project.....

Scott had the brainy idea the other day to build the boys bunk beds out of ceder from the property. he has no plans to go by, so i guess he is just gonna wing it. so far we have one tree cut down and half way stripped. we will see how long it takes for this project to be complete........if it gets finished it sure is gonna be neat!

more nature.....

even in such a beautiful place and with a renewed spark for photography when i went on the field trip to lost maples, i just can't get into it. some kind of rut, or un-inspiration, i am not sure, but it makes my stomach hurt to think about not taking pictures. i have been going through a big pity party because i don't like my equipment even though it is fine(just a little dirty) and of course my wish list is a mile long for photography equipment but at the end of the day there are many, many more important things that must and will come before more equipment. well in the wake of my pity party i have posted a few of the nature/landscape picture that i took a while back.....

field trip.....

i doubt anyone is even attempting to keep up with this sad little blog anymore, i don't blame them, whoever they may be. I love my blog, it is therapeutic to me, but time slips away here in my new life and i haven't found the time to devote to something just for me. so for the sake of me, i will continue to update when time allows.

I had the most awesome opportunity to tag along on a field trip of sorts with a photography club to lost maple state park over the past weekend. this is a club from houston where i attended a total of one meeting last year, despite this and not being a paying member, they happily let me go on the trip since i live so close to the park now. this club is made up of hobbyist and professionals with spouses that gladly go along and share this passion. every one of the amazing people i meet this weekend had a story and a passion, they were so willing to share any knowledge they possessed about the ever learning art of photography. i have never experienced this with photographers before. my past experience with other photographers had, unfortunately, left me very skeptical of spending 2 days with a whole group of them, but they made me see the light that all photogs are not egotistical jerks!!!

i took nearly 500 pictures, which surprised me since i cannot 'see' landscape. landscape photography has never peaked my interest further than admiring someone elses ability to translate it in picture. i treat it as a point and shot opportunity when i see something beautiful, never taking the time to study and interpret . It is hard to interpret something so beautiful in a picture that is in landscape. but this weekend i started to 'see' and be able to tell what i saw in this beauty, i found a zone and really enjoyed my time and possibly a new found passion in my pursuit of learning the art of photography.....








the next picture was on the way back to one of the club members weekend house....the boot fence...with hundreds of worn and tattered boots lining the fence...

park.....

i tried my hardest to get a few good pictures of the boy this weekend...it did not go as planned. we went to the local park along the Guadalupe river, i let the boys play for quite a long time so they would get it out of their system and to not tease them with the playground, but it still did not work. I was only able to get K to sit still for about 3 picture, only by threatening him with no TorTing!! T wouldn't even come close! here is K.....

county fair.....

this past weekend we brought the boys to their first county fair. Going to the county fair and carnival is one of my favorite things to do(is there anything better than people watching at the carnival?), unfortunately i haven't been in several years. the boys are at the perfect age to start going and enjoying all that goes on at the fair and what a great way to start getting familiar with the activities in a new town. we watched the lamb show for a while and the pigs, they seemed to enjoy it for the few minutes they sat still. of course they loved the petting zoo, we went in it 4 times! I hope one day they love going and the atmosphere as much as i do. i will have to admit though...the carnival is stinking expensive! on Saturday i charged my batteries, packed a big purse my 2 fav lenses and camera, got to the fair and did not have my camera card. on Sunday, i made sure before we left to go back, that i put the card in my camera. well before we left i took a few pictures of the boys in the bath tib, loaded them in the computer and left it. so of course we get 17 miles away from the house and had to stop at walmart to get yet another card. i have 5 cards, 3 of them have been bought for the same reason, i have got to stop doing that.....

gazzillion.....

i think that is how many stars we can see now that we are out of the city. when it is clear out, it is just the most amazing thing i have ever seen. being from the city(well close to it), we were lucky to see maybe 5 on any given night. now it is just surreal when you look up into the sky and there are more stars than sky...

this is my very first attempt at photographing the stars....i have a lot practice ahead of me, but it wasn't a total bust for my first time. first thing i need to do different is make sure there are not power lines above me:)!!!
this one was 30 sec exposure....

this one is almost a 5 min exposure.....


now keep in mind that i did not take an extreme measures for composition(hence the power lines) or focus, i just wanted see if i could actually get stars to show up..i was very surprised.

scenery.....

just two of the scenery pictures i have take....



these are not even a good example of what make this area so beautiful. There are what amounts to me as mountains, but are actually huge hills everywhere. Tons of rocks, i am actaully not sure if there is much top soil here...everything is rocks. we found out it is impossible to dig a hole more that 2 inches! i just can't even begin to describe...i willhave to start taking pictures.....

Zion.....

one of the hardest decision we had to make with the move was putting the kids in the care of someone other than my sister. the thought of putting them in school(daycare, but saying school makes me feel so much better) just made me sick and i almost decided to stay in Houston, But i finally realized it would be really good for them. Zion children's center, part of the Zion Lutheran Church, came with really good recommendations from several people. My friend here has two of her children there and knows all of the staff so i felt comfortable. the first several weeks were hard on me, but i kept reminding myself they will benefit so i got over it. K LOVED it from the first day, but T on the other hand is JUST NOW getting use to it. last week he finally started to participated and be more social.. I am really so proud of them and look forward to their smiling faces and excited hugs when i pick them up! T has actually not been at school all this week because he woke up with the flu monday morning...poor baby! I am sure monday morning is not going to be fun.....

a picture of the boys on the first day of school

hooked up.....

finally after a month and a half of no Internet service, i got hooked up this morning and couldn't wait to blog!!! I doubt anyone is even attempting to keep up with this blog, but if anyone is, we moved to the hill country(near Kerrville) on labor day weekend. We moved a lot sooner than we thought, but the boys and i could not handle living apart from scott any longer, so we made the decision to let the house sell on its own and get on with our new lives here. We are currently renting a place on 10+ wooded acres, the kids have started school for the first time and are adjusting well, I am getting the hang of being in a new lab after 12 years being in the same one in houston, and scott...well scott gets to see deer EVERDAY so we all know he is in his own kind of heaven. We go hiking in the woods often and the boys love it, T has had to come to terms with all the stickers(cactus) and K begs to go scorpion hunting. We are always driving around because it is just so damn beautiful around here and i just can't get enough(it is sometimes hard to believe we have been blessed with the chance to be somewhere so beautiful) I have not gotten use to driving on the hills nor have i gotten un-car sick...bummer! I have also, as unbelievable as it is, not had my camera out much. I do have a few pictures to share and hopefully soon I will make more of an effort to get some landscape shots of a place i find so great.
the view out of our backdoor

also out of our backdoor

thing we are having to get use to


the boys playing in the dry creek that runs through our place, it rained for about 3 days straight, so water ran through it for a few hours



T meeting the neighbor goat on one of our walks

one of our neighbors...thats a whole other blog post(if you look closely you can see his pistol and quick re-loads on his belt. one of my fav pictures of all time....

the boys feeding the deer, a daily ritual now

sad day.....

today is officially my last day at Champions Crown and Bridge. I started working for Chris in May of 1997, answering phones. I was never an 'answer the phone' sort of gal so that only lasted a few weeks before I had my nose in other things learning the ropes to be a dental lab technician. I knew I loved the dental field and had it all planned out to be a dental hygienist. I did not take long before I realized my career was in the lab. I love to be creative and work with my hands....I had just lucked upon my dream job with a dream boss. This job and my co-workers have seen me through lab tech school, marriage, 2 children and just basically growing up. So I not just leaving a job, i really feel like I am leaving a family. I will miss my co-workers tremendously and my boss more than I can imagine. But, it is time to move on to other dreams, which I think will be just as great.

beach.....

We brought the boys to the beach again a few weeks ago, they love it so much! I can't imagine what they would think if they actually got to see a pretty beach and not a nasty mud hole, but that is besides the point! We really enjoy getting to the beach later in the evening so we can enjoy it without dying of heat stroke and not getting the sunburn to go along with it, and there is the plus of watching the sunset on the beach!!!!

this time we pushed our luck and because of bad traffic, got there RIGHT before dark, i had push my camera its limits to get the few shots i got so they are very grainy and on the dark side. The sunset picture is exactly what it looked like, i used my tripod, along with a long exposure so the colors would be true. Now you see how orange it is, well it made all my other picture wonky orange colored even with a custom white balance, hence the B&W!!!

time flies.....

I can't believe I woke up this morning and my baby was TWO. I am sad. I know he is my last and it is just flying by way to fast, it seems as though I just brought him home from the hospital. well, it hasn't flown by as quickly as it did with k, but I know with T, he is my baby and I will never see this age or another 2 year old party again, so it makes it worse. here are a few pictures I was able to catch last Sunday. I took about 50 pictures of him and because he moves so dang fast these are the only ones with decent focus. With him, composition is not even worth fretting about, so I just click and get what I get. I have realized looking at old photo's of me, it isn't the focus or composition that makes a good photo, it's everything in the background I can recognize and the fact that someone took the time to take a picture and keep it that makes everyone of them special. So I am keeping that in mind when I am snapping away at the kids, not to erase anything unless it is unrecognizably bad! enough rambling and on with the pictures.....
can you give me a smile, t???



where is your mouth, T?

can you show me you nose??

I thought that would be a good one in a few years.....