Happy 2nd Birthday Ryker

Ryker is my sister Kellee's middle child...and he turned 2 this week...Here is a slide show of his birthday party. Happy birthday buddy we love you!!

Hannah's Gymnastics Festival 2009

Here is a video and pictures of Hannah's gymnastics festival 2009. She is getting ready to compete in a couple years. She is still a little nervous about competing so we have put it off for a year or two, which is fine by us and our wallets. She is getting really good about doing the tricks independently. We are so proud of her!!




Floor routine

Jan and Tresa's Valentine Wedding in Denver, CO

We went down to Colorado over Valentines weekend to see Dan's brother get married. It was such a beautiful ceremony. I have never been in a catholic church before and I must admit it brought tears to my eyes. I made sure Dan didn't want our marriage to be in the church like his brothers. It was an amazing experience. The night before the wedding all the adults split up and went out. The women went to the Brown Palace to eat and have drinks. The food was so yummy...very $$ but well worth it. Elizabeth and I met up with the guys for a little dancing. The next day was the wedding at the Church of the Holy Ghost. And all though I felt a little out of place, I could feel the wonderful feeling of the church that I have never felt in a church before. After the wedding it was off to an Italian restaraunt calle Maggiano's for food and dancing. It was fun being all dressed up and having dinner and dancing on Valentines day. We took Hannah and my niece Kelsie along to help babysit Chloe. They did an great job and had a fun time dancing at the wedding. We took the girls shopping down tow Denver on the 6th street mall. We stayed with our friend KoKo who is the best host ever and should open a B&B cause she could make a fortune. It was great seeing everyone in Denver and I can't wait for our wedding when we can all get together again.

Invisiable Tree House...way cool!!

It is an old architectural trick used since the invention of mirrored glass: covering buildings with the reflective material and declaring that they blend in with the surroundings. Most architects use it to convince wary citizens that it is OK if their building is tall because it will reflect the sky and nature. The rendering always makes the building disappear, and the reality is always a big clunky mirrored box.

But a mirrored box can be elegant, too, such as this treehouse by Swedish firm Tham & Videgard Hansson Arkitekter. TreeHugger loves treehouses (see our roundup of them here) when they are designed to minimize impact on the surrounding landscape. And in this case, it looks like the architects have pulled it off successfully.

Images used with permission of the architects


section through unit

unit plans

Designboom says that it is a hotel unit that includes a kitchen, sleeping area, living area and a terrace.

DVICE notes that "There doesn't appear to be a bathroom or a ladder. That could make for a, um, rather uncomfortable night, at least for guests of the female variety."

More information on the website of Tham & Videgard Hansson Arkitekter Warning: slow flash that takes over your monitor

Never Thought it Would Happen

On Thursday my son Preston and I were arguing the importance of wearing a helmet when he is riding around the streets of Sandy. I argued that is was not him I didn't trust it was other people who are pre-occupied with cell phone and other stuff while driving. Driver don't pay attention and I don't trust people anymore behind the wheel. After my best friend had to have brain surgery after hitting her head on the ground when she fell of her bike, the whole helmet thing has been a big issue for me. And my kids think it is so un-cool to wear their helmets. Well yesterday Preston takes off with his friend on their bikes to go around the city. I don't mind it as long as they stay in Sandy. Its better than staying inside playing video games. Well we had tickets to a movie at five so I called Preston around 3:30 to see if he was on his way home. He then tells me that he has just been hit by a car!! Preston is a real kidder so I didn't believe him. I was like "Preston you need to get home now!" He says "I can't my bike is smashed". Then I hear sirens and police in the back ground. And I was like "WHERE ARE YOU!" He tells me that he is down the street and the cops need me to come down. He was talking to me on the phone while he was on the ground. Apparently he was crossing a rode in between two neighborhood blocks. A lady was pulling out of the neighborhood and saw him but panicked and sped up. She meant to put on the break but pushed the gas even more. Luckily he was standing up on his bike when this happened. This caused him to go up over the hood as his bike went under her tire (just writing that again makes me cringe). His bike is so smashed as you see in the pictures. And luckily his ankel is the only thing that got hurt. He is so lucky since he wasn't wearing a helmet. The police and paramedics couldn't beleive he got up right after. And his best friend that saw it happen thought he was dead. When I finally got to the scene and saw all police cars and ambulence I freaked out. I jumped out of the car and hugged him so tight. It took me awhile to realize what had happened and that he was all right. He and I both were kinda in a daze the rest of the night trying not to think of what might have happened. He felt well enough that we made it to our movie and today he is a little sore. But all-in-all he is OK. And his helmet is his new favorite accesory. I am hugging him more today!!

Hannah's Family Party

This is a slide show of Hannah's family party we had at our house 1/30/09! Hannah's real birthday. She was actually home sick this day. We weren't quite sure what she had. But she still wanted to have her part. So I made 3 trays of her favorite food (lasagna) and got her her giant cookie cake. Everyone made it over this time. Despite being allergic to our cats and living an hour away Mike and Mandi made it down for the party and we were so happy they came. Hannah got her first cell phone. And lots of cloLoading…thes.

An emotional week of mayham

What an emotional week it has been for me. I don't know why so much happened in one week. It started out over the weekend when my ex-husband and I finally came to a new agreement. Because of his new marriage and the fact that she has four kids, my child support payment have been few and in between, which means cutting back for us. The biggest thing that my ex and I fight about is them not wanting to go over there and him freaking out about it making the kids feel bad. But it is like a crazy house over there and sometimes they just want to stay home. Granted there are days that they want to go over there when it is not suppose to be his day. He was just so set on this "stipulation agreement" stated in our divorce decree. I myself like the fact that we live so close(yes I actually do) because the kids can just go back and forth as they please. So anyway, I proposed to him that I will no longer expect child support as long as he does not expect me to go off the visitation agreement stated in our decree. Without hesitation he said "OK thats awesome!" I was like...oh my hell it is all about money for him. But inside I was jumping for joy not having to worry about splitting holidays and spending a month away from them in the summer. This also meant that Dan and I had to figure out a new monthly budget with me not working and trying to finish school. This stirred up some emotions because we have kept things so seperate for so long, he doesn't really get what it takes to raise kids. So over the budget we go and finally decide if we are doing this marriage thing we have to combine accounts. Then onto the marriage subject we go. All this time in my heart I think I was set on getting married in Hawaii. But men do not get our subtle hints women. Unless we come right out and say what we mean...they will not get it. Dan has planned for us to go to Mexico and get married because he will already be down there for his bachelor party. So convenient. Thats men for you though right? So I am trying to let it go and think of the big picture and get some names of some resorts and beached down there so we can save some money on the wedding. I also am going to suggest dince I really don't want a bachloerette party that my sisters and I get a day at the spa before I fly down to meet him after his night of partying with the guys. So then thursday night Hannah shows me these strange rashes on her arms that I have never seen before. I usually know exactly what my kids have when they are sick but I didn't know what these were. So I send her to bed saying we will see if they go away in the morning. They were gone in the morning so I send her off to school and I am off for the day as well. I am sitting in my last class, the one that the teacher does not like cell phones on or texting, and my phone is vibrating like crazy in my back pack. So I finally take it out and look at it. Two calls from school, one from Amanda, and one from my mom as well as a text from her saying she is taking Hannah home. So I leave class and call my mom. She tells me that Hannah is sick and was really disoriented with a bad headache. So I call the doctor and they tell me to come in right away. I was clear up on campus and I still had to go get Chole. So I am running all over the place driving really fast on the freeway wondering why all these cars are drivning so slow. I finally get her and take her to the doctor. They are testing her for everything. And finally because of the symptoms of her headache and sensitivity to the light they check for neck and back stiffness. No stiffness. The doctor tells me to watch for signs of meningitis. WHAT!! I was freaking out not wanting to take her home. But I didn't think having a spinal tap without the major symptom of it was plausable either. SO I take her home, stick her in the bath and give her some ibruprofin which seemed to help. I was checking her neck every ten minutes though. I also got on facebook and was asking my child hood friend who is now a doctor what her oppinion was(thanks Jen). Well this morning she seemed to be feeling a little better. And just in time because its her birthday. But the fact that her presents are on the table and she is still in bed concerncs me still. She will be staying in bed on her birthday. And hopefully everything eles gets better on its own. I hopefully next week will be normal.