someone asked me if i was still going to use this journal.  i honestly thought i would continue posting here, but as you can tell, i haven't.

i guess i'm not ready to say good-bye to it yet but i'm thinking i probably won't be using this journal anymore.  i gave myself the challenge of writing every day over at my other blog; http://www.sunshine-on-my-shoulders.blogspot.com/ 

and, believe me... it has been a challenge.  there are days when i just don't know what i'm going to write or i don't have the energy or motivation to write.  yet, with the exception of a few days, i have written every day.  it hasn't been that i forgot about this journal.  it's just that i don't have the desire or energy to write here on top of what i'm writing for the other blog.

so, there you have it.  anyone that reads this journal or if you just happened to stumble across this one, please check out my other blog at the above link.  thanks.

happy easter!  okay, my sentiment is a day late, but i hope you all had a nice day yesterday.

we had snow here.  we actually have snow on easter almost every year.  don't know what it is.  especially since easter falls on different dates.  anyways, we had plans to go down to the springs to have lunch with dani.  she had to work both saturday night and sunday morning.

we debated whether we wanted to go down because of the snow, but decided we would.  we had a nice lunch at a saltgrass steak house (yummy!).  we thought about trying to see a movie but the times weren't right and we had brought brody with us.  so we headed home after we ate.

i wanted to let you all know that i have a new blog site.  i'm sure i will continue with this journal as a way to keep people up to date on our lives here in beautiful colorado (that's for all of you that would ever think that we would ever move ).  this new blog is more of my thoughts, ideas, rants and raves.  i really want to try posting each and every day.  we'll have to see how that goes.  i would love to have you take a look at it and i hope you can check on it as often as you can (or want).  here's the address:

http://sunshine-on-my-shoulders.blogspot.com/

well, i guess it's about time i update my journal.  i know it's been a while.  but to be honest, i've lost my motivation to write here.  i feel like only two people read this.  and if that's it, i can just email them what's happening in our lives.

last week was spring break for both dani and jake.  don also took the week off.  we had planned to go somewhere but those plans didn't work out.  dani and i did end up going up to estes park for a few days.  we had a wonderful time.  it was a relaxing getaway in a beautiful place.  i took some pictures but mostly of birds and other wildlife.  here's one...

dani was here for her birthday and appreciated everyone that called her to wish her a happy one.  her and don continued their tradition by making her birthday cake.  besides that and eating at her choice of restaurants (cheesecake factory), we didn't do much.  she's starting to understand that the older you get, the less of a celebration it is.  she went back to school early tuesday morning.

jake's been running a lot.  he has a track meet every saturday unless it's postponed due to weather.  he runs the 3200 relay along with the mile or 2 mile.  his times have been really good and he's enjoying it.  end of the school year's assignments and homework has been keeping him busy.  his band continues to practice and play at different venues.  they played at a christian coffee shop downtown a week or so ago.  that was fun since it was christian and the atmosphere was more cozy.  dani and i sat on a couch while sipping our coffee drinks :]

don and i stay busy with the youth group.  and that's on top of don's very busy and stressful job.  besides that, life is just peachy.  and thank you to those two people who will read this.

i know.... it's been awhile since i've written.

i was sick week before last.  sick enough to have been in bed for a couple of days and then another week or so for me to regain my energy.  i'm still not sure if it's back to 100%, but almost.

because i was sick, i felt like i lost a week or two out of my life.  i wasn't able to do things that had been planned for.  poor don and jake didn't even get their valentine's day goodies until saturday.  anyways, that's the main reason why i haven't written.  i haven't felt like there was anything worth writing about.  and there's still not much.

don's in san diego, as i write, on business.  but he's able to take a little time to visit kim, dan, and sarah.  i think stella was going down, also.  he'll be home tomorrow.

with dani's new job at the church, she's spending more time down at school.  she was home last weekend, but not this one.  she's enjoying the job but not this semester at school as much as last semester.  pray that she makes it through this one.

jake is the busiest of all of us.  he never seems to have any free time.  but he's doing well in school, still enjoying playing in his band, started track season, and he and hollee just celebrated their 6 month anniversary.

everything else is fine here.  we're anxiously awaiting spring and then summer.  brody doesn't look like a puppy anymore - he's going to be a big dog.  youth group is going well.  and life goes on.....

guess what i did today?  don and i shoveled the last of the snow on our driveway and street in front of our driveway.  what a great feeling.  after having that snow there since before christmas, it is gone and we can now see our entire driveway and drive out into the street without going over the snow.  yipee!

not much too much to report from here.  just the normal stuff.  dani was home for part of the weekend.  jake and his band met yesterday after jake spent the morning at a national cross country meet that was up in boulder.  don and i just doing stuff around the house and making sure we're (always) ready for sunday mornings and wednesday nights.

i came across a new website that i really like and i'll pass it on to you.  it's www.mychurch.org  this site networks believers as well as churches together.  churches have their own "page" where they promote church events and ministries as well as have a place for their congregation to fellowship with each other and other believers.  you should go and see if your church has a page.  i set one up for fusion youth (our youth group) and my personal page is www.mychurch.org/diana  check it out and let me know what you think.

some of you have been asking about fusionyouth.org.  that site isn't up yet.  something i'm working on and hope to have up soon.

it's saturday morning but i'm not going to tell you it's snowing.  i've done that in every post and you're probably tired of hearing about it 'cuz i know i'm tired of talking about it.  so even tho it IS snowing, i'm not going to tell you that or go on and on about how tired i am of the snow.   instead, i'll tell you some of the things that have been happening around here.

dani came home thursday and will go home either tonight or early tomorrow morning.  she needs to be back down in colorado springs at 10:00 for her new job.  yep, dani got a job, this last week, doing child care for a local church.  she'll be working sunday mornings with possibilities, each week, of tuesday mornings (she has no classes then) and saturday nights.  she is happy, as are we, since she loves being with kids and now she'll have a little spending money.  she'll probably be staying down there more weekends but she was planning to do that anyway.  she can always tell them that she's not available for sunday mornings.

 this last wednesday was our 26th wedding anniversary.  we spent it with 11 special friends (our youth group) and had a very enjoyable evening.  don and i did go out last night to celebrate.  we had dinner out and then went to the movies.  what movie, you ask?  i really wanted to see one of the five movies nominated for best picture.  we ended up seeing the one i least wanted to see... the departed.  i can't really recommend it because of the violence and language.  but i can see why it's up as one of the five - i can't say that it was terrible.  it's a well acted movie.  two of the actors are also up for awards.

i also saw catch and release yesterday with lori and susie.  it was a cute movie.  not much substance but enjoyable to watch.

this next week could be interesting.  i have jury duty - or atleast, i could. i have to call in to see if they need me.  i always have mixed emotions about jury duty.  on one hand, i think it's interesting and want to fulfill my duty.  on the other, it sure is disruptive to schedules and the flow of life.  plus, it all the way over in littleton and it's supposed to snow tuesday thru thursday.

oops, i wasn't going to mention the snow

yes, another storm.  it's been snowing all day and we've probably have around 8" added to the base we have had since before christmas.  so we've had snow on the ground for 30+ days.  that just doesn't happen very often in denver.  the sun usually comes out and melts away any accumulation.  not this year.

fortunately, dani didn't come home this weekend so we didn't have to worry about her driving.  and thankfully, we have a puppy who loves it.  he runs around the yard trying to catch the flakes as they fall or he burrows into the snow and comes up covered with the white stuff.

here are some of the consequences of snow remaining on the ground and maybe even growing with each storm.

1. christmas decorations have remained on homes and businesses.
2. most neighborhood streets haven't been plowed.  most of these have deep ruts and are hard to naviate.  you feel like your on the indiana jones ride at disneyland.
3. main streets that get plowed are riddled with pot holes.
4. trash cans left out for pick-up have to be left more out in the street for easier access.
5. dog poop hasn't been picked up in weeks. (it keeps gettin buried)
6. everywhere you walk, you have to be very careful of not slipping on ice.
7. our car is always dirty.
8. our garage is even dirtier.
9. i'm tired of shoveling!

by the way, i saw freedom writers for the third time this weekend.  what a great movie

tonight was fun.  the high school had their battle of the bands in which jake's band took home the honor, and small cash award, of second place.  they were great.  in fact, a lot of us thought it was their best performance yet.  we think they just keep gettin better.

last night was fun, too.  we started our mid-week youth group meeting (small groups) up again after taking four weeks off.  before the break, we would usually have 6 kids.  last night we had 13.  it was great

we're supposed to get our 5th snow storm in 5 weeks this saturday.  spring cannot come fast enough.

we took dani back to school yesterday.  you may ask if she really needed us to take her.  well, probably not.  the weather did turn bad and she didn't feel comfortable driving over monument pass while it was snowing so hard.  but we had planned to go down with her even before we knew how bad the weather was going to be.  it just seemed like something we wanted to do.  so she's now back at school and will start classes tomorrow.  she was happy to be back.  four weeks off was a little too much.  but now it seems too quiet here at the house.  we'll just have to get used to being a family of three all over again.

jake had today, as well as tomorrow, off.  he spent today snowboarding up in vail.  he said he had a great time, even though it was pretty cold - somewhere around 15 degrees.

i was just watching the news and it looks like we're getting another storm coming in for the weekend.  this will the the 5th one in five weeks.  i'm so tired of the snow and cold.  coming home last night i couldn't help but notice how many christmas lights are still up.  not just in the neighborhoods, but in office parks, also.  it's too hard getting them down because of the snow.  ours are still up but we don't keep them lit.  i wonder when we'll all be able to take them down.

okay... i have a question for my parents.  which one of you went to wilson high in long beach?

i ask because dani and i saw the move, freedom writers, today.  it's based on a true story about a teacher and her class full of racial tension and most students involved in gangs.  this story took place at wilson high in 1994.  i didn't know this about the movie before going in and when it started, stating it was wilson high, i said, "hey, grandma... or was it grandpa.... went there!"

i highly recommend the movie.  it is one of the best movies i have ever seen.  very inspiring and encouraging.

i hope both of you, mom and dad, see the movie but i feel like i have to warn you.  it might be hard to see what high school life is like there now, or in 1994.  i'm sure you would like to compare now with the time you attended high school.  there is no comparison.  it wil be unrecognizeable to you.  i cried several times during the movie.  some of the tears were for a long beach i remember and the one portrayed in the movie.  i know there must still be nice areas of long beach but it's sad to think there's so much violence and brokeness that has become so prevalent there... and in other cities.

there were tears for the world that the kids lived in and had to survive in.  and there were tears for their triumph over such adversity.  i do hope you all can go see this movie.  if you don't see it in a theater, make sure you rent it when it comes out on dvd.  i'll be buying the dvd.