Hunter's Baptism Invite

Holy Trash!  I can't believe that Hunter is already 8 years old!  I took care of this little guy when he was a newborn in the hospital, because my sister had a C-section.  He is no longer the little "Chunk" I took care of.

I created this invite to his baptism, as per my sister's request.  We shot a few photos in the cold, barren weather, as well.  They are for his book.  Or if she is at all like me, his file on the computer that will eventually someday, maybe, might become a book.

To Andrew

It's been over 5 years, but you are not forgotten.

Congrats, Landon and Alyssa!

Daisy

Because Daisy is so dark, it is fairly difficult to get a good picture of her. This is a fantastic photo taken by Kailey with our little point and shoot camera. Great job!

McMullins

This past trip, I had a chance to visit with some friends from college. I always enjoy seeing their little family grow, knowing that I play a great role in helping these two friends finally get together romantically and eventually to marry. I even helped Michelle pick out her engagement ring. This time while we were there, Todd and I got to shoot a few pics of their family.

Fighting with Fresh Fruit...A new way to make fruit salad.

The master weapons collector, Paul was the instigator of all fresh fruit wars...


His son, Sir Kyle of the Melon...


The fresh pineapple has finally met its match.


Mistress Brooklynn practices her lunge and parry with her dagger...


And the babe (Kyle's cute daughter) watches on.

A fruit salad, you say?


Hazzah!


Now we shall feast...


Or be feasted upon!

Enough of this knife fight! Bring out the tommy gun!


This post was brought to you by Paul and Mel Mosher, who we visited in New Hampshire a few weeks ago. They have a fantastic weapons collection, so of course, we had to fight with fresh fruit.

Sometimes...

It just works out this way, and I love Photoshop for the ability to accentuate it.

Biking It

My last trip for work was to Helena, MT. Apparently, during the summer season, the travel costs increase exponentially, so when I checked out rental cars, the cost was exorbitant and out of my per diem budget. My solution? A bike. Todd and I were driving, so, because I was able to get a hotel closer to my location than he was, I decided to buy a bike and ride to and from.

So, I spent the better part of the 2 separate mornings at the bike shop looking over bikes and finally deciding on a hybrid that would give me flexibility instead of having either a road or mountain bike. It is the only hybrid in the store with disk brakes, and we had to special order it in a female bike frame. The Roam W 1, which are no longer in stock until next year's model comes out. In fact, we ordered the last one in the States that was available. Because I was going out of town before it came in, Todd also got the male version of the bike (remember, he didn't have to rent a car, because we were driving) and I rode his new bike.



When I got back from my trip, we went to the bike shop to pick up my bike. Apparently, it had arrived, been put together, and one of the shop boys had put it out on display and it was very quickly sold...to someone else...after I had already paid for it. Soooo...to make a long story short, I ended up with a more expensive loaner bike until the new 2012 Roam 1s come out. OR I could just keep the loaner bike. I am just bummed that I ordered a specific bike for specific reasons and now I am still riding a dude bike.

It Only Took 3 Years, but...

I finally painted my front door red. It really pops now, and somewhat differentiates my house from the others in the neighborhood, well, except the house next door, which is also a red door home. Sigh...cookie cutter homes definitely have pros and cons.

We also cleaned out the front planter box and mulched. The previous owner had used river rock as landscape and failed to use weed blocker underneath, so we had to uncover layers of rocks that had worked their way down into the soil. This is not a feat for the light of heart.

All the rocks, you ask? They are now in the large firepit, ah, I mean trampoline pit. No more lighting entire standing Christmas trees on fire. The fire dept. will be ecstatic to learn of this. We are slowly getting the yard in shape. Now a sprinkler system to fix and we will have the basics done. I can't wait to actually start adding color and character to my yard.

Little Giant Mexican Cruise

Viva, Puerta Vallarta. One of the ports was closed due to political unrest, but our Freestyle Norwegian Cruise was fantastic. We went with our fellow coworkers (all who qualified) so we had company when we wanted and we went off and did our own thing when we didn't want to have to tag along with others. The entertainment was fantastic and the ports a lot of fun. Here are just a couple pics to show the fear in my eyes as I repelled down a waterfall and played on the beach in Cabo.

Spring Break

This year for spring break, Todd and I were working just outside of San Francisco, so decided to fly the kids out to CA. Our intention was to go to Six Flags Animal Kingdom and then head to Vegas to spend time with the kids' cousins. Of course, it wasn't until later (after purchasing tickets) that the park wasn't open while we were there, the pool at the hotel was closed and the Santa Cruz boardwalk was closed. Pretty much our entire plan was a flop. Thankfully, I have a LOT of experience with vacations not working out as planned. I laughed heartily, as I always do, and we made other plans. We went through the Jelly Belly Factory, spent time playing in the frigid Pacific Ocean and then drove through the night to Vegas where we spent time on the strip, hanging out with cousins and shooting. All in all, it ended up being a fun trip.

Oh, and please forgive me for not putting the pictures in chronological order.

Bottle Deposit

Because today is Memorial Day, Costco is closed, which means that I am in the greater Portland area with nothing to do and no obligations. This does not happen often. You would think that having 10 days off in a row (theoretically) that I would have plenty of days without obligation. Life just doesn't happen that way, so this unexpected break has been nice. I have spent most of the day either roaming Clackamas, OR and watching old black and white and technicolor movies on the Fox Movie Channel. I have missed getting my old movie fix.

I did manage to make it to the grocery store to load up with meals for the rest of my trip here, which is where I found out that they charge me a per bottle deposit, which I will get back when I take my bottles back into the store where there are big recycling machines specifically for bottles. I don't know how other people feel about this, but it really annoyed me. In fact, as childish as this is, my stubborn streak came out and now I am going to exercise my right NOT to recycle those particular bottles.

As far as recycling goes, I am for it. It just makes sense to reuse instead of creating more plastic. At home, we have a recycle garbage can that the city picks up every other week. I won't say that I am totally vigilant in using it every time I have a recyclable, but I am green conscious when it makes sense. The problem is, I am not always at home and so it doesn't always make sense for me.

The fact that I rarely use water bottles when I am at home makes a difference in how I feel about this particular law, as well. I usually will buy a case of water when I am on the road, so that I have something to drink, however, it doesn't always make sense to collect the empty bottles and run them to the store later.

I am also irritated that this is a law instead of the bottling companies. How much regulation will be imposed on us. How many rules or taxes will be created because somebody else knows what is better for me? How are they coming along on the sugar tax? or the french fry tax? Thanks, but no thanks. I prefer to keep my right to make decisions for myself.

Of course, what can I expect? I am in Oregon, liberal state where the freeway speed limit is 55 and a certain population of people conserve water by not showering. Pardon my facetiousness. There are a lot of great attributes, such as a beautiful coast line and lush green foliage. And of course, I do have some great friends who live (or have lived) here.

I am curious, however, about what other people think about creating laws like this?

Just for Tanner

Kailey

We haven't updated the kids' pics on the wall for a while now, so after shooting Jenny's kids I had Kailey pose for a few. I'll have to get Jessica and Austin later when they are feeling better (they were sick that weekend). Ignore the bad editing. I'll fix it later, but I'm not sure when I'll post again.