Date Night at a Hockey Game

Rose and I had a nice date night this past Saturday. My work paid for hockey tickets to the Seattle Thunderbirds for all the employees who wanted to go, along with a guest. Rose and I took the opportunity for someone else to foot the bill on our date night, and my mom graciously watched the kiddos.

It was a lot of fun, and our team won! There was even a genuine fight, and a couple smaller scuffles. I think we are going to do it again in November if I overheard the guys at work correctly :)

Childhood Pictures - of William and Rose!

Short post today - I just wanted to let everyone know that I've uploaded some pictures of my childhood and Rose's to our Picasa account.

Some of you no doubt remember when these photos were taken, so feel free to talk about your memories in the comments on this post or on the individual pictures.

Have a happy weekend!

Gus & Daddy Weekend Trip: Seattle Center

Howdy ya'll! Gus and I just got back from a fun morning at the Seattle Center. Rose had a MOPS event to go to today, so Gus and I took the chance to get out and ride the light rail. We took it from the Tukwila Station to Westlake, and transferred there to the monorail that goes to the Seattle Center.

At the Center we went on some rides the in Fun Forest amusement park, ate lunch, checked out the International Fountain, and played a little Skeeball. After winning a small red plush dog for Gus and picking up some Seattle Fudge for the ride back we returned home. It was a lot of fun, and I think Gus enjoyed it too. He kept talking about the trains, and when they stopped at different stations he'd ask for 'more, more!' until the train started moving again. He also liked going through tunnels, and he seemed to think the fountain was really cool - though he didn't want to get too close to it (which was good, since we didn't have a change of clothes with us).

I've uploaded some pictures of the trip to our Picasa account, as usual. Check them out and feel free to comment on ones you like :)

Birthdays and Dedications

This week had two special events for our family: Gus' dedication at church last Sunday, and my (William's) birthday on Friday. Pastor Rob did a very nice job at the dedication, and gave us some big goals to live up to as Gus' parents; it was also nice to have my parents and brother there. We've got a few pictures from it up on our Picasa account, though it wasn't anything really flashy.

For my 25th birthday Rose and I went on our first date night since Gus was born. We had dinner at a nice, romantic little Italian diner in Southcenter, Grazie, and the saw Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. It was pretty good, though some of the things the kids in the film (they were high school and college age) were up to would definitely not be things I'd want Gus to emulate.

I'd also like to give a "shout-out" to my Aunt Kathy, who is having her b-day on Sunday the 12th - happy birthday! :)

So William has Decided to Eat Better

Yes, I've finally decided to try and eat in a more healthy fashion. Actually, 'try' is not a good word - I will eat better, I will train myself to eat better. I've attempted to diet in the past, with differing degrees of success, but I need to get away from the idea that I can eat nicely for a month and then go back to my old ways.

The way I've been treating my body is really starting to take a toll, and while I've lived with it for years I cannot afford to do so any longer. I have a son now, so I've got to take better care of myself - and I'm going to start with the way I eat. Here, then, is my plan; I think that I need to approach this in three ways:

1) I need to eat less overall

2) I need to eat little or no of certain foods that currently make up most of my diet (fast food, desserts, snacks)

3) I need to eat more fruits and vegetables

Rose is also of the opinion that I should begin taking a multivitamin, which is probably a good idea - but not directly related to the food choices I must make.

Those three rules are good, but they aren't detailed enough to help me make specific situational choices. As such, I've come up with a list of things I am going to adhere to - and I will probably be adding to this as time goes by:

- I will not keep any cookies, ice cream, or other treats that I like at home.
- I will order smaller portions of both food and desserts when eating out. Small cookies, small/single scoop ice creams, small/6-inch sandwiches, only one cheeseburger (when I indulge in that), etc.
- I will eat breakfast every day; something healthy, or if it is something sweeter (like waffles) not too many
- I will eat at home whenever Rose cooks something for me
- I will take leftovers or other food for lunch at least three times a week (rather than eating out a bunch)
- I will make sure to eat at least one serving of fruits and one of vegetables every day (and more over time)
- I will replace unhealthy snacks I used to eat between meals with more nutritious alternatives

Any of you that read this and are close friends or family, I would ask that you please help hold me to these decisions. Someday I intend that these will be second-nature, but until then I am sure I'll be tempted to fall back into old habits. If nothing else, I would appreciate prayer in this area of my life. Thank you in advance!