Happy Birthday to Me (and then some)

My birthday was April seventh of this year, shortly after my last blog post. The weekend immediately after my birthday my wife took me snowboarding. We had only gone once this winter, which is not nearly enough...at all. We went up to Copper Mountain, which is and always has been our favorite place to go. I actually proposed to Brooke there going down our favorite run on the mountain.

Anyway, we went to Copper on Saturday the ninth and enjoyed a wonderful day of poor conditions. Sure, it was nice and sunny out, but it had not snowed in about a week so the snow was very hard packed and rough to ride. Nevertheless, we still enjoyed ourselves as much as we could and made the best out of it. We came home that night and went out to a nice dinner with my parents the next night.

Easter Sunday was the last day Copper was open; Brooke and I needed to get at least one more day in, hopefully with better conditions. We went up to Copper on Friday the twenty second and stayed with my cousin so that we could be right on the mountain Saturday morning. We woke up around eight on Saturday morning and became overjoyed when we looked out the window and saw that it was snowing. We we so pumped to be able to finish the season out riding some powder and having snow to push around. It was most definitely the most fun I had riding in the spring.

Unfortunately, many things right here in the United States are in disarray. Over the past couple weeks tornadoes have torn through much of our country and hundreds have lost their lives. I am thankful that all my loved ones are safe and sound, but my prayers go out to all those that have been effected by this tragedy. I hope you are one day able to find peace and know that those you love are in a better place without natural disasters, war, pain, and death.

Fell off the Blogger Wagon

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First I would like to thank those of you that are back reading my blog after an entire month without any posts. I am most definitely sorry for the long silence, but there is, of course, an explanation for this. Plus, a TON has happened in a month, but I will do my absolute to keep things short and not bore you.

The main reason I stopped writing regular blog posts was because I got a new job at the end of February. I still have my other job where I work with kids before and after elementary school, but now in the middle of the day I work at a center for autistic children...by children I mean anyone age two to eighteen. It is an incredibly rewarding job where you get to truly make a difference in the lives of children and their families. Nevertheless, the fact of the matter is that I typically work twelve hours a day now from six to six. Once I get home, I'm not exactly thinking about blogging. Mostly I'm thinking about spending time with my wife, eating dinner, and getting some sleep.

I've been working my twelve hour schedule long enough now that I am used to and comfortable with it. This would be the main reason I am back on my blog...that...and the fact that I really do want to continue blogging because I really did enjoy it before.

The new job is absolutely amazing. As I already said it is incredibly rewarding and honestly tons of fun. I want to give you a feel for what I do, but of course there are certain things I cannot tell you due to confidentiality. I'm sure you understand. In the job's simplest form I work with kids and teenagers with autism. I help them learn anything from academics to life skills to skills needed to get a job. Autism for those of you that do not know effects approximately one in one hundred children in the United States. Of all those autistic kids four out of five of them are boys. The basics of it are fairly simple. Autism essentially effects ones receptive and expressive abilities. For example, if there is a computer in the room an autistic person knows it's a computer, they know how to turn it on, and they may even know how to use it on their own. However, they do not know how to ask you to use the computer or they may not even understand you telling them to go to the computer. Of course that is autism in its simplest form as many, but definitely not all, kids understand basic commands. I hope that gives you a brief insight into my new job. People with autism really are remarkable, they are a complete joy to work with and you can see their true innocence.

I hope I kept this brief enough for your viewing pleasure. I promise I will keep with my blogging and maybe even write a few over the next few days about some different "goings-ons" that happened during the month of March. Happy April to you all and I hope you are enjoying spring wherever you live.