Monday, August 26, 2013

Holy bad Blogger :: My Everyday Life

I am sorry to say that I have been neglecting this little blog of mine. I am knee deep in photos that need to be edited, getting kids into the routine of school, and trying to can, freeze, or create salsa with all the darn tomatoes that coming in the house faster than I can keep up with! Oy! No one said staying at home would be easy & that's because it isn't! 

Here's a peek into what I've been working on in my little photography world::




I do have a new Capture Life post up on the Elle's Studio blog today!

Head on over & check it out!


Saturday, August 17, 2013

Fabulous Summer Days :: Crate Paper

I used The Pier collection from Crate Paper to capture our fun day that a local lake.
Even in Iowa a bit of sandy fun can be found. :)













Have a wonderful weekend!


Thursday, August 15, 2013

Maney the Monarch :: Bella Blvd

Back on July 23rd we found this little guy while pulling carrots in our garden. 


Coe just knew it was a Monarch & I wasn't going to second guess him as I had no idea & well he looked like the image we found via google.




Fast forward a bit and our cute little Maney turned into this...
It was at this point we were thinking hmmm... he's either not a Monarch or he didn't make it. 
I just couldn't throw him out so we kept watch for a little over a week.


Low & behold! We found this beauty last Sunday Morning after we were gone camping. 
He is beautiful and is actually a Black Swallowtail Butterfly.


My Facebook post from this past Monday :: 
Good-bye Maney (the not) Monarch. 
We took him outside this morning and after exploring the flowerbed a bit we decided to take a picture of him & the kids before school. Well, while I was herding the kids in one spot he flew like a mad man off of Coe's finger... over the barn & out into the pasture to be free! Even he runs when I say "let's do a quick group picture". Bahaha! Live free Maney.



 Simply Beautiful!

Sunday, August 11, 2013

Weekend Recap :: Chase's Birthday Weekend

It was a busy busy weekend at "Bare Foot Ridge"
(something funny my Dad called our farm when we first moved in. It sort of stuck and one day we'll have a cool sign saying just that.) 

Our littlest boy turned NINE! Wow!
How on earth are they growing so fast? I guess the brick I put on their heads to stop that isn't working.  Hee!


Chase woke up Friday morning to donuts & chocolate milk, a present from us, a few cards, & headed off to school with treats to share with his class. Ella & I joined him for lunch at school later that day.

As soon as the boys were off the bus and Aaron was home from work, we loaded up the truck and made a few trips back to our campground.
(Aaron and the boys built us a campground in our timber a few years back. It's the perfect distance from "home" but close enough to make a quick trip (or ten) to retrieve a forgotten spoon or toy).


I may have shared before, but I do not care to cook. I'm just not great at it. The exception comes when we are camping. I love to plan and prepare our meals in our dutch ovens. In fact I got a new one for Mother's Day this year.

Our Friday night dinner consisted of BLT/grilled cheese sandwiches made in a cast iron skillet and topped with homemade salsa. Dessert was a pumpkin cake made in the dutch oven with vanilla ice cream.


I'm not sure what the goofy faces are about, but Coe & Ella were having fun. LOL!


The first night of camping was just us. It's crazy at times, but I hope the kids remember these moments forever. 
(Note the pillow fight in action in the kids' tent.)


________________________________________________

Saturday morning, after a quick breakfast of homemade zucchini bread, starting a few loads of laundry & dishes, and refreshing with showers, we headed off to the closest Bass Pro Shop with just the boys. 
(Last year the boys decided they would rather get $100 to spend at Bass Pro for their birthdays instead of having a birthday party. In the end, it saves us money! Throwing birthday parties are fun, but expensive!)






Aaron found his real family. ;)



Lunch at the Bass Pro restaurant. (We laughed at how big Aaron's hamburger was!)


The boys did great with their money!


Coe got a safety harness for his first year of bowhunting, a watch, a small toy fly catcher, a new pocket knife, and judo points for small game hunting.
Chase chose a new camo bookbag for school, a metal hunting sign for his room, the same toy fly catcher that Coe got, a bigger tackle box, and some new fishing lures.
It was a great day with the boys! (Ella had an awesome day with a neighbor friend. Thank you Payton!)

__________________________________________________

Back home and to the campground for another night of fun! This time with a friend for each of the boys.

Tonights dinner was Dutch Oven Venison Stroganoff, Dutch Oven Cheesy Potatoes, & S'mores.


After dark Aaron brought down some sparklers for the boys. And boys being boys had more fun making small grass fires and stomping them out. Oy!


I spent most of the evening reading "Happy, Happy, Happy" by Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty. I picked it up while we were down at Bass Pro and had three quarters of it read by the end of the night. 
I'm not completely finished just yet, but I would definitely recommend it! 


______________________________________________

The kids were up and going before 6am this morning and ready to hit the timber and head to the creek.

While the two older boys got the fire going again; we made a quick trip to the house to get some coffee in the thermos, some pork sausage, and a dozen fresh eggs so we could start breakfast.


Sometimes (well most of the time) the boys' friends think it's weird how many pictures I take when we are doing something (ok anything). Chase's response to his friend this morning; "just sit still and then she'll go away." Bahaha!
Well buddy, that might be true, but I can guarentee someday we'll look back at this photo and say "Wow, look how little you guys were! Your feet weren't even touching the ground while sitting on the cooler!"
You're welcome - Love Mom. :)


A few shots of camp from this morning ...


This lantern has been on many of camping trips with Aaron & I; even long before kids and deciding it was easier to just have our own camping spot at home.



I believe in the below photo the conversation went like this:
Eli: "does she always take this many pictures"
Coe: "Yep."
Eli: "Good grief."




I hope you had an amazing birthday (weekend) buddy!

Now, to tackle that mountain of laundry ...

Friday, August 9, 2013

Crate 365 :: Crate Paper


I'm up today on the Crate Paper blog with a new Crate 365 post. 
Here's a sneak, but be sure to check out the details HERE.





Related Posts with Thumbnails