my little PSA

Just wanted to pass along this little picture! I was on the phone last night when my neighbor knocked on the door, Nikelle came down to see what she wanted. She pulled her without saying anything, right out the door. Right under my garbage can was a snake. A harmless "little" snake!! I say little because it was about 3.5 feet long!! Needless to say, my "PSA" is: when you have to take out the trash, or take the cans to the curb........do it in the daylight!! (And wear shoes!!) Just my little two cents worth! Yes we managed to capture it, and release it back to the field. As they are getting ready to pour the asphalt in the church parking lot, they have been packing the ground down this past week, and I'm sure this won't be the first snake we will find close by!!

























So while we were all outside talking about the snake, and doing some visiting, I took the opportunity to take some pictures of the neighbors, since I already had my camera out! Lindsey, I hope you like this picture! Andrew & I don't have many of us together, so I always try to grab couples, and since you will very soon be in "new parent" mode, I hope this is a special shot! The little boy is Mary's "little man" Coleman. He always has the cutest smile, and he can turn his tongue sideways, and it always makes me laugh!! Then I snapped a picture of my cute Andrew. He went and got his hair cut today and he wanted to pose looking all "cool"! I think he looks rather nice!!

These here are some pictures of my columbine blossoms. I love that they have come back this year! I was a little nervous planting a bloom in such a shady spot, but they seem to be doing really well. In fact I think they are crowding out my daylillies, so I may have to move them. I love the colors after such a long snowy winter (we haven't all forgotten have we???)



Mom: aren't they pretty???

Then this last one just happened! Literally!! We were standing around talking and noticed the sun coming back out. I turned around and there was the most beautiful sunrays poking through the clouds. I snapped the picture and was pleased with it, but decided to play around with some settings. Then I couldn't replicate was I did the first time.......so I guess it's not always true that you need to take 100 pictures to get a good one! Like I said this one was the lucky shot!! But I think it looks amazing, and after I get my 1.8 lens, then I can play with that one (today or tomorrow Jen)
Tomorrow will be Nikelle's last day of school, and then they are both going to be home all summer! I guess we better start planning some fun things that are close by that can be done in one day! Any ideas, please pass them along!

You Are Ariel!

Headstrong and fiesty. You have a mind of your own that's full of romantic dreams about the world around you. Exploring exotic places is your ultimate dream, and although you can be a little naive you'll realize that there is something to be gained from your family's wisdom.

Thanks Chrystal for the fun little quiz! I couldn't resist taking it!! For those of you that are curious here's the link to take it yourself!! And I'm so happy that I am Ariel, as she is my very favorite princess! One of those movies that I can watch over and over again!

What disney princess are you????

How much do you know?

So I found this little quiz. I thought I would do really well, because I have been eating so healthy and have been reading up on what you can eat when you eat out. But I was shocked to find that I didn't know as much as I think I did! (humbling I know!) So go take the short little quiz. It's only 4 questions, not too difficult. Have fun! (and NO I won't tell you how many I got WRONG!)

New pages

Here are a couple of pages I've did a few weeks back. One was with my old camera (the one of Carissa sleeping), the other is with the new camera. I'm still so blown away at the crispness of the details with the Nikon. I'm having so much

fun with it.

Donavan is really enjoying his new job, and is learning all kinds of things. Like how to treat hungry/grumpy people, and how to smile and look happy! Such difficult things for a 16 year old boy! So many people from the neighborhood have seen him at work, and at least they aren't the hungry/grumpy ones, and they really make his day....so thanks, to all of you that are being nice to him at work!

Nikelle and I spent some time together yesterday, and I always forget that when you spend time one-on-one with just one child, they behave completely different! (No tantrums yesterday!) I've always tried to make time for them individually, but I seem to always get more time with Donavan than with Nikelle, just because of picking him up from school every day. So it was alot of fun to spend time with her. We didn't do anything too grand, just some basic errands that I needed to run, but somehow we ended up at the mall, and of course that is a dangerous place for the two of us to be together. So we got what we needed and quickly got out! What a blessing it is to have a girl that wants to spend time with me (as long as she is getting money spent on her!) and we have a good time with each other. I find that depending on which teenager I'm "hangin" with, will determine the type of music we listen to. For Donavan, it's rock music and nothing but. For Nikelle, she's like me, she likes and appreciates all music and we have a ton of fun singing along to songs we know (and sometimes we don't know them very well at all) but it's fun anyway! I'm not sure where the years have gone and how I got to the point of having a 16 and 14 year old (No I'm not forgetting the 3 year old.....but she's in a different place altogether!), and now I'm looking at how little time I have left with them, instead of seeing all the years we have together (like I do with Carissa). So take my word for it, if you think that time goes fast when they are little, just imagine how fast it goes when you know that it will be gone VERY soon, and it is SO difficult to enjoy the "teenager" years, so enjoy the years now, cause it gets harder when they are older! But I have to say that I have 2 amazing kids, and I am extremely proud of the way they are turning out.

Signs he's growing up!

This past Saturday was Donavan's first prom! (Can you believe it???) He decided to go "stag"

mostly because he just couldn't decide who to ask, and there were a bunch of girls going stag also. They held it at Thanksgiving point, so it was really nice. They were even fed dinner. Then they danced until 11:30pm. Andrew and I took advantage of being out of the house (and who would have driven down there twice?) So we went to see a movie and enjoyed dinner at the Market Street Grill. Yummy, yummy! Funny

thing is, is that I ordered this fish that had a

pineapple salsa over the top, and it tasted just like the papaya/mango or orange/mango salsa I've been making! So now I guess it has been proven to me that you don't need to spend 25.00 on a good fish dinner....I can make it at home!! (And for ALOT less!) I guess I've been in denial that my son is old enough to drive and date! I'm just not ready for it yet. And to top it all off, he started his first "real" job at Arctic Circle today! He was really excited when he found out he wouldn't have to cut his hair any shorter, AND he could wear jeans! Hopefully he will enjoy the job and it can last through the summer. He is such a hard worker when he wants to be, and he always is so good about helping around the house. I just really hope this is a positive experience for him. So here are some pictures that I took of him at Thanksgiving Point. The dance started at 5:30, so definitely NOT the right light for pictures. But I've learned my lesson....MUST get a piece of foam board to reflect the light and get rid of nasty shadows! He was really funny when I was taking his picture, cause this is the first time he has "posed" for me, and then he made the comment "I feel like a model"!! Cracks you up huh? (me too!)

Then this past friday we took Carissa to the zoo......along with everyone else in Utah! I guess that's what happens when it isn't raining, and it's not 40degrees! I spent the whole time (well 1 1/2 hours!) looking at the back of Andrew. I wanted to take pictures and just play and experiment with the settings, but Carissa just didn't have the patience for that.....so I was constantly trying to catch up with him! It was alot of fun....up until Carissa wanted to lay down in the stroller. And at that point, we knew she was finished. So we headed home. But here's a couple of pictures that I did manage to get.

Here's the shot of Andrew's back that I saw for the whole time we were there.

This one here is for my mom! Look at that giraffe in the back. I got some other cute ones of a mom and baby, but I can't get any more pictures in this post, and to be honest, it has taken me ALL day to get this post up. I always think I can do it really quick, but then I get playing with the photo editing, and it takes alot longer than it should.

First photos revealed!

I finally got the software installed (didn't really need to I find out) and downloaded my pictures to look at for the first time. I am so impressed with the quality that this camera has...and I've only shot on auto for now. The depth of field is something that you just can't get with the P&S's out there. This is one of the first pictures I took using a mirror. Just one of those fun ones you take just so you can get yourself (and of course the camera) in a picture.



This next one I was trying to get a picture of Carissa's feet. Trust me, it wasn't easy!! She really NEVER sits still and I've just gotten used to having blurry pictures, but I really wanted the feet really crisp for this one. And we finally got it! I love it! I've taken footprints of her feet since she was itty-bitty, so this is just something that I've wanted to go along with the "inked" prints. She has the daintiest little feet I've ever seen on a 3 year old (well she's the daintiest 3 year old ever too!) She really is fun, everyday and she keeps me on my toes all the time. Now that she is using her imagination more, I am always surprised with what comes out of her mouth. Sometimes it's obvious where she picks stuff up, and other times, I really have NO idea where she gets half the stuff she "imagines". Now if we could just do without the tantrums, I would absolutely LOVE the 3 year old stage!!




This last one....well I need to tell the story for it to make sense. We had all sat down to eat dinner, and I guess Carissa was in a "sleeping" mood, and wanted to snuggle with someone. Well obviously, we are eating. So she manuevers her pillow onto dad's lap.....then to the edge of the table......then ON the table......then she climbs up.....lays down.....and pretends to sleep! If it hadn't been the funniest thing that she had done that day, I probably wouldn't have allowed it, but since I thought it was funny, Of course I grabbed my camera and snapped a picture! (Then we got her off the table) These are the types of things she "surprises" us by doing! Never in a million years when I was growing up, could I have gotten away with laying on the table during dinner!! But this little one has herself wrapped around dad's little finger, and she can (usually!) do no wrong! I guess this was one of those "moments" that you take a picture for future blackmail!!

It has arrived!

Have you never seen anything so beautiful???? (Ok, so maybe, but when you wait for over 2 months, this indeed is beautiful!!)

the UPS guy arrived at 2:00pm. Needless to say, my assumed delivery by 11, didn't happen and waiting was excruciating! But thanks Jen for helping to pass the time! I'll post some pictures of it a bit later...ya know gotta read the manual, and install the software!! Fun stuff! OH HAPPY DAY!!!!

I've been wanting to play so much with it, but I am making myself read a bit before I get in over my head! But the few pics I have snuck in (cause you have to try out the settings right?) have turned out amazing!

Welcome to the family my new little friend!!