Why you should make sure the batteries work in your smoke detector

Well, we were saved by the "bell" (smoke detector) tonight. At about 8:30 the smoke detector downstairs went off, So Heidi and I ran down to find the furnace had been on fire. I opened the front cover to find the wires still smoking. I called my neighbor who is an HVAC guy and he came and assesed that we definatley need a new furnace. SO, with that said you can send your contributions to the "keep Ryan and Heidi family warm this winter" fund, or donate at your local HVAC Dealer, make sure you mention "Heidi" so that we also get the matching payment from the goverenment program that has been set up to help those in just this type of situation, (thanks Hillary!). God bless you all ahead of time for your generous donations! :) And go MAC!

Snowbasin with the Thompson

Well, as you can see it was a good thing Olly wore his vintage WWII Russian Padded helmet on his soujourn down this 50' Rock hard snowpile. Yes he survived and only complained that he got snow down his back... He also won the big air contest. And last but not least my two (maybe 3 if we find out Heidi is having a girl) favorite girls in the world. It was nice to just be a kid again.

A Boy and His Blanket

Graham is getting more and more attached to his blanket. When he gets out of his crib in the morning, he has to bring it with him to breakfast. If he sees it, after being away from it for an hour or more, he starts fussing and running to it like he has found an old lost friend.

Extreme Home Makeover

For the last week, my parents have been here visiting. They just left this morning. Because they're so great, they helped us decorate our apartment while they were here. They really did a lot of manual labor, and everything looks great. Beth and Jason can attest to how boring and bland our apartment was before. I had to share some of the pictures. And, of course, a big THANK YOU to Matt and Nancy, who gave me some Home Depot money for my birthday. We put it to good use. Also a big thank you to Bryan, who put together a lot of new furniture.

This is the kitchen. Bryan put together the sideboard. We don't have a lot of counter space, so these additions were great.


This, of course, is the boudoir. It's amazing what curtains and a few throw pillows can do.

This is the dining room. Ignore all the stuff on the table. That mirror is gigantic -- I love it.
This is the living room. Try to imagine it before -- basically nothing on the walls (which were white), no curtains... It turned out really great.
We had this weird corner where there was in indent in the wall. My mom had a great idea -- build shelves there. This is the result.

A Winter Pick-me-up

This is George's favorite video to watch these days! It is from one of the happiest movies ever - "Enchanted." He loves it for some reason and he always laughs when the prince gets run over by the bikers. I have been a little depressed so it is so fun to watch with him. I hope you all enjoy it, and that it brings a bit of happiness to this yucky winter!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRYU4cqUAUs