A little too close....

 Oh, oh, here they come...  

 Watch out boy, she'll chew you up...

   Oh, oh, here they come...

 He's a maneater... 

Seriously, just once would I like to walk out into the field without being accosted by a horse.  Is it too much to ask?

SOOC - Macro Monday - {it's a mystery}

My super cute husband surprised me this week with an early birthday present...

A MACRO lens for my camera!!! I love love love MACRO photography! It's a little different than the lenses I'm used to, so darn it, I have to play with a little (or a LOT) so I can get it all figured out. Like I'm going to complain. ;)

I've got a mystery for you... WHAT ARE THESE? They are growing on my potato plants (the purple ones)! I have never seen such a thing, nor has anyone else we asked, and we live in the heart of potato-ville!

And just a little bit of the MACRO I've been playing with... (when the husband and I aren't beating each other at Gin)...

Murrieta 365 & Lisa's Chaos

SOOC - Sunset

One of my favorite parts of summer are the beautiful evening lightning storms that roll through every once in awhile. They are especially beautiful when they include a beautiful sunset. The other night, we pulled up a chair (tailgate) and sat and watched until the rain arrived at our house. It was the perfect ending to my day.

SOOC

One subject at different angles...

Every year about this time, I get all excited when my daisies start opening up their cute little heads and I grab my camera and take massive amounts of pictures from every angle and proudly hang their portraits above my bed as if they were the newest member of the family.

I'm not kidding.

This year, my excitement level dwindled a bit as I've watched them grow.

Or rather, not grow.

*whine*

A huge majority of my daisies did not even bother to come up this year. Apparently, they've had enough of trying to thrive amongst all the weeds. I know how they feel.

Thus, my poor little lone (so far) daisy out back looks so... alone.

And sad.

I tried to cheer it up by taking it's picture, but alas, my efforts were in vain. It does have about four little friends working their way out into the open, though. Hang on, little daisy, you won't be alone forever.

This weeks 52 Photos project challenge was to take pictures of one subject at different angles. I had already been doing this over the past several days, trying to master the manual setting on my Nikon. (All pictures are straight out of the camera.)

Okay, "master" is a stretch. I'd settle for becoming more comfortable with it.

Different lighting.

Different angles.

Discovered that the ISO was set to 2000 for absolutely no reason, which is always a wonderful thing to notice when you are good and tired of your little photo shoot.

*note to self... check the ISO more often*

Perhaps I will try again another day.

How I spent my 4th of July...

Fireworks with my little pyros in the front yard...

Fireworks with the rest of the valley in town...

I usually take pictures of the fireworks, but decided I would rather just sit and enjoy them this year. So I did.

A completely uneventful day. Nothing wrong with that, right?

"Y" is for Yellow...

The yellow words on the strap of the very thing that brings you this blog to begin with...

A photographer went to a socialite party in New York. As he entered the front door, the host said, "I love your pictures, they're wonderful; you must have a fantastic camera." He said nothing until dinner was finished, then: "That was a wonderful dinner, you must have a terrific stove." Sam Haskins

This is what my Nikon D90, which I purchased one year ago this week, has brought to me in the past year.

I still can't decided if it's the camera or the photographer.

Tiptoeing through the tulips...

If I only had tulips, I would totally have tiptoed through them today. However, not only can I never seem to remember to replant them in the fall, but, it's not really tulip time. That title was all I could come up with.

It is however... Iris time...

And Peony time...

And Columbine time...

And whatever this is time.

Oh, and yard work time. I love flowers. I hate yard work. If it wasn't for my super cute husband, those shovels and rakes would still be there five years from now with the flowers and weeds growing up around them. I do not kid about my disdain for yard work. Ever.

What's blooming at your house?

The Neverending Story

Christmas time is here, and that means there is squat on the boob tube. There's a million things to do, but sometimes you just need to sit and vegetate. So, I turned on the live streaming Netflix and decided to introduce my kids to one of my childhood favorites, The NeverEnding Story.

Okay, I must have been one sheltered child.

This.
Movie.
Is.
Awful.

The kids agree. But then, they also thought some of our other favorite childhood movies were also awful, such as Strange Brew, The Three Amigos, and Better off Dead.

As if!

Oh, what a boring childhood I must have had.

Speaking of children... we... actually went to the ward party this year. I took my camera and decided to photograph the primary singing and doing their live nativity.

There's one more epic fail to add to this years list.

Okay, so it wasn't ALL bad, but it was far from good. I'm just too picky. I guess that can be my goal for next year... figure out how to take a decent picture in the gym at church from the far side of the room (suggestions welcome).

However, it will probably require another ward party and I'm not sure my husband is up for another discussion of Ben 10 Alien Force with my 10 year old neighbor boy. Never heard of it? Join the club.

Friday night. 630. Cartoon Network.

Or perhaps I'll stick with crappy old movies from Netflix. If you can think of any "good" ones I need to add to my list, let me know. The kids are starting to think there was something seriously wrong with their parents. We could really use some new suggestions.

Movie is over (lawsy mercy, I thought it would never end).

Final thoughts about the NeverEnding Story from the boy...

that. was. wierd.

Yes. Yes, it was.

Photography 101

I walked into my bishops office today to talk to him about my new calling. It's not one that has to be sustained or anything, so I figger I can go ahead and share it with the world. I am the person who gets to collect and or photograph pictures of families in the ward for the new church website. Apparently there is a rumor going around that I like to take pictures.
It doesn't mean I'm any good at it, it just means I like to do it.

Trust me, there is a difference.

But, whatever.

Anyway.

As I sat down, I looked up on his board of upcoming priest quorum activities. Crap. I was hoping they'd forget about that one. A few months ago, in their planning meeting, my lovely son said I would LOVE to teach the priests quorum a lesson on photography. Then he asked me if I would do it. I told him no. Apparently they didn't take me serious. My name was still on the board.

Darn kid. They only thing I have going for me is the fact that he has yet to "remind" me, and knowing him, he won't until the day before.
Therefore, sometime between now and November 30th, I need to figure out what in the world I am going to teach to a handful of 16 and 17 year old boys about taking pictures.

I have no idea.

Especially since I'm currently mad at my camera. I spent half an hour trying to take a motion shot of Ishee playing in the leaves and all I could convince the camera to focus on was... the trees. Some days... my camera hates me. Other days... I realize why I prefer taking pictures of things that don't move.

So once again, I beg of thee for suggestions. What does one suppose that a teenage boy would like to learn about photography?

Photostory Friday - Three stories

Story 1...

Toby/Turbulence/Turbo/Baybree (depending on who is talking to her) is impossible. How many cats do you know that will sit there and let you spray her over and over and over with water until WE give up and go away? Seriously wierd.
Story 2...

The kitchen tile is officially done. All that is left is the trim around the edges. It's so awesome I actually like sweeping the floor.

Just for fun.

By the way, if you have a steam mop, I'd love to hear all about it. Brand. Price. Advantages. Disadvantages. Convince me I need one. I'd forgotten how much I love not having an island. Until I went to fix dinner. Then I remembered how much I love having an island.
Story 3...

I tagged along with the super cute husband to Jackson Hole the other day. The weather wasn't the greatest but at least I didn't feel like a lame-o wearing my jacket around like I do most other days. Yes, I wear a jacket every time the temperature gets under 80. Got a problem with that? Just for the record, it was 45 degrees in Jackson.

Dang, where does all this gray hair keep coming from... Want to see more of our little daytrip, including Mormon Row, West Piney, and Fall Creek? Clickity on this link... 52 Photowalks (don't worry, the husband was way more excited to be spending the day with me than he looks... I think).

Hosted by Cecily and Mary