just how did cinderella's mom get her ready for preschool in the morning?

-- apparently with ribbon and glue-dots.

more to come from Halloween! Stay tuned!

tagged.

So, Valerie tagged me and this is one sounds fun.

The rules: List 6 quirks about yourself. Tag 6 other people to do the same. List the rules on your blog.

Here we go:

1. I HATE having my temples touched. You know, the sides of your head, right beside your eyes? Yeah, hate it. No massages, no rubbing to relieve a headache, nothing. I just can't stand it. It almost paralyzes me. I have no idea why but I've been like this for as long as I can remember.

2. I can't pronounce words that end in an "ash" sound. Cash, mash, smash, etc. Also, any words that have a variation of that sound. It comes out as "Cay-ish" or "Smay-ish". Don't know why on this one either, but the family thinks the best one was back when we sponsored a child with Compassion International. "Compay-ish-on Internay-ish-onal".

3. I can't go to bed at night without a clear path to the front or back door. Even if the whole room is a disaster, as long as I can get out and to the nearest exit, I'm okay. Kev thinks I'm a freak about this but I think down deep I'm really just afraid of burning to death in the night because I couldn't get out of my room.

4. I love all things about office supplies. I can hardly go to the store without picking up a new pen or a pack of post-its or something. Often I don't ever do anything with them, I just really like having them in the house. Compulsive much?

5. I would like to have my blood replaced with Dr. Pepper. Not really, but it would be way easier to have it pumped in thru an IV. I love that first sip, as it slips down my throat and I swear I can feel the caffeine entering my bloodstream. I know, sounds like a heroine addiction but I love it.

6. I refuse to eat fruit and meat together. Orange or lemon chicken, pork chops and applesauce . . . yeah, it's all lost on me. Meat should be savory or salty and fruit is supposed to be sweet and you just shouldn't mix the two. And even if I wasn't allergic to pineapple, I would still ask them to put the sweet and sour sauce on the side so I could eat the chicken plain.

I tag Krista, Annie, D'Et, Kim, Grandma Joanne, and Sam.

randomness

So, last night I finally finished editing and proofing all my senior portrait sessions for this season! Yay for me! I got them all to come over here and choose their fav for the yearbook and now it's up to them to make sure they get in there. Now I can concentrate on the families and newborn sessions I did in the middle of all that.

But this morning I decided to take a short break from the mouse/mouse pad and put away a few more boxes . . . yes, I hate moving and truthfully whatever doesn't get unpacked and put away in the first 2 weeks in a new home - well, let's just say we were still tripping on quite the stack of office/business boxes in the middle of our bedroom. As a surprise for my husband, who had quite given up his dream of walking to his side of the bed without climbing over my office supplies, I tackled the rest of the pile and finished it up. While I was wading thru my collection of Post-Its . . . yes, I do admit I am an office supply junkie . . . I buy random pens, etc, almost every time I go to the store . . . Josiah was having some fun of his own. He was over here at the computer pretending to type and using the mouse. And brilliant little guy that he is, he managed to, in the literal 2 minutes I wasn't looking at him, open up 29 different internet explorer windows. Sorry I didn't get a photo of this - do you even know how long it takes to close that many windows, who are all trying to get on the internet with our measly cable connection?!?!?! I was sure he was going to crash the whole thing. Grrrrr.

On a happier note, Gennie wanted me to share her recipe for a delicious juice she's been concocting (in her head, not in her glass.). We've been hooked on Top Chef for several seasons now and she loves to practice "plating" her "dishes" . . . every night when I set her supper before her she wants me to recite what she's having just like they do on the show. Mac and cheese doesn't cut it; it's now "Ground beef and baby peas with small elbow pasta in a lovely cheddar sauce." I love this girl. Anyway, now that we're between seasons of the show, she's been making up her own recipes . . . I don't know if we will try many of them, tho, as they kinda don't always go together. This one wasn't bad, except the salt and pepper:

Gennie's Banana Strawberry Juice
- 1 box chocolate pudding
- a whole cup of milk
- a pinch of salt, must be Kosher salt from mom's little ramekin on the table
- freshly ground pepper medley
- 1 banana
- enough water to finish filling up the glass
- strawberries, but only if you like them

Mix together in this order and drink all at once.

Yes, I absloutely love my life.

ladies and gentlemen, a snowball fight.

So, I decided I had to take a break from editing senior pictures this morning and we went outside for a run in the snow. Yes, it started snowing here last night sometime and didn't let up until we had about 5 inches accumulated on our back deck. Wahoo. Anyway, the kids had a great time . . . Josiah was too little to play in it last season so he wasn't sure what to think about all that white stuff. Took him a while to put his fingers in it but once he did he kept picking it up and stuffing it in his mouth. No, no yellow snow in sight. :P

Gennie mostly wanted to make snowballs and throw them straight up over her own head . . . and got very wet doing it.

Josiah decided he'd had enough and I think his little hands got too cold so he went inside and watched his sister from the front door. Gennie took advantage of this . . . and the fact that she probably wouldn't get in trouble for pummeling her brother thru a glass door . . . and started a snowball fight with him. I gotta say, in this photo doesn't he look like he deserves a snowball in the snoot?
Oh yeah, for all our relatives who will be enjoying 80-degree weather this coming week . . . you know who you are . . . Gennie wanted to give you a snowball:

Happy weekend!

I Shot A Moose!!! -- or "I've waited 4 years for this and ended up running for my life."

So, for those who remember back to our first year here in WY (that'd be mostly the family because it was in my pre-blogging days), I wrote in our Xmas letter about how we had gone on a trip with our homegroup up to Jackson Hole and Grand Teton Nat'l Park. I had spent the entire weekend looking to take pictures of a moose and was promised by all who were on the trip that this was the place to look and that the moose are "always" out around Jackson in the fall. Yeah, no moose. But when we returned home after that trip, we read in the paper that THAT SAME WEEKEND a female moose and her son had wandered thru Rock Springs - the town right next to us where we do everything shopping-related. Yep, still gets me steamed thinking about it. Until yesterday.... (insert ominous music here -- Dun Dun Dunnnnnnnnn)



I had a family session down at FMC park yesterday in the evening. FMC park is a huge piece of land that borders on our town that people use for long walks in the outdoors and running their dogs and fourwheeling and just all around outdoorsy-ness. And when I say borders on our town, I mean like you turn off one of the main roads and go down a long hill and you're there. Anyway, Julie, the mom, wanted lots of fall colors and grassy areas so we traisped out into the yard and got some fabulous color.



As we were walking back to our cars, which we had left down the road at different places where we had stopped to take photos, one of them whispers, "LOOK!!" To the right of us in the grassy-ness was a HUGE bull moose about 30 yards away. He was way taller than me, even at that distance, and had a full (set, rack, whatever) of shovels.

Julie yelled, "Get a picture!" so I did.
(This was when he stared stomping and put his head down as he started coming our way. Sorry the photos are so small - that's what I get with a free blog.)

We stood there watching him for a half-second, just long enough for me to get these shots. Then Gary said, "I don't think he's very happy with us this close." Sure enough, the moose started snorting and stomping his hooves and walking toward us.

Now, this family is a hunting family. They love to fish and hunt and ride dirt bikes and all manner of outdoorsy stuff. I, on the other hand, have successfully shot a pop can off a fence with a hand gun . . . don't tell my mom . . . and that's about the extent of my outdoorsy-ness. I like to camp but only in places where I can be relatively sure I won't be accosted in my sleep by whatever manner of beast is hovering outside my tent, etc. All that to say - I know nothing about moose. But now and again I am struck with a good helping of common sense that says if the people you are with (who do know animals) are getting worried about the mental state of the particular animal you are admiring, the right thing to do would be to make sure you outrun them to the car. Gary took off running for his pickup and the rest of us, including Josey carrying her 2 month old baby girl, dashed into the bushes and behind whatever fallen logs we could find. I've never run so far forwards with my head swiveled backwards looking for any signs of movement. We stayed in the brush until Gary came back with his truck, squealing the tires and kicking up a ton of dust to try to scare the moose away. He hollered that he could see the moose heading for the opposite bank of the river and not in our direction so we piled in the cars and took off.

I LOVE my job!

Disclaimer: Contrary to what the title may lead you to believe, no moose were harmed in the writing of this post. No people were harmed, either.

sydney - part 1

As promised! There will be more coming soon but I was able to get these finished so her mommy will still be my friend. :)

because I can't just sit down at the computer, download photos, burn a "just in case my computer crashes" CD, and leave it at that . . .

Kendra and Terry, you guys are truly a pleasure to shoot! I love it each year when you say it's time for new portraits and I can't wait until I get them home and onto the computer to play with. Thank you so much for believing in me back in the day and for continuing to let me take your pictures. I love you guys!
Hee hee . . . and these weren't even all of my favorites!

see katie, i really am working on them ....

i forgot to post about our gig.

So, last week was See You At The Pole across America. The churches in GR and RS get together the night before for a teen rally and this year the people in charge asked our church's worship team to be the music for it. We thought we were just leading the worship part like in a church service but it turned out that we were kinda more like a guest band. It was great . . . . we got to play as loud as we wanted to get the kids riled up! There wasn't that great a turn-out for it but those who did come got to hear a pretty fun guy bring the Word -- reminded me TOTALLY of my bro-in-law Mark; his voice was sooo like him. Anyway, here's some photos of us playing:

Our elec. guitar guy (in white, in the back) was also in charge of making chili for the nachos and chili-dogs after so he alternated between playing and running downstairs to stir in more chili powder. Oh, and it was held at the Catholic church so that's why Jesus is still on the cross back there: And now you can see me . . . with my little Britney Spears mic. They decided they wanted me to sing for reals instead of just pretending . . . the keyboard has its own speakers right where my knees are and a regular mic on a boom stand picks up way more of the piano than of me singing so Dad got the headphone mic for me . . . so now I get to sing and people can hear me. But it doesn't have an Off switch so once it's plugged in, it's On . . . I have to remember NOT to say "Oh Crap" or "Frick!!" when I mess up on the keyboard. For some reason Dad thinks some in the church family would object to that being broadcasted thru the room . . . Can't imagine why. :P

Oh yeah, and this photo . . . we walked in to set up and practice and this was in the kitchen:

The sign says "Please do not prop this door open." And the "please" is in all caps. Awesome.