Happy Halloween

I love these Subway Art signs so I made my own for Halloween

Mallory and Elly Sleep Over

So Mallory and Elly spent the night with us.  Garrett stayed to play for awhile and of course Elly always reads to the little ones.  Mally knows that Elly will read to her so she follows her around with a book until Elly finally drops right where they are and reads. 

Wow do they all look alike!!

Mallory and Elly are very close, they love being with each other and to have them spend the night was heaven for Grandma and Grandpa.  Lynn wrote a schedule that Mallory usually follows and Miss El made sure we were sticking to the schedule except when it came to bedtime.... El allowed Mally to stay up past her bedtime just so they could play together. 

Mally was in bed sleeping about an hour before I took El up and then Mallory woke up when I tried to get her into a laying position vs the sitting bent over like a pretzel that she fell asleep in.  I just played Mal's music and rubbed her back while Miss El layed in her bed, then she says to me "Grandma did you change Mallory's diaper before you put her to bed?"  "Yes, why?"  "I just thought she might be wet because you forgot".   After an while of rubbing her back and not being able to fall back asleep I took her back downstairs and snuggled...... hummmm her diaper does feel kinda wet so I was changing her and Miss El comes down the steps

Elly - "See Grandma I thought she was wet"

Me - "Yes El she was wet you're such a smart cousin"

Elly - "Grandma I can't sleep with my hair in braids"

Me - "Can you take them out yourself"

Elly - "Yes my mom let's me all the time"

Me - "Okay, then put them on the dresser"

Meanwhile I am changing the diaper without paying attention to what I'm doing, I'm almost done with the last side and Mallory is holding the wipes

Mally - "Wipes"

Mally - "Wipes"

Mally - "Wipes"

Me - "Oh Mally I'm sorry Grandma forgot to wipe you"

Mally - "Wipes, wipes, wipes"

I had to undo the diaper and wipe the poor little girl so she would stop saying Wipes, Wipes, Wipes.  These darn grandkids are smarter than grandma.



John's Big Buck

John went hunting tonight, 2nd time this bow hunting season.  He hasn't been seeing much on the deer camera so his hopes weren't very high.  He enjoys the time sitting in the tree watching nature so if he doesn't get a shot at anything he's still happy.  I usually go out to the cabin before dark to see what he's seen and listen to his stories..... over and over again (you know deer hunting stories).  Well I'm just about ready to pack up and head out as John drives in the yard.  He heads to the garage but turns to the house just before he goes in and puts both his hands on his head with a big ole' smile on his face.  In deer hunting sign language means "I shot at the big one". 

For the next 45 minutes he paces, and paces and paces..... calls everyone he knows who isn't busy on a Friday night to help him track (he took me once and I think I'm the last resort now).  So the guys head out and 30 minutes later Adam is calling "where are you with the camera".  Shan, the kids and I hop in the truck and find a bunch of smiling guys when we arrive at the cabin.  Grandpa John got himself one nice buck!!

Last years buck still isn't back from the taxidermy...... last years buck. 

And here is this years, a nice 10 pointer

Haunted Neighborhood

It's getting closer to Halloween and lots of spooky stuff is going on.....  good thing I had my camera with me tonight on the way home. 

Happy 100 days

So this morning was the 100th day of going to the gym.  I woke up before my 4:45am alarm but of course I don't get out of bed and then I still push the snooze (habit that I really like) I lay there awake and think that when I agreed to meet my sister at the gym before work, beat my body for a straight 45 minutes, I would never last at this crazy stupid thought.  I still hate getting up in the mornings but I do it, I still have sore muscles, I still have to stop and pretend that I need a drink of water so I can catch my breath when crazy Jen teaches boot camp.  I still have to wonder how these stupid lunge walks will ever make a difference.  But I do it and I have to say "I love it". 

Wine making

 My Saturday session got rained out so I helped my sister Gayle bottle her wine.   Ohhhhh yeah it's a good batch.  We ended up with 72 bottles and only drank the left overs.  :)

The second batch was kinda bland it was Peach Raspberry and didn't have much flavor due to the peaches, we thought about dumping it down the drain but then we added tons more sugar, everythings better loaded with sugar right?  It's Yummmy stuff now.

All we need is the labels

Nap or Nature Walk?

John went bow hunting tonight and I thought I would surprise him by being at the cabin when he got in, so I took my laptop and thought I would edit pictures while I waited....... I left way before dark.   Um yeah my plan didn't work so well..... he didn't have the power on so I was without electricity and a dead battery.  I then thought this is a good time for a nap, ahhhhh yes a nap, no one around peace and quiet and a warm comfy couch with a cold pillow.  Yeah me nap..... after 5 minutes of wondering why I was trying to nap when I don't nap and how people can nap and how many things I have to do and I could take a walk.... I got up and took a walk around the woods until it got dark and scary out there by myself.  I then went back to the cabin and waited for the hunter to return.

Quick Pic and Story

Ohhhh Shannon and Adam you're so cute in that photo, I forget how little Adam was when Lynn got married.  I will never forget how broken hearted he was that day, he didn't understand how his sister and new brother were getting married and leaving us 2 weeks later to live all the way across the US.  He cried through the whole wedding ceremony, so sweet now but broke my heart then.

More Mally

Okay so Lynn gave the okay to post Mally's pics.  Lynn wanted her photos taken with her Halloween costume.  Of course she would be a giraffe since her favorite toy is a hard plastic giraffe and she rides around on her giraffe all day long.  She is the cutest giraffe even if she didn't feel good this day.

You can tell her and her momma spend lots of time together, her momma says

"Mally can you wink"  and she winks....

"Mally what does a cow say?"  Moo, "what does a sheep say?"  Baa, "what does a puppy say?" woof, "what does a bunny say" she Sniffs, "what does a snake say" she Sniffs........  "Noooo Mally a snake says siiiiiiiiiiiiiiii" and they giggle. 

When  Momma talks to her she looks at her and listens just like this....

"Mally can you count?"   "One" and the little finger goes up, "Two" and two fingers go up, "Three" and she giggles.....

Here is the little giraffe filling the pumpkin with leaves so you can see her fluffy butt.... ohhhh and wild hair :)

Now for the best part.  What happens when momma goes to the mall without Mally and walks past the candy store?  

She can't resist and buys the biggest sucker there and when your only 16 months and your momma buys you the biggest sucker.............. it's bigger than your own head , you aren't strong enough to hold it, and you can't figure out how to get it in your mouth but you try really, really hard.

Another fun family

 I spent the morning with a fun bunch of kids, they have so much energy and beautiful smiles.  We let them explore the stumps, river, ducks, sticks, rocks... and when mom said "okay kids come here", they were right there posed all smiles cooperative beautiful kids.  A couple shutter clicks and they were gone again.  Mom says they are like this all day at home, I would have loved to have this many kids running around, they are a very lucky family.

Dad is a very busy guy and couldn't make the session so we did what we could without him.

I told them I wanted serious looks "NO SMILES" and this is what I got.

Oh there good at serious all right!!

One shot that I always wanted to do was to have a family crawl out on this log but I fear someone would fall in.  Mom says "they do that all the time, let's send them out there".  

They all did stay dry but I think they were secretly wanting to fall in.  

Our oldest daughter's beautiful family

Lynn and Jesse came over for some fun pictures of Mallory but I'm not sure I can share them with you so I'll just give you the sneak peak of a safe shot of all of them. 

Mallory is a little girl on the go so to make her sit was almost impossible, daddy got her an armful of leaves.... she loved that and stayed in one spot for about 2 minutes.  :)

Baby Girl "M" is here

A few weeks ago I met an excited mommy and daddy that couldn't wait for their baby to make his/her appearance.  They had the nursery all ready, they were ready, the maternity photos were done and all they needed was a baby.  Well she is here and she is beautiful. 

I love their rings and what makes them even better is a pair of cute baby feet.

I know mommies love their babies but I think this mommy really loves her baby girl.  She's only been here 2 weeks but this little girl knows her mommy too.

And daddy won't give her up either.  He took lots of loving time with his baby girl.

Such a sweet baby girl, I can't wait to watch her grow.

Photo Walk

This afternoon we took a walk in the woods.  It's so wet out there but we managed to come home with dry feet. 

This is the barn John's family owned and operated while he was growing up.  This is the backside of the barn which most don't ever get to see.  There is something about barn pictures that look so cool.

I was trying to duplicate a photo that I seen in a magazine the other day..... this isn't it at all but I still like it.

Number 4

We are going to be grandparents again, this will be number 4.  It's officially out in the open...... our daughter Lynn is expecting child number 2.   She's been very sick lately and I have a hard time seeing her this way, I don't like my kids to be sick or hurt. 

This may sound crazy but I feel my girls pains.  I know when they are having monthly troubles, I knew when Shanon went into labor with Garrett.  I was sick when Lynn wasn't feeling well while living in Oregon.  If I don't feel good I call both of them to find out what's wrong.  Now the weird part..... I even felt the labor pains when our dog Brandon (yep it's a boys name but she was a girl) was in the garage having her puppies.  I woke up sick with belly pains that night and could not shake it.  After a hour or so I walked downstairs and could hear something in the garage... Brandon had a few puppies already and was still having them.  As soon as she was done my belly ache went away.  Weird huh?

A few weeks back Lynn was spending the night and we talked about her lack of energy and not feeling well, when I went to bed that night I took the box of saltines out of the cupboard, put them on the counter and said "Lynn in case you get up before us".  She just smiled.  We're so excited and can't wait.

Lynn has a very fun exciting way of telling stories so if you have time read her announcement post.  here 

Not sure what this photo has to do with my announcement but it's what's happening around us right now, they are taking the corn down and soon you will see us again..... I'm gonna miss my walls.

Ryan and Tasha's Beautiful Fall Wedding

Tasha and Ryan wanted a fall wedding for the crisp cool air, bright fall colors and as much as Ryan didn't want to miss a weekend without his tree stand he did so for the love of his life.  Well with this fall day they got a all of those visions except one.  The air was not crisp nor cool...... it was 83 degrees.

The colors were Tangerine and Brown and couldn't have been more beautiful together.  The sermon was memorable for the entire family.  The reception was a great time and the room to relax for the evening was ohhhhhhh so comfy after a long day.  

 Here are just a few.... Just a couple more hundred to look through :)

Thank you Tasha and Ryan for allowing me capture your memories.

More Vacation

Believe it or not I can still move after yesterday so we decided to go kayaking.  Not sure if this was a very smart idea but it's one thing I can cross off my bucket list..... not that I have a bucket list but if I did this might be on it.  :)

We started off with finding a glob of yuck in the water which happens to be the only 1 celled animal that lives in water..... hummmm can't remember and don't have time to google it, it's something like Brizonie.  It was gross whatever it's name is, there are tons of them grouped together to make this slimy animal.... we put him back!!

The weather was georgous, we had such a fun relaxing afternoon paddling around for a little over 3 miles.  I decided to not take my camera since I didn't think it would be a good idea to have one of my Canon's sunk in the bottom on the lake with a wedding the next day so these are from my little point and shoot. 

Here's John taking in some sites

We got close enough to switch the camera and he took a few of me

The view on my way back was breat taking and John had the camera on the beach so I paddled as fast as I could so I could grab the camera and go back out before the sun changed.  It was worth it. 

I would go again in a heartbeat......... I loved it.

Mini-Vacation

How does a girl start a mini-vacation?  We'll let me tell you this is how I started mine.

4:45am - wake up to alarm clock

5:10 - drive to boot camp

5:30 - right basic.... right v..... repeater until your left leg falls off

5:35 - repeat with the right side

5:45 - lift your 8lb weights over your head twenty gazillion times until your left arm falls off next to your leg

5:50 - reapeat with your right arm

6:00 - Strap your legs into a small band and then walk across the floor until your butt cheeks cramp

6:10 - Oh great it's stretch time......R U KIDDING ME....what we have to do the plank for 3 minutes, now my abs have fallen on the floor next to my limbs.

6:20 - drive home

7:00 - shower and run errands

9:30 - start cutting down flowers with lots of bending, twisting, and using muscles that you didn't use all morning.

1:00 - spend the afternoon with Miss Mallory

9:30 - drag your body in the house after dropping Miss Mallory off at home and wonder if you'll be able to climb the stairs for bed.

10:00 - wake up from the couch and drag your body to bed

Is this vacation?

Ben and Holly = Sneak Peek

Ben turns 3 and he is quite the boy.  He is all about running, water, ducks, running, dirt, running, not looking at me, running...... he was quite the challenge but he wasn't faster than me.

Good thing I have a fast shutter because this straight on look lasted about .10 milliseconds.

Ben's sister Holly loved to pose for me while we tried to get Ben stopped in one spot.  Here is a bouquet of leaves and a paintbrush flower she picked for me.  I went home with an oak leaf, a bouquet of leaves, a paintbrush flower, a feather and a very happy girl.  Holly wanted me to come eat supper with them, she also wants me to come to her birthday party.....  I love kids

Another .10 millisecond look

Dad finally put him up in a tree by standing on the picnic table so he couldn't run.  Much to dad's surprise he liked it and didn't want to come down. 

You have to love a little sunshine on your baby boys face as he watches the ducks. 

And one more pose from Miss Holly

Football Kids + Sneak Peek

I know there are lots of boys out there just waiting to see one or two of the photos with them smashing into each other...... I couldn't pick favorites so you get to see the whole team because that is what they are A TEAM with great coaches. 

I had a great time coach and you can give the kids a night off of laps for good behaviour. 

wink, wink