Where did fall go?

One of the things I dislike most about school is how it has a way of stealing time from me. As has been the case for more than 6 years now, Fall has snuck in gone too fast. So much has happened. Let's focus on the good things for now.

Kristie and I really look forward to getting pics of the nieces and nephews, and some of my favorites are the pictures Mego and Chuck send of Reese and Quincy at the pumpkin patch every year.

Well, we aren't as cute, but we thought we'd take the camera with us to the pumpkin patch this year.

My cousin Rey got married, so we went down to the reception. Amazingly, none of the pics with either of them turned out.

Kristie, Diane, Karen, Kathy, and one Sam's kids (I think.) OH, and Greg's arms.

Scott and Grandma

Grandma, Kristie, Karen (w/ Sam's kid), Kathy, and Tami

I love my Grandma.

Chartres Cathedral vs Victoria's Secret

So I am struggling to finish up grading the last few essays of the semester when I come across the following statement.

[This was written in summarization of a discussion of French High Gothic Cathedrals]... "The portal like the interior made an attempt to become as thin and skeletal as possible. It seems as though Gothic architects tried to achieve the same things as modern day 'supermodels.' "

This is amazing to me. This is a super hard class with a no-nonsense instructor with a reputation for failing people. This alone should be reason to think twice. Worse yet, it isn't funny. I might have let a good joke slide.

Worst of all, though.... it isn't even right. Ouch.

Lacey Lou

Ok. So its been two years since I brought Lacey home, and I thought I'd post a few pics. This way mom and dad won't forget how much they love her.


This is from her first night home playing with the Toy Kristie got her.

1st haircut.

Playing with her carrot

Sleeping with her carrot

Someone peeked at the presents before Christmas last year.

Opening Presents - Take 3 (Christmas Morning)

Looking for someone to play with at the Komen K9s for the Cure race.

An Honest Fight

As long as the "must be present to win" rule is out the window, (and I haven't hear official word on that yet) I am perfectly willing to enter the race.

Today's campaign is all about soundbites. You have to get your message out quickly, and in a way that hits THE key points. Most importantly, in todays media saturated world of instant fact checking, you have to be honest.

What message do I want to communicate? Simple. Kristie and I are the ONLY ethically sound choices. Just look at the facts:

Megan has produced two kids, but one of them is Megan II. I say that's a push.

Paul gets up after everyone leaves for the day and switches out the wrappers on the Atkin's, Zone and LA weightloss bars with Kudos.

Josh's fantasy football team is much better maintained than the interior of his car.

Melinda trained a colony of bees and then sicked them on her own dog.

For her own health and safety, Hollee's skin can't come into contact with anything related to nuts. Giving her the box might be misconstrued by the an overzealous DA as an attempt on her life.

Aaron wears Abercrombie and Fitch. Please visit this link, and then come to your own conclusions about whether that is appropriate.
http://www.abercrombie.com/anf/index.html

Mark put in a tennis court so he would have a reason to wear all those white skirts he keeps in the back of his closet. (That is, when he bothers to wear anything at all.)

While mom and dad were in Colorado the DVR broke. Amy taped over the only copy of Christmas 82' so she could watch Oprah and Dr. Phil after she got home from work.

Scott and Kristie set a good example and are loyal friends to all.

A real man

I personally believe that Michael Bolton buttons his shirt all the way up every morning. Sometime during the day, though, the shirt realizes who it is on, and the top few unbutton themselves.

Snubbed Again

Well folks, I really don't know where to begin. I'm trying to put my disappointment into words, but they just aren't coming. What elese could I have done? I spent the entire year gorging myself on candy and ho-ho's thinking that it would be the master stroke that put me over the top. Well, I guess not! This morning I turn on the computer, and there it is staring back at me, "Matt Damon. People's Sexiest Man Alive"

Matt Damon?!!! I mean Matt Damon?! Come on, He's not even sexy! Ok, he might be "fit" and "trim", but sexy? Stop fooling yourselves, People Magazine? First of all everyone knows that sexy guys have stubble because they are too cool and manly to shave regularly. Second, sexy guys have, or have had, long hair. Third, you got to be a bad boy to be sexy. You got to do rebel stuff like ride a motorcycle, have a brooding personality, or read western novels. Finally, Matt Damon is an actor. When was the last time that you saw an actor and thought, "Oooh, He's sexy."? Sexy guys do stuff like carpentry, welding, or architecture. They aint in no wimpy plays.

I think I've made my point, and next year maybe they'll choose someone who's REALLY sexy.

Until then, I guess I'll have to shelve the "from the desk of... People's Sexiest Man Alive", and go back to the "From the desk of ...a stunningly handsome, yet unrecognized, superstud".

Stinky Steve

This one has been a long time coming, but I thought I'd spend a quick second to post a few pics from Steven's adoption hearing.

This is the picture we sent to Alaska to let them know that it was probably time to get the hearings over with.

Amy, Josh, Steven and Judge Walters

Kristie, Amy, Steven, Josh and Scott just after the adoption was made final.

Josh and Steven wait while Amy pays adoption fees, and gets the official papers. How do you know Steven's adopted? Well, if the other boys were there, Ty would have already stolen one of the courthouse cop's handcuffs, and Parker would be in trouble for telling him to do it.

Lamy, Josh and Stinky with their lawyer, and our friend, David J. Warner, esq. David did an awesome job getting everything setup, and trying the case. He is also quite handsome, has a stellar 14' turn-around jumper, and sings like an angel.

Its almost like he's not writhing uncontrollably in an effort to get away from me, and that sorry excuse for a goatee.

We've always felt like stinky was part of the family, and we're happy to finally have some to make it official. We feel so lucky to be a part of his big day.

We love you, Steven
Aunt Kristie and Uncle Scott

Rocktober

I figured I'd wait for Rocktober to end before posting my pictures from the recent playoff run by the Colorado Rockies. Denver as been clad in Purple and White since late september, and it has been a lot of fun. While my heart will forever belong to the green and gold, we've been going to Rockies games since we moved here, and have become fans of them too.


My school about 6 or 7 blocks from Coors Field, so decided to walk down to a rally they had in hopes of winning the tiebreaker game to get into the playoffs. There were A LOT of people there.

This is Coors Field. It is the best place I've ever been to see a game.

They had a band playing and tossing out t-shirts (one of which Kristie now sleeps in), and giving away prizes. Dinger, the Rockies mascot, is in the middle of the picture. Dinger is a adolescent purple dinosaur of questionable gender. Dinger sucks, and needs to go away forever. This is Dinger:

This is my suggestion for his/her replacement:

So, the Rockies got into the playoffs and eventually won the National League Pennant before losing in the World Series. Kristie and I were lucky enough to get tickets to the game 4 of the NL Championship Series, when they swept the D'backs. It was awesome.

Scott and Kristie during the game. The guy next to Kristie brought his own whiskey, and was very drunk. His buddy ended up pouring beer on his head during the game, and after it was over, they got into a fight. Fun Stuff all around.

The celebration when the Rockies won thier way into the series.

I took this video about 10 minutes after the final out. It was as loud a place as I've ever been.

All in all it was a fun ride, and hopefully it'll happen again next year, and the A's or Rockies will win it all.

-scott

Trinity

Last month, we got news that our close friends Mindy and Barrett Adams lost their 5 yr old daughter, Trinity, on September 16th, so we got some flights and flew out for the funeral.

We have known Trinity since just a few hours after she was born, and she went through a lot in her short life, so it was especially hard news to take, and there was a lot of crying. The funeral was really nice (one of the most light-hearted I've ever been to, or at least as far as funerals go.), and it was good to be there for Barrett and Mindy. (Mindy and Kristie were each other's Maid and Matron of honor, and have been best friends since high school. Scott has known Mindy since they were like 11, and Barrett since they were in high school.)

We spent some time with them after the funeral, and talked about Trinity. She was born with a severe heart defect called Hypo-plastic Left Heart Syndrome. I'll likely butcher the details, so go to http://www.trinadams.com/ for the details. Basically, though, it's fatal without a complicated and risky series of open heart surgeries at 3 different stages in childhood. She spent months in the hospital, and in her first two plus years, she suffered, and overcame, way more than anyone should ever have to in thier entire life. Her parents suffered right along side her, but eventually were able to see her come home and live a life outside the hospital. She spent her last 3 years learning and playing, learning to talk and dance and walk. She got to play with her cousins, go to Disneyland, Hawaii, and lots of zoos and other fun places. She never was made to feel different, unwanted, or inferior. She lived a life where everything and everyone was her friend.

We'll miss seeing her grow up, and we wish we could have been there for the happy times, but it was good to know that the helpless little baby we knew from before we moved to Colorado was able to grow into a happy little girl.

Barrett, Mindy and Trinity

Scott, Kristie, Barrett, Mindy, and Rich at Mimi's in Gilroy the day after the Funeral. Rich is Mindy's Brother, and he dedicated the grave. He also made a really nice temporary headstone.

California: Take One

We took two trips out to California in less than a month. The first trip was just a chance to get away after Scott finished Comprehensive Studio, which is the hardest class you take in Architecture school. (This is likely all you will hear about it, because there is little to nothing either of us want to remember about it. IT SUCKED).

We got to sneak away to Monterey, which we did a lot when we lived in Gilas, so it was like old times. After some tasty clam chowder at cannery row, we took a drive along the water and through Pebble Beach. We were there during the Classic Car Races, so it was super busy, and we got to see some really nice cars. At one place there were 2 Ferraris, a Rolls Royce, a couple Aston Martins, a Bugatti, 2 Bentleys, a Maybach, plus a Corvette and a Convertible Mercedes parked together in the parking lot. For those of you who don't know, thats like $6 million for 12 or so cars. Crazy. We took a pic with the camera phone, but it was sucky.

The water behind us was a really cool color that we don't remember seeing in Monterey ever before. It was almost turquoise.

Before we left, we took a few pics with Scott's parents. It was fun seeing them, Mark and Melinda's family, and Lamy and her boys. We missed Hollee, Paul and Jordan, though, because Paul was working and Hollee was stuck in Ceres.

Jimbo and Maggaroo

A little While back, Kristie's parents cam out to visit. It was fun seeing them. We took a trip downtown and over to the Denver Art Museum. Somehow we had never been there, so this was our first trip, too.

Kristie and her parents in front of the Denver Art Museum.

Jim and Scott at the bubbles exhibit.

Kristie and her dad in front of the State Capitol

Everybody in the big broom and dust bin sculpture in front of the museum.

This is the inside of the museum. Supposedly it makes some people dizzy.

Kristie and Jim outside on the what was called the "Sculpture Deck". There weren't any sculptures out here.

Here is Kristie under a giant chair with a horse on it.

My letter to Mandy Moore

Dear Mandy,

How can I improve my fantasy football team? I got beat by 45.5 points this week, and am now in 7th place. Its a td=6/ppr setup, and I need to find a W/R that will do better than Toomer(NYG) has so far. Any ideas? BTW, Crayton (dal) is taken. Also, do you think Lewis will miss more time with that ankle injury?

Scott (hoss)

Do you think she'll respond? I hope so, because I'm really tired of losing.

http://www.myspace.com/mandymoore - scroll down to comments

K-9's for the Cure

Lacey, in her pink sweater that we got her for the days when she is too cold and refuses to go outside. I know... she's covered in fur. Still, with this thing on she will go all the way out to the grass instead of peeing on the porch and running back inside. Anyway, I thought the pink was a good choice for her race pic.

This weekend is the Komen Race for the Cure in Denver.

Kristie, Lacey, and I are going to do the K-9's for the Cure race tomorrow. I'll post pics when we get them. Hopefully Lacey won't mistake "race" for "get tangled up trying to play with all the other dogs."

If you can't race this weekend, you may be in luck, since the races are held at different times in different cities. Go to http://cms.komen.org/Komen/NewsEvents/FindARace/index.htm to see what's coming up close to you. If you want to make a donation, you can do it at http://www.komendenver.org/site/PageServer?pagename=rfcd_race_k9forcure

Scroll down and click the "Donate Now" button on the right side of the page.

Wish us luck.

Florida Continued

We continue vacation photos from Florida.

This is Mr. Potatohead. He's all hands. I pressed charges.

We drove through a new urbanist community, (that's a fancy architecture term for a new development where everything is built to look extra quaint and perfect. Think Truman Show.) to see what all the hubbub was, and Kristie noticed that we drove by Wisteria Lane. (Just like in Desperate Housewives). The street had perfect little houses with perfect little lawns, and picket fences. I got Kristie to pose as the hot neighbor that moves in and obsesses over her yard, while secretly killing off people, and stealing all the other ladies' husbands.

Considering that both this place and ABC are owned by Disney, it's pretty likely that the set designers were driving through here and decided they liked the name.

Later in our vacation, we went to Kennedy Space Center. You know that one kid from your elementary school that sold the most candy/wrapping paper/ other assorted crap during the annual fundraiser. This is where he got to go. It's also where they launch the space shuttles and all the satellites. Over all, it was nerdy, but super awesome. We definitely think it is worth a day away from all the themeparks. Scott got to ride a Shuttle launch simulator on the first day it opened, and when we got back to Denver, it was on the news here. It was a VERY shaky, loud ride. It made his hearing go all wierd, and his eyes went out of focus.

Why spend 20 bucks on a green screen pic of yourselves in space when photoshop is free?

This is like the second biggest building in the world. Its so big inside that clouds form and it rains in there when its dry outside.

The rocket that they sent to the moon. When the rocket launches, you have to be like 4 miles away or the sound will make you deaf instantly. If you are within like 1.5 miles, it will kill you. Its huge. About 30 ft across and as tall as a 30 story building.

I'm sitting on a (very worn out) sign that says "please to not sit here"

Us, on top of the very windy observation deck. That is the space shuttle and all its assorted buildings and stuff between us. You can only see the tip because they're getting it ready to launch. It's only out there for a month before a launch, so were lucky to see it at all.

A closer view. The red tip is the huge fuel tank, and the shuttle itself is hidden by a massive moving clean room, where they work on the shuttle and keep all kinds of experiments that go on the trip.

These are the type of rockets that Kristie's dad, Jim, used to work on at UTC Pratt-Whitney just south of San Jose. Unfortunately, the one he used to follow here on the trains from San Jose (Titan II) was being refurbished, so we didn't get to see it.

While we were walking around, we saw this alligator, and a huge turtle (top middle).

Here is the Shuttle they let you walk inside of. The flag is backward because the shuttle is on its end when they launch it.

This is what gross pizza looks like in space.

Thanks for sticking it out.