Animator vs Animation

Animator vs. Animation by *alanbecker on deviantART

TOMS

I just read about this shoe designer named Blake Mycoskie on the Design Mom blog and I thought I would pass it on. This guys mission is to give shoes to needy children in the world so for every pair of shoes you buy he donates a pair in your name to a needy child. I think the kids pairs, tiny Toms, are really cute. I can't wait to order them when they are back in stock. You can check out his website here.

Brad can NEVER tell the Reese's Pieces story again!

So, way back before kids, marriage and engagement and into the dreaded land of dating when everything you do is scrutinized by your possibly partner to be something happened that Brad will never let go. It took place at Utah State University on the first floor of the sci tech library. This was not our usual spot to study but the library was busy and our spot was taken so we resorted to the first floor at the little cubicle desks. I was sitting by the window and Brad was at the desk next to me. While we were crunching for finals I was also crunching on something else. In my hoodie pocket was a bag of Reese's Pieces and for some reason I didn't share them with Brad. To be honest I don't remember why, be it that I only had a few left or that I just didn't think about offering him some but when Brad noticed he was dismayed. "What are you eating?" he said "oh, nothing just some reese's piec...." I tried to answer as he ripped the bag out of my hands with a look of disgust. "and you didn't share them with me?" Then silence. Yes, I got the silence treatment because I did not share my Reece's pieces. I don't know why I didn't say the words "would you like some Reese's Pieces?" because those simples words could have saved me from 7 years of dismay and hearing this story every time he gets a chance. Many of you have probably heard it, multiple time quite possibly. Who would have known this was such a horrible thing in they eyes of Brad Terry...
Well, something happened in the Terry household last night that trumped the Reese's pieces story. It took 7 years for this event to take place but now, finally, Brad can never tell this story again. To preface, one of our favorite foods is guacamole, we love to make it together and eat it TOGETHER. You just can't make a bowl of it with out sharing it, but last night Brad did. He secretly chopped up the onion and garlic, cut open an avocado, chopped some tomato and made guacamole behind my back and ate it ALL without me! Later, when I noticed the avocado peel in the trash and the used cutting board in the sink and half the bag of chips gone I could not believe it. As much as it hurt, the only thing making it feel a little bit better is the fact that...

HE CAN NEVER TELL THE REESE'S PIECES STORY AGAIN!!!

My Framing Shop is Finished! (almost)

I am waiting on a working glass cutter (multi-material cutter to be more precise) and some business forms and then I am totally up and running! However, right now I can do most everything and I have completed three frames for some friends. I am waiting to get my glass cutter and then I am doing my friends dental office which I am going to use to make a portfolio and then get some other big corporate jobs which is where the big money is in the framing business. So some people have asked me for pictures of my frame shop. So here are some before and after pictures. I had my neighbor, Brent Matthews, build a couple work tables and mat and glass storage containers. They all turned out great and I love working in my shop. I am really excited to see where this all goes.

BEFORE (just a boring old third car garage stall)-

AFTER!!

BEFORE- (this is the angle standing at the garage door)

AFTER-

Where that piece of plywood is hanging on the wall is where my glass cutter (see it laying on the floor) should be mounted. After three hours of installation and squaring it was not working. After three weeks of phone calls and testing I finally proved to the company that the problem was the machine and not how we mounted it. They are sending out a new one next week. You can also see some of my molding samples. I have over 350 moldings to choose from with some more coming soon. The other pieces of equipment you can see in the picture are my mat cutter (on the table) my underpinner (which joins the frame and it is on the left of the table in the 1st picture and behind the table in the 2nd), my mounting press (on the back table), and my chopper (the green one that cuts my molding to size). The chopper is EXTREMELY sharp and I have already cut myself on it twice. I really hope I can start being careful because I have been lucky so far only loosing a nail and getting a small cut but it could seriously chop a finger or fingers off very easily. Don't worry, knowing how dangerous it is I always keep it in the locked position when I am not using it so my kids won't cut themselves on it.
Now, if anyone needs some framing done, you know where to go!

Letter Boxing

For family night our friends invited us to go letterboxing with them. For those of you who have never done it, you really should! People hide a box with a rubber stamp and a little note book in it somewhere and then make up clues how to find it. There are different degree's of difficulty for all ages. You can go online and find them everywhere. Then we had a notebook of our own and a stamp. When we found a letter box we would stamp their notebook with our stamp and sign and date it and then we would stamp our notebook with their stamp. The kids had a lot of fun doing it. After going to three of them we finished the night off with ice cream. What a great family night, Thanks Pilling's for inviting us!

The first letterbox just happened to be about 200 meters from our house at at soccer field behind a shed. Here is Brad and Elizabeth helping the kids with the stamps.

Nikki about to put the box back where we found it. It was under this concrete pad with a rock on top of it.

Unfortunately we couldn't find the second letterbox. It was supposed to be buried at the heart of this tree. We searched and searched with no avail. Oh well!

One cool couple. Elizabeth is going to have a baby in one week! Doesn't she look great?

Wade teasing the kids pretending to eat a bug. I just love Max's (another friends little boy who came with us) face!

Off to the next letterbox! Actually I forgot to take pictures of the next one. It was hidden in a retaining wall with TONS of spider webs all over it. I was trying to be tough as we were handling it but then I saw a HUGE spider next to my finger. I freaked out. So if you don't mind spiders and the chance of not finding the box you will have a great time!

Poll Results

47% of voters answered correctly to the poll. Brad has lost 25 lbs since January just from biking!

Ayden is in preschool!

Ayden started preschool this week. I am doing a co-op with some other moms. We have five kids and I think it is going to work out really well. Ayden loves it. The first day she was so excited. She has it from 1-3 so it was torture for her to wait all morning. The first teacher was my friend Kim and she is a photographer so she took pictures of all the kids on their first day.

Jonny, Ashton, Ayden, Cassi and Olivia doing the Pledge of Allegiance.

When I picked Ayden up and asked her how preschool went. She said "good, but I cried because I didn't win the race." So I guess this is a picture of the race she didn't win. Kim said she was really upset that Cassi and Olivia touched Kim's hands first. Oh boy, I guess with two competitive parents I shouldn't be too surprised she is competitive too. Poor Ashton, it looks like she is pushing him back! That she gets from her dad!Painting her "A"

Today was her second day of preschool and when I told her it was time to go she said "Mom, can I walk down all by myself?" Since Kim only lives three doors down I said ok. She was so excited about it. She said "I can? Yeah!" as she was jumping up and down. She did say I could stand on the side walk and watch her so the whole time she was running down she kept turning around saying "bye Mom, I love you!" Kim said that when she got there she couldn't stop talking about how she got to walk down all by herself.
I just can't believe she is getting so big.

Ayden is dressing herself nowdays and nothing I do can change how she wants to dress. It is fine with me but sometimes it can be a little embarrasing. Going to preschool her outfit wasn't bad, just the shoes didn't really match. This morning, however, when I went to the gym she was also wearing a white sock on one foot and a pink sock on the other, that was a bit embarrassing.

"Bye, Ayden, I love you!!"

See pictures in link below and take the poll

How much weight has Brad lost since New Years Eve?
	5 lbs
	10 lbs
	25 lbs
	I think he is actually fatter
pollcode.com free polls

What Biking Did to Me

I just wanted to point out that in training for LOTOJA I have changed.

Brad before cycling and Brad after cycling. You tell me if you see the difference.

LOTOJA weekend. GO BRAD!!!

(Be prepared, this will be one LONG blog entry)

Brad did the LOTOJA this weekend which is a road bike race from Logan, Utah to Teton Village in Jackson Hole, Wyoming (hence the name Lo-to-Ja Lo(logan) to Ja (Jackson)). It was 206 grueling miles with many climbs through mountain passes and smaller descents since it ended at a much higher elevation then it started. Despite a bad crash at 150 miles into the race (somewhere between Afton and Alpine Wyoming) and being alone most of the race since his team totally split up Brad finished in 11:27 placing 615th out of 1420 riders and that includes the relay teams (people who only road 35-50 miles of it). Out of his group of 45 riders with whom he was competing he finished 20th. About 220 people did not finish at all. Brad could very well have been one of those 220 people because of his crash but he did not let it stop him. (click here to see results) I honestly cannot tell you how proud I am of Brad. For Brad, who has only owned a road bike for 9 months, to complete such an amazing task is unbelievable to me. It was an emotional thing for both of us and I am really glad he did it and I am very grateful he survived it!

Our weekend started on friday when we drove to Logan and stayed the night with the Egans, who are some good friends of ours from who still live in Logan. I honestly think it was my friendship with Hayley that got me through the hard times of having your first baby (especially a colicky one). Hayley and I met in a class at USU and one day she said, "Guess what, I am pregnant!" and I said, "Me too!" It turned out we had the same due date and the same doctor. We took a Lamaze class together and she delivered her baby boy, Will, exactly one week (to the hour) before I delivered Ayden. Will and Ayden were the same size! Along with all of that, both our husbands were engineers who were born and raised in Idaho and served missions in Brazil. It was really crazy all the similarities. Hayley and I were really fun and spontaneous together which I believe helped us through our transition to motherhood.

Here we are at Calaways in Smithfield (North of Logan). Hayley is on the left (obviously) with her little boy Drew (21 months) and then Ayden and Will further down the bench.
My mom and dad met us at dinner in Logan. Ayden and Alex were both VERY excited to see them!

Grandma and Grandpa with the girls. (sorry mom and dad, I caught you making funny faces in all the pictures!)

Drew and Alex riding bikes outside Hayley's house.

Hayley and I in front of her beautiful house that they just finished building themselves! It was so nice to see them and spend time with them. Thanks for letting us stay at your house and for your great hospitality!

The next morning Brad, my Dad (who drove Brad's support car) and I got up at 5:15 am and started getting ready for the race. I made Brad pancakes and then we headed off to the start of the race. Here is a very nervous Brad getting ready to go.

One of Brads best friends, Justin Mitchell, did the LOTOJA for his fifth time. They met up for a quick hello before their take off.

Brad was really nervous but took some time to make a silly face. That is my dad next to him on the left and some of his team mates on the right. My dad drove Brad's support car and met Brad at designated feed zones where he made Brad PB & honey sandwhiches and perpared water bottles. He also had extra bike tubes, Co2 cartiges, clothing, etc. It was really nice of my Dad to do that for him and it was a huge relief to me knowing that someone was just in charge of making sure Brad was taken care of. I should mention that my dad brought a book and a pillow for downtime which never occured. The support crews were pushed to their limit to get to the designated feed zones, fighting insane traffic and bad road conditions at times.

This is the whole team. Well, they were supposed to be a team but as I mentioned before, they all split up. Brad was able to ride with various people throughout the course.

Mike, Jeff, Jeff, Shane and Brad.

Brad took off at 7:20 a.m. and the girls and my mom and I left for Jackson at about 11:00. We took it slow and went the scenic route up through bear lake. Here we are having lunch in bear lake.

Ayden really wanted to take this picture of her on the rock with my mom. I can't tell you what a life saver it was for my mom to come with me. She kept the girls extremely entertained for the whole 7 hours in the car. She made a "grandma bag" with a new book for each of the girls and activity books with crayons and lots of treats. The girls loved it and we never had to resort to the dvd player! Thanks mom, it was fun to ride along with you and you were a life saver!

After we left Bear Lake we headed to Afton, WY where we were lucky to meet up with Brad on the road and cheer him on. We passed him and cheered and then we pulled over and got out and cheered for him and then drove passed him again cheering all the way. It was so fun to see him and he said he would choke up every time he saw us. What a man!

Here they come...

...and there they go.
They were riding so fast by the time my camera was ready for another picture they were gone.

My dad took this picture at the second supported stop.
Here is a shot from the car.
We stopped and waited at the next feed zone to refill brads food and water and as he pulled up we saw his arm! Apparently a guy in front of him put his brakes on and swerved in front of Brad causing Brad to crash into him. Brad flew into the gravel (which probably saved him) and the other guy flew onto the road. Although shaken up, after doing body part inventory Brad realized that besides a cut up arm, roadrashed thigh and a sore ankle he was fine so he got back on his bike and took off (after making sure the other guy got some help of course).

Alex was in a great mood while we were waiting for Brad at the finish line. Here she is playing peek a boo.

A cute shot of my parents with the Teton's behind them.

Grandma and Grandpa with the girls at the finish line.

Alex and I.

And here comes Brad! He was going way faster then most people were at the finish. He sped by us super fast but took a second to wave. It was so exciting to see him finish, all my worries were gone and I was filled with pride.

Immediately after the race the girls were so excited to see him and he still had enough energy to hold both of them! Again, what a man! Can you believe he is all smiles?

Here is the whole team. brad really couldn't have done it with out the support of my parents, the girls and I.If you look closely in this picture on the left side of Brads helmet is a rock that is still stuck in it from his fall. He said that for a couple of miles after his crash rocks kept falling out.

My parents treated us to a cabin at cowboy village the night after the race. It was nice to have a comfortable place to stay after such a long day (for all of us). The next morning we ate at my dad's favorite breakfeast joint, Bubba's and we went to the square and enjoyed some yummy food there as well. WE also went to the urgent care to take care of Brad's arm. Because we waited 20 hours to do something they decided that stitches would be a bad option so they scrubbed it really well (Brad said this felt great), bandaged it up with a nice pink bandage and gave him a tetnus shot.

Well, good job Brad and good job to the rest of his team as well and to anyone else who did it! That is the most unbelievable thing I have ever seen and you have to be one (or have one) tough A** to do it!