Aveeno Men's Collection

I participated in a campaign on behalf of Dad Central Consulting for AVEENO. I received product samples and a promotional item as a thank you for participating.

Every guy goes through the tradition that is handed down from their father of learning how to shave. That happened to me many years ago (I won't say how many, ha!) and my shaving routine has largely stayed the same. The razors may change and the shaving cream may evolve into shave gel, but its always the same. Wet your face, later up, break out the razor and get rid of the unwanted hairs.

Normally I only put my face through this process once or twice a week depending on who I have to impress. Normally it's something I don't really enjoy, due to the way my skin feels after the shave and the frequent nicks and cuts. Well Dad Central Consulting sent me the Aveeno products to try them out and see how I liked them. I have always loved Aveeno products that my wife has bought, but now they have products just for Men! They are great!

I tried the Aveeno Men's products, they all feature the Active Naturals Oat ingredient which work to cleanse, moisturize and soothe Men;s sensitive skin. The Aveeno the Face Wash really helps to clean and exfoliate your face prior to shaving. The Aveeno Men's Shave Gel contains Vitamin E and Aloe to help soothe your skin, while my personal favorite, the Aveeno Men's After-Shave Lotion calms and soothes irritated skin by moisturizing the top two layers of the skin. I noticed my skin was smother and softer and I had no more nicks and cuts! Success!!

So guys if you want to get a great shave and healthier looking skin go and get the products from Aveeno Men's Active Naturals products, you will love them!!

Grandpa

Tuesday we laid Grandpa to rest. The funeral was a lot harder than I thought it would be. Here is what I said at the funeral:

Grandpa Denman

When I was in college I worked in the library in the reference section. One day I stumbled upon a book about English Surnames. I looked our family's name and there it was, a brief history and a big fancy family crest.  It said most people with the last name Denman could trace our family history back to a Baron in England. The crest had a motto, Prudentia et Constantia which means By Prudence and Constancy. In the dictionary the  words mean to be Prudent or Wise in practical matters and Constancy is to have the quality of being unchanging or unwavering, as in purpose, love or loyalty; firmness of mind; faithfulness.These seem to sum up Grandpa without him ever knowing this family motto.

Prudent

Grandpa was a wise man, I don't know how or where he acquired his wisdom but it was apparent when we needed it the most. The first example I can think of this was as a boy seeing Grandpa lead our church service on occasion when the pastor was gone.  I can recall his calm steady faithful voice leading the family in prayer before a holiday meal, oh how i wanted to be able to pray like that. 

I remember talking to Grandpa after I came home for Christmas the year Grandma passed away, and I had seen how much my Dad missed her, but Grandpa calmly and as a matter of fact stated he had a long talk with God and he was fine Grandma's passing. I however was not.  I had gone to training for my job, 6 months in Southeastern Georgia and I was stuck there at the time Grandma passed. It would be so expensive to fly back on such short notice and the thought of missing more than the allowable days would mean I would have to start the training over and I didn't know if they would let me. So I stayed there in Georgia, while my family laid her to rest. It is something to this day I still feel guilty about, something that I shouldn't have missed.  After the funeral I received a copy of funeral program and copies of what Jerry, Dad and Cindy read at her service.  Every year I take it out on January 31st, her birthday to honor and remember her. Why do I tell you that today when I should be talking about Grandpa? In 2005 Grandpa was on one of his cross country trips, and in January of that year he came and visited Sandy and myself. Grandpa stayed with his family members for usually about a week, wasn't much trouble just needed a place to stay, maybe an egg and toast for breakfast and just some of our time. The week he was there with us included January 31st.  Grandpa and I talked about Grandma and shared stories about this wonderful woman.  Grandpa didn't know it, but that helped me so much to let go to some of that guilt. I wish I had had a chance to thank him for how much that meant to me, and how it helped heal my heart.  Sometimes God doesn't send Angles, rather he sends somebody into your life at just the right time, just when you need it the most. That was why Grandpa was there for me.

Constancy

Grandpa was a model of consistency, for years many things about him never changed. His clothes, which always consisted of cowboy boots, cowboy hats, bolo ties and western suits. I loved those outfits! Grandpa was always riding his motorcycle in the warmer months  He still rode it when he was 84.  I'll never forget the picture of Grandpa, Dad and Jory all on their motorcycles.  Prior to Grandma's stroke, every summer off the two of them went to go camping, attached to the back were their matching bikes.  All of the Grandkids got to go camping with them, Craig and Jory probably went the most.  Grandpa was always working on different carpentry projects, anywhere from adding more trim around his house to helping build my parents house. When he got older he moved into management of these project, allowing his kids to do the project with the grandkids and just looking the entire project over and giving it the Norman seal of approval, right Dad? Every Christmas Eve, the annual tradition of eating oyster stew commences,  if you can call warmed whole milk, butter and oysters a stew. All i know is that every Christmas Eve you would see Grandpa, Jerry, Dad and Cindy sweating profusely as they ate bowl after bowl full.

Consistently Grandpa was there to give you a big smile and a hearty hug, that never changed in 40 plus years I knew him.

Conclusion

I was looking over what was read at Grandma's funeral and there is a small story that Cindy shared about how she and Grandma had been to a funeral and a family member of the deceased spoke and Cindy said she didn't know if she could do something like that.  Grandma just looked at her and said, you could.  So when the three kids planned for her funeral Cindy spoke up and informed the boys that she had to speak.  That story has been locked in my brain since I first read it.  When my Grandma Harms passed away I knew I had to speak.  And it wasn't even a question if I was going to speak today. I am the oldest Grandchild, I feel its my duty to help lead the grandkids in our celebration of Grandpa.

The family has received an number of thoughtful comments regarding Grandpa, how nice of a man he was, how they loved that twinkle in his eye, and how they have such wonderful memories of him.  That made me think of something Jerry said during Grandma's service.  Jerry read, Never again will we see the twinkle and love in her eyes; but forever we will feel the love she left in our hearts.  That exact quote applies to Grandpa as well.  Sunday was Father's Day and I got this little gift bag with a couple little cards with bible verses on it, a bookmark, and a mint.  The bookmark shows the word Fathers on it, and has a verse on it, 

Proverbs 22:6, Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it. 

There is a song called "Things My Father Said" and it echoes this same thought, the first verse includes:

The things my father said would make me a better man, 

hard work and the love of friends, a woman that understands. 

I hope my father knows the seeds we've sewn still grow,

At night I go to sleep and pray he's watching over me"

As you look at his three children and their spouses, eight grandchildren and 4 spouses, 12 great-grandchildren and one step great-grandchild, you can see that Grandpa taught us the way to go and his words were taken to heart.

Fin

During these last few weeks Grandpa had failing health, including trips to the DeSmet and Sioux Falls hospitals. He thankfully made it back to DeSmet nursing home in time where we were able to celebrate his 90th birthday with as many family members as that room could hold.  In that same Father's day bag on sunday was another card that had this verse on it:

Psalm 73:26  My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; He is mine forever.

I know today is filled with tears, but some are from us saying our earthly goodbyes to a man that was called Dad, Grandpa,  Great-Grandpa, brother, neighbor, and friend.  The rest are tears of joy we share for we know that Grandpa is now in heaven with our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.  We also know there was a beautiful reunion with his beloved wife of 56 years, Grandma Marg Denman.  I am sure they have the camper all set up, and are off on their bikes around the campground once again. We love and miss you Grandpa!

My Steakcation at LongHorn Steakhouse

I participated in a campaign on behalf of Dad Central Consulting for LongHorn Steakhouse. I received a gift card to facilitate my review and a promotional item as a thank-you for participating.


With Father's Day right around the corner, its time to decide what we will grill for dinner and eat outside on the deck. I love to fire up the grill and cook outside with my girls playing in the yard. But sometimes you don't know what you want to grill or want to take the time to do the prep work. Well thanks to LongHorn Steakhouse I got a chance to take a break from grilling and take a Steakcation!

One thing my family and I enjoy is going out to eat. The time spent prepping and cooking is instead used to talk, laugh and watch the girls color on their kids menu. We had never been to LongHorn Steakhouse before so we were excited to see what it looked like on the inside and see what deliciousness was on the menu. We had a hard time deciding what we wanted to eat, well Sandy and I did. We started off with the Spinach Artichoke Dip, it was hot a cheesy and went well with the chips, and some of the free honey wheat bread!

The girls stuck to their normal tastes by ordering hamburgers, although Jacey did get cheese on hers for once.

Sandy tried one one of the extremely huge salads, the Chicken Ranch House Cobb salad, wow that was big and looked delicious!

I had a very hard time deciding which steak to get, I finally decided on the 11 ounce New York Strip, with Mashed Potatoes and a Caesar side salad. I had it cooked Medium and it was perfect! Perfectly seasoned and no steak sauce was needed, just a delicious juicy steak, my mouth is watering just thinking about it again!

It didn't last long that is for sure!

We all tried to save room for desert, I mean they had some awesome looking deserts, highlighted by the Chocolate Stampede, but we just were stuffed by our main entrees! We will definitely be back to try some of those deserts next time!

The building was beautiful, the server was great, the Manager was very nice, it was a top shelf restaurant all the way around. The girls enjoyed their time coloring and of course they loved the free bread!

This campaign has been a blast to take part in! As part of it I got Grilling Tips Fact Sheet that gave me a few tips to keep my grilling game on point. Then I got an official set of LongHorn signature steak knives. Those are awesome, big, bold and super sharp! They went through some pork chops i grilled like it was butter!

If you get a chance this Father's Day to take a Steakcation from the grill, head to LongHorn Steakhouse, because Dad's you are a Cut Above the Rest!

A new blog post?

So I haven't written in a long time, but guess what?! I have written something!  To read my latest thoughts head on over to The Daily Wolf and read my post Risking the Future for Wins Today.

Risking the Future for Wins Today by Jace Denman

Timberwolves invade Fargo!!

I was so excited to learn the Wolves would open preseason up in my neck of the woods. As soon as the day came for tickets to go on sale I had to see what the cost was for the best seats available. Well I splurged and got the court-side seats and man was it worth it!!  Everything was so amazing up close, from talking to the players during warmups, to joking with AK47 over a bad call, it is something I will never forget!!

Dad and I courtside!

KLove warming up.

Wolves Team Defense

The game was great although the Pacers sat 3 of their starters, but I didn't care the Wolves were back and I was there!!  The Wolves were in control throughout and should have beat them by a larger margin but missing free-throws and open 3's  kept their point total down. A few thoughts on the guys and what I saw:

JJ Barea - same as last year, although a bit more under control, picked his spots to take it to the hoop. Didn't over dribble and force his shot.

Brandon Roy - Looked good, really got cooking in the 3rd quarter, but when he checked out I think he went back to the locker room. I didn't see anything stating he needed treatment, but maybe it had to do with banging knees with somebody or just routine end of game icing. I did not see any kind of limp or anything to make me worry other than he returned to the bench in the 4th quarter with Greg Farnham,

AK47 - Looks to be the jack of all trades that this team needs.  AK didn't shoot much and looked hesitant to take a shot from the outside.  He did however play good help defense and passed the ball very well.  One pass was to a cutting KLove for the layup and another almost pass where he tipped it backwards over his head to an open Pek. Unfortunately Pek was not ready for the pass, I don't think anybody was actually, ha!

KLove and Big Pek - KLove looked fine to me, did his normal thing and so did Pek.  I didn't get the sense Love was out of shape, just not as intense since it was only the first preseason game.  Pek was, well Pek.  He was doing everything we saw from him last season, but yes he does look more buff! I noted to my dad how big Hibbert was, but Hibbert's arms were way smaller than Big Pek. Pek will do some damage again this year!

DWill - Looked very aggressive in the first half and even knocked down a three. I guess Coach was not too thrilled about it, but to me it seemed they came within the flow of the game, not just floating outside by the 3 point line. His dunk on the alley oop from Shved was nuts, it is even more impressive to see it again on the replays.

Chase Budingggggger - Dude looked like the type of player we needed last year, under control, athletic and can actually knock down an open 3!! Chase didn't get any opportunities to throw one down, but I think he will be great in this offense, especially playing with Ricky.

Shved - Crossover Panda didn't hit any of his shot attempts, but he looked very smooth and was just a bit off last night. He showed his passing and court vision last night and I think will come along slowly at first then fit right into the NBA game.  Overall I was impressed by him tonight. I will admit he is very thin,  I think his arm sleeve was baggy on him, ha!

Greg Steimsma -  my new personal favorite, he had a nice block in the first half and was out there playing tough D and rebounding.  Best part about Steimer was that he was nice enough to respond to me a couple times during pre-game warmups and halftime warmups.  Steimer prefers Sioux Falls over Fargo in case anybody was wondering! Funniest was when 3 boys at halftime were trying to get autographs and they kept yelling for Kevin.  Steimer was the only player to really respond to them, to which the boys would say, can you get Kevin to come over here? So after the game I told Steimer he is still my favorite, but can you get Kevin to come over here? Ha!

The rest - Saw Will Conroy handle the backup PG duties well, would have liked to have seem him be a bit more aggressive taking it to the hoop, but oh well.  Louis Amundson and Dante Cunningham played limited minutes in the 4th quarter, two hustle guys that help provide additional depth for the long season.  Mike Harris got a cameo and couldn't make much out of his 3-4 minutes.

Overall I thought the Wolves looked good for the first game of the year, and when the remaining players come back healthy I do think they will be in the playoffs and could make some noise. However, the NBA season is a long one and injuries can derail a season, just look back to last season. It was a great night, a great game, and of course a great man I got to share it with, thanks Dad!!!

Dag-um 'Noles

So ever since I was a kid I have always enjoyed cheering on the Florida State Seminoles. Not sure why. Maybe it was the players, maybe it was because they were good then or maybe it was the Dag-um football coach Bobby Bowden. Whatever the case is I usually find myself watching them and inevitably stubbing their toe during the season and missing out on any chance of a National Championship.  Last night was no exception.
On the road at North Carolina State in a hostile environment it happened again!! A few reasons why. When you play on the road and you are in control of the came in the first half you need to score touchdowns, not field goals!! If you are moving the ball down the field by spreading the opponent out, don't help them by going to a tight formation and trying to stuff it up the middle. This happened all night on 3rd and short! Next, after the Wolfpack got all of the games momentum after a 3rd quarter touchdown drive make sure you get some points on your next trip into the redzone! You cannot call time out in field goal range, come out and then take a sack on the next play taking you out of field goal range!!  Lastly, make a play on defense! The entire fourth quarter NCSU's QB was picking the Seminole defense apart by being patient and taking the underneath routes that they were giving him. If the linebacker is going to play too deep to stop the passes over the middle, maybe they should blitz him to bring more pressure on the QB who had all day to throw.
During the end of the 4th it looked like Florida State may escape when NCSU failed to convert on a 4th and 10.  The QB checked down to an underneath route, the replay clearly showed he had a guy deep for a touchdown on a seam route when the safety failed to cover the deep route. Florida State was saved, they could run out the clock and win the game!! Um, no! Three runs for a total of -2 yards and it was time to punt the ball back to NCSU. Only thing is, the punt was blocked!  NCSU had plenty of time to get into scoring range. Florida State did have them at 4th and 10 on their own 15 yard line, however, the tight end got position on the defender and made a difficult catch at the 3 yard line.  From there it was a few near turnovers and another 4th down. However NCSU got the right play called that left a guy wide open for the touchdown.
No miracle finish for the Seminoles this time and their National Championship hopes may have gone with it. So no matter how times change with new players and coaches the more they seem to stay the same. I mean this was the 4th time in a row Florida State has lost to NCSU when ranked. Oy!
How much longer until my Minnesota Timberwolves start their season!?!? Ha!

A loss for words

On Wednesday night we were told that Sandy's sister Barbara lost her fight with cancer. She was only 55 and had just learned she had cancer a mere 3 weeks ago.  The doctors said she had probably a year with treatment, unfortunately treatment wasn't successful. We had hoped for a miracle, we prayed for more time, but the timing is not ours, it's God's.  Maybe sometimes we only consider it a miracle if someone is saved from their sickness or injury in a blink of an eye, but what if we are looking at it backwards.  The miracle of Barbara was the time we spent together, it was her two sons, it was finding her soul-mate Daniel and spending almost 32 years together in marriage.  Or maybe the miracle is simply realizing what we had there the whole time.  I didn't spend a lot of time with my sister-in-law but I treasure their visit to see us in October and seeing them on our trip to Georgia this March.  She was always smiling and happy and treated me like family the entire time Sandy and I have been together.  She touched so many lives and will be dearly missed.  It seems so unreal that in just over 6 months we have lost my Grandmother, Sandy's Mom and now Sandy's Sister.  All three ladies do have something in common, their loving smiles, warm embraces, and simple unconditional love that each shared with friends and family, I will miss you all.

My wife shared her thoughts on the passing of her mother and sister her, please read and remember to tell those you love how much you love them WHENEVER you can.  Heaven Has 2 new Angels

My nephew made a vide to celebrate his mother, it is beautiful and I know she is so proud of him and his brother.  Barbara Moreno Slideshow

Rest In Peace Vesta Mae, Iona Frances and Barbara Ann.