Silence...

Dear Jackson Hole Wyoming,

You are such a tease. Our weatherman tells me you will offer blue skies. So I hitch a ride with the super cute husband in the hopes that today might be the day when I get to photograph your beautiful Tetons, something I have failed at miserably all summer long. And what do I get?

This.... And it turns out, one must drive into this "hole" to get to a spot that one can even see the infamous mountain range.

However, once you get under this layer of clouds, all you see is grey, yucky, ickiness. So icky, the closest thing we saw to wildlife was this cobweb along the Elk Refuge fenceline.
Don't worry. I'll be back. Someday. Maybe.

Who am I kidding? I will be. The super cute husband likes the company.

Frustratingly yours,

A neighbor from Idaho.

P.S. Who needs to drive all the way to Wyoming for silent photographic moments when I can just drive up the highway to the Conant boat dock and find this....




P.S.S. The theme for this weeks "you capture" was silence... check out Beth's blog at "I should be folding laundry" to see more.







Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

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?

You capture - Up close...

It's beginning to look a lot like autumn..... everywhere I go..... take a look at the basket on my table.... isn't it just so cute? I got it at the craft store just today.....

Okay, so this really isn't that "up close", but it's so cute, I couldn't resist...
And talk about up close (and personal)... how's my laundry room looking? Yeah, the furnace repair man is supposed to show up sometime today (which means he'll be here sometime between now and never). I cleaned my laundry room. Just for him. I don't even know who he is but I certainly couldn't have some dude coming to my house getting THAT up close and personal with me and seeing my dirty laundry hanging around....
I did get out my autumn decorations today. Usually they are up by the first of September, but it turns out this part time job consumes way too much of my time! Speaking of my job - I have to go get a flu shot tomorrow. My first one. EVER! Turns out I work in an incubator and guess what? The flu is going around the school BIG TIME! The husband says I have to do it. End of discussion. He even made me an appointment.

Once upon a time I used to have time for things like tole painting. Then I had that third child and it all went to pot from there. My sweet baby girl (who is nine) now uses my expensive toll painting brushes in her watercolors.

It's been months since I've been this up close and personal with the sunrise. Dang, what is this job doing to me??? Who gets up this early? Oh wait, that would be... normal people.

That's my version of "up close" (and personal) for this week. Check out I should be folding laundry for more "up close" captures.

You Capture - something new

This weeks "You capture" theme hosted by Beth at I should be folding laundry was "something new."

Well..... for the past 15 1/2 years I've been a stay at home mom, doing all the things that I want to do when I want to do them (while raising three kids, so yeah, I didn't exactly do much when I wanted to do it, but I can pretend). Like taking pictures and blogging on an almost daily basis and cooking fabulous meals every day and .... yeah, that was about it.

For the past week and a half, I've been a work outside the home mom. Granted, it's only part time, 19 hours a week, but when I'm not at work, I've been home doing all those things I don't get done while I'm at work. Like laundry. And dishes. And vacuuming. And more laundry. Now I just need to figure how to squeeze cooking in there (my family would appreciate it - they are tired of fending for themselves). I'll get the hang of it sooner or later.

I just hope it's sooner rather than later.

So yeah, that's something new. I would have captured "work" (I am a speech therapy paraprofessional), but I don't think the parents of the kids I work with would appreciate it. So you'll just have to get what you get and not throw a fit. (can you tell I only talk to kids all week?)

In the meantime, this theme was perfect this week. I pulled out my camera to see what new things I could take a picture of this week and found some treasures already on there, so I decided to just go with it..... because I never touched my camera once. It looks to me like my nine year old has been packing around my camera again (which I don't exactly like her doing since I like my camera and she isn't known to be the most careful person in the world, however it's always interesting to see what she's taken pictures of).

This one is perhaps my most favorite - my 13 year old is reading a book. Photographic proof! Why she is doing it on her brothers bed is beyond me. Whatever gets her to read, I guess.

Destressing from work... an obviously too focused to notice someone using my camera on me... I must be on facebook.
The only thing we watch on TV these days. Is football season over yet???
Don't ask - simply because I couldn't possibly tell you the answer to this one...
Ah, someone else got a turn behind the lens and it still wasn't me... unless the Ish has figured out the timer - I'm afraid to teach her that one. I'll never see my camera again!
Oh wait, I lied, I did take a picture this week, but I forgot all about this one. It was my birthday this week, and my girls at church gave me this beautiful bud rose and had all the youth sing to me. Yay! They are so sweet! It was a great birthday this year! My husband gave me.... a vacuum. Okay, I asked for it! Begged, more like. He doesn't do things like household appliances for gifts, unless I beg and plead - and throw the old one out and leave him no choice. He also didn't complain when I replenished my closet with some clothes I dared wear out in public that wasn't a hoodie or jeans, which was pretty much all I owned up until last week.

My sister from Mississippi called me at work - between students thankfully - and we had a nice long chat. It's always a treat to hear from her.

My inlaws gave me money and a Kohls giftcard (they've apparently noticed my wardrobe, too).

My parents took my family out to dinner and gave me a book I've already read (almost, I have 50 pages left - it's an 800 page book!). I told my dad to keep that copy and then let mom and uncle Merlin read it, too. He was actually half done reading it himself... are we the only people who read the books before we give them away? haha!

My kids acknowledged me and two of them actually gave me a hug (the oldest and youngest), which is more than I usually get out of them! It was actually one of the best birthday's I've had in years!!!

What a "something new" kind of week!

You capture - Peace...

Peace captured on a night on the town without the kids as we stood across the river from the temple we were married in 18 years earlier...
Peace was captured as I saved a lady bug from drowning in our swimming pool...
Peace was captured in the halls of the middle school for one last day...
Peace was found in a drop of water...
And finally, I captured peace as the bus drove away this morning with my kids in tow.... YIPEE!!!

You capture - friends...

Friends come in all shapes and sizes and locations. Some we've known forever, and some we've known only a few days. Some are related to us. Some we met on the internet!

These are my e-maginary friends. A whole group of ladies I refer to as my "sistas" who live all over the United States (as well as New Zealand, Australia, and France, but they aren't in this picture) and we try to get together once a year for a girls only getaway. They are by far, the bestest friends a girl could ask for.

Cousins
Old childhood friends, new neighbor friends, and even a new friend visiting from Arkansas...

Another e-friend and quite possibly the nicest person I know...
Lastly - an eternal friendship has kept these two together for almost 60 years! Do they really look that old???

To see more friends - check out Beth at I should be folding laundry.