I never put shoes on Colby, I think because I don't like shoes- it must mean he won't either. :) But... I found these for 3 bucks so I decided to start letting him wear shoes. Here he is diggin' his new tennies.

Posted in: 2008, colby on Sunday, November 16, 2008 at 7 comments  

We were standing on our ward's main corner, holding signs, letting all the cars now where we stand and reminding them to vote Yes on Prop 8. Normally the Yes crowd has 3 corners and a couple No voters stand on a different corner- tonight we stood at the same corner. Everything was going normal, people are either happy and give a thumbs up, honking like crazy for us or they give a different finger and drive by saying mean things. No big deal, we are used to this. Darrin decides to go stand on another corner with others waving signs while I stayed on the main corner with Colby. On the main corner there is about 20 Yes sign holders and about 8 No sign holders. The Yes sign holders are spread out on all sides of the corner and the No sign holders are in the middle. Yes, it is uncomfortable to be a few feet away from someone who has a different view but everyone is as respectful as they can be.


About an hour into this, a guy shows up late 20's and starts swearing up a storm. He is using the f bomb in so many ways I didn't know what to think of him. He comes up and starts to shove some of the Yes signs out of peoples hands and rips others up. Next, he goes to the No's and starts cussing them out and while doing that he shoves one of the No sign holders so hard that this kid falls backwards on to his back. We are standing on concrete, it looked like it really hurt. Now everyone is dumbfounded are starting to get really scared. All of the guys are trying to tell this guy to calm down, while doing this he shoves one of the Yes guys into the street where cars were driving. Luckily no cars hit him, they all slammed on their breaks. The guy who shoved him looked like he was going to kick him and than a whole bunch of guys were grabbing at this guy and trying to hold him back. Luckily no one was hurt! Everyone was so confused by this guy; he didn't even have a specific side he was upset with. After this happened we were waiting on the police to get down here and figure all of this out while the guys were watching this guy so he doesn't get away. While all eyes were on this guy Darrin ran over and saw the drunk guy's friend back in the background with a switchblade, and kept flashing it like deciding if he was going to use it. Darrin seemed to be the only person who saw the knife so he kept an eye on him until the police showed up. The police took a while to show up so when they got there the cops went for the drunk guy first. Darrin saw the guy with the knife start walking away so he grabbed one of the officers and they ran after him. Once they caught up to him he threw the guy on the ground and started to cuff him. It turns out that the guy must have hid the knife somewhere so the cops could not find it. The cops then took the two guys away and we eventually went home. It turned out to be one of the scariest things ever. Crazy! Even though this was the craziest thing I have ever witnessed I'm thankful that it didn't get so out of hand that someone got hurt. I am glad everyone was okay! All I can say is ONE more day!

Posted in: 2008, darrin, riss on Monday, November 3, 2008 at 8 comments  

Colby has the best seat in the house!

Posted in: 2008, colby, darrin on Thursday, October 30, 2008 at 2 comments  

Here is an article we received on Monday written by Frank Schubert. He is the Campaign Manager for Yes on 8.

"Gay activists held a fundraiser on Tuesday night at billionaire liberal Ron Burkle's mansion in Beverly Hills where they raised an astonishing $3.9 million. Even as guests were being entertained by Barbra Streisand, Melissa Etheridge and Mary J. Blige, No on 8 operatives were busy launching a sneak attack on the institution of marriage. They began dumping $3 million into television commercials this week alone. That is on top of the nearly $4 million in air time they already had purchased for this week, meaning they are spending an unbelievable $7 million on air time this week alone!

In the middle of the night last night, they began airing a new commercial featuring liberal Democrat Jack O'Connell, the California Superintendent of Public Instruction, designed to trick voters into thinking that gay marriage won't be taught in California public schools. The No on 8 campaign realizes that this is their Achilles heel, and they are going to say and do whatever
they need to in order to confuse and trick voters.

O'Connell slyly but shamelessly misrepresents the law, saying that California does not "require" that anything about marriage be taught in public schools. What he doesn't say is that his own Department of Education reports that 96% of schools DO TEACH the courses that include marriage. The Supreme Court's legalization of gay marriage unquestionably means that young children will be exposed to gay marriage in school, just as they are in Massachusetts."



After receiving this email we realized that our campaign needed more help. Thanks to a great family and awesome friends -WE DID IT! Our Campaign was able to exceed their goal of much needed donations. The money is being used to pay for commercials this week. Thanks everyone for making this possible!!!

Posted in: 2008, darrin, riss on Wednesday, October 29, 2008 at 2 comments  

One week until the upcoming 2008 election. The biggest concern for us Californians is Prop 8. Voting YES on Prop 8 restores and protects a traditional marriage between a man and a woman. I have been making calls telling others to go out and vote. Today Darrin and I stood on a major street corner in Rancho holding signs and letting our fellow city folks know where we stand. We have both never felt more out of our comfort zone but we know we are doing the right thing. Some people on the opposing side have been behaving pretty poorly which makes this even harder to stand up for. I know as a mother I will move out of California before someone teaches that being gay is okay to my child. This is not an environment I want Colby or any child in. I do not need teachers telling children that this is appropriate. We are asking for everyone's help, you can donate money at www.ProtectMarriage.com or call friends and family who live in California to please vote Yes on Prop 8.

Posted in: 2008, darrin, riss on Tuesday, October 28, 2008 at 3 comments  

After many debates on the costume that us "Stage Parents" were going to parade our 5 month old child as for Halloween this year, (Baseball Player, Charlie Brown, Sumo Wrestler, Etc.) we came across this little beauty at Downtown Disney. We have yet to teach him how to throw "Hang Loose" signs and talk like a red eyed surfer type with the munchies, but we thought that this was pretty cool anyways.   

 

Posted in: 2008, colby, holidays on Sunday, October 19, 2008 at 11 comments  

Many people don't know that glass is extremely strong on the face but fragile on the sides. Most of the glass that we use at D&R is 1/2" thick ( Residential glass is typically 1/8"). 1/2" glass is so strong that you can throw a rock at the face and it will most likely bounce off and only leave a mark. But as you can see in the video, the slightest tap on the corner and the glass (tempered) explodes. This is a 100 SQFT piece of glass that costs thousands of dollars, it was rejected from an Apple job because of a few scratches (left by other people).

Posted in: 2008, darrin on Wednesday, October 15, 2008 at 5 comments