59/365: Feb 28

Okay... so this is getting old...
Last Friday I developed a good ol' case of Plantar Fasciitis... (an inflammation of a tendon? I think? that runs across the bottom of the foot) not fun. It hurts to walk, stand, pretty much be up off my tookus.
... :( I got new shoes, so hopefully that will help, but until then... I just have to suck it up. Enough complaining... Wanna see some pictures?!?!

It was chilly this morning...

Getting plenty of Brain Food.... :)

And here are a couple of good ones my sister got of me....

 

And..... I have some exciting news for my WhitSquared fans.... I got hired to shoot a Vows Renewal Ceremony. I am very, tremendously excited for this opportunity!!! So... come on April! :)

58/365: Feb 27

Ok... so in Arizona they say if the forecast shows an 80% chance of precipitation... it's usually a 20% chance we'll actually get "wet". That's what I thought when I went to bed last night. That is NOT, however, what I found when I got up this morning.... We had SNOW! And it was sticking!!!

Now, obviously, we live in Arizona... southeastern AZ at that. This means that snow is pretty and rare AND we love to play in it... but it doesn't last very long. So we decided to go up into the mountains and get our play on. :) First we tried to go on Ft Huachuca to see about getting on Huachuca or Garden Canyon as it looked like they got the most snow. (which was true... they got so much snow both canyons and the west gate were all closed)
So from there, we decided to head out of town. We went to Miller Canyon. The snow there wasn't terribly deep, but there was definitely enough to play in. :)

Both the kids had a lot of fun! So much fun they slept the whole way home :) And it was a nice change of pace from the average Sunday around here.

Now... back to the weather in Arizona... Snow today, by Tuesday we should hit the 70s... but the end of the week we'll be nearly to 80. GOSH I LOVE THIS PLACE!

57/365: Feb 26

A quick "Happy Birthday" shout out to my youngest cousin, Katelyn Marie!!!

Now... we had some fun today! By "we", I mean the kids. But it was nice to spend some time outside this morning. Ben and I did a little bit of yard work while the kids played in their sandbox. And of course, I couldn't resist getting a few pictures!!

And look here!!! Spring IS coming!! My peach tree is starting to blossom!

56/365: Feb 25

One of the biggest differences between Rebekah and Tommy is their play habits.
Rebekah always has to be the center of attention. She has to have THAT toy. And she always wants someone to play with her. Tommy can go and play and be by himself and be happy for (what seems like) hours.

I love that as time is going by, I get to watch and learn the habits of my kids. Find out their similarities and their differences... And to me, it is such a blessing that I can stay at home with them during the time in their lives when they are learning so much!

While I admit, I greatly wish for a Mommy's night out or a few hour break now and again.... being a stay at home mom, is one of the greatest pleasures ever!

55/365: Feb 24

So... I had my blog for today (last night, rather as I am writing this morning) all planned out. I just had to find the time to get it "out there"..... and then spontaneity changed the course of my evening and I totally lost track and forgot to post... so here we are. And after rambling a bit, I remembered my topic. YES!

When Rebekah was younger.... I seriously wondered if and when she would talk. It seemed like all the kids her age were already making progress by leaps and bounds, and all my little girl could say was a handful of words. Well, right around the time she was 18 months (also the time that Tommy was born) her vocabulary took off! It wasn't long before she was talking better than most of her companions.
(I don't say this as the prejudiced mom either, I've have a lot of people positively comment on her speech abilities)

Now... fast forward about a year. Rebekah can hold a real, full conversation with just about anyone... but her most favorite person to talk to is her brother. And now Tommy is starting to talk and me being the concerned parent, started wondering if he was being a little delayed in the speech area.... (he says "hi" "bye" and that's really kinda it)

Well it was really awesome. When I talk to Tommy, I enunciate words such as.. "Do you want the bAll?" "Are you dOOOne?" that kinda thing. Okay so, picture this...... Rebekah and Tommy are playing and she said something to him (I can't remember what it was now)... and then she said "say it like this ________________" and whatever the word was she totally enunciated it for him!

I guess after all that jumbled mess of words and thoughts.... my whole point for this post is that it really is wonderful to see the kids not only playing together... but working together and helping each other.

OH the joys of motherhood!!!

Oh...... and if you are wondering what it was that I did that totally "threw off" my evening... well, I went and got my nose re-pierced. :)

54/365: Feb "whatever today is"

What's the big, exciting news for the day?
We got a new vacuum! WHOO!.... LOL. Okay, so it's not really that exciting... but after fighting to keep the floors clean (which with 2 little ones, means I vacuum every single day) it's a nice change.
And well.... I'm still not convinced that it's worth it to spend 1/2 a month's mortgage payment on a new vacuum.... so we decided to get a nice Eureka. I love the advertising on it...

We will see if it is as good as it claims to be. :)

Oh.... and for those who know and love my freaky daughter (and I say that in the most adoring and loving way possible.... because let's face it I love her more than anything and adore her beyond reason).... here's a picture for you!

You see..... you never know when/if you might.. ya know.... loose an arm... so it's good practice to do relatively simple things with the wrong appendage. Oh.... and if you haven't yet, check out my sister's blog for today ( http://jeepdreamer-inthewordsofjene.blogspot.com/     ) ..... And you thought baby feet were so innocent.....

Sweet dreams!

BONUS POST: Lots of the Same Thing

Have you seen my baseball?

53/365: Feb 22

Well... I've been wanting to do something a little different with my hair.... and today I got just that.
It's not exactly what I was hoping/thinking.... but it looks good and I think I will get used to it pretty fast. It's a lot shorter than I wanted... but, after all, we're talking about hair and it will grow back.

Before the cut

Just home from the salon

Styled and beautified :)

What do you think?!

52/365: Feb 21

You know what happens when you have a couple of friends over for dinner on a Monday night? We all stay up "too late".... (yeah, it's kinda sad when 8:45 is late... but 2 of the 4 of us have to be up to work at nearly the crack of dawn) ... anyways... What happens is... you forget to blog. And I did, so here we go!

Monday was Ben's first paid holiday. Yea for those, LOL. We didn't do anything particularly fun and exciting, but it was still a busy day. Ben went grocery shopping, I went for a walk. Then we cleaned up a bit... then off to the mall to spend some money. Ben got a new computer AND a new printer... because come on, it was only $40. ;) Then we went to go pick up a treadmill... (here's to hoping for some serious changes for me) After that a little more cleaning and pick up. All to end the day with dinner. My sister, Jene'... and one of Ben's buddies, Orie, came over and we have a little steak fry. And after I put the kids to bed we watched some Jim Gaffigan. (for those who don't know, he is a comedian) It was a pretty okay night.

But on a personal note: Don't ever try to set up your sister.... She'll either end up hating you, herself, or the guy for it. (SORRY JENE'!!!!)

51/365: Feb 20

Spent most of the day in Benson. The kids played to the point of exhaustion... I'm sure they wore their aunt Liss and Grandma & Grandpa out!! And while they were having fun... us "big kids" went out and had fun shooting guns and riding (quads & dirt bikes). It was GREAT fun!

The kids LOVE the trampoline out there! I think we might have to get one when Christmas comes around!

50/365: Feb 19

We had a fun start to our weekend. We all took a drive up to Tucson to get Ben some new work boots. Then we went and visited Great Grandma (Ben's grandma) at her new apartment. From there we went to Benson to spend some time with his family, which was especially nice because Ben's brother (who is stationed in Kansas right now) as well as his sister + new hubby were there.

I also had an opportunity to take a few (really decent) pictures!

And the best part is... the weekend is not over yet!

Bandit

Stormy Skies

Yucca

Just Fly!

49/365: Feb 18

Well, it seems like a lot of my posts right now are photography related. It's no different today. ;)

One of the first things I was told & I read about when getting a DSLR was the on camera flash is junk. One of the best things you can spend your money on is a external flash unit. Well, I have my eye on the SB-600... but that's $200 that I am going to have to save up. But I don't want the to ruin my pictures, especially when I need to use the flash!

Well, today I went to a local camera store (for those living in the SV area, I went to Landmark Photo... not a particular favorite shop to visit... but we don't have any other options for specialty camera stores in our small city) and asked about diffusers for a pop up flash. His solution... was FREE!

Just an film tube. Huh! Who would have thought!?! So.. all you have to do is pop off the top, cut off the bottom, and slice a straight line down the tube.....

Easy enough.... now the real test..... seeing if it works!

1st picture. Without diffuser

2nd picture. With diffuser.

WOW! There really is a difference! Notice in the first photo that Rebekah's features are a bit washed out, as well as the pattern in the chair. Now look at the second photo again... Rebekah's face has much more natural tones and the photo isn't washed out at all.


It may not look as pretty as some other products out there you can buy... but for free... well, you can't beat it!!!

My take..... It's BRILLIANT!!! I look forward to using this more in the future! Definitely something I will make sure I have thrown in my camera bag "just in case"!