You know we make a big deal about kids being on electronics too much these days, and I agree that it needs to be limited...but each night when we tuck the boys in, and I slide my hand under their pillows checking for iPads, iPods or the occasional book and a flashlight, I think back to my childhood and remember playing countless hours of LED Football.

You could go forward and backwards and when you scored a touchdown you had to bury the thing under your pillow cause it went off with a bunch of whistles and beeps like a crazy R2-D2 unit.  Knowing what I know now as a parent, I assume my folks knew I was gaming in bed, but if they are in bed they are starting to fall asleep, right?

Fast forward to 2013...my kids are playing the same exact game, but on the iPad format, and they are still trying to hide it under their pillows at night.  This morning I "caught" Kolby gaming under the covers....she had come into our room around 6:00 am for a little snuggle time and fell back to sleep.

I took a shower and was getting dressed and heard this loud sound from under the covers of "plop, squish and water running" and then I heard it right away after, so between the TV noise and my non-total alertness, I thought she was puking in our bed!

I went to the bed ripped back the covers expecting to see my little princess all hunched over in a pile of vomit, that Steph would have to clean up....INSTEAD I busted her gaming under the covers.  She was a little sweaty and all smiles playing Where's My Water? on my iPhone...I was a proud father.

So if you are feeling nostalgic and want to download your favorite old Matel handheld game...just go to iTunes and type in LED Football, or Hockey or whatever...BUT one little piece of advice, if you do get the football game get this one...It is waaaay better than the original version (the one I had growing up).  You can pass, and go backwards...it was a much better game play design.  My cousins Brent and Jon had that one...I was always pretty jealous that they could pass the ball and I just had to run, forward...ALL THE TIME.

On Sunday after Brecken's wrestling tournament we got to the house with about 2 hours of daylight left, and Steph wanted to take a nap.  SO we took the party outside to snowmobile for a while.  

So in the whirlwind of weather we had in the last couple days I did not get the chance to blog about a special little girl's birthday that was on Monday...we actually started singing and celebrating her birthday early on Sunday, so it was like a 48 hour affair.

For her birthday she got what every little girl on the prairie wants... three huge snow piles and a day off from preschool to play outside ALL DAY!
kolby snow
Kolby Capri is now 4, and she is in charge of the house.  Her brothers know she rules the roost and her dad is smitten by every little thing she does....kind of like the old Sting song.  "EVERY LITTLE THING SHE DOES IS MAGIC...".

Since she is our baby Steph and I often say, "could you imagine life without Kolby?".  Well, we can't and most people that meet her fall in love with her right away as well.  Her awesome personality is probably the reason she has a ton of nicknames.   So I thought I would list them and who is responsible for calling her by that name.

KoKo - Steph and I came up with that one right away
Kobilicious - Grandpa Roger's name for her
Kobo - Maxim calls her this
Capriski - another variation I made on her middle name
Peanut - Steph calls every child that is little this name.
Peanut Butter - Steph again just a more formal name of Peanut
Kid Capri - I use this one once in a while...it is also the name of a rapper from the '80s
KG - I like the Celtics so every once in a while I give her the Kevin Garnett
Capri - if I call her this in public nobody knows who I am talking to
Bug - Steph calls her this when she wants her to do something

I FORGOT-

Meatball - Her Uncle Brad started this one...and she loves it.
Beaner Buns - Another one of Stephs
KoKo Bean - Steph
Bean Dip - Steph (I am starting to wonder if Steph ever calls her Kolby???)


You might notice that Brecken doesn't have a nickname for Kolby...usually when he says her name it is really LOUD and if you would spell it out...it would look like this.

KOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLBY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They play so well together...as gentle as a polar bear plays with a baby seal.

Happy Birthday, KOKO!

So like early on in our marriage I missed Steph's birthday, truthfully I was a day late...for some reason I got it in my head that the 31st was her birthday and it has never fully gone away.  I still have to think for a second and then I come up with the Jan. 30th date.

This morning was another one of those times I forgot to tell her happy birthday...I have been messing around with fevers over the last couple of days and this morning I woke up pretty out of it.  I basically just existed for the first hour I was awake.  Then about a mile out of town, it dawned on me...TODAY IS THE 30th!

We called Steph and sang her an off-key version of the song and her reply was, "wow, you really know how to make a girl feel special."  So we will be making up for it tonight.

Steph is such a blessing to me...my life would be a wreck, LakeHaus Productions wouldn't exist, and the kids would be sick of eating cheese tacos and frozen pizza.

So if you see Steph today or tomorrow go ahead and wish her happy birthday...we celebrate her birth on both days.

This morning when I dropped the boys off for school at 8:13 a.m., (2 minutes to spare before they usually go inside) and the students that were already at the school were lined up and ready to go in for class.  This meant that the boys wouldn't get to play outside before they started the day.  Not a big deal because it was minus 4 outside, but they usually get 5 or 10 minutes to mess around outside before they go in.

Today, they got out of the car and got in line...but it was their response to the fact that their classmates were already in line that made me laugh. 

Maxim jumped out of the car, single strapped his backpack and in a panic said, "Brecken, come on we have to go now....we are going to be late!"  He slammed the door and sprinted to his line. 

Brecken, on the other hand, slid out of his seat, flung his backpack on double strap and closed the door...then sauntered in the general direction of the school and the line of students that awaited him.  They both got to school on time and didn't hold up anyone's progress.

It was interesting watching Stephanie's personality and my personality come through in our children while they were in a "demanding" situation.  I'll let you guess which of our kids takes after which of their parents in this case, but I called Steph right away and we got a good laugh.

I will give Brecken a free pass on why he might have been a little more laid back today than usual....he played 3 hockey games and had 5 wrestling matches yesterday.  I probably wouldn't be too excited about running to a line the morning after a day like that either.

At the end of the year a lot of news outlets flood us with the Top 10 _____  Fill In The Blank of Whatever year it is.

I have done this in the past and thought it would be good to look back a bit and pick out some of the LakeHaus gang's bests of 2012.

11. (Hon. Mention)  SDSU Football games with the family.  No better way to spend a Saturday in the Fall.

10. Maxim scoring his first and only goal and an assist in his last game of the hockey season last year...Brecken making it to state in wrestling and finishing in the top 12 in the state.

9. Our annual snomobile trip to the Hills with the Fasts was again cut short by weather...but those trips home on sheer ice are still frequent conversations.

8. Kolby was the first of our "younglings" to wakeboard this season...and it was her very first time.  The water was cold, but she showed her brothers who is BOSS.

7. Since this is number 7 I will take it for myself.  I turned 40, put on almost 15 pounds and had knee surgery all within a 30 day window.  The pounds are coming off again, but the age isn't.

6. The epic family vacation to the Black Hills, our first real family vacation since Kolby joined the group.  A big storm, driving all the way to Wind Cave and finding out it was closed and all the kids really wanted to do was swim and play on the water slides at the hotel.

5. Watching the water level drop...pretty sure the lake is 4 feet shallower than it was a year ago.  A little nervous that we might have to go to the Missouri next year to enjoy our boat.

4. Our new cat.  We adopted "Kisses Read More Books" as "our" cat.  She kept hanging around and let Kolby and Brecken abuse her with "love".  So we let her hang out in our garage and give her the occasional table food.  (The real reason she is still here...she mouses like a champ!)

3.  Grandma and Grandpa Decker moved back to Huron.  They have a house 2 down from ours but live on the farm and the kids love having all 4 of their Grandparents at their immediate disposal.

2.  LakeHaus Productions...thanks to our customers enjoyed a very successful year.  Stephanie has logged more hours on a computer and a phone than she gets paid for, but she keeps the thing running with a smile.

1.  4th of July.  EPIC Party week.  To me the 4th is like Christmas where you can go outside and enjoy the whole family...not just the ones who want to go outside.  Grandpa Bob hosted over 100 people at our house for his famous 4th of July Chuck Wagon Festival Breakfast.  Carson was at our house to spend time with his little cousins who adore him.  The weather was perfect, the water was calm and the fireworks didn't almost kill people this year...we have learned a bit as we have aged.  I really do enjoy the 4th as much as Christmas.  Forgive me if I put out a nativity scene next July...we can celebrate Jesus' birth twice a year, right?

That is the list....there will be more of the same in 2013 I am sure of it, sans the knee surgery and me turning 40...have a Blessed Christmas and enjoy your family this Holiday Season.

I will post a Family Christmas card in the next week or so and then take a break from the blog until after the first of the year.

When you run your own business you quickly realize that there is no such thing as "work hours"...because every hour you are awake you are working.  For Steph this is true.  She is 80% of what is LakeHaus Productions.  (She would argue that she is 90%!)

Over the last few days her phone is always beeping, ringing or vibrating and our home phone is constantly ringing as well.  I am not complaining, business is great and she loves the energy that  revolves around what we do at LHP, but sometimes we just have to say...."OK, the next 3 hours has nothing to do with LakeHaus...or my work at the energy factory."

Last night we got done with Maxim's hockey games ( won 1 and tied 1, Maxim had an assist and a penalty) and Steph basically worked all the way home from the games in Watertown...the beauty of the iPhone...she heard from two brides asking us about doing their wedding, a couple of families that needed photos taken and a senior who procrastinated a little bit on scheduling senior pictures.  All that on a Sunday night after 7pm.

In a lot of ways we are like a family farm...there isn't a day or an hour that isn't somehow devoted to what we do.  Our parents are involved with the business, our kids help out and we have a "harvest" season.  Right now is that time.

So if you ever need us we are only a call, text, email or Facebook message away.  With all that said....we are going to go on a bit of vacation from December 23rd through January 1.  We have sessions scheduled during that time, and some customer work to do, but we will also be spending a bit more "away" time to hang with our kids and extended families. 

We will answer "immediate needs" requests, but if you have to wait a bit to get an answer back during the Christmas break please understand that we are stepping back just a bit to rest our "creative juices".

Even artists need breaks.

But until then, by all means, give us a call...we will bring you into our "family farm" with open arms.

We got our dog back!

She turned up at a farm north of Broadland...we figure she put on about 10 or 12 miles en route to a family's front door.

They took care of her and saw our post on Facebook...one phone call and she was in my car headed home.

She was a little dirty and scratched up, but she looked fatter than the day she got lost...they were feeding her table food.  She is going to expect it now!

The kids were excited and loved her up when they got home.

I am still trying to soak in the last 40 hours let alone the last 40 years I have been alive on Earth...but it happened. 

I hit 40 yesterday. 

I didn't feel any different, everyone was saying oh, your body will start to fall apart...but actually lately my knee has felt really good.  I am like 3.5 weeks post surgery and my strength is coming back.  I celebrated yesterday by going 40 minutes on the elliptical machine (yeah, no more running...at least for now) tagged on another 40 push ups to my work out.

I had to coach Maxim's hockey team last night and after practice they had a big cupcake cake in the warming room to celebrate.  Nothing better than celebrating your 40th birthday with all your best friends, who happen to be 10 and 11 year olds.

The one sad note of the last 5 days is my dog is missing.  Lilly took off on Sunday night and it was my fault.  Steph wanted to throw away some pumpkins and I thought it would be more fun to put the pumpkins in the field across from our house and let the boys shoot them with a shotgun.

I know it sounds stupid that a hunting dog is gun shy, but when our dog is at home and she hears a loud noise, she freaks out...if she is in the house she hides under a bed...if she is outside she runs.

That was 4 days ago...

I keep looking out the window expecting to see her waiting at the door.

For the last 4 months, anytime I have walked it was in severe pain, the worst pain was the first 100 meters or so after sitting for a long time or first thing in the morning.  I had a very noticeable limp, but every now and then something would pop in my knee and it felt "normal" for a bit.  Then sooner or later it would be back to the pain I grew to live with.

Today is my first day, post surgery, that I left the house without crutches and almost my 2nd day without any pain medication...so almost 5 full days after surgery and I feel better than I did for the last 5 months.

I will never again take for granted the ability to run, walk, kneel, etc.  I almost made it 40 years without needing knee, ankle or hip surgery so I am pretty satisfied with where my body is halfway through my life.  Now to get back in men's league hockey shape...that might take a bit more than 5 days.

I get to go under the "scope" tomorrow.  My knee has been a mess for a while now, and I finally found a doctor who knows what to do to fix it (not that it was that tough of a diagnosis).

The first doctor I went to messed around for 4 months and I kept telling him how bad it hurt, but he kept putting off surgery...so I trusted him.  Unfortunately it was a complete waste of time.

So after one visit to another doctor he immediately recognized that I need surgery and a week and a half later the day is upon me to get this thing fixed.

I have a tear in my meniscus, they think it is of the "bucket handle" variety...they will go in and clean it out and should be good as new by the end of the month.

So after my first doctor messed around and gave me 4 months of pain and doctor visits, 2 weeks in a straight leg brace and then another 2 of therapy...I will hopefully be completely healed in 5 weeks.

I have attached a photo of different tears and an actual video of what they will do to my knee...enjoy with popcorn.

I know we are still in the "Fall" season, but after tonight the weather is suppose to be windy and cold, and I can't help but feel like winter will be soon knocking at the door.

Tonight was Brecken's last soccer game and they finally won.  I think they won 2 games that I missed because I was on the road, when I made it to the next 2 games they got beat pretty bad.  But tonight, they came together and won 3 - 0. 

To celebrate the win and the final game of the year, Steph and the kids drove through DQ to get food and ice cream and I went to the hockey rink for a meeting.  Couldn't help but get excited when I walked in the building and smelled the ice and felt the comfortable cold.

We have a few weeks of no sports (unless we can sneak one more round of golf in) and then the 5 month run of hockey starts.

There is a song that basically says daddys fall in love with their daughters because the are little versions of their mommys. Couldn't be more true...this is a picture of Little Steph.

When my sister Sally turned like 30 or something I put together an elaborate music video of photos of her life...I titled it "30 Years of Sally"....or something like that, and I think my Bro-Law still brings it up as a joke every now and then, and we get a good laugh out of it.

At the time Sally and Brad still lived in Alaska and we missed seeing them...before the days of FaceTime and Skype, photos were the only way we knew what they looked like.

I backed the photos with a song by The Nixons...it is one of my all time favourite songs and completely describes the relationship Sally and I have...SO today I say, "Happy Birthday, Sister."

First off, HAPPY 6th BIRTHDAY TO THIS BLOG!  I can't believe it didn't die a few times already, but for some reason I keep coming back to it to write...hope you are still enjoying it.

There was a story on CNN the other day about how Microsoft as a company was the 4th most valuable company in the world, and how they tend to wait and see what Apple does and then copy it to some degree.  Which is true if you think along the lines of:

My dad turned 67 yesterday...so maybe I am thinking about age and life a little bit this week...but this song ended up in my email in box thanks to my buddy Toby Mac.

I can honestly say this is my life goal...and my dad (and mom) gave Sally and I the example of how to attain that goal of not letting life "Slip On By".

I try to grab every moment with my family...even if it meant cuddling up on the couch with a 10 year old and watching George Of The Jungle at 5 AM this morning...just because he was awake for the day.

Steph dropped a bomb on me yesterday...she said it was the last day that Kolby would ever have as a non-school attending little girl.  So they played in the yard, coloring on the inside of the box that the new 85 gallon hot water heater came in.  Steph put off some LakeHaus work and spent that last day of Kolby's summer enjoying each other.

That is the great thing about owning your own business...you set the hours...if you need to play with your kids in the middle of the day you do it, and then you work when they go to bed.

Soon enough they will be gone...we never miss an opportunity to just "be" with our kids.  Even when we work sometimes they are involved.  I will never take one thing for granted as far as time spent with my family...nor will I ever put any self imposed "deadline" in front of them.  I think about how my dad STILL makes time for me if I need some time with him, and he is always there.  Steph and I will always be that kind of parent and someday grandparent.

Sometimes those little moments create some of the biggest memories, like last night...(NOTICE THIS SECTION INCLUDES BRAGGING)...So last night I walked in the door to put the finishing touches to the hot water heater that was installed earlier in the day and Kolby asked me to help her "read" this book.  She had Brecken's reading book from school on the table and she had it open to a story.  I think it went like this:

The rat had a bat.
The rat had a hat.
Bad rat.
That is not your hat....and on and on like that.

So I sat down to humor her 3 year old reading desire.  She said she was having trouble with the first word "the".  I told her it was a sight word and you couldn't sound it out...and once she got that down, she sounded out and read the entire section.

She is barely 3.5 and basically reading at a 1st grade level...I was astounded.  That 10 minutes spent with her will be remembered for a long time....and so will this picture.

It is fair week in Huron and that means our family will be going in a lot of different directions for the next 7 or 8 days.

The kids have school, which I think starts too early, Kolby has her first preschool open house, LakeHaus has a booth for the week and I have my energy factory duties on the Freedom Stage.

The LakeHaus booth has changed locations...ironically we took over the old booth that I had for NWE.  We decided to shake things up a bit and changed our sponsorship and it saved the company $800...but in turn I knew there was an opening at the Expo Building and Steph and I decided to move LakeHaus' booth over there, and now it cost me $800 personally!  But well worth it.

It has been a busy 3 months of travel, weddings, seniors, family photos and a LOT of boat time, and I am ready for a slow down after the fair.  This week is hectic and stressful, but I love the fair, and I hate the fair.  It means the end of summer.  Monday I will be super depressed and will feel like listening to this song while saying, "Goodbye Summer"...I like this version better. Sorry Don Henley.

We were headed home from our family vacation a couple weeks ago and got to talking about our first cars.  So we asked the boys what kind of car they want when they can drive.

Of course Brecken said he wants a Jeep Wrangler with big tires.  I might just buy his car a few years before he can drive so I can enjoy it.  When we asked Maxim what he wanted for a first car he said, "You guys already know, I want a camper that you can drive!"

We laughed for several miles on that one and we decided that he would get a VW Vanagon...and if you know Maxim you know that it would fit his personality perfectly.

volkswagen-vanagon-camper-01 If you don't know what a Vanagon is, think "campervan"...Greatful Dead stickers all over it, vagabond rock climbers and mountain bikers live in them.  A buddy of mine had a Vanagon Westfalia for years and the family camped out of it and he loved that thing.

Maxim would look soooo cool climbing out of a Vanagon, and when the family would go climbing or on vacation, we would take Maxim's Vanagon.

So in 4 years if you see a Vanagon for sale let us know...we are thinking lime green for the color!

Growing up my friends and I didn't have the XGames stars, in fact, my generation invented the action sports athlete...but we were around to witness the pioneer of Action Sports.  Evel Knievel was the Original Gangster of jumping motorcycles, and crashing them for that matter.  I kind of remember watching him on TV jump over different things, but if you were a daredevil kid you wanted to be Evel.

Evel grew up in the Rocky Mountain town of Butte, MT, and for the last 11 years the city has celebrated the legacy of Evel with a 3 day party in Uptown Butte.

I was in town for the festivities and snapped a few photos of the FMX show with my iPhone.  Evel would be proud of the new generation of daredevils...they took what he started to another level.