Night at the Museum (Ok it was day)

You know sometimes, when you are out walking with dogs, or outside in the country with them and they see a rabbit......they kind of loose their brain and go berserk. Well... the Dinosaur Museum is like that for my kiddo. He walks in and kind of goes berserk. Looses his brain and is so overstimulated that he doesn't know how to control himself! It's all very very very exciting for him. I went with him this time (he goes every time we're on that side of the state.)

I want to say thank you to the Wyoming Dinosaur Museum for treating my baby like the king of all things dinosaur while we were there. He was watching one of the paleontologist work and she came over to the window with a sign that read "Do you want a REAL dinosaur bone to take home?".....he about went into convulsions. He came home with an arm load of dino gear. Couldn't be happier!

They Believe in Me

I've been photographing this family for a few years now. I love that when I walk into their house there are 4 giant prints of their kids hanging in the entry way. I love that I helped put those there. I know now that they trust me and even though I have them in crazy crazy places....they still walk away thinking that I got some awesome photos!

For instance...the below photos, well, they were taken in a covered parking area, in between two cars. It had started raining on us and we took cover there. So instead of just standing there, we took family pictures! I love them!

Song: I Believe, Chris Isaak

My Ever Present Past

I had a boyfriend in 7th grade. I spent a good share of my time on the phone with him. (that's mainly what 7th grade relationships used to consist of right?) My dad had to  install an hour glass next to the phone and when it ran out of sand I had to drag myself out of the closet I had locked myself into (isn't that where all 7th graders talked on the phone before cell phones were invented?) and regrettably hang up. (before that though, there were a lot of "you hang up, no you hang ups...etc"...... typical seventh grade phone etiquette.)


Nearly 20 years later, on a brisk September morning, I found myself standing next to a river, with a handful of stones, handing them to a little boy who was patiently waiting for Thomas the Train to appear on the tracks across the way. We chatted about all kinds of things. He belongs to my 7th grade boyfriend and his beautiful wife (whom I spent a lot of track time with in high school, and whom I was soooo jealous of her hurdle form, it was always so much better than mine as was her hair (and still is!)!!)  They have two gorgeous children and make a wonderful family! I love the twists and turns and circles life makes.

Life is beautiful 
Life is surreal.
And I love it!
And I hope I get to have many many more days like this.


I also hope I get to make fun of my son's phone etiquette in the 7th grade...

She was giving me "that look"....

Apples

We've been working with apples a lot lately. Had a couple projects in the works (but more on those later) so I thought it would be really fun to take Park to an apple orchard to go pick apples.  I found one that wasn't too far away. They were a "pick by reservation only" place and I graveled to get them to allow us to come on a holiday weekend to pick a few apples, explaing that this is the one and only weekend I can come between now and the end of October and how I would really really really love to see it. Not only did we get to pick apples...but we had the whole place to our selves. The farm animals. The picnic areas. The quiet. It was completely serene and beautiful. They are not a huge place yet as far as apple picking goes, but they have planted enough trees in the last few year to make it an awesome operation...when the trees get a little bigger.

We brought home mostly Macintosh apples. We ate them while we were there as well.... as there is just something about eating a freshly picked apple from the tree that makes it taste so much better!

Song: Apple Orchard, The You Brush Your Hair

Fields of Gold

This time of year there is always a special glow in the evening.  This is one of the reasons this is my favorite time of year. That glow. I like to drag people out into big fields. And I know they are thinking to themselves "this woman must be crazy. ...that field is just dead ugly grass that hasn't been mowed or watered." However, that dead ugly grass that hasn't been watered, reflects the sun and emits the most beautiful light that God can make. Especially in the early evening.  The only bad part of all this dead grass... allergies. Since I turned 30, among other things, I developed REALLY BAD allergies in the fall. Mainly in my eyes. 80% of the time I look like I'm crying.

These beautiful people came all the way from Greely. They had never met me. But boy did we have fun! And they brought along with them a little girl with SO much hair. She's only two and look at that hair!!

Song: Fields of Gold, Sting

He Always Sings Raggy Music

It's that time of year. I have to admit, that the first football game of the season is really a fun one. I'm not really a football person. My husband has been trying to change that for 10 years to no avail. However, I do like the social aspect of the game. I love to see the same peple that I see every single year. I love that this game brings us all together. I love that we've watched each other grow. Watched each other have children. Watched each other live life and then a few times a year, in the mist of all our craziness, we get to stop and catch up.

These are a couple of our people. I love them and I am happy to see them. I wish it could be more often!

Song: Ragtime Cowboy... by the Chipmunks

She Can Chew Gum Now

She turned 4 yesterday and I got to spend the evening with her. She had a major party earlier so we celebrated under the twinkle lights in my back yard last night, which marked probably the last night time outdoor meal of the season. It was a perfect evening.

Wide Open Spaces

I have one issue with my photography that I constantly struggle with....backing up. I shoot with a prime lens which basicallly means that my feet do the zooming, not the lens, therefore getting clear crisp pictures.  I like tight shots. But sometimes when I do back up, I get magical shots.  Like the one below. They are so happy, and I'm just an observer of it.


I love it when I get to catch that!

This family is from down south. I wanted them to be able to look back on these pictures and say... "this is what is was like living on the prairie, in the wide open spaces. I hope I was able to do that for them.

Song: Wide Open Spaces, Dixie Chicks

A Lot of Boys and a Couple Girls

I found out today that it's their birthday today.

These two vivacious, silly, adorable boys.

But these boys... they have an adorable family as well.

First of all... their mom and dad are just gorgeous!

Their sister is beautiful.

Their big brother... pretty cute too, er um, he's an awesome dude.

And welll, I have to be honest, the older kiddos were SOOO good with the little ones. It's very very apparent that they all love each other. Not once did they argue. They played. They each helped one another. They all smiled!

Happy Birthday Boys and to the rest the family, I hope to see you all again!!!

Song: When I Grow Up, The Beach Boys

So Long

Where did it go?  It was just a wink ago and it was May.  A blink was all it took this year...a blink and a warm breeze and there it went.


I know it's not technically the end of summer until later next month, but the first day of September always has signified the beginning of fall for me.....or maybe the beginning of Indian Summer, if we are lucky. It's the time of year when I want to watch all the brat pack movies because they are all about school and starting school. There is a line, talking of the love of fall that says "I would buy you a bouquet of sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address" ... I love that line. I want to use a thermos and a lunch box for all meals. I'm sure I will get over this happiness faze when the frost hits for weeks on end, and even then I'm mostly fine, until it snows....but until then I will bask in it.  

Song: Goodbye Summer, India Arie (One of my favorites!)

N

We moved on to the letter "N" this past weekend. It was a super super simple meal with absolutely no actual cooking involved, with the exception of making the salsa earlier in the day. But we ate it in the middle of a hot summer day, before we proceeded to go about our fun activities for the afternoon.

For N we had:

Nachos (with homemade salsa, you can find the base recipe here)

Nectarines

Spiced Nuts (today it was chili lime and cracked pepper almonds)

Newtons

and then later in the day we had Nuttella Lattes and Hot Chocolate

I had never tried Nutella before. I didn't know what it was all about, but as soon as I found a latte idea using it, I was all over it. Nutella is basically hazelnut flavored chocolate. And the commercial with the woman spreading it on the toast, now really grosses me out. But, I'm not really into chocolate toast. Neither is my kiddo. In fact, he really despises chocolate....unless it's hot chocolate, which even then, some days he won't tolerate either.

To make the Latte:

Mix a tablespoon of Nutella with about a half a cup of coffee.

Then steam your milk and add it to the mix and top with froth.

Sprinkle with nutmeg.  Simple as can be!

Song: Na Na Na Na, Steam

Lady Bug

She's two.

She kind of tootles around exploring all kinds of things.

She's easy going.

She's soft spoken.

She always has "an idea" of what we should do.

She loves lady bugs and it shows.

She's getting big...and it's fun to watch!

Song: Ladybug Picnic