Delicious

New recipe.
Counting weight watchers points.
Each is 4 points.
Yeah baby

Funny...

The sad part about this funny picture is the story behind it. Aspen has had three or four nights of hours of crying in her sleep from dreams. We have tried everything from getting her a drink to try to help her reset, to having her listen to music before bed. Tonight we are trying the "no tv, play with dolls and draw" routine. We'll see how it goes.

Corner of my home

With the warmer weather and the awesome afternoon sun, my favorite afternoon hang out place is lying in the sun on my bed. Apparently my cat shares my sentiments.

St Patty's

We went to the parade this year at Gateway. Bagpipes, green, dogs and wind. Aspen loved it

glasses

Clouds

What I get to see each day as I pull into work.

Sign

I've been wanting to make some laundry detergent from a recipe I found on Pinterest. Turned out great, but Hayden couldn't resist sharing his thoughts.

"next thing you will be weaving underwear from grass"
HA HA

Fork

Blue jello... with a fork?

It is possible

Window

The girls loves to dance... and is in her first dance class this month.

The "Damaged" House

We went for a walk earlier this year, as we did many warm summer evenings.  It is usually around the large block by the elementary school, but this time, as we passed a yard and house that has been there each time, we noticed the house front door was opened and the house appeared abandoned.  

We went in and explored.  From that day on, Aspen called it the "damaged house" each time we would pass.  She insisted on showing it to Wade, so I took along my camera.

I love the outside architecture of this house.  The colors, the lines, the vegetation.  The yard was amazing. Full-grown overhanging trees in the yard that left you unaware that the main road with much traffic was just in front of the house.  Just peace and quiet. 

The back yard and front yard had day lilies, raspberries, ivy, wild roses, and peonies.

Then just a few weeks after our visit, we drove by the damaged house and the trees had started to be chopped down, one at a time, over the course of weeks, until there were none left.  

I dreamt about the house for the next couple nights.  I dreamt about sneaking over and saving the plants for my yard, pretty sure they were headed for demolition next.  It made me sad.  All this history and growth... removed for the "new and improved" sure to take it's place.

I drove by yesterday. 

The house was taken down this week.  

Nothing remains.

An empty lot.

All in the name of progress.

I never did make it over to save the plants,

but I did sneak in and save a little shutter from a small window.

My earrings hang on it now.

I would much rather have the peonies.

this was written on the wall of the upstairs of the house.

Day 14: someone I love

It has been fun to watch these two become such good buddies this past month.  Brenden is gone for the summer, so they have had to kinda rely on each other for entertainment.  She thinks he walks on water.  I think I love them both so much.  This truly has been the BEST summer that I can remember.

June 13: (yes... I'm behind) Reminds me of childhood

More than anything this time of year, the smell of these wonderful (weedy) trees reminds me of growing up.  I can't get enough of them.  The sweet smell of Russian olive trees.  The lovely memories of the prickly things that we had to cut down from the fields when I was growing up.  Good memories.

June 12th: Silhouette

Long Beach, CA
2006

June 11th: Sun Flare

June 10th: An animal

Toby is so big he is sometimes mistaken for a small horse... mostly by Aspen, who likes to ride him.
He is getting old, has arthritis and more gray hair everyday.
He has a red KONG toy that is his kryptonite.  He ran through a bonfire to get it once... not sure if that means he has a KONG addiction, or if it says something about his intelligence... or both.
We got him as a middle aged skinny dog two years ago, and he has put on a good 40 pounds since then.

June 9th: Fresh Fruit

Bananas and grapes... that is pretty much all the "fresh fruit" we see at our house.  Fresh is a relative term at our house... FRESH just means they aren't brown yet.

June 8th: Sunset

While at a conference in Phoenix, I had the opportunity to hike up Camelback Mountain.  The cool part... being at the top at sunset.  The NOT cool part... hiking down 1.3 miles with no daylight.

June 1st: "Self" Portrait

Not sure if having Aspen take them counts as SELF-portrait, but she wouldn't give me back the camera once I had it out.  

Can't believe it is already June.  

Brenden graduates tomorrow.  

My summer is well underway, and it has been cold this first week off.  

Most mornings have been in the upper 30's.

Time to get our summer bucket list figured out.

Do-over

So I didn't do so well with the 30 day blog challenge.  Sometimes it is tough to come up with things to say for a given prompt.

A 30 day PHOTO challenge, however... I'm all over that idea.  No words and I get to play with my camera.

Bring it on!

(commissioned)

I am NOT a photographer, by any means.  I love taking pictures, love playing with them, and am always trying to improve my skills.   I have become an avid stalker  follower of several excellent photographers' blogs.

http://michelletandyphotography.blogspot.com/

http://lifeslittlepictures1.blogspot.com/

http://capturedbycarrie.com/blog/

I try to implement some of their techniques and shooting angles.  Sometimes I get lucky, and it actually works.  The quality of my pictures, since acquiring my cool new camera, makes me very happy.  They work for me.  HOWEVER, if I had to take pictures for someone else and have my pictures meet their expectations... well, thats just a little too much intimidation for me.  So imagine my shock when I was asked to do just such a thing.  Hayden's Uncle Richard and his singing partner were looking for images for a new album cover for their new CD entitled "The drifter and the lady", and asked if I would take them.

Sure.

No pressure.

Just an ALBUM COVER!!!!

 

When I showed up to take pictures and they had 5 outfit changes.  Ok, yeah... I'm out of my league already.  I was thinking more of "standing by a fence and taking a few pictures". 

  I worked on several images right after the shoot, and have been playing with a few more since then, and I have to say... I impress myself!  It's not where I envision my pictures in the long run, but for a first time professional photo shoot, I did pretty good.

Check out Richard & Mary's stuff here.   Old-time country sound.  My favorite of Richard's songs is "Leave the Light on".  Enjoy!