12.13.2009

A very good read

So I have been following a blog for some time. It's not someone that I personally know but her story is very interesting. The Arizona Republic just finished an article on her and its a very good read. It takes a while to read so give yourself some time to read it, but make sure to read it all. Its heart warming. Here it is

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/stephanie-nielson-intro-120609.html


There is an intro and 10 parts to the story.

12.11.2009

Senior Project

So for my Computer Engineering Senior Project a group of us had to design and build something relevant to our studies. We decided to build dynamic source filtering sunglasses. Our goal was to design some sort of glasses that would blot out bright lights like the sun. We accomplished this by designing a processor that read in brightness levels from a camera mounted about your eye. The processor would then determine which light sources to blot out based on a variable threshold. The processor would then tell the LCD to darken certain pixels. The LCDs were running at 60Hz so it would refresh faster than your eye could move. This allowed our processor to track bright lights and blot them out even when they were moving (or when you were moving). Today was demo day and here are some pictures from it. There were three other senior project teams. Each team had four team members and I was the only girl on any team. All teams successfully completed their projects and our professor announced today that we all got A’s! Here are some pictures from the day:

Here is our group: me, Torrey, Jason and Dan
LCDs and cameras. Notice the sunglasses is front of the cameras. This was because the camera processor would gamma correct and we were not able to interface with it and tell it not to. So therefore we just used some good old fashioned sun glasses to darken what the cameras were seeing.
better view of one LCD and camera
Our processor
closer view
our hand controls. Ever persons eyes sit different and have different head shapes and therefore fit into the hard hat differently. So we had some controls to adjust the cameras.
Our senior project professor trying it out
front view of the whole module

11.30.2009

Why is there dog hair.....

You may ask yourself why is there dog hair on the back of the two couches?...... Answer:
And why is there dog hair in my car's cup holders..... Answer:

It's a good thing he is so dang cute. He falls asleep in the funniest places, so I figured you would get a kick out of the photos! Enjoy!

11.28.2009

Thanksgiving with the Todd's

So for Thanksgiving this year Bryan and I went up to the Todd Ranch. Bryan, Keven and I waited until Jessica flew into Salt Lake from Cali, and then started on the road to Bluebell. We got to Grandma and Grandpa Todd’s a little after 1pm on Thanksgiving Day. A bunch of Bryan’s extended family was there. Unfortunately I had come down with a very bad cold, and was pretty sick on Thursday and Friday. Thanksgiving was yummy, and the games with the family were silly! I was definitely thankful for cold medicine this year and a nice warm bed to sleep in. Friday was a day spent with Bryan’s immediate family. We did some Christmas decorating and Kiley did the tree all by herself! Notice I am not in the pictures because I didn’t want my sick face yucking up the pictures. Anyhow we ended Friday watching the movie Angels & Demons. Boy do I LOVE that movie! Saturday we all packed up and made our way out to Provo. It was the BYU vs UTAH game and Keven, Jess, Bruce, Bryan and I were to go to the game. Well due to the fact I still felt sick, I opted out of going and went along with Carla and Kiley on a little shopping trip and some girl time. We stopped at this party store in Lehi and I had my first Zortz candy, it was so yummy! After that Carla, Kiley, and I made our way to the Gateway mall in Salt Lake and got a pedicure! It was wonderful, especially on a cold day like today. Unfortunately we had to walk out in the cold after the pedicure in flip flops as to not ruin our nail polish. That was not so wonderful. We ended the day with some paradise bakery. What a wonderful Thanksgiving! Notice I did not mention the score of the BYU vs UTAH game… I do not accept the outcome, so I am not reporting on it! Hahah Here are the pictures… didn’t take hardy any since I wasn’t feeling well…..


11.23.2009

Tanner in the snow...

So it finally snowed again in Salt Lake last night. Everything got coating in about an inch or so of snow. I decided I had to go to Tanner park today before everything started to melt. It was so pretty in the park. The south side of the park is relatively shaded so the snow was still all over the trees. It was a really peaceful walk. Here are some pictures....

the view on the way down into the park...
Kumo looking over the ridge

sitting on the bench overlooking the park
what a cutie!
all the tree covered in snow....it was so pretty
the snowy trail

11.22.2009

Mill Creek Canyon hike!!!

So today Bryan, Keven and I decided to go up to Mill Creek Canyon to do a little hiking. It was forecasted to snow so we thought it would be fun to hike in the snow. Well we went up the canyon and got onto the Thayne Canyon trail. We hiked up the canyon for a little over an hour and headed back down. Bryan and I tried out our new snow spikes and they were awesome!!!! It didn't start snowing until we were on our way down, but it still was a nice hike. Here are the pictures....

camouflage?


Bryan was throwing snow balls at Kumo...Kumo went nuts and was running all over the place, hahaha



bry and kev striking a pose?
bry and kev

11.16.2009

Snow spikes!!!!

Bryan and I went to Tanner park on Sunday and walked around in the snow. It was so beautiful! I slipped a few times even with it being the first snow and all. I remember one of my friends mentioning something about snow spikes to me, maybe it was Hailey or Amy. I can't remember. Anyhow I did some research and ordered some today from qvc. I can't wait to try them out this weekend. It is supposed to snow on Saturday so hopefully I can try them out then! Here is what they look like!

11.14.2009

Winter's Here!

So when I got up this morning, I figured the weather reporter had just made a mistake, because there were no clouds and no snow. Well a few hours later I was sitting in the office on the computer, with Kumo on the window seat. I noticed that he was intently staring outside. Well sure enough it was snowing. I let the little pup out onto the balcony, and he loved it. He would come inside ever once in a while and run around in circles, and then he would want to go back out... Crazy pup! I guess he really was made for the snow. Here are some pictures.....

in the office when he first realized it was snowing...



he loves to eat the snow off the ground, what a wierdo!

11.09.2009

New favorite past time!


So as you all know, Bryan and are are super busy with school. Well I have found that I love to go hiking! It's a great way for me to relieve stress. There is an off leash nature walk near our house that I love to take Kumo to all the time. Bryan usually is really busy with school and work, but I managed to get him to do a big hike with me last month. There is a canyon near us called millcreek and it has a bunch of hiking trails that you can take your dogs off leash on odd days. We did this 2 hour hike up to a little lake. I about died and Bryan and Kumo were both totally good to go. This was Kumos first big hike and he is totally an athletic little guy. Bryan and I like to say he thinks he is a wolf when he is off leash because he runs around in the bushes. What a silly pup!

11.08.2009

Nikki, John, Enna and Makoa!!

So over summer as some of you may already know, we meet a couple that had a klee kai the same age as Kumo. Well they graciously offered to watch Kumo while Bry and I were in hawaii. Well having the two dogs in the house for two whole weeks must have rubbed them the right way, because by the time Bryan and I got home they had already signed a contract to get another Klee Kai. He is one of the rare Red/White Klee Kais. Nikki and John still watch Kumo from time to time and he loves going over to their house. They got to watch him this last Saturday and Nikki gave me the pictures from his stay....

Makoa, Enna, Kumo

Kumo loves playing with Enna

All three playing

Kumo loves to terrorize their cat, this is him staring her down through the door

Makoa

8.13.2009

Our Maui trip so far....

So as many of you know we are in Maui right now! There was a hurricane that was forcasted to hit us on Tuesday but by the time it got here is wasn't much of anything besides a bunch of rain! We are staying with my parents in the Kapalua/Napili and it rains here every morning and evening but on Tuesday it rained all day :( We went on a scuba instruction on Monday and had a blast! Unfortunately we didn't get to see anything really cool (like an octopus) because all the animals were probably hiding from the upcoming storm :( Other than that we have been enjoying the sun and my parents company! We have two kayak trips planned for later in the week and next week, along with a sail trip and a magic show!

Well a week before we went to Maui I got in contact with another couple owning an Alaskan Klee Kai! They live in West Valley and have a female Klee Kai that it 4 days older than Kumo, her name is Enna(eee-na)! She is so adorable and is much smaller than Kumo. He weighs about 13 pounds and she weighs 5.5 pounds. There are three sizes to the breed and she is definitely the smallest size. Well we got to hang out with them a couple of time before heading to Maui and they graciously offered to take care of Kumo while we were gone! I was so excited! So Kumo has been having fun playing with Enna and her owners John and Nikki seem to be having fun with the dogs! They sent me this cute picture yesterday of Enna and Kumo cuddling! How cute!

Here they are at the doggie park

7.16.2009

Kumo got neutered.....

Kumo got neutered yesterday and it doing well. The vet said to keep him really quiet for a few days and no dog park for 10 whole days!! Anyhow when I picked him up he was really sleepy and apparently cold bc he wanted to sun himself on our balcony in the 90 degree heat! Anyways he has been licking his stitches so I have to put this collar on him for when I can't watch him, and well you can see how much he enjoys it.... here are some pictures....


7.14.2009

Uploaded videos on youtube!

So I am in the process of uploading a bunch of my videos on youtube! I am starting with recent ones like Kumo and hoping to work backwards to some videos of us!!! Anyhow last night was hilarious....Kumo was sleeping on the floor last night next to Bryan and he was so tired he didn't notice his tongue was hanging out! What a silly pup! Well I have finally decided to get some vidoes up on youtube. Here is our youtube link...

http://www.youtube.com/dpashleytodd

We found Kumo's brother!!!!

So I randomly stumbled onto a video of a very familiar looking Klee Kai just the other day. I made Bryan come in and have a look at it and he was amazed at how much the little pup on the video looked like Kumo. Well I watched the video a couple of times and checked the little guys facial markings and realized it looked just like one of Kumo’s littermates! Well I got an email today from the lady that owns him and it definitely is one of Kumo’s littermates! It is actually the puppy that we almost chose! We went with Kumo because he was slightly bigger! So here are some pictures of Kumo’s brother and at the end is a youtube clip of him! I can’t believe how much he looks like Kumo!!





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0u1GaHugf8