our own out there and only lost on the last hole. James gave away the Laker's score on the way home so I passed on the game and opted to get some much needed rest instead. It is a tough pace those AZ folks maintain and for the last year or so we have been moving at a much slower stride.

Sunday we went to church then off to the Farm for some lunch. Finn played with whoever came around him and Henry was content to be held by all but mostly Lyric. Lyric is his cousin, James and Zonda's daughter, and she held Henry when ever she could. She was great with him and it was great to see our kids together. We went down to Scottsdale for stay at resort and sat around the patio playing cards and eating snacks while the sun went down. That night Grandma and Papa had the kids while Kate and I got to go out with Mark and Kendra and Melissa and Kyle. We went to this bar that had a crazy old coot tending bar. He looked like a dead-head and had us laughing hysterically by the end of the night. While telling us about the Lavosh pizza I asked if they invented it and he said "Well not the cracker, that been around hundreds of year, but we made up the pizza." Yeah, thanks for clearing that up. Kate got his special Mai Tai that he apparently flashes and we all told honeymoon stories and basked in a night free of kids.

Monday was a nice lazy morning around the pool and some naps to recharge. We toured the model homes in Verrado and played basketball with the boys. I thought I was going to die after about 2 points but made a point to run up and down the court on every change of possession. We watched the Lakers finish off Denver and had some great Cilantro Lime chicken with mango salsa.

long winter alone. It is nice to be back home though, the pace of life for those folks is fast and atIt was a great weekend and the sun and people brightened our times ran us over. maybe it's the desert air that gives them all that energy. They helped re-charge us and we are thankful for that.