Ninja Deer

This morning Chris, Dad, and I were on our way up to Strawberry to go fishing. After our usual stop at McD's for some fine dining we were on our way up Daniell's Canyon. There we were minding our own business when this ninja of a deer morphed out of the concrete and attacked the truck. Deer I yelled in slow motion then heard the body slamming against the side of the truck as dad hit the brakes to try to minimalize the damage. It was useless. The Deer Qaeda operative had done the job it set out to do. There was damage from the front fender and hood all the way to the side of the bed. As we all stood there looking at the side of the truck Chris and I braced ourselves for a patented Steve Helm melt down, but there was no such thing. Dad looked at us and said "well lets go fishing". "What" I said to Chris with a glance. "No melt down". This is the man that I have seen kick and punch the front of a fridge because the power went out and the food inside went bad. Like it was the fridges fault so it needed to be taught a lesson. I thought the fuse had been lit, but it hadn't. I forgot to mention that my dad has only owned this truck for about three months and it is the first truck he has purchased since the last one in '73. We all loaded back into the truck and went fishing. As I sit here writing this post I can see the deer's face over and over as it tried to push the truck into the river. It was evil. Pure evil. Nothing but those black soleless eyes wanting to take three lives for the countless losses of its countrydeer. Well bambi I only have one thing to say to you.

Helm Rules.

My Bro.

To anyone that knows my brother you know that your life is better because you know him. He would give you the shirt off his back. He would give all the money in his wallet if he thought you needed it more than he did. He is one of the most sensative and gentle people you will meet. On the other hand he would choke the life out of anyone that threatened someone he cared about with one hand. He is a big pansy in all reality, but can snap at the drop of a hat when he needs to. Recently we found out he has a rare cancer that originated in his right hand. He had it removed and has since been going through test after test to see if it has spread anywhere else in his body. The good news is that the doctors have not found any evidence that it has spread. So to keep it from spreading they have decided to remove his right pinky finger and the outer edge of his right hand. A small price to pay to not have to go through kemo or radiation treatment. If you know my brother at all you know that he might act like this is okay, but deep inside he is scared of losing even the smallest part of his body. I think we all would be. Chris goes into surgery on 9/27/06. If you know him I ask that you pray for him to not only deal with this well, but that the cancer will not return. I love you Chris and I believe this will be the end of it.

Your brother,

Mike

The Guard Dog

Any one that knows Rosy knows that she isn't much of a guard dog. She may bark at you if you are outside the gate, but walk right in and you are now her new best friend. Despite the fact that she would hold the flashlight for some one breaking into the house she is a great dog. Out of the three dogs I have had she has something the others didn't. She is extemely sensative and loving. She will take any abuse Rayce can dish out and not even move. Yesterday Rayce stood on her while she was laying down and she didn't move. She is so great to have around we don't know what we would do with out her and she may be a push over, but you wouldn't know it by her look when she stalks you along the fence or barks to let you know she means business. She is the guardian that looks over Lez and Rayce while I am away working and she is the spoiled little boxer who will crawl under the covers in the morning if you will let her to sleep the morning away.

We love our Rose even if she is a little spoiled.

PROUD PARENTS

Here are some of the words my "little einstein" is saying:
mama (though he calls me da da), da da, pa pa, Ro Ro (Rosy), star, car, Jesus, scissors, turtle, no no, book, room, sit, shirt, bumm, baby, Nenny (my sister Jennifer), Shell Shell (our neighbor), shoe, eyes, nose, tatoo, scio (outside, he is a little dislexic), shish, ears, hi, bye bye see you, night night, Barney, danger, go, clock, what's that?, feet, goat, bunny, and rainin' to name just a few! He also can tell you where his fingers, teeth, head, hair, feet, belly, nose, eyes, tongue, ears, and bum are. He knows his animals really well and can make noises for a tiger, lion, duck, chicken, monkey, bird, kitty, dog, cow, horse, sheep, snake, and owl. It is amazing to see this little person learning at such a fast rate. Having a child is the coolest thing in the world, the hardest, but definately the COOLEST!!!

GREAT GENES

This is my handsome family. I don't know exactly how we did it, but we produced the cuttest kid in the entire world. He not only got the looks (from his papa's gene pool), but he got the brains (from my gene pool of course) too. We are one lucky family.

Notre Dame Chicago Bears

So last week we went to Detroit to see Lez's sister's family and go to a couple of football games. I am a huge Notre Dame fan and Chris is a huge Chicago Bears fan. Lez has left the dark side and is no longer a BYWHO fan. We left Saturday morning later than I wanted to and we got to Notre Dame at about 1:00 p.m. and the game didn't start until 3:30 so we had some time to look around. We started our journey from where we parked with no snacks or water and Chris and I started fading quickly so we stopped at a student food stand and had bratwurst and hotdogs. Lez makes fun of us for complaining about being hungry, but it's easy for her, she eats like a bird. So after fueling up we went over to see the grotto. On our way we saw the team leaving mass and walking over to the stadium. After they were we gone we went to see the grotto then we were off to the bookstore to spend a small fortune. After spending enough money to have their new science building named after us we were off to the staduim. As we made our way to our seats I could feel the excitement growing. As we came out of the portal and could see the field which is one of the beautiful sites these eyes have ever seen you could feel the crowd as they awaited their fighting irish. Well much to their chagrin they were in for quite the pathetic game. The irish threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown on the second play of the game and that set the tone for the whole game. Needless to say they got worked. So we started our journey back to the car on the othere side of the country with a little less enthusiasm then we had arrived with. Chris and I kept joking about beating a few Michigan fans with in an inch of their lives if we heard one more person spout of with "Go Blue". Lez on the other hand was more concerned with setting the pace of our walk to the tune of a death march so we could return home to make sure Rayce was okay. Chris and I could barely keep up. We made it back to Lez's sister's house and if you can image all was well and Rayce was in bed sound asleep. The next day Chris and I departed for the windy city. That's right Chi-Town. Home of the 1985 superbowl champs. DA'BEARS. Once again since we aren't the elite we had to park three states away and make a pioneer sized trek to the staduim, but it was all worth it when we got there and had polish sausage for lunch. The Bears came out ready and gave the Lions a beating like you would give a red-headed step child. After the game we took our time getting back to Iowa to pick up the car and made our way home. All in all it was a great trip and we can't wait to go back. Hopefully the Irish will give us a win next time.

GO IRISH.