We got blessed with a beautiful white blanket of snow here in Colorado, just in time for Christmas. Bella had fun playing in it in her new jacket, after her visit to the vet this morning for some shots. We wish all of you the best in this holiday season and remember to slow down, and stop for what is important in life, our friends and family!

Bella, the new girl...

Came home last night with our new puppy Bella. She is a 7-1/2 week old German Shorthaired Pointer, pure bred with excellent hunting lines. When we went out yesterday to pick her up, the breeder was already showing us how natural pointing is for her, she does it at this age.

It was a much better night than expected, she slept from 10pm - 5pm in her kennel, got up and ate and went potty and back to sleep till 7:30am! Not too bad. She is now in the process of trying to get Dandy (our pug) to fight and wrestle with her.

Football and Music, what else is there?

Finally to the end of a big week, just going through video. Easton had his first Jazz concert for the year, they only have one home football game to perform as Marching Band, and they have been practicing something along the lines of "Thriller". I'll get it up next week. Until then, here are 2 videos featuring Easton on drums. Make sure to click through to the blog and watch the videos.




Quinton had a huge playoff game yesterday...the Redskins were playing Quinton's old team from last year. Typically no big deal, but the players had been talking smack all season long about how they would eat us up if they played us, telling them Quinton couldn't play QB, blah, blah, blah...typical talk that tends to fire up a team. Well...the Redskins game them a butt-kicking like no other!!! Final score was 44-12 and Quinton had an incredible game throwing for 2 TD's and 2 extra points, along with some big runs. Video here...

High School Band Northern Regionals

Horizon High School competed in the Northern Colorado Band Regionals last night, debuting their 2009 Spy vs. Spy themed show for the state. They got great crowd support and put on a great show.



Colorado State Rams Marching Band also came to perform as the last band, and impressed all with their Suicide Trombones, something that has made them nationally famous. See it at YouTube.


Quinton played in a very cold and snowy football game on Saturday, but they lost the game 14-8, after an incredible effort. Great video of him throwing for a touchdown, and a blocked punt. You can feel the cold in the video on YouTube, brrr....

Big weekend!

Been a big week and weekend for all. Easton performed with the Marching Hawks as they debuted their new Spy vs. Spy field show at the home football game Friday night. Video here or click through to youtube to see it.


I was not feeling well Saturday morning so I went out to shoot some sunrise pictures. See them on Flickr, this is just a sample for you.

Then Quinton had a 9am game against the very tough Superior Mustangs. The Redskins came right out and scored on them, with Quinton running an option for a touchdown, but could not score the extra point. That was the reason they lost as Supeior only scored once, but converted the PAT and won the game. It was a great game, but an unfortunate loss putting them 4-2 on the season. Click through for the video.

Redskins go up 4-1 for season

New video up on YouTube of the NYFA Redskins game on Saturday. They shut them out 42-0 by middle of the 3rd quarter, but the Bulldogs wanted to keep playing. The highlights are of all the team, Q is #7 (you'll hear coach and mom yelling it out!).

Fall colors

We went for our annual fall drive yesterday up to see the leaves and take some pictures. Too bad it was a hazy day, but we did get some great family photos. More pictures at Flickr...



As you can see, the aspens were at the peak of their golden colors, and some had even started dropping leaves.


The boys got some time to play football in the mountains between dad's pictures. We had a great time.

Band & Football

Easton marching in the Broomfield Days parade yesterday. Horizon took first place for Marching Band.


Quinton came back from the flu and led the Redskins to a huge win over a great team. They go up 3-1 on the season. Quinton had a 25 yard reception, and scored a TD and extra point. He also has a great punt in these highlights.

Drummer and Baller

Drummer-Baller, originally uploaded by Scooter71.

Been working on learning more about off camera flash, and taking portraits. Had a "session" with the boys in the walking tunnel close by us. Had some great shots, check them all out on Flickr and S2Imagery.

The cops had to be called.

Don't lose the key to your Kryponite D-lock! Ask Easton if you want to know why, but after trying to use a jack, a hacksaw, and renting a bolt cutter (you can't rent them!), Thornton's finest helped him out...the firemen were nice enough to help, but the police have to be called to check to make sure it is not a stolen bike.

Careful boys...someone might get hurt...

We went to the moutains this weekend, to get away. Stopped at some ghost towns, abandoned trains stations, and old saw mills on the way. The boys had fun!




























We stayed at Mt. Princeton Hot Springs, a place that has about 30 areas in the creek that 134 degree water bubbles up from the earth. You can mix it with the cold creek water to create the perfect temperature for relaxing. It was great fun exploring the pools and then soaking in them.






















We had a great time, even if it was short, and the best thing was the boys had a lot of fun learning about Colorado history.

Liver Walk 2009

Thanks to everyone who donated and walked with us today. It was a great success, with the walk bringing in more that $75,000, and by me taking 2nd place for the most money raised by a single team leader. Pictures of the whole walk and some beautiful morning flowers are on Flickr (www.flickr.com/scooter71).

A lonely weekend...for the guys.

Traci has been working out at the Adams County Fair since Thursday, so it has been a lonely weekend for us. She had to work on her birthday!...so we decided to go see the Bronco training camp and see if we could get some autographs. Here they are at Dove Valley, and more pictures on Flickr.

And we also have a few fair photos up. I took it as a chance to try and capture the fair atmosphere, the bright lights, summer skies...and all the rip-off artists looking to steal a poor kids buck!

Liver Walk goal met!

A huge thank you to all of you, we have met the $2,500 fundraising goal for our Liver Walk this weekend! When we first decided to walk, we thought it would be hard to raise $500, but you all blew us away. Thanks to each of you for your generosity, without you it would not be possible and it goes a long way toward raising awareness. The walk is this Sunday morning, I will post some pictures and links from the walk to share with all of you.

The Walking Livers

I've decided to join thousands of participants in the Liver Life Walk here in Denver. This is an annual event that takes place in cities from coast to coast that supports the life saving and life changing work of the American Liver Foundation (ALF). Most everyone reading this knows that I am currently waiting for a liver transplant, and when I learned of this walk I thought it would be a great way to raise awareness for organ donation and for liver disease research.

With more than 30 million people in the United States suffering from liver disease it's more important than ever to help the ALF further their commitment to liver research, education, and advocacy. That is why I'm asking for your support!

It's quick and easy to make a donation to this wonderful cause or you can sign up to come and join Easton, Quinton and me on The Walking Livers team as we walk on August 9. Simply click the here to visit my web-page where you can make an on-line donation and learn more about why I've decided to become involved with the Liver Life Walk.

On behalf of myself, my family, and the millions of people living with liver disease, thanks for helping me as I "walk for fun...walk for life"!

Great night for some fireworks...

Last night was a great night for some fireworks, once the rain stopped about 8pm. Thornton had some skydivers start the show at 9:30, jumping into the night and then trailing sparks from their feet, and flags for their parachutes. I tried capturing some of them and am pleased with the results. More at our flickr

Exploring Kauai

Our time in Kauai was spent exploring the North Shore, with only one day trip around the island to Waimea Canyon - "The Grand Canyon of the Pacific" according to Mark Twain. Spending all our time near Hanelei was very relaxing and very beautiful. The north side of Kauai is lush rainforest everywhere, and witnesses by the dense vegetation.

We spent a lot of time snorkeling here, and saw the most diverse amount of large sea animals we have ever seen. We swam up on a shark, saw a couple of endangered Monk Seals (only about 1,000 known to exist), swam with turtles, lobster, and eels. The beaches there are beautiful, as seen in the picture above of the boys, and of the Tunnels Beach shot below.

The lighthouse sanctuary at Kilauea Point is absolutely gorgeous. I tried to capture it at sunset but could not get it to all come together. The shot below conveys how beautiful it is, and it is the largest clam shell lighthouse still used.

All the pictures of Kauai are up, and all the videos from the whole trip are complete. I need to finish up the shots from O'ahu's North Shore, and will be complete. I hope you are all enjoying them!

Kauai pictures and band videos

Aloha all! Got the videos of the band going up now. The first one is the parade, just a short clip of them marching. Notice Al in the convertible in front of them, just a funny old guy having the time of his life. The next ones going up are the six videos of them at Ala Moana mall. These were all the easy ones. The last one I will put up tomorrow will be the first performance they did at the USS Missouri. All the videos can be found at the link to the right on YouTube.

And I have a bunch of pictures I have put up today from Kauai (Kauai set). About half way done with them, and their are videos on Flickr also, one of the White Tip reef shark that we snorkeled up on when he was sleeping (thank goodness!) and the other is a Hawaiian green sea turtle we swam with at Tunnels on the North Shore of Kauai. Just a lot of scenic pictures, and hanging out at the pool, around town, and the beaches. More to come this weekend, enjoy these for now.

Parade day and the Jazz Performance

The next day was the big parade day, but first we got to go play in the morning. We all headed off on a Catamaran ride out into the Pacific Ocean, aboard the Dolphin Catamaran. It is a wet ride out into the ocean aboard a catamaran with a front net for all the kids to lay out on. They got absolutely drenched, and it was great fun to watch so many kids who had never been in the ocean enjoy the ride so much.

After everyone was back it was off to get ready for the parade. It started at 5pm, with the staging area being the historic Fort DeRussy park. All the performers from other countries, the other marching bands, and other musical groups all getting warmed up and showing off in this one area. Lots of pictures of the various groups, and then as many individual pictures of the kids as I could get are up.

The Horizon High School Marching Band was one of only three marching bands to perform. This is an invitation parade for them, and only one other came from the mainland, the last being a local Oahu band. It was a great honor, and Al (our Pearl Harbor survivor) rode in a convertible wearing a matching shirt in front of them.

The final day was a late, lazy morning as we had nothing scheduled till noon. We all went to breakfast over at Perry Smorgey's and then wandered through the International Market until we need to go up and pack up. We got all our luggage and instruments loaded on the buses and then headed over to Ala Moana mall for the final performance for the Jazz Band. They got 30 minutes of stage time, played 6 songs, and sounded great. Lots of pictures of this are up, and I will get the video of all the performances up later this week.

After this performance was dinner at Bubba Gump's and off to the airport for our evening flight. It was sad to break ties with the rest of the group, but the Snouffer's were happy because we were flying inter-island to Kauai for 5 days of fun there. Look for the pictures from that soon.

Day 2 and 3 of the trip

The second night was the beginning of the Pan-Pacific Festival, the event that we were all there for. It begins with a huge street fair, with performers from Hawaii and the Pacific Rim, and with food and vendor shops along 1-1/2 miles of the street fronting Waikiki Beach. We took about 6 kids and went out to explore and try new foods, both Hawaiian and other ethnicities. We had some that was very good, and most of the kids were adventurous enough to try a lot of things that they had never heard of.

We also watched a lot of the performances, and all the kids really enjoyed the Matsuri Drums that many of them used. The music is very agressive sounding, almost as a battle preparation, and it was very neat for them all to be a part of all this.

The next morning brought another early wake up call for a south island tour to Hanauma bay, Sprouting Horn, Pali Lookout and finally to Kailua Beach for some beach time and lunch. The beach was on the windward side, and although rated one of the best in world, it did not have any options for snorkeling as the reef is too far out to swim to. We stayed here for most of the day, just playing in the water, playing some volleyball, having lunch, and then headed back. On the way back to the hotel we stopped at the Punchbowl Cemetary, a national veterans cemetary created in the crater of an extinct volcano. From this vantage point you can see all the way across Hololulu to Diamond Head on the south end. It is a very beautiful location and the burial site for many unknown soldiers from Pearl Harbor and other wars. We also toured some of the other historic locations on our way back through the city, but did not have time to stop at any of them. The history of Honolulu and Oahu would be fascinating to take in if you had the time.

Once back at the hotel, we gathered up some kids and went down to the beach, their first time to actually be able to go to Waikiki Beach and play in the ocean. Some went to lay out, others went to people watch, we went to play in the ocean. The only incident of the whole trip happened here when Joe cut the bottom of his big toe on some coral, bad enough that he had to go to the local clinic and get stiches in it. He did not let is dampen his spirit and continued to have a good time, and even marched in the parade the next evening.

Later this night we went to Germaines Luau. The kids had a good time, and it was a fun event, but it is not something I would recommend for the true Luau experience. Some good pictures from it are up though. After this, we all headed back and got some shut eye after a long day.

What a trip of memories...

Wow, where to begin...so much to share I thought I would hit some high points and then start breaking it out in segments. Go here for the latest photos, I will keep them all in this collection, and put them as sets as I put them online. There are also going to be short videos on Flickr that were taken of various experience. Then there will be a lot of music and videos on youTube that I will post and let you know about.

To start with, we got to Honolulu about 4 hours ahead of everyone else, so we were able to check in to the hotel, go explore Waikiki, and get familiar with the surroundings. Waikiki is most likely similar to South Beach in Miami, people watching is fun, there are all different walks of life, and it is a very commercialized city with more to do than you could ever have time for. The biggest thing that struck us was how busy it is, not peaceful and laid back like we are used to in our beach vacations, and the prominence of Asian influence, mainly Japanese. How ironic when you stop to think about it, but nearly every sign is in Japanese first, or English with Japanese below. And the out of reach (for the middle class) retail is everywhere as noted in the Ferarri store pictures. You could have actually bought the car in the store for $2,100,000 if you so desired!

Once the rest of the group got there we headed off to dinner at Planet Hollywood for a run down of things. Then it was off in small groups to explore. We took some kids and headed down the streets and then to the beach to explore. We were only 2 blocks off the beach, so we walked everywhere.

The first morning 6am wakeup call was wayyyy too early...but the day is one the kids will remember the rest of their lives. We were off to Pearl Harbor. The entire group was so respectful of the place they were at, and it was such a solemn experience. Spending the time at the USS Arizona Memorial is something every person should try to do. It truly brings you to stop and think about your freedom, and about those that have paid the ultimate price in laying down their lives, and who continue to fight for us daily. Whether or not you believe in war and it's consequences, you will be in awe. After spending time there, dropping the flowers from their lei's in the water as thanks, we went on to lunch at a park outside the USS Missouri Battleship (where the surrender to end the war was signed). At the park we were pleasantly surprised to have a survivor from Pearl Harbor (Allen Bodenlos) come to tell them about that day, and join them many more times while in Hawaii.

Al had lunch with them, and what a crack-up he is for 88 years-old. He is still 20 in his mind, sharp as a tack, funny, spry, and loves the cute girls. He conducted their first song for them, posed in photos for them (including the whole band on the USS Missouri), and rode in the parade wearing a matching shirt they presented to him.

Pictures of all of this are up, and I will continue as I sort through them...hope you enjoy as much as we did.

Reef Shark!

Wow! Getting ready to leave Kauai for the north shore of Oahu, and we have had a great time! We swam up on a reef shark, saw turtles and swam with them, saw an endangered Hawaiian Monk Seal, and lobsters and eels. We'll have a lot of pictures and video when we get back.

And off we go...

We'll take a long awaited break for 2 weeks, and leave you with our little Hona. We will flood you with pictures and videos when we get back. You all take care, and keep an eye on Flickr for some live uploads...

Stay off the sidewalks!

Easton got his driver's permit today! Little bit of a scary first drive out in the real world leaving the DMV office, but nothing like some of the fear I have had before. We can't believe this day has come...

A day to remember and reflect.

Remember to stop and take a moment to think of those that have served, or are serving. Without them we would not have the life and freedoms we do. Thank you to my Grandpa, Brian, Dallas and all the others who give so much.

Today was spent with some great friends. Check out Flickr for some of photos and fun together. Typical Memorial Day weekend, rained every day!

Brothers.

I am working on some school pictures for a friend, and just especially liked this one, thought I would share it. No smiles, not at this age.

And a fun one...

Summer is here, but we typically are not!

Saturday was ThorntonFest, our annual kickoff to summer in Thornton, CO. Traci had a booth there and did great! The weather was 65 and sunny, not too hot, and a great day to get out to the fair type atmosphere. The Mustang below was one of the cars at the Car Show. What a beautiful set of wheels.


I also have been working on some portrait photography, and did a few of Traci. More on Flickr...


Quinton played starting QB in the game Saturday, and even thought they lost, they played some great defense. Jedi had about a dozen tackles in the backfield, Quinton had a couple of runs and some great plays. Pictures are on Flickr....


Easton's final concert of his Freshman year was last week. There are 3 new videos on YouTube, a James Bond Suite, The Legend of Zorro, and Wizard of Oz. Video of the football game should come this week. Thanks for stopping by to see what's up.

Listen Up!

Easton had his final Jazz concert last night, and surprised us by not telling us he had a solo. He had an eight bar 100% improv solo on the song above, Listen Up! (by Joe Jackson). Listen for Goody (Mr. Goodmanson, his teacher) to talk about Easton playing some "phat back drums" when introducing the song. Also another song posted on YouTube (link at right).

The first MileHi Football videos from last weeks game. There are 4 videos up, so make sure you visit YouTube and see all the new stuff. With me taking so many pictures I had to enlist Easton to do some video for me. Remember that Quinton is #77 when you watch them, he has a great run at the end of the Cardinals video #1. Quinton also had a horrid game today, playing the same dirty team (Bulldogs) again that they opened the season against. He did get to play QB today, and did a great job, but on the last play of the half a kid near my size pummeled him and threw him to the ground, knocking the wind out of him and scaring the hell out of him. He was not happy, and did not play the rest of the game.

Lastly, Easton and the entire Horizon High School music department had a fundraiser today at the Orchard Mall, called the Bushel of Bucks. They played concerts and marched for everyone's enjoyment, and to raise money for the general fund. With bright Colorado sunshine and 60 degrees, it was a great day for them.

Bull....what?! Saw this guy hanging out on the hill, and had to stop. He has been around since I worked at the old DF, but I have only seen him a couple of times. This bull and his girl tend to hang out at the back of the property, being quiet. Could not resist the chance to stop and take a picture of those long horns...