Thursday, October 25, 2007

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.

Monday, October 22, 2007

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.

Monday, October 15, 2007

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

Friday, October 05, 2007

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.

Thursday, October 04, 2007

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.

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Stuff you should know about stuff that is awesome.

We had a 187 at the 7-11, at the corner of 4th and Main." Ok. This is the first in a series of entries about stuff. Awesome stuff. Our initial subject:

COP ROCK!

What's to know about Cop Rock?
a. aired in 1990. Lives on in my soul.
b. filmed in the same town as Savannah Smiles
c. gritty crime drama
d. singing and dancing