Etreme Makeover Home Edition

So for those of you who don't know Myself and our friend Kaipo Ramos were able to get onto the set of Extreme Makeover when they came to Fresno. I happened to stop by one evening when I got off work, I started talking with the security guard, who had a million law enforcement agency pins on his jacket. After talking with him he informed me we could still volunteer even though they said they were full, we were told it would be a first come first serve basis. So I got a hold of some Probation pins and a couple agency patches, as a just in case we didn't get picked to help. Luckily a group of people no showed so we were able to go work. We helped move stuff in and out of the house and garage, but mostly we sat around waiting to hopefully see the stars, or even have the chance to do a little work. We had fun and we even got to sneak a peek at the inside of the house.

Since we had some time to wonder, I saw the security guard I talked to the night before and gave him the lapel pin and a patch from probation since I had them. So when we left that night we were excited and thought we would get our blue shirt they were out of and try and volunteer again the next night. Unfortunately they didn't need any help. It was the night before the viewing so I went to the site and saw the security guard I had given the patch to, he told me to put my blue shirt on and hang out. So I did, and I was able to see and help put a lot of stuff in the house. Most of the furniture was already in, but we helped put in the million picture frames, candles, pillows, oh yea the XBOX 360, PS3, and tons of other goodies. Its amazing what they do, the refrigerator was packed so full there was literally no space left in it everything was wedged in there, the same with the cupboards and pantry. I was afraid to use a camera inside so I tried to snaps some pictures with my phone.

The Coolest Tree.

So while we were driving home from snowboarding, I saw this tree that caught my attention. Usually I drive by stuff like this and say next time I'm driving by I might take a picture of that, but since I have been saying that to myself since I was in high school photography I decided this time I would turn the car around. So Chad and I squeezed through the barbed wire fence and snapped a few pictures of this tree.

It looks as though the tree was damaged and fell when it was young, It then continued to grow and turn into this awesome formed arch.

Cabin Update

Since I was up snowboarding I thought I would drive by and check out and see what the snow conditions were like at the cabin. So for those of us that are going up soon you might get a little excited, well that is if you are like me and love the snow, here are some shots from today. Remember this is just from last week! Its supposed to snow 5 days next week, and I am crossing my fingers it snow's while we are up there, it makes the stay up there so much fun when it snows.

Just Look at all that SNOW!

Winter is here!

Well with this last week and all the raining in Fresno there has been plenty of snowing up in the mountains. Since I don't live a normal life anymore I have tried the last couple weeks to take advantage of the beautiful days and go up snowboarding. Just over the last week sierra summit has received over 8 feet of new snow, it made for a great day of snowboarding. I have to say when I got off work yesterday I thought my brother chad was going to stand me up at the last minute like last week, but I was surprisingly shocked when he said he would go. We did get a little late start, but after riding in soo much powder my legs were cramping at 3 o'clock. So we headed down the hill and made it home in time to make Breakfast Burritos for dinner, Evans new favorite meal.













Huntington Lake completely iced over.













So much snow a SNOW CAT got stuck when the the snow compacted under it.

Lukies Fat Lip at Disney Land

So I was looking through our Disney pictures I took on our recent trip to Disney Land. I have to say I was a little disappointed with the lighting on a lot of them but I cam across some pictures I took of luke. I had to laugh because he looked so pathetic, yet the he is so cute I hate having to leave him when I go to work in the afternoon. Here are a few pictures that I can't get enough of.

This is actually Evan

Mustang Update

Ok so the other day I went over to see the mustang. I keep seeing more and more work being done. I only hope it will be done soon. Most of the body parts are on now, they just need to be fitted a little better. As you can see in the photo's the hood and finders just got put on, so they need a little work and primer. The doors are on, so its just the valences and a few other little pieces and were ready for paint hopefully.

Luke, woobie, Binkie, and Muscle car

Mustang with fenders, doors, and hood.

Lukies New Bed

In a way I think I jinxed myself, the other day one of my co-workers was telling me how his little baby girl had a little fall. She was crawling on the car sear and it rolled forward and she fell off. Being their first child any fall is a big one. I teased him telling him stories of our first two kids and how with Jordyn we pan iced every time something happened, and how with Evan we relaxed because even to this day he always has a new bump or scrape of some sort. Now lukie has been quite the dare devil in many ways, but has yet to have any big falls. Climbing the couch, standing on the edge of our bed, standing on any chair he can get on. Stef even told me one night she found Luke sitting Indian style on the dinning table eating some apple slices he hadn't finished earlier. So I told my co-worker what Dr. Jones told us when Jordyn took her first spill, "Kids are built to fall and be OK". Well no more than two days later on new years morning stef and I are trying to sleep in and we hear Luke just as we do every morning. MAMA!, but this time we hear a THUNK! followed by severe crying. I jumped out of bed (stef didn't know I could fly) and saw Luke laying on the floor outside his crib. (luckily he didn't land on any of his toys, since chrism as is all over his and Evans room.) I pick him up try to calm him down, but he continues to scream. I give him his Binky and lay him in our bed and he appears pale and his eyes begin to flutter as he looks like he is gonna fall asleep. Stef calls 911 and I try and keep him from falling asleep. I touch near his neck and collar bone and he scree ms. At this point we are both freaking out. I try to see if he will stand up on his own when I notice his left arm looks limp. I lift his arm up in the air and let go and it falls to his side limp with no resistance. Within five minutes 3 Clovis PD officers show up to the house followed by three Clovis Fire Fighters, then the Paramedics show up. At this point the officers have taken turns looking at the kids room and our house that is still undergoing Christmas cleanup. A very young and cocky paramedic feels up and down Luke's extremities and tells me he's fine and that we basically are over reacting. So he basically told us the would take us to the hospital if we wanted them to, but he felt it was unnecessary. (Clovis PD still hanging out listening to everything going on.)
We didn't go for the ride, and we hung out in the living room as we let Luke calm down. We knew he was OK when he began fighting with Evan over his bouncy chair. We were still worried given the symptoms that went unanswered, so today we took Luke in to see his pediatrician and she gave Luke a clean bill of health, or she said no broken bones.
So now Luke has a new bed to sleep in, and no more crib.

Luke asleep in his new bed.

Two Cities Marathon

Ha ha ya right would I could I run in a marathon. For those of you who don't know I used to work at Eye Q and while working there I had the opportunity to help out with what used to be the Trail of Two Cities half Marathon. In years past I was well compensated for my time, this year with my new job I wasn't compensated for my hours I put in. I still had a blast, and found a different way to make some money on the whole deal. The CFO of Eye Q asked me to create a rack system to hang their medals on. So I designed and fabricated a couple of steel racks for the volunteers to hang the medals on. He was very impressed and wants me to make a couple more since he plans on double the participants next year. He also asked me last minute if I knew of a way to hang the Finnish line banner over the Finnish line. His original plan was to use rope and hope it didn't sag too much. I told him I would try and create something last minute, so I went to the steel yard and was able to create two 30 foot long steel beams to hang the banner on. Its nothing too hard to do if you know how to weld and have all the tools, lucky for me I do. Everyone was pleased with the way it turned out and also commented on how great the Finnish line looked. Next year I have to add a time clock. Finnish Line. That part hanging was fixed after this picture was taken.

Rack with the Medals on it.

Mustang Update

Well its been a few months and the mustang is still in the body shop. It does have a fresh coat of primer on it and the body is pretty straight. Well as far as I can see. Every time I see it its stuck in a corner and there are other cars being worked on. I do see a little progress every time I see it. I hope it will be done soon, but I don't see it happening before Christmas or New Years.

Yes it seems the trunk is getting used.

Evan's new Adventure

For those of you who don't know already Evan has taken up Tykwondo. The idea is to help give Evan a little more discipline, and hopefully keep him busy. Since I am the one who has to take Evan everywhere I go, to give mommy a break from her first born son, I get to take him every Saturday to Tykwondo. The first day I took Evan I was afraid he would have a tough time learning and paying attention to the instructors. I was wrong, since he has began Evan has done great. I have noticed that he doesn't mix up his left and right as much, and I may be wrong, but I think he is doing somewhat better in school too.

The Other day I was able to work the morning shift so I could have Friday evening off. We all went to see Evan participate in his first Belt advancement. I knew this would be a big deal for Evan so I was ready to call in sick if I had to. Evan was pretty excited, he kept asking if it was time to go to. Evan had quite the crowd to see him show off his newly acquired skills. He did great he remembered all his blocks, punches, steps, and kicks. The best part of the whole night was Evan demonstrated to everyone that he can break a board, and he broke it the first try. So now Evan is not just a white belt anymore, he is a yellow stripe.

CONGRATULATIONS EVAN!!

Evans New pads.

Luke trying out Evans Pads!

Evan and Master Thackery

Evan breaking his board.

Evan getting his yellow stripe.