Bangs McCoy

Happy Birthday, Jim Bob!

Today is Jamie’s birthday. For posterity, here are some current facts about Baby Jamie:

Happy Birthday, baby! We couldn’t imagine our life without you.

2 comments September 26th, 2007

Busy Saturday

This morning we took the youth out for a stake-sponsored service project. Our group was assigned to clean windows at four homes within the stake. Only three of the homes answered the door, so we washed the exteriors only. The Young family, in our ward, did answer the door and very kindly allowed us inside to wash windows. They are a really nice family. In fact, Donna (the mom) was in the process of doing some service of her own - mowing their neighbor’s lawn. The Mazda continues to have battery problems, because we have allowed the battery to be completely drained on several occasions. This usually happens after Rees spends a few unsupervised minutes in the car and manages to turn something on that we don’t notice. So in the course of the morning, we push-started it once and jump-started it once too. After we finished our service, it was back to the church for lunch.

In the afternoon, I headed to Cottonwood High School for their annual girls’ volleyball fundraiser (Bob is the head coach - 2007 State Champs!). They held a fashion show sponsored by The Perfect Dress. The girls modeled the dresses, and they did a great job! They had a lot of confidence and the dresses really suited them. I took a lot of photos of the event, which can be seen here (along with photos from other people as well). It was fun to watch. They also held a raffle with tons of cool prizes, but I won nothing.

We got some dinner at Rubios, picked up some new clothes for Bry (he’s skinny now), and bought a birthday present to give to Cousin Ryan tomorrow.

Add comment September 15th, 2007

Kairos on KSL

The company that Bryan works for (and helped found), Kairos Autonomi, was featured tonight on KSL. Read or watch the story here.

On a side note, the DARPA Urban Challenge is at the end of November (in California), and I’ve been invited to come and watch, hang out, and take pictures for Team Juggernaut. Fun stuff!

Add comment September 14th, 2007

Demolition of 1812 West Temple

This spring, a very old (and large) residence at 1812 West Temple (very near our home) was abandoned, and the property was sold for redevelopment. Kinda sad, since the old house is/was very cool. However, it is decrepit, and is sitting on a big piece of land. It was only a matter of time before someone offered enough money to purchase it. The family that previously owned it went through and removed all the useful bits (like banisters and moldings), and it has been sitting there empty ever since. There were rumors that apartments or condos would be built in its place.

We received a letter in the mail a few weeks ago, stating that the new property owner had filed for a demolition permit, and we were invited to attend the meeting to voice our opinion on the demolition of the building. I could tell from the letter that the meeting would not be a place to voice our opinion about what would be built there, just whether or not the existing structure could be torn down. The meeting was today at 1:00 pm in the City County Building downtown. I’ve never been to such a meeting, so I was interested. I was even more interested in learning more about the plans for the property.

The meeting was being held to decide on demolition permits for several properties (I did not know this until I arrived). I was a few minutes late, but another property was being discussed first, so that was not a problem. The first property discussed was a small home in the Federal Heights area of Salt Lake. It was interesting to watch, but the situation there was much different than 1812. We were next up. The property is owned by the Housing Authority of Salt Lake City, and they have plans drawn up to build 102 (!) apartments and a clubhouse on the site. 60 low-income, 42 market-value (but actually only 80% of market value). Not what we wanted to hear. There is an adjacent property they have also purchased that changes the total plot into an “L” shape. The city ended up denying the demolition permit because of our complaints, but that only delays the demolition by 90 days, and of course has no effect on the plans for the site. That will be in an upcoming zoning meeting, since the land will need to be re-zoned for high occupancy in order to build apartments there. Joe (with the Housing Authority) seems like a nice guy, and told us that he would be at the next People’s Freeway Community Council meeting to further discuss the project.

So, the news so far is not good, in our opinion. But there will be more to come, so for now we’ll just wait and see.

Add comment September 12th, 2007

Our #1 toy

In our house, we try to keep our toy inventory to a minimum. The main reason is that we don’t want our kids to be spoiled with too many belongings. It’s really fun to see how excited and appreciative they are when they do receive a new toy (generally only birthdays and Christmas). The size of our house also factors in - we simply don’t have the space for a huge toy collection.

Bryan and I tend to gravitate toward educational and building toys (puzzles, blocks, a marble run). I am partial to pretty wood toys. However, when Rees was around a year old, we spotted a Playskool Ball Popper. Although it is plastic and seemed pretty much non-educational, we thought it looked like fun (plus the box said it had won some awards). It has turned out to be our favorite toy. Despite having it for nearly three years, Rees is still highly entertained by it and plays with it almost every day. Jamie loves it too. It is very simple - when turned on, the fan blows the five different-colored balls up out of the tube and into the spiral slide, where they roll back into the tube. They continue to blow out the top and roll down the slide until it goes off. Sometimes, when the balls blow out the top, they bounce out and on the floor. This adds to the fun as the kids try to pick up the balls quickly and get them back in the tube. Here are the some of the reasons we like it:

 

3 comments September 11th, 2007

Muffin Maple

I usually think “tags” are lame…but, this one made me laugh, so I did it.

1. ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car)
George Protégé

2. GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie)
Mint Milano

3. “FLY” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name)
J-Ber

4. DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal)
Green Horse

5. SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born)
Anne Provo

6. JEDI NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first)
Ber-Je

7. SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink)
The Yellow Lemonade

8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers)
Roger Don

9. STRIPPER NAME: (the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent, favorite candy)
CoolWater Almond Roca

10. WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names )
Larene Dennis

11. TV ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter)
Clark Chicago

12. SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday, flower)
Spring Daisy

13. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”)
Lemon Jackety

14. HIPPIE NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree)
Muffin Maple

15. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”)
The Quilting Rainstorm Tour

1 comment September 10th, 2007

Where did you get the coconuts?

Bryan and I went to see Spamalot! tonight at the Capitol Theatre downtown. Bryan’s parents gave us the tickets, and Bob even agreed to babysit (Maryanne is out of town). I dropped the boys off with Bob, and then Bryan and I went to dinner at Saltimbocca in Sugarhouse. The food wasn’t exactly amazing, but the prices were pretty low, so I think we got what we paid for. We shared Chicken Marsala with angel-hair pasta, Caprese salad, and each ordered a cannoli (mine with pistachios). I thought it was all pretty good, but the filling in the cannoli was kind of gritty…? Never had one before, so maybe this is normal. I’d go back.

Then down to the Capitol for Spamalot!. I loved the show - probably my favorite musical I’ve ever seen. Many of the scenes and dialogue are lifted directly from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, but the storyline varies, as well as some of the characters. I highly recommend it. Mark and Jen were there too, so we had someone to chat with during intermission.

The boys did great with Bob. He gave them dinner, put them to bed, and even changed diapers! What an awesome Grandpa.

I’ll leave you with one of my favorite bits from the show:

Bravely bold Sir Robin rode forth from Camelot
He was not afraid to die, oh brave Sir Robin
He was not at all afraid to be killed in nasty ways
Brave, brave, brave, brave Sir Robin
He was not in the least bit scared to be mashed into a pulp
Or to have his eyes gouged out, and his elbows broken
To have his kneecaps split, and his body burned away
And his limbs all hacked and mangled, brave Sir Robin
His head smashed in and heart cut out
And his liver removed, and his bowels unplugged
And his nostrils raped and his bottom burned off and his…

Add comment September 7th, 2007