Sneak Peek

I just got some film back from my last trip.

Can you guess where this picture was taken?

Busy Bees

I'm still working on little projects here and there.  Yesterday was spent painting half the house and golf lessons.

Today I'm doing a little sewing, painting and hanging with friends.  

Mi esposo has both of our little usb cables, so I can't download and photos today.

I'll share pics of all my projects real soon.

Projects half completed

These flowers have been sitting half finished for almost a month now.  I think today is the day to finish them.  Our house is still out of sorts from all the other projects we have going on.

Last Friday I spent the majority of my day cleaning paint off my slate floor.  If a painter's price seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Road Trip on Film

I was really excited to take me TLR camera on our road trip.  All the pictures in the post are shot in Kodak 800 ISO.

Motor bike racing

Pretty cati

Negro Bill Canyon 

Tadpole with frog legs and crawdad.

Tess didn't want to leave the hike.  This photo captures half an hour of her crying and screaming on the trail back to the car.  She wanted someone to carry her.

We are on the road driving back from Idaho. Look at this spectacular sunset.

The reunion extension

As we were leaving the family reunion, we decided to join Mike's brother and extend our trip.  

We hit up Looking Glass Arch, then stopped at a greasy burger shack.

The final stop was Mesa Verde National Park.  Our crew of fourteen kids plus parents went on a couple of tours together.

The is Balcony House...

We climbed a few ladders, one of which was thirty feet tall. Scary?  Yes.  

This is Cliff Palace...

The next day a few of us decided to visit Newspaper Rock, and Canyonlands National Park - Needles.

Lots of red rocks, sand and heat down there.  The kids loved every minute of it.

There were a few cacti along the way too.  Which reminds me, I pulled a few more cactus pokies out a week later. Weird.

Family Reunion 2011

We spent some time with most of the McBride family, we missed you Ryan Family, in the La Sal mountains.  My husband has six siblings and it is always a lot of fun when we get together.  We don't need much to keep us occupied and happy.

Between motor bike races, exploding targets, pedicures, a few crafts, nose waxes, tie dying, panning for gold, eating lots of good food, staying up too late, and a talent show we were pretty busy.

This is one awesome family.

Natural Vingette

The fun things about using a plastic camera with film:

-You never know what you are going to get.

-There are only so many shots you can take.

-The effects are all natural.  No photoshop for me.

I ordered some 800 ISO film.  I am excited to see what those pictures will look like.

His name is Dash

This is the neighbors dog hanging out at the park.  My kids don't mind.  They love animals, but Mike and I are "allergic."  

Don't judge me.  I'm not cleaning up animal poop as long as I am cleaning up human stuff.  Collin's not potty trained yet, and I'm not super motivated.  Nuff said

Eat your heart out

This picture isn't doing these cookies any justice.  Really you just have to trust me and make some for yourself.  You will thank me.   This is the recipe.

Cacti

Did you know cacti are only found in the Americas?

I didn't either.  In fact I never even thought about it.

When I was a kid we had cacti growing in our yard.  An older neighbor kid told me to touch the pokies and I did.  Of course it hurt and I ran in crying to my mom.  That was the first time I remember hearing the "If they told you to jump off a bridge..." speech.  Maybe that's why I've never wanted to jump off a brigde in to water?

My dear friend gave me a gift for driving her kids home after school this year.  We have a fabulous nursery here in Draper called Cactus & Tropicals.  Don't you love the packaging?

It's lots of fun to walk through their store and see all the different kinds of plants.  They have a greater variety of tropical and succulent plants than a lot of other stores.  I love succulents.  Most of our front flower beds are filled with succulents.

When I had my back turned Tess touched the plant.  She learned pretty quickly not to touch the cactus, and I didn't give have to give the the speech.

I may or may not have leaned over the plant and got pokies stuck in my stomach, chest and arm.  Let's just say that I know cacti are poky and beautiful at the same time.  Ooh, kind of like me!

It's Official

Tess is finished with preschool.

Ms. Krisiti and Tess

Look out Kindergarten...Here we come!

Open during construction

 Pardon my absence. 

Our house has been a little out of sorts lately.  I'm trying to cook eggos meals, and raise the family with the house looking like this.  I am starting to really love my house.  So, I was unaware I didn't love my house until we started making some changes.  

AGH!

It's been such a crazy last couple of days.

We are off to Tess' first dance recital.  

this picture was taken with my toy camera.

I have so much to show you.  Have a good weekend and we'll talk soon.

The snowball is rolling

Do you know the book, If You Give A Mouse A Cookie...?

Well, our home improvements projects have started to snowball.  One thing leads to another, and another and another, until you are back where you started.

Mike spent the better part of the three day weekend tiling different parts of our house.  The part I am most excited about is our kitchen backsplash.  I knew I wanted white subway tiles, but Mike took some convincing.  Once the tiles started to go up, Mike was in love.  I'm always right.  I don't know why he ever worries. ;)

The tiles still need to be grouted, but that will have to wait until next weekend.  What can't wait is some kitchen reorganization.  Now that the backsplash is looking so pretty, I don't want anything on my counter tops.  I didn't have very much up there to begin with, non the less things needed some changing around.

Pots and pans, blender, mixer, rice cooker, mixing bowls plus many more things have a new spot.

Sorry Mike.  You will need to relearn your way around the kitchen.