Thursday, April 12, 2012

Cory's Big Reveal

For the majority of last year Cory designed and oversaw construction on Jordan  School District's, new resource center call River's Edge School, for those who don't know this is a special school for those with special needs or behavioral issues, so the student body is very small.  This was Cory's company's (PGAW Architects) first school that were able to design from the ground up since they began in 45+ years ago, so it was a big deal to them.  Since this school was built with Obama bucks it meant that it had to be a green build and since Cory is the only LEED Accredited Professional green builder in the company he got to do design & oversee the majority of the school himself, which was big!

The school opened in August, but it wasn't until last week that they finally had the grand opening for the school, in which all the public was welcome to view it.
When we went to view the school it was quickly apparent that all the the Jordan administration remembered and loved Cory, so much that the principal of the school gave Cory her keys so we could even see restricted parts of the school like on the roof that housed all the 100s of solar panels Cory is so proud of. To get to the roof we had to climb a ladder 2+ stories straight up. When mom finally reached the top, she was too scared to let go of the ladder to climb out so she had a limited view of green roof on such a beautiful evening.
Cory shared with us that this school was built so tightly and has so much green power that this 48,000sq ft school's gas bill in the month of Dec was $85. I could't believe it, our gas bill was more than that to heat only our 1300 sq ft townhouse!
The school over ll was very unique, some classrooms were traditional, some looked like a large living room and some rooms housed these... What do you do with juvenile delinquents who are completely out of control??? Lock them in a padded cell!  I couldn't believe they actually did this and it's legal! 
Well I think it is simply genious...now I wonder where I could get this for my out of control toddlers???
The school was beautifully designed and I am not just saying that because I am biased, but Cory received tons of compliments on it from everyone and was even told that a HUGE company  in the Salt Lake Area (Rio Tinto) was so impressed by the exterior & 3 windmills, that that they requested a special tour to further check it out the insides. Keep your fingers crossed while he tracks down that awesome lead, they would be a great company for Cory to do projects for because they are one of the foremost green companies in the State of Utah!

Great Job Daddy!

Monday, April 9, 2012

Doughnut Weekend- Spring Eddition

The end of march was general conference time again so that also meant time for the semi-annual Fergy DOUGHNUT WEEKEND!  Phoebe is now old enough to remember general conference means doughnuts and she was excited
During conference a miracle occurred and for a little while all kiddos, except for Shophes who was sleeping, all calmly sat and watched conference as a family. Towards the end, however, Cami got restless so she want out to sweep the patio.  At lunch Shopie joined the family again and had her first ever doughnut and was LOVIN it!
As always Sat evening during the priesthood session all the women folk and kiddos went to play at Grandma's and then met up with daddies for Shakes & Fries at Icebergs, which was another first food for Sophie & once again gobbled up & LOVED!
Every conference time I look around for fun activities for kids to do long with conference and I am always a little disappointed that the activities are for older kids, but this time Cory found the PERFECT activity for our week ones.  Every time one of the 1st presidency or an apostle spoke they got to color his picture/flower & then we put it up in our flower bed on the wall. Every speaker that came up to speak for 2 whole days got her attention as she asked, "Who is that, an apostle?"  Whenever I would said yes she cheered, because she know she would get another flower to color.  This is one activity I will definitely be doing again!
I am always a bit sad when conference weekend ends, I have come to love them so with all the wonderful speakers and traditions our family has developed to celebrate it.

Misc March Madess

Cami is REALLY into makeup lately and here she found a marker and with out me knowing tried to apply her  own beautiful make up. I think it came out looking more like a scary clown than beautiful. 

We finally made it back to the Aquarium as a family, some place I hadn't visit since early December. Unfortunately, we chose to go on the same day I believe every kindergarten class in the school district was having their annual field trip there.

Sophie grew a tail! Really what happened was Phoebe made a bunny in preschool with a picture for the head, a marshmallow for the body and a pic and cotton ball for the bottom. Cami found the treat and ate the body out and must have thrown the bottom on the floor where Sophie later came crawling along and sat on the sticky mallow side.  Cory and & I laughed and laughed how Sophie sat so perfectly on it that she stuck a tail to her bum, and stuck it really was, I had to dig at this sucker to get it off her pjs to wash eventually them.

Daddy Dates- March

For Phoebe's Daddy Date in March she wanted to go to the aquarium, which Cory stated was a huge mistake since it was a Saturday afternoon. It was so crowed that you could hardly see any of the animals...oh well, we have season passes so at least it was free and we can go back another day and see all the animals.

For Cami & Josh's separate dates, daddy to them to a park by our stake center. They both LOVED the little park because was right by where all the trams pass.
Cami loved chasing around the equipment, especially climbing up the “rock wall” and dashing down the slide. On top of that, every 10 minutes she got to wave at all of the passengers of the TRAX train – which she was totally excited about.

Josh enjoyed acting like a lion in the zoo and roaring from the heights. When not doing that, his next favorite was sliding down the slide like a penguin and then jumping off the end.

The kids are LOVING all their dates and all the extra special daddy attention they get on their monthly  daddy dates.