A great trip

This past week my wife, Caitlin, and our families traveled to Colorado for fall break.  For as long as we've been together, Caitlin has raved about Colorado.  She would tell me stories about her trips to Colorado when she was younger.  The place she mentioned the most was the Garden of the Gods.  When I first heard that name my mind went crazy. I was suddenly trying to imagine this place in my head.  I just couldn't wait to see pictures of it.  Once I saw them I wanted to visit asap.  Well a few years later I got the chance to.  On Thursday we embarked, along with our families. Once we passed the incredibly dull state of Kansas, I could see the outline of a mountain in the distance.  The excitement was building up.  Then before I knew it, we were in Colorado Springs.

Mountains were everywhere. The air was cool.  Caitlin and I were grinning like crazy. The next day we met up with our families at the Garden of the Gods.  I was brimming with anticipation.  We got into our cars and made our way into the mountains.  The view was spectacular.  Beautiful colors, combined with enormous rocks and cliffs, surrounded us.  Climbing the rocks was just awesome.  I can't describe it any other way.  The excitement of climbing higher and higher is just an amazing feeling.  Every few minutes I would stop and just stare at what I had just climbed. After hours of climbing and hiking, the kids went to the zoo.  My wife and I love going to the zoo. It's one of our favorite dates.  The zoo had this balcony that overlooked a dozen or so giraffes.  The giraffes would come up and get fed by people with crackers.    After the zoo, we all packed up and drove another five hours to our last destination, Ouray.  Ouray is a small town that sits inside the most beautiful mountains you'll ever see.

The guys, led by my father-in-law, drove up the mountain.  This was my favorite part of the trip.  We got up to about 12,000 feet high.  The view was breathtaking, once again.  We'd stop every few minutes and just gaze at the mountains. God is such an incredible designer.  I was taking pictures left and right of the yellow trees and the tranquil streams than ran along the mountains.  We even got high enough to see some snow.  Words like "sick", "wow", and "ridiculous" were echoed throughout the mountains.

Thinking about it is making me want to go back asap.  Colorado is such an incredible place.  The weather was perfect. The people were friendly. There were deer instead of squirrels roaming the streets. The pictures and videos I took just don't do it justice. You really have to experience it for yourself.  I hope to live there someday with my wife and our family.  It's one of our goals and dreams.

Thanks for reading! Hope you guys have a great week!

The Kite Runner

"There is a way to be good again." That's one of the many poignant lines from the novel, The Kite Runner.  The book is written by Khaled Hosseini, who is from Afghanistan.  Mr. Hosseini was born in the 60's and lived in Afghanistan until he was 12.  His family fled to France when news broke out that the Russians were invading. The news soon reached them that the Russians had indeed invaded Afghanistan and war had become reality. Khaled and his family remained in France for years until they finally moved to California.  Khaled was a bright kid who always loved reading, writing, and flying kites.  He went on to become a doctor and eventually got married. But after nearly a decade, he grew bored of his job and started writing. That's when The Kite Runner was created. There's some background on the author. Now to the book itself.

I had heard about this book from my uncle and cousin a while ago.  They raved about it.  I did some research and suddenly became interested.  I didn't know much about Afghanistan prior to reading this novel.  I mean I knew where it was on a globe and that Al-Qaeda was prominent there.  I went into this with a sense of curiosity.  I wanted to know more about this country that has become unanimous in the U.S.

The book is about a boy named Amir who lives in Kabul, Afghanistan.  He's a bright young boy who lives with his wealthy father. His mom had died years ago. Amir isn't much for sports - much to his father's chagrin. His father has two servants, a father and his son. They do everything for Amir and his dad. The young servant's name is Hassan.  Amir and his father are Pashtuns and the servants are Hazaras, who are viewed as inferior to everyone else. Despite the mockery of others, the boys remain good friends.  Kite running is THE sport in Kabul. It's very intense and involves kids from all over the area. Amir wants to win so badly for his father; he is constantly wanting to make his father proud.  A tragedy ends up happening that shakes the friendship between the boys and their fathers.  Amir is left guilty and ashamed.  After the tragedy, the Russians invade Afghanistan. This sends Amir and his father to America.  The story continues with Amir facing his past and searching to redeem himself after what had happened.

That's a  brief summary of the novel. So much occurs. I wish I could tell you more, but I want you to read it for yourself.  This is one of my favorite books for so many reasons.  The storytelling is just amazing and keeps you engaged.  It also has all the elements you want in a novel: Love, hate, friendship, betrayal, and redemption.  You learn a lot about a country that may seem vague to you. It was to me at first.  But now I know more about what this country was like before the Russian invasion and the rise of the Taliban.  The book is hard to read sometimes because of the violence and struggles people had to endure living in this country.  But once you start reading, you get lost in the story about these characters that are so diverse and so interesting that you just can't wait until the next chapter.  I highly recommend it and hope you will give it a chance.

Closer and closer

Being a senior is pretty weird and awesome at the same time. You're so close to graduating and ready to leave school behind.  I'll never forget that feeling on the last day of high school. It was euphoric and satisfying.

Now I'm a senior in college.  I'm awaiting the last day I step inside the Business building at UCO.  I'm on the 5 year CPA plan, so I still have another year after next spring.  It may sound like a while, but I'm so looking forward to getting it done.  I'm just ready for it to be over and have a job.  

It's hard to believe it.  I'm getting closer and closer to not being a student anymore.  That day will be strange when I no longer have to prepare for class.  I won't have to worry about doing some extra studying the morning of the test or panicking when I've forgotten to print out an assignment.  You live and learn. 

 I'm ready to close one chapter and start a new one.  I'm not sure where you're at in your life. If you're just starting a new chapter or if you're ending one.  I hope you're living it out and taking advantage of each moment.  I've learned to really slow down and look at life.  It's really tough sometimes because life doesn't slow down.  It stubbornly keeps going and going.  You can't change that. But you can savor it. 

You kinda get an idea of where my mind is at right now.  I've been doing a lot of thinking about the future and examining my time spent at school.  You learn and go through so much.  I'm at the end of a chapter, and I'm eagerly waiting for what the next one has in store.