You capture - 2009

The challenge for this weeks YOU CAPTURE is... your favorite photos of 2009. Apparently Beth doesn't know that I took exactly 7,951 pictures in 2009. This is going to be a long post. If you are still awake at the end, there will be a surprise for you, and it will be totally worth the wait...

Now, I could go all photoshoppy on you and show you my best stuff, but that's like uber boring, and I'm not in one of those moods, so instead, you are going to get my shots from my favorite moments of 2009, and why they are some of my favorite moments from 2009 instead. Are you ready for this?

Halloween... this daughter of mine freaked everyone out with how well she got into the part of a nerd. Truly. Scary.

Ah, we went to St. George (Zion National Park, actually) to visit mom for her 80th birthday. That's not the point of the photo, though. I loved this photo of me and my mom, and well, my sister, too. I used it as my facebook profile picture for awhile, only I cut my sister out of it because well, I like her and all, but you know... she just didn't fit... and she still hasn't forgiven me for it.

Poor little 4 yr old Ry from Utah couldn't wait to get to Idaho for Christmas to see his new BFF, and when he got here and found her (my 13 year old daughter), his Christmas was finally complete. Well, then his mean old aunties decided we needed to take pictures of all the cute granddaughters together, and one of all the cute grandsons together. Just one problem. His BFF is a girl, and well, he's a boy. Yes, poor little Ry did finally get a picture with him and his BFF, but not until after we had to go and ruin his whole day.

I took this photo and told my father in law I deleted it because if there is one thing he hates, it's getting his photo taken, especially when he's acting like a seven year old, and then my daughter loaded it on her MP3 player that she got for Christmas and had the nerve to show it to him, which thankfully, he wasn't wearing his glasses so he couldn't see just what was in the photo, and totally believed me when I said it was not him sitting in the wagon because that photo got deleted. I promise.

Ah, the memories. My mom and dad celebrated their 60th anniversary this summer. It required their photos being taken and I was offered the job. Woohoo. Halfway through the shoot, crusty dad decided to go postal on us over the fact that plans were being made and nobody bothered to ask him what HE wanted to do for the party. I let him throw his little fit while I continued to take his picture, then I said "Are you done now?" Luckily, he kept me in the will, but only after we agreed to let him put up his bright orange parachute for an "umbrella" at the party.

One can never drive to Jackson without stopping by Mormon Row because even though the place never changes, you never know when you're going to bump into a herd of buffalo roaming through the 'hood. And yes, I made my husband sit on the side of the road for thirty minutes while we waited for the herd to mosey on over. Geez, you'd think I'd never seen a buffalo before.

Life at my house revolves around golf... 'nuff said...

Yeah, so my niece let us come over to play on her zipline she has hanging over her pond and I was like, yeah right, my kids on a zipline? Whatevah! We get there and the place is jam packed with all these dumb jocks high school football players, half of whom are too chicken to go off the zipline. Then there's my little 10 year old nephew, Jaxon, who had to demonstrate who the real men go down the zipline... hanging by their toes... dude, it was awesome... almost as awesome as the squeals of delight of my kids as they went down the zipline over and over, dropping into like 20 feet deep water while I freaked out on the other side, praying I wouldn't have to go rescue them.

One day this stray duck decided it was going to die in our backyard, but first, it was going to rest and recreate under this tree awhile. My little 4 year old niece comes over to play for a couple hours and decides she's going to cure this duck by feeding it a loaf of bread. Didn't work. Every time I see her now, one of the first things she says to me is "your duck died, huh?" Yes, Abbi, my duck died.

Some people find big elaborate landmarks to take pictures of when on vacation. We find dumpsters. Because we're awesome like that.

I tell ya, she will eat anything... including blacker than the inside of Toby's a.. burnt marshmallows. I warned you, I'm in a mood...

This is the kind of cooperation I get when I try to take family photos... honestly... who wants to hang this above their fireplace?

And this child... well, I can't take credit for this photo since I didn't take it, but I like to blog it just to irritate the heck out of her. She loves it when I show people the shot my sister took of her chewing on her feet. At least I didn't show you the one of her sister with her toes in her nose. She'd never forgive me if I went that far.

We buy the boy a new rainsuit for his golf bag for his upcoming "playing Varsity as a freshman" golf season, and just like any old four fifteen year old, he would rather wear the bag on his head...

I volunteered in the second grade class room last year, and I sure gained a lot of respect for second graders. Their teacher was WIERD... (usually it's the other way around). No wonders the kids were always pulling their hair out. Yikes.

And finally... if you are still awake and made it this far... the piece de resistance... our leaning snowman. I thought this was the coolest snowman EVAH! He leaned in the front yard for weeks and weeks and we'd check him every day to see how close he was to falling over. I loved the picture so much I made it my facebook profile photo. Until a really wierd friend from high school decided it reminded him too much of certain male anatomy. Yeah, he remained my facebook friend for about two and a half seconds after that remark. Jerk.
Was it worth the wait?