Sunday, December 20, 2009

Sugar Cookies Greenstreet Style...


Tonight we gathered around the dining room table after dinner to decorate Christmas colored sugar cookies. Frosting and sprinkles a plenty everyone had a dozen or so to do with as their creativity commanded. Tim won the "most frosted" award.

We delivered a dozen and a half to neighbors which was actually a dozen and a half more than one child wanted to part with.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

The code cracking attempts have begun...


Is it the wrapping paper or the placement of the ribbon? Are the bows the secret to the 2009 Christmas code?? I have already been begged and pleaded with for any morsel of clue. I give some... with the caveat that lying does inevitably occur at Christmastime. So am I lying about the clue or lying about lying about the clue? There is no telling and hopefully there is also no solving. Sorry Nessy, you'll have to wait until December 25th!

Christmas Pillow Covers...


I made some covers for my living room pillows which are a drab khaki last year. I have not been able to locate them this year after searching the outside shed multiple times. What I did find was some scrap Christmas fabric which I cut into 3 inch strips, sewed together, cut the other direction in three inch strips and then sewed them together once again. There was no real rhyme or reason to the pattern and I prefer it that way since my piecing skills are quite rudimentary and random. Still, I like the looks of these pillow covers as opposed to the khaki milk stained originals.

Getting Ready for Christmas...



Two Brothers...

Christmas Tree 2009



Jensen's 2nd Amendment Compromise...


Jensen has 10 years before he can buy a handgun but nothing stops him from constructing an assault weapon out of Legos today.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

McKay's Senior Pictures Part 1



These are the indoor shots of Senior Pictures for McKay. We plan to do some outdoor ones as well when the weather warms up a bit. We would have done these last summer but McKay insisted they be taken AFTER her braces came off.

Interestingly enough they were all shot with the exact same background and similar lighting. I shot them in RAW format on manual settings so that I could process them in RAW before saving them as jpegs. I think I used a 50mm lens for the third shot since there is nice bokeh in the background.

Friday, October 30, 2009

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Crafts are good for the Soul...


Every now and then I get an idea for a craft project that really makes me smile. At a recent Enrichment meeting I saw a project with wooden gift tags with inspiring words on them. I thought it might be cute to make them bigger, add magnets to the back, cut out vinyl letters with reminders to my kids and stick them to the backside of the front door. Initially I made six, but since I have way more things to say I'll be making more.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

My First Brown Trout

I have always heard there's Brown Trout on the Touchet River. I've never been able to catch one, as they are a very wary fish. I was fishing a big fly yesterday. A #8 size olive body stimulator. The fly is about as big as a quarter. I was fishing a section of river that is about 30 feet across and about belly deep thru the middle. A tree had fallen into the river at the head of the hole. Browns like lots of cover for ambushing prey. Everything indicated this could be a great hole. I pulled two 14 inch rainbows out. I cleaned up the fly and made a perfect cast within 6 inches of the tree. The fly floated back to me in the current about two feet, when this pig came flying out of the water. He jumped two more times. Given I only had 2lbs test tippet on, I had to really play him out. It took about five minutes before he was willing to come in and get his picture taken. I then let him go. A fish this size is 10-15 years old. He had earned his freedom in my book. Plus, you want to keep those good genetics in the river.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Old Faithful...

In 1986 Tim and I paid $9000 for a brand new 1987 Nissan Sentra two door sedan, no air conditioning, no cruise control and no radio. It was our first major purchase as newlyweds. The car payment was $197 a month financed for 4 years.

We brought our firstborn son home from the hospital in the back seat and drove back and forth from Idaho to San Diego several times. As our family expanded faster than our car budget, at one point there were three car seats buckled in the rear.

Twenty three years and 200,000 miles later, it functions as economical teenage transportation. Although we paid $1500 too much at the time of purchase, it has turned out to be one of the best financial decisions of our marriage.

McKay is done standing on the porch...

This years "first day of school" photo is McKay's last. She posed for me 13 times including kindergarten and now she's finished. Here's a look back...

Kindergarten

1st Grade

2nd grade

3rd Grade

4th Grade

5th Grade

6th Grade

7th Grade

8th Grade

9th Grade

10th Grade

11th Grade

12th Grade

School Starts 2009

On the first day of school you must stand on the front porch and pose for the camera. No one really likes it but Mom don't care -- it's tradition.