THE THINGS WE DO FOR OUR KIDS!!

Having a 4 year old has been a blast! Caden is now at that age where he is curious about everything, always asking questions, and soaking in every bit of everything. With this wonderful curiosity also comes challenges for mom and dad. Will we step up to the plate and attempt things or just push them off to the side? I always try to do different things with Caden and he loves to be my little shadow. He is now of age where we can play the Wii together, Playstation, and he loves when dad will "shoot hoops" with him. I am taking every second I can right now because I know that in a blink, he will be 18 and graduating from high school and probably out of here.



So the challenge of the decade came on Monday. Caden has had this rubix cube since Christmas time. It has been in his room forever and for some reason, within the past week, he has been infatuated with it and wanting to know how to solve it and make the colors match. So he comes to me and says "Dad, I know that you are really smart.....will you do this for me?" What's a dad to say? NO? No way that I can say that to my little man when he has huge expectations from dad. So I get home from summer school on Tuesday and start at it.
Below is a link to the best teacher in the world!!!! I don't know you dude, but your video rocked!! :) Using these 2 tutorial videos, I was able to master the chaos of the rubix cube.





Mastery of the cube did not come without a price though. :) I worked from 1:30 in the afternoon till 9:45 that night trying to figure that stupid thing out. And at 9:45, I threw it across the room and gave up for that moment in time. I was highly ticked that I could not conquer it in the timespan of that day, and my wife was ticked as well. She was wondering how in the world a grown man will spend an entire 1/2 day trying to figure out a toy.
Oh, what we will do for the children.
Wed morning arrives and I am the type who gives up on nothing!!! So I took it with me to summer school. I had a little bit of time in the morning before summer school to get 3/4 of the way done. It was the last 1/4 that kept messing me up. I finished summer school and came home to take care of the kids. When I arrived, by the grace of our Lord above, all 4 children were in the bed and asleep. So what was I to do??? CONQUER THE CUBE!!!!! So I pulled it out and went at it. It only took me 1 hour to finish it up and finally conquer the "brain cramp" of a toy.



I was so excited!!! I can't tell you the last time I was so proud of myself. I sent my wife a text pic of the cube. She laughed at me because she thought that I was texting stressing out about the kids. When Caden woke up, I was able to show him as well and he was ecstatic.





My favorite quote of the day...."Dad, I knew you were really smart like that."
So, although the conquering of the cube was very satisfying for me, the main purpose in the first place was to make a 4 year old extremely happy and show him that his daddy is "one smart dude!"



The picture above is one of my favorite within the moment as well. After checking out the cube, he decides to spin it a few times himself and then yells...
"HEY DAD!!! LOOK, I DID IT!!!" :) GOOD JOB SON

BAMAJAM 2010

So Shannon and I have been huge Kenny Chesney fans since we have been married. We have seen him in concert at least 8 different times. So this past fall, my buddy Linc (and Les) finds that Kenny Chesney is coming to an event in Enterprise AL called BamaJam. I will be honest and say that I have never heard of it in my life, but was very intrigued. As we did more research, we found that it was a 3 day festival event and they were bringing in much more than just KC. The other wonderful part of the equation was that Les's sister Hallie and her husband Jimmy (also Linc's best friend) were able to drive over and bring their RV. So we decided that we were going to take a stab and try BamaJam.

WHAT A GREAT DECISION AND WHAT A BLAST WE HAD!!!

From rockin out to Zac Brown Band, jammin with train, and then the final evening was capped off by Jake Owen, Gretchen Wilson, Rodney Adkins, and finally the showstopper Kenny Chesney.



The weather was wonderful, the food was great, and the company was the best!!! We had an absolute blast. It has been a long time since I have been able to rock out till 2 in the morning, especially 3 consecutive nights in a row. But we owned it. We got a little bit of a light shower on the last night, but the time Kenny was ready to come out and shine, the rain was gone and the weather was wonderful.





We were able to spend the day just chillin do fun stuff like.........
Playing cornhole, batchi ball, reading a book, takin a nap, or just sittin around and having great conversations (therapy sessions...whatever you want to label it) LOL



The crowd was phenomenal as well. There were over 100,000 people there on the last night alone. The show was out in an open field, no secure seats, no major restrictions on how to lay out your chairs, just come and chill. I was worried with my recent surgery about how much I was going to be able to do and how bad I was going to hurt. But I kept feeling better as the weekend went on and was not limited at all.....or very little...you gotta milk it some :)

We didn't spend too much time taking major pics because we just wanted to enjoy the weekend and enjoy the show. But throughout are some great memories of the weekend.



Thanks to Linc and Les for finding the festival!



Thanks to Jimmy and Hallie for bringing the RV and allowing us to chill in style!



Thanks to the fam for stepping in and helping us with the kids so we could enjoy the weekend!! DOUBLE THANKS THERE!

WE ALREADY HAVE 2 RV SPOTS AND TICKETS FOR BAMAJAM 2011!!! HOOTY HOO!!!
WONDER WHO'S A COMIN TO PLAY FOR US NEXT YEAR???

SCHOOL IS OUT FOR SUMMER!!.....HOW DOES SURGERY SOUND??

This is my first real post for the summer. I went to the doctor a couple of weeks ago for a checkup, and come to find out, I have a hernia that needed to be removed. Being the go-getters that we are, I knew there wasn't going to be a big window for when I could have hernia surgery. So we set up an appointment for Thursday to try and figure it out. Dr. Rader was very cool and gave us the 411 on the surgery. As we started to lay out dates, he proceeded to let us know that he would be fine doing surgery the next day if we wanted to. Well, knowing that summer school starts in a week and most of my summer is booked with other stuff going on, it was a blessing from God to be able to have the surgery on Friday.



I went in on Friday and everything went very well. I was majorly surprised at how big the incision is, but I am a big scar fan anyways, so it doesn't really bother me. It's funny to watch how shocked others are when they see it though. My buddy Jeff has been calling me a girl for a couple of days, and finally he was able to see the scar and went "holy crap...they almost cut you in half!!" So as most folks begin their summer at the beach or out in the sun somewhere, I begin mine in bed with books, a computer, and lots of movies. It has been very relaxing so far, but I know that I can only lay here for so long before I start to go nuts. Please join me prayer that my body will recover soon so that I can get up and start running around again. My little man is really ready for daddy to be able to wrestle with him again. He is really missing that and so am I!!

Excited though about the rest of summer and what it has to bring. I think we have a lot of good things in the book ready to go. We shall see.

EASTER 2010

Easter is always the big "family" holiday around the Whitt household. My mom loves to open up the house and invite everybody over and see how many folks we can pack it. We always seem to have a ton, yet every year it gets more fun, now that the kids are getting older as well. This year was a year where we could just let them run and go play with each other. As you can see in the pics below, the adults jumped in and had their share of fun as well!! Here is a brief recap of our 2010 Easter.



Shannon and I began a new tradition with the kids this year called "Resurrection Rolls". We used this as an activity but also an opportunity to really take the story of Jesus's death, burial, and resurrection to a new level for our kids. We are constantly amazed at how much they take in and absorb and want to use that daily to put in the right stuff. This was a very cool idea and the kids really enjoyed it. We will have to share the recipe with folks as we do it again next year, but basically, you take marshmallows and dip them, wrap them, and bake them. The entire process will go through what they did with Jesus's body and how it was wrapped. The finally of the activity is the marshmallow that acts as Jesus's body is not longer in the wrapping when you pull the rolls out of the oven. To watch the kids' faces was awesome as they exclaimed, "the body isn't in there, HE IS ALIVE!!" What a wonderful memory.



We then did our traditional easter bunny rabbit trail and basket. We then got dressed and had a great church service. After church, we went to mom and dad's for our annual get together. It was a beautiful day and a very awesome Easter holiday. I cherish the times I have left with my family and know that things are always changing in life. The more moments on earth we get together, the more cherishing they are. I am also thankful to Our Father Above for sending His precious son Jesus to save us all. Without that gift, none of us would have the opportunity to spend eternity with Him. What a wonderful day it will be when we all get there.

HAPPY EASTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

INDY RACE AT BARBER

Lincoln and I were able to score some tickets to the boys first Indy race ever. It was at Barber Motorsports in Leeds. It was a very hot day, but the boys did awesome and had a blast!! I love making memories with Caden like this. We also have tons of fun with Linc and Cole, and I am sure that there are many more memories to come. We don't know many of the drivers and really were not there to root anybody on. We just wanted to enjoy the experience, and that we did. As you can see from the pics below, Cole and Caden will be crew chiefs very soon in life. We are looking forward to the day that they get to enjoy their first NASCAR race. But for now, we will settle for a nice race in the shade. Thanks Barber and awesome job!

LITTLE MAN TURNS 4

I cannot believe that my oldest child Caden actually turned 4 years old this year. It seems like yesterday, we were at St Vincents welcoming him to the world. So much has happened in the 4 years that he has been on the earth, and he is a major blessing from the Lord. It has been a blast watching him grow up so fast and be able to do things now like sing, tell stories, and just playing the Wii together.



As I sit here right now, we are enjoying a lazy Sunday movie, Monsters vs Aliens, and I know that this is a memory that will soon turn into chasing kids around the ballpark etc. I love the fun times we have together and I look forward to the many wonderful memories ahead of us. The Bible says that children are a blessing from the Lord and I truly agree with that. Although our lives many times seem major chaotic because of our kids, I could not imagine life today without them.

Caden and Trace tagteamed their party this year at ChuckECheese. Both are huge fans, so we decided to give them their birthday wish!! Thanks to all who showed up to enjoy the occassion. What a fun one it was. Glad that birthdays only come once a year!! LOL

BACK ON TOP!!!! GO DUKE!!

LET'S GO DUKE, LET'S GO DUKE...........

That's a common chant you will hear around the Whitt household around the end of March, and if we are blessed like this year, the beginning of April. I have been a diehard Duke basketball fan since 1992, but have really sold out to the devils since around 04. My brother and I have been able to make a trip to Durham to watch an actual game in Cameron and also see players, get autographs, and get pics with folks like JJ Redick, Demarcus Nelson, and Sheldon Williams.
This year, I was able to go up to Duke University with my buddy Rusty and actually watch the guys have an actual practice and meet them afterwards. It was very surreal to be there in October and be able to rebound and chat with guys like Kyle Singler, Jon Scheyer, and Nolan Smith. Not only did we get their autographs, but we were able to stand around and chat a little bit with them after the practice was over. The following day was a dream come true for me. I was not able to meet or really even see Coach K when my brother and I made the trip to Durham. But during this trip, I was able to meet him, get an autograph, and a pic which was totally awesome!!! It's a memory that I will cherish forever.



So unbeknownst to us, the road trip that Rusty and I took in October was to actually hang out and watch the 2009-2010 National Champs practice. As the year progressed, we cut up about them winning it all and selling our basketballs. Although I hoped it would happen, I did not know whether or not we had the team to do it. As tourney play started though, we had a good draw and were playing some very good basketball. As it got down to crunch time, I knew we were going to have to beat some very athletic teams, which has been our achilles heel the past couple of years. But down went Baylor, and down went West Virginia (which was major sweet) and then came the fun part.



My pastor is from Iowa and is a huge Kansas Jayhawk fan. 2 years ago, when they won the title, we had a party and watched the game at his house. It was a crazy game which had some major heart attack moments in it. We were able to help root our pastor's jayhawks through and how fun it was. Now, it was time to return the favor for our blue devils. Everybody and their brother was rooting for Butler (I would have been too if it were anybody but Duke), but we had the bball party and rooted on our blue devils. It was very similar to the game 2 years ago with plenty of heartattack moments, yet ours went all the way to a last second hailmary shot that almost went in. We celebrated and were ecstatic!! It's fun to watch your team win, but it's really fun when you have a lot of people together and watch your team win. Pastor Jerry's house is now deemed the "House of Champions". If you have a team that you pull for and want to see them win a national championship, you better head to his house when it counts!!! Thanks for letting me relive the moment!!



GO DUKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!