Things

After a wonderful Christmas in Oregon with family and friends, I had to get back to work in AZ. I worked three long days right when I got back and during those days, realized how much I love and miss my family. I had a hard time of it when I got home and Kendra I think put it best, I was more sad because JR and Kate and Robin were still there having a good time and I was back at home working and what not. She was right, I don't think it would have been as hard if we all left at once, but knowing that fun is going on without you is hard to swallow.
But back to work. I was doing a small commercial job in Scottsdale, and Tim and myself went out to lunch at Jack in the Box or something, when a guy walks in with his hand gun strapped to his belt. Now I have heard that you can carry you gun on you with proper licensing or you can have it concealed with yet another license, but this was the first time I saw one. It really made me stop and think, why was this man carrying a gun with him anyways, he didn't look like a cop, unless he was on a narcotic vice squad or something. He had an unshaven face long greasy hair under a trucker hat, sleeves cut off his shirt to reveal his cubby tattooed arms, and a skinny little blond at his side. Why did he need to carry a gun? I didn't feel uneasy around him, he obviously had the proper holster and I would assume the right paperwork, it was just a strange thing to behold at a J in the B.
Last night I had the pleasure of going out to the boonies with some of Kendras old work mates to celebrate a birthday. We went to a cowboy bar called Greasewood Flat. I think this is my new favorite bar, it is all outdoors, lots of fire pits all around a dancing stage, two horseshoe pits, tons of old west wagons and stagecoaches, and a great kicked back cowboy feel. We got some food there, hung out in the bar while waiting for the food. The only covered room there is the kitchen where you wait for your food. It was a small room with people packed in waiting for their hamburger or hotdogs, I took that time to put one of my business cards on the ceiling along with the thousands of others and hundreds of dollar bills taped, tacked or gum glued to the roof. It looked like you were walking through a forest with moss hanging from all the branches, people posting from all over the world. I think it is the only bar that encourages you to vandalize it by having sharpies laid out all over the bar. I was the driver that night so I was unable to take in the spirits, but I was able to enjoy the others having fun. Even though it is a bar in the eyes of Arizona, they allow kids to be there as well, nothing like watching a father and his little girl dancing to the boot scoot boogie. Good times.
So tonight as we ring in the new year, and look back at what has passed this year, I want you all to know, I love you and miss you madly. You have made this year for Kendra and I the best yet. This year Kendra and I learned the true meaning of family and friends, thank you.
Oh and by the way, I got 10 bucks on a girl for JR and Kate.

Nick Cage

While we were in Newport we ran into this guy here, he was very nice and let us take a pic even though he wasn't looking his best. I wasn't either, maybe because we just had a wild night partying with the celebs in the OC (a.k.a. window shopping in the fashion island mall, and watching a movie until midnight).

Reagan Library

We also tried to go to the Reagan Library but this is about as close as we got, the line to get in was about 1/4 mile long, I think because they now have airforce one plane on display. Oh well maybe next time.

Newport Beach

Kendra and I went to Newport Beach on our Thanksgiving vacation, this is a photo from Balboa Island looking at Newport peninsula.

Check Out my beautiful wife's new dew

Special Ops Lt. Mark Rohl

All of that online game play as a navy seal has paid off this evening. We have(had) a mouse in our home. Traps didn't work, and this little thing had the stones to run across the room as I was sitting there watching football. I tracked it behind the fridge, pulled the fridge out and couldn't see it, but it came out of the wall where our water hook-up is for the ice maker, I told myself not to jump if it came at me, and it did. As it ran about on the wood floor, I took aim and whaaammmy, right in the head with my one pump hand gun. This is the same gun I shot James in the butt with years ago, so now it has two kills. The traps are useless, but my tommy gun isn't. whooaaah!

Movie Going & Chicken Eating

So after reading JR's take on the flick Emilytown or what ever it was, I thought to myself, I must see this movie. Fortunately Kendra was thinking the same thing when she won four tickets, and some dinner passes to Chik-fil-A (more to come on that one). So (is it us and or we and) Tracy and Brian went to see this movie. Jr hit it right on the nose, but I must add to it. The dialogue was painfully stiff and awkward. People don't interact like that, the accents were bad as JR said. The only saving grace about that movie was the final 10 min, as I am sure JR will agree. What an epic road trip and what an amazingly clever map and soundtrac to said road trip. Oh and by the way JR, she won the soundtrac as well.

Now on to Chick-Fil-A, this place is good, fast chicken food, but the thing that really knocked my socks off, Kendra can vouch for this, I was blown away. My socks came off when Kendra told me that the place is closed on Sunday because the owners are Christians and they believe that Sundays should be spent with family or at church so "why make their employees work." Are you kidding me? This is a fast food world we live in, and everyone likes chicken, and Sundays are a huge day for family's coming home from church to stop and get some fast chicken food. But they remain closed so more people can spend that day with family. Just think about it, sock blowing isn't it? And to top it all off, as I was sitting there trying to grasp this, we noticed a worship song playing over the speakers. My new favorite restaurant

Three perfect wedding accessories. Us Rohl boys have done well for ourselves eh? Don't you love how all three of them, Kate from Indiana, Kendra from Arizona, and Mom from Oregon, can span the miles and find a way to coordinate their outfits?

Hey JR, where did you get such a sweet suit, at the Mens Wherehouse?

Who knew you could have so much fun throwing jelly beans at a wedding? Can you say "hosted bar"?

Linsey, Robin, and um, wait it will, her name is, oh yeah she's Taken thats right.

Comin A Yeahhaa!

Last night my wife and I had the pleasure of seeing, in concert, a legend of the stage and screen. Neil Diamond. Thanks to Jenny and Verado Realty we got this once in a lifetime experience. I must say it was very strange, you see, Neil is 72 years of age, I was not aware of this going into the event. Even though he did sound like an old man singing, his voice was strong and it brought back memories of the 8 trac my father had in the little Toyota truck. There was no lack of blue hair in the crowd, Kendra and myself were by far the youngsters but we had fun none the less. Thanks again to Jenny for the tickets, we had a great time. And he really does say Comin A Yeahhaa!! Oh and he has a new album coming out as well, still making sweet music. What a legend!

That 70's Show

Tonight was 1970's name that tune at Main Squeeze. Kendra and I were, as you can see, dressed the part, and it showed in the final standings. Mark & Kendra 1575, Jenny & Heather 0.

Hey Dave, check out this stash!!

Asinine comments

"George Bush doesn't care about black people."
Kanye West at hurricane relief concert.

"If you are killed, you have lost a very important part of you life."
Brooke Shields

"The word 'genius' isn't applicable in football. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein."
Joe Theisman, quarterback and sports analyst

"Those who survived the San Francisco earthquake said, "Thank God, I'm still alive." But of course, those who died, their lives will never be the same."
Barbara Boxer D California

"First, it wasn't a strip bar, it was an erotic club. And second, what can I say? I'm a night owl."
Marion Barry

"It isn't pollution that is hurting our environment, it's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it"
Dan Quayle

I leave you with this deep thought, by Jack Handy
Maybe in order to understand mankind we have to look at that word itself. MANKIND. Basically, it's made up of two separate words "mank" and "ind." What do these words mean? It's a mystery and that's why so is mankind.

This is Wee Man, a few days after getting run over by a truck. He got hit, by a truck, and this is pretty much the worst of it. Freaking amazing. Can you tell by the two pictures what his favorite shirt is?

Ethan "Wee Man" Dailey

I know that I know

How do I know?

I was there. I watched a woman, hunched over in pain, make her way to the front of church with her cane to receive prayer, and then leave that same cane at the front, arms raised, head held high, WALK down the isle out of church.

How do I know? Because I was there.

I was there in Verado tonight, at Main Squeeze open mic night. Listening to the sounds of the pneumatics. I was there when a man ran in, yelling for 911, saying a kid had just been hit by a car. I was there when Ethan Dailey was laid on the sidewalk bench. I was there when his mother was on her knees weeping, when his father was by his side, telling him it would be alright. There watching the police, then the firefighters, then the ambulance, then the helicopter, come for the broken and bruised boy. I was there, driving the father to the hospital, as the mother took flight with Ethan. There talking with Josh, him: calm, peaceful, strong. "I know it's going to be alright", he says. There in the hospital emergency room with the two brothers to Christy, Kyle and Aaron, Joshs' brother Aaron, my wife and I, praying for Ethan, for healing for strength.
I was there when Christy came down to tell us the news. Broken collar bone, broken hand, fractured skull, bleeding in the brain. The nero-surgeon was on his way to look at the cat scan. I was there in the parking lot when Mel got the call from Josh, Ethan is okay, he is going to be okay. I was there when he told us the doctors where wrong about their assessment. No fracture, no bleeding, collar bone with a slight fracture, and his hand was still waiting for x-rays. There, to witness again, a miracle.

How do I know? Why do I believe? Because I have seen. Seen the broken woman asking for healing, and the broken child, in desperate need of a miracle.

I know that I know.

Hmmm a possible Kodak sponsor? Nope just a 22 year old goalie signed by the Kings from the Japan national team. Go Kings Go

New link

Okay so I added a new link here to the site. It is for some more photos, just click the "Mark's flipbook", clicking the other link, "get your own" will take you to their web page. As will clicking on the photo itself, which I think is odd, most people will want to click the photo to see it larger, but this wont take you to the photo. Only the "flipbook" link. Alrighty then, just trying to add more things, and posts will help too. See you soon, most of you.

Fun little ditty

Here is the link to my space, which is an alternative to classmates.com. Pretty sweet, check it out some pics on there too.

www.myspace.com/23482252

A tourist in my home town

Well, we went back to SB last weekend and it was
a great trip. It was all perfectly "Santa Barbara", the cool ocean breeze, warm days, beauty all around and lots of friends to see. We got in around 2am on Friday morning after a 7 hour drive from AZ. We were greeted by a very comfy air mattress, bottled water and a lovely note from our wonderful hosts, Keith & Kris. Friday we went and did all the things tourists do when they come to SB, the mission, the rose garden, the beach, State St. and Fiesta! I felt at home passing all the same stores and smelling all the familiar smells of Fiesta as we walked State St. to De La Guerra Square with the Softshare crew. The sounds of eggs cracking on heads, mariachi music in the street and horses walking the parade made me feel like a kid again growing up in SB. I think for me, smell brings back the best memories and this Fiesta didn't disappoint. It's hard to explain but its a potpourri of aromas, roasted corn drenched in butter, tri tip cooked to perfection, warm wet grass from the humid summer days and of course, the piles of horse crap from the Fiesta Parade :) I swear, I have never seen so many freaking horses in all my life, I don't know why I'm still surprised by the amount of horses in that parade but it never ceases to amaze me.

We sat on the grass with our Softshare buddies and listened to Len's last gig with the Flashbacks which was great. That brings me to another Santa Barbara standard, the incredibly "talented" drunk white people with absolutely no rhythm that come out to show off their latest moves whenever they hear a band playing. There is something very endearing about a person that is so oblivious to how ridiculous they look and it almost makes you want to get up there too because they look like they are having so much fun and couldn't care less that the whole town is watching them do the drunk chicken dance. Gotta love em.

Ahh.......Santa Barbara - great friends, delicious food, beautiful town, good times :)

All that to say, it was great to come back and be a tourist in my home town but I'm so glad that I was just that and I could come back to my new home in Arizona which I love. I would never have dreamt that I could find another place that I love as much as Santa Barbara but I have and I am so grateful for it.

-Kendra

Hells Kitchen

And I don't mean Arizona, several people can vouch for me on this one, I Mark Rohl, picked Michael to win, from day one. And I also caught a subtle hint in the pre show credits (I didn't know what to call it) when they show the contestants and Ramsie looks at them, well when Michael was on screen Ramsie was looking straight ahead, with a bit of a smirk and a nod. But I did pick Mike from the get go, next reality show, not counting the dance one, I am putting money down in Vegas, can you bet on reality ponies?

Half of the group that went to the comedy club, I know I speak for the rest of the guys when I say.......

How in the heck did we get so lucky, I mean look at these hotties!!!

David and Denise Negron, she seems to have a strange pink feather sticking in her hair, strange.

Shauntelle and her imaginary husband, we play along with her so she doesn't feel bad

This is Pastor Aaron Dailey and his wife Dana, no she is not 12

B.O.B Pano

Here is just a random panorama picture I took at the Diamondbacks Bank One Ballpark

Man Love

One of my favorite ever, check out the sweet camcorder in my hand, cutting edge I tell ya

Can this kid be any cuter?

The Yellow Huntress

A little spider I found at work the other day called the Yellow huntress, not a great pic (taken with my camera phone, also with a very shaky hand) but it was about as big as a child's (or Kendras) hand. Good times. Oh wait after further surching i found it was a Arizona wolf spider or Tonto Spider

I Love Lightning, beauty eh?

Here are a few pics from a lighning storm we had last night, might be some more tonight as well.

Bermuda Has one

And come to find out Phoenix has one too. A mysterious triangle that causes all manner of auto, plane, truck, to crash inexplicably. For example on my way home today (and yesterday, or any other day for that matter) I saw, with my own two eyes, Five auto crashes. One of which involved a big rig. But for another strange reason, no one was hurt. How in five crashes did no one get hurt? Well after very little thought I figured it out. No one was hurt because the average speed of the crash was 2.36 MPH. Because during rush hour people forget that the break lights in front of them mean that the person is A. Slowing down B. Stopping or C. Stopped. Much to difficult to figure out, their bodies spasm and right peddle becomes left peddle and whamo. But the number of cars also puzzled me. (For a nano sec). Each one in their own turn is accelerating (spazzing) faster than the one in front, causing a reverse pile up. One of the best road signs I have ever seen is one on the 51 north (yes Kate and all of Indy I just said "the" 51) it reads "Minor traffic accidents move to the side of the road if possible". Uhh okay, so does that mean if I get a flat tire I shouldn't change it in the fast lane? Oh wait that's another thing, there is no fast lane slow lane here. Which I might add includes the big rig drivers as well. As soon as the rigs cross over Dysart Ave, they fan out and race smokey and the bandit style. And not to be out done, because we live next to an Airforce base we have the bi-yearly "Military jet carrying 4 bombs..."
which, as stated, is not the first time. The new metro system is breaking ground soon, lets all hope and pray they ship the drivers in from ________ (insert good driver state here) as to insure the masses make it to work safely. JR had a post about traveling buddies, mine are any with an out of state plate on their vehicle. Here is to safe passage through the triangle.

Movie Going

Okay so Kendra myself and James Jackson (Zondas husband), went out to the movies last night. We went to see Crash (great movie, makes all of us think about how we treat each other racially. Has groups of foul language and a brief scene of the nudies, but a solid movie.), and as the movie progressed and scenes of violence or stressful situations came up the kids in the theater would act up. Yes that's right I said kids, one was complaining, very loudly I might add, that his little sister was taking all the pop corn. Another cried out when a man was getting shot, and her mother, caught up in the movie as the rest of us were, simply carried her to the isle and stood there. I am sure all the while thinking to herself that now the rest of the people could no longer hear her child's scared cries. This says nothing about the mayhem in the lobby and outside, as all of the parents in the phoenix area dropped their kids off with a 20 and kiss and told them to have a good time. That they did, I realized one could spend all night at the movies flowing in and out of the screen room exits, just so long as your friends sat in the front row and could let you in. One of my pet peeves is talking in theaters, I paid 9+9 to see the movie +7 for the soda and Hot Tamales =25 not to sit and strain to hear the soft aside monologue being had on the screen in front of me. Keep the young kids out of the R rated movies, keep your comments on the clothing style of the supporting actress to yourself for after the show, turn off you cell phone, (which is another thing, I am going to invent a device that automatically powers down cell phones at the lobby of all theaters and churches world wide, not just mutes because people still answer the vibration, but powers down. If you cant wait 2 hours without talking on the phone then your life is far too important to be spending it on such trivial matters as movies.) Sit back sip your drink, laugh cry, scream, sob, clap how ever you want to emote, just be quiet, have some respect, and enjoy the show.

Happy Birthday to you!!!

James Rohl, brother of mine happy freaking birthday. I had a strange thought the other day about my brother. I thought, "can it be possible that I have grown closer to my brother after he moved , then when I spent the past 27 years with him?" Yes, I have,. Strange but true. I have never been so proud of my brother then now. Living in a strange land, away from all that is familiar. A wife, new family, no friends to new friends. A job at a bar and grill, to an investment firm. To investing in his and his families future by going back to college. A baby on the way, to a eerie sense of, "was it all real in the first place?" To shopping the local housing market to fill with children in the future. I know that whatever life, God, and the weather, (not that they all aren't already connected), throw at my brother, he will press on. Grow and learn, and be better for it. But what is familiar is Kate, strong and sweet. Smart and goofy. Independent but trusting in the Lord and her husband. Happy birthday Goober. I am excited for you and your wife. And I hope you will be working on your golf game cause bro, you need the help!

From the hands of a true craftsman. A project started, but more importantly, finished. Well done Dad. 

Look at the blondies now. 

Life in Arizona

Well, its been exactly one month since we moved into our home and it's been filled with family, friends since the moment we walked through our door. The day after we got our keys we had 7 people staying in our house, which was awesome! Bing, Debbie, James, Kate, Robin, Linsey and my mom were all here to help us move, unpack and just be together, it was such a blessing. On Friday night Bing Mark, James, Chuck and 6 of our friends here unpacked the truck in record time. I think they pulled up at 7:00 with the truck, it was unloaded by 8:00 and we were eating a delicious home cooked meal that Debbie prepared for by 8:30. Since that weekend, the family hasn't stopped coming and we couldn't be happier. So far we have had a total of 15 people stay with us since we moved in and we currently have Zonda's husband James staying with us. We are so thrilled because James, Zonda and their 3 beautiful kids will be moving here next month! James is here job hunting and he already has several irons in the fire and he should be employed within a week. I think that brings the total to 15 adults and 15 kids and I wouldn't be suprised if the people just kept on coming. Its been pretty hilarious telling people about the caravan of folks that have moved out here. I have had people ask if we are part of a traveling troup of entertainers (I think they are inferring that we are some sort of circus show, not to far fetched I guess) all the way to, "are you some sort of religious cult"? Whatever you want to call us, we are having fun and we would love for you to come out and visit our commune any time :)

Who the heck are these blond people? 

Welcome to the Rohl Inn

As this is the first post I will make it short and sweeeeeeeet. Kendra and I have purchased a home in Goodyear Arizona. And with the help of our family and friends we are slowly making it into a home. We dont have a home phone number yet but our old cell phone numbers are still good. Our new home address is 2502 S. 156th Ave. Goodyear AZ, 85338. More sweet news to come. Thanks for wisiting. Peace out.