Last night Gavin was willing to give up a sleepover in order to hang with his old man and brother for the night and watch movies.  We had a great time, but I also kind of felt bad that he didn’t get to hang out with his friends like he could have.  That sparked an idea…

Tonight our house is currently being raided by a handful of kids for a sleepover.  It worked out for a few of the boys’ friends to come hang at our house for the evening.  While I’ve been hanging out in the bedroom or on the treadmill I’ve heard a constant buzz of the boys joking around, talking, and giving each other a hard time.  They’ve gone between video games and Nerf gun battles and been having fun the entire time.  Remembering some of the great lessons learned from the past I made sure we were stocked up on various Doritos, Pringles, and soda to help them power through an evening of fun.

There are many memories of sleepovers at friends’ houses that still rank as some of my favorite childhood memories.  So many evenings of playing games and having fun just hanging out.  We could’ve been playing video games, watching movies, enjoying the current sporting events, rolling dice, playing various board games or even just sitting around trying to decide what to do…  seriously, we used to have a fun pseudo ritual we’d go through when deciding what to do if we were stuck in inaction.  Still cracks me up just thinking about it!

Anyways, it’s nice to think that hopefully the boys will have a great time and maybe make a memory or two that they’ll laugh at for many years to come.  This old dude may have given the sleepover idea a green light for the boys, but it’s been funny just how many times I’ve caught myself smiling at memories as I hear them laughing or giving each other a hard time.  My best friends and I still hang out often, I’m hopeful they do the same with their friends as they continue to get older as well.

Thanks!!!

Becky’s heading to a friend’s house this weekend so it’s just the boys and I at home.  Seeing as she is out of town we figured this would be a great opportunity to watch a slightly thrilling movie that she doesn’t have an interest in watching.  The boys and I have our popcorn fired up and are about to enjoy some quality movie time together on the couch.

What makes it all the more special is that Gavin had the opportunity to do a sleepover at a friend’s house but decided not to so he wouldn’t miss our movie night together.  How cool is that?

Time to cut this off and fire up the movie before the boys get restless 😉

Thanks!!!

A while back a client recommended the book Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin. I picked up a copy on Audible and thoroughly enjoyed it.

The authors are Navy SEAL officers who share their leadership concepts through sharing stories of their time in the military. They do an incredible on of helping you see their experiences through their eyes while also showing what they did, both right and wrong, and sharing what they learned. The stakes for them in the heat of the moment are much higher than those in my business, it really set the stage on how important some of these simple to understand ideas are.

After a reminder of the book in a recent presentation and then an email sharing it as the book our leadership team is reading this month I was excited to fire it up again. Over the past couple of days I’ve been listening to it again and I swear I enjoyed it more this time! The first time around many of the concepts made sense, this time I could see a more clear application of them. There were several points when I had to pause the recording and think about what was just discussed, how I’d made mistakes in the past, and how their advice would have been very beneficial. It’s also been helpful to see how a couple of small changes could have a tremendously positive impact.

Thanks Jocko & Leif for an excellent read and for so openly sharing their experiences! It was great to read it again and I’ve already got plans to bring it back to the top my my reading list in the next couple of months.

Thanks!!!

My drive to Chippewa Falls this morning was one of the best rides I’ve had in a very long time.  There was an overwhelming and deep sense of fulfillment that came over me within a couple of minutes of pulling out of the driveway and continued through the entire drive.  When I pulled into my destination I was hesitant to actually stop, I wanted to savor the moment as long as I could.  Fortunately, I had training with my team right afterwards and the feeling has persisted all day long.

I’m not exactly sure what brought it on, but a few minutes into my drive I turned off my audiobook and enjoyed silence for a while and got lost in my thoughts.  When it felt right I turned on some chill music and continued to soak in just how much there is in my life to be thankful for.

Amongst the things that came to mind and I focused on for a while were:

• How awesome it is to have the perfect music playing in the car while thinking and driving.  I almost always end up finding the right tunes to set or enhance the mood.
• How blessed I am to be in such a wonderful marriage.  We enjoy spending time with each other and doing the same types of things.  We’re seemingly always busy, but I wouldn’t change it for the world.  We’ve got a great combination of growing towards our long term dreams and goals while enjoying the moment.
• My boys are both great sons and amongst my best friends.  I truly enjoy their company and appreciate the times we have together.  It can be trying to attempt to walk the fine line between being a parent and a friend, but thanks to years of training from my parents I feel like it pretty close.
• How great is it to have such strong relationships with my mom and brother?  We talk often, share our successes and challenges, and enjoy spending time together.
• Dad may not be physically with us anymore but I constantly hear his voice in my head and feel his spirit regularly.  Our relationship has changed greatly, but I’m thankful that it is still there.
• Even on mornings like this one when I want to sleep in I enjoy running and being physical.  I’m very grateful to have the physical ability to do things I enjoy.
• On the drive I had flashbacks and memories of several past vacations including Australia, New Zealand and Washington.  The memory of Australia hit home with the beautiful fall colors that I experienced in my first autumn in May (which, incidentally, where all of these fall pictures came from).  The rolling hills between Arcadia and Eau Claire reminded me of our time on the north island of New Zealand.  Thinking about Becky and the boys reminded me of our trip to Washington.  I’m so thankful for each of those memories made and I full of joy when they re-appear in my brain.
• I’m thankful for the career path that I’ve found.  There is always room for growth and there’s always the opportunity to push myself beyond my perceived limits while helping others along the way.
• The drive from La Crosse to Eau Claire is beautiful!!!
• I swear this had to have been the fourth straight day of peak colors on the trees.  The brilliant oranges, reds, and golds were mind blowing and caught my attention often.
• Taking a cue from yesterday I took time to appreciate just how comfy my soul felt with the quilt of clouds wrapped all around it this morning.  They reminded me of a loose fitting and comfy sweatshirt for the bluffs.
• Last, I am so thankful for each of the mistakes, challenges, and failures I’ve had in my life.  Each of them have helped shape me into who I am.  Each has led me to today and this moment.  Without them I wouldn’t also have the feeling of contentment that I have.

All day long these thoughts and so many more have been going through my head and I’m so thankful for this deep sense of fulfillment.  Life is awesome!!!

Thanks!!!

The skies have been pretty gray for quite a few days now. Times like these make it easy to complain and let the dull sky and damp air deflate my emotions. That’s why I decided to flip my mindset today!

All day I’ve been actively working on enjoying this weather instead of getting frustrated by it. This hasn’t been perfect but it has helped a lot. Here are some of the things I’ve appreciated the most about this weather:

• The low lying clouds have been awesome! Just floating in, on and around the bluffs like a thick quilt. In the right light they really make the leaves pop!

• This is definitely sweatshirt and sweatpants weather. Nothing like a night like this to help me appreciate wearing sweats.

• Mmm… comfort food is always more delicious on days like this.

• The sounds of rain pouring down are very peaceful and wonderful to sleep to.

• This is perfect crawl into bed and snuggle weather.

• While it’s been raining a lot tonight there wasn’t a drop during Dominic’s cross country meet today!

So there you have it, many reasons why I’ve appreciated this weather. Yes, Phoenix or Hawaii sound really nice right now, but I’m here, not there so I’m going to appreciate what I have.

Thanks!!!

To be honest, this one is still very rough and I’m not quite sure how it’s going to come out, but it feels right to write about tonight.  Funny how that works.  Some nights I’ve already got the blog pretty well written and there’s just the mechanical typing of the words.  Other nights, like tonight, I’m thinking and creating as I type.  Both ways are equally rewarding, but for very different reasons.  It’s almost like one way is telling the story while the other is living it.

Throughout the day there’ve been multiple times when I caught myself approaching a situation from multiple angles all at once.  In some cases it was the memory of past events helping me see a new event in a different light.  Other times I was helping to guide someone through a struggle very similar to one that I am facing.  There were moments in which I was learning for me, soaking it in to teach others, and finding ways to take action immediately.  It’s been pretty wild, an interesting crossroads of learning, doing, teaching and reflecting.

I’m not quite sure how to put this completely, but there were multiple moments today in which I was doing all four of those things at once.  The things I learned I was also doing and teaching.  The things I was teaching were things I was reflecting on and learning from.

You’re probably asking yourself, “Very Yoda-esque, but what the hell Mike?”  That’s where I’m struggling today.  I’m not quite sure how to put how rewarding it felt, how humbling it felt, and how much I learned, but I’m truly grateful for those moments today.  It feels like a different level of learning or a different depth to the experience when all four of these things happen at once.  I’m not sure that I’ve had a day quite like this when I’ve felt all fours ways at once, yet alone multiple times in one day.  Maybe this old dog is learning new tricks…  Or maybe this old dog is just getting old!  Either way, I’m thankful for the experience of feeling this way today!

Thanks!!!

Today’s been a solid day all around.  I’ve had time with Gavin, time with Dominic, and even a little time with Becky.  Everything I wanted to get done this weekend has been done and then some.  Next weekend is setting up to be the weekend in which I finish up the insulation in my workshop.  There was some drive time that involved driving through forest with the maple leaves in full fall colors.  The Brewers are moving on, and the Packers…  well, we won’t talk about that one… 😥  Outside of the Green and Gold the day’s been pretty awesome.

When I stop and think about today the part I am most thankful for was a wonderful sermon from Father Dodge at church today.  The focus was on marriage and it was a pretty unique way to think of it.  He shared a deeply personal story that helped me see a different picture of the sacrament of marriage than the one that I’m used to and it helped me see it very differently.  It’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot on and off today and will be something that sticks for quite a while.

Also during the homily he learned that there was a couple celebrating their 23rd wedding anniversary today.  They’d even been married at the exact church we were in!  Father Dodge brought them up to the front and renewed their vows.  It was incredibly touching and left many of us with slightly wet eyes by the time it was over.  The focus on spending the rest of our lives together was powerful and seeing how we were surrounded by so many others who’ve been married 50+ years was awe inspiring.  Starting off my Sunday with a sermon like that was pretty sweet!

Thanks!!!

This morning at first light was the start of the Youth Hunt in Wisconsin.  Shortly after the start of the hunt Dominic already had his buck!  Last year he shot a little spike, this year was a four pointer.  While I am super proud of him and happy for him, it’s not the success of the hunt that has me the most thankful this evening.

I am so grateful that Dominic has this time with his Grandpa Ken.  It is so awesome that they get time like this to hang out and do something they both love like hunting.

I have so many memories of going out to the woods to hunt with my dad and Grandpa Kreiling. There are many memories of doing many things with my Grandpa Lamping ranging from playing pool, spending time in his workshop, looking for arrow heads, and stuff like that.  Looking back there are many smiles I have from those memories when they cross my mind.

Dominic has many memories with Grandpa Pete and is blessed to continue making even more memories with his Grandpa Ken.  A quick conversation with Dominic and you can quickly see how much he loves his grandpa.  Spending time with Grandpa Ken like this means the world to him and will continue to bring him smiles for the rest of his life.  He is also so grateful to have such a caring and loving grandpa.

Great job hunting today Dominic!  I very thankful that it was safe and successful.  Please hold the memories you made with your grandpa today tight, they’ll bring you much joy through the rest of your life.  Love you Bud!!!

Thanks!!!

 

After many nights and weekends of go, go, going I’ve got a date with/on the couch… I’m not sure which it is as Becky’s on the couch with me and I’ve already had some quiet time on it before anyone else got home. Regardless, it feels awesome to be chilling on the couch relaxing before I go to bed early tonight!

As I was about to leave the office for lunch today I got a call from my mom. She was in La Crosse for a conference and happened to be driving through Winona. We met up for lunch and had a great time shooting the bull for a while. Afterwards she was able to tour our office for the first time. How cool to have the random surprise of lunch with Mom! It was definitely a highlight of my day. 😁

Thanks!!!!

This morning a memory from SEVEN years ago popped up in my newsfeed…

What are the odds that it’s exactly seven years ago today that we went to a Brewers playoff game???

Seeing as it only happens every seven years ago I’m very grateful for Brewers playoff baseball. It’s wonderful to see them playing after the season is over and hopefully making a run into October. Always fun to have a reason to watch baseball in the fall and another reason to shoot the bull with my little brother.

Hoping the Brewers kick some butt and take some names tonight!!!

Thanks!!!