Merry Christmas!

I know I haven't blogged for a long time. My life has been very hectic. Here is the main reason!

Jack (Melissa's nephew) has been living with us since the end of September. Now Melissa and I have not wanted to be parents, especially me. I have never felt the erge to have a child (by giving birth or adoption). However, Jack is in a bad situation and we know we needed to do what was best for him. So, he moved in with us. We turned our purple and yellow butterfly room into a Bat Cave! He loves Batman. We put him in daycare and he absolutely loves it! I now understand what parents mean when they say it makes it all worth it when your kid does something cute or says something cute. So the times when he spills pink milk on my tan carpet or breaks the toilet tank cover, I just remember him "needing" a hug or kiss as he is going to bed (along with every stuffed animal that he sleeps with) and how lucky we are to have an influence on him.

Melissa has been in contact with a few attorneys about getting full custody of him. My hands are tied on this one since the wonderful state of Utah doesn't allow gay people to house kids if they are put in foster care or to adopt as a couple. All I have to say is our house and our influence is the best place for him to be! Hopefully once we start the process, I wont have to move my stuff out of our bedroom and act like I live in the basement as "roommates"!

Until I blog again, ROCK ON!

P.S. Merry Christmas!!!

Life is short! Don't take it for granted!

Just a small lame blog.

Life is short! DO NOT Take for granted the things you hold closest to your heart! You never know when they will be gone and you may not have a chance to get them back.

Luckily, I was able to get the most important thing in my life back! My eyes have been opened and I realize the things I need to do to become a better person! I have been making these changes for a while now. This has just given me the kick in the ass I needed to realize how much work I still have to do!

Until I blog again, ROCK ON!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!
This is my mom and my grandmother. They are the most important women in my life besides my girlfriend. I don't know what I would do without them. I just wanted to give a quick shout out to them for Mother's Day! I love you very much and do not know what I would do if you were not in my life.

Until I blog again, ROCK ON!

So so long!

Sorry I haven't posted much for such a long time. Not that anyone cares to be honest. We have been so busy with football and softball and camping that I haven't had time to post.

Things are going well and it looks like it is going to be a busy summer. We had our first football game back at the end of March in Las Vegas. We had a blast and didn't play too bad. We either tied or lost by one touchdown. It was simply a scrimmage so score wasn't really kept officially. It was a blast.

Game in Vegas. That is me in the white jersey closest to the right.

Melissa getting ready to board the plane to Vegas.

Raylynn getting ready to board the plane.

Other than on or about play 5 or 10, Melissa went down in pain. She didn't even get tackled or anything. She just went down. After waiting 2 weeks or so for all the doctors appointments and MRI, she has a completely torn ACL that requires surgery to fix.

Now this sucks for her since last summer she had the injured wrist and couldn't really do much. No wakeboard, softball or just about anything. After careful review (and a really pricey knee brace that was especially made to fit her) she has decided to wait until September to have the surgery.

She is still playing football at about 80-90% and seems to be ok playing softball. We have only had one softball game so far. Game 2 is tonight. I will keep everyone posted. With this bionic knee brace she will be able to wakeboard and tube on the boat. It was miserable last year to watch her just sit on the boat and not be able to wakeboard and have fun. Hopefully this year will be different.

We played Boise on April 18th her in SLC. We got our butts handed to us 20-60. They definitely brought a different team to play against us this year. Come to find out they are funded by Boise State University and this year they required 75% of the team be students from BSU. That explained a lot about their line being a bunch of 20 something year old girls. They were a much better team this year. We were supposed to play them in Boise the weekend after they killed us. Needless to say we canceled that trip. I think they are re-scheduling it sometime in May. I will let you know.

We also did our anual trip to Moab on Easter weekend. Once again we had a blast. We hiked Cable Arch and took our yearly picture in the same spot.

Some of the friends we went with.

Needless to say we had a great time and can't wait to go again next year.

We have also invested some money in a swing set for our back yard. This way when "tornado" (Jaxon - Melissa's Nephew) comes over, he has something he can play on. All of my nieces and nephews will enjoy it as well. It isn't completely done yet due to weather limitations. However, it is useable at this point and we should be able to finish putting it all together by this weekend.

Alex

Jaxon

The Swing Set

That's about it for now. Until I blog again, ROCK ON!!!!

My Grandfather!

5 years ago today, I lost one of the best men in my life. I will never forget that day. I was in Vegas playing softball with all my friends. We were out of the tournament and driving our rented mini van with about 9 of is in it down the strip to go shopping. We were laughing and having a great time.

My phone rings and the caller ID shows as my grandparents house. My grandparents have always been so supportive of my softball and one of them always would call me to see how I was doing or to wish me good luck.

When I answered the phone I was excited to talk to whichever one it was. I say "hello". It's my mom and not either of my grandparents. All she said is "Beck" after I answered. By the sound of her voice, I knew something bad had happened to one of my grandparents. All I could say to my mom was "which one?". My mother answers me with "Opa". All I remember is throwing my phone in the van and falling apart. Melissa picked up the phone and finished speaking to my mother. My world changed at that moment. The man that has more or less been my father figure the majority of my life was now gone.

My grandfather Bob Frank Walters. I miss him everyday more and more. I remember many great things about my grandfather. Here is a list of them that I hold dear to my heart.

1. Biscuit Butt

2. Utah Summer Games

3. Him at my softball games

4. Always giving 110%

5. If you want something done right, just do it yourself!! (he was very stubborn and wanted things done his way.)

6. Eating his marciano cherries out of the jar and putting the fork into the roof of my mouth so he wouldn't catch me. I didn't cry until my mom got home hours later. My mouth hurt so bad!

7. Raiders vs. Broncos - blood money bets

8. Him accepting me and loving me the way I am

9. Not killing me when I got my DUI (I didn't tell him for months after I got it. I was so ashamed)

10. Him being him and ALWAYS being there for me.

I never knew how much pain my grandfather was going through in the last year or so of his life. When I first found out he had passed I was so angry. When I started talking to my grandma and mother I found out all these problems he had been having. He was in pain so much and was going blind. After about 6 months of being pissed off I came to the conclusion that his body was failing him and he was hurting so bad. After those first 6 months, I became grateful that he no longer had to suffer or hurt.

Grandpa, I miss and love you so much and think of you everyday.

Love,

Biscuit Butt

My Creative Side is Struggling!

I went to take some pictures today. Out of 108 photos, I only have 3 that I like. And that is a "like" not "love". I just really want to take that one photo that takes my breath away. It will happen one of these days.

To see some of my favorite shots, click HERE!

I heart faces second submission - adult faces

My second submission for the I heart faces contest!

My sweat grandmother!

I Heart Faces Kids Contest

My first submission for the I heart faces contest!

A day at the beach!

Birthday party and skiing!

So I turned yet another year older yesterday. Saturday night Melissa threw me a party at the house. We drank way too much and had too much fun! Here are a few pictures from the party. There were so many that I just chose a select few.

My cute girl Melissa!

Tony & Jeannie

Raylynn and Patsy

After taking Sunday to re-coop from the party, we went skiing Monday up to Brighton. We had a blast!

Brandi

Raylynn, Me and Melissa

Me and Melissa

Needless to say we had a great time and no one broke any bones! I think I may have even convinced Melissa to go skiing again before spring!

Until I blog again, ROCK ON!