Picture-A-Day: Week 1

So I am doing this challenge Share suggested and taking a picture a day for the month of October. I've been slacking at posting them because I thought maybe I wouldn't. Then I thought, "why the heck not." So here is my first week. Day 1: It was so chilly October first that my wool socks were not warm enough to keep my toes toasty on their own - I needed my slippers. (Bryce gave them to my our first Christmas ;)

Day 2: Karen helped me solve my big office problem. I get pop-up sticky notes from my work, but I didn't have a way to help me know which end was sticky. I often wrote on them upside-down. I presented the problem to Karen and she had this ready solution. We made a dispenser. (And I spent lots of time at an office store this day ;)

Day 3: I cleaned my kitchen. It was such a mess I would get ill just walking into the room. You know when it gets to that TOO OVERWHELMING point and you just avoid it. That was me. Bryce left at 6:30am and I couldn't go back to sleep - so I cleaned all morning before conference.

(I ended up spending the rest of the day at Karen's making scrappy stuff - but I couldn't put all those pictures up. I was most proud of my kitchen. I cleaned the girls' bathroom, too.)

Day 4: We went to Albuquerque to watch conference with G's family and Mom. During the break, we walked to the temple and I took this pick with my phone. It was windy but nice.

Day 5: I left at the butt-crack-of-dawn to drive to Clayton - 3 1/2 hours from Santa Fe. Honestly, this is dawn. Lovely.

Day 6: I drove to Maxwell - it's 2 1/2 hours away. It was chilly and I drove a lot. This is the view of Wagon Mound I took while driving. Can you see the covered wagon?

Day 7: I went to Coyote - 2 hours away. Yes, I drive ALOT - incase you didn't already know. On the way I was taking pictures of the beautiful red rocks, yellow trees, and blue sky with big fluffy white clouds. I was taken by how beautiful it was. Then after visiting the family - I drove past their home. It burned down a couple weeks ago. They had been building it for 2 years, moved in all their stuff, and then lost it all. This picture reminds me of all I have to be grateful for.

I am liking this project. Thanks, Share. It is good for me to be on the look out for beauty/blessings everyday (and to document them).

Sew, Sew, Suck Your Toe

Argh. I'm tired and this isn't working right. So this is a short post. Period.

When Devin came to visit - most of us got sick - not Devin's fault, of course ;) So when the rest of the family went to Carlsbad to see the bats, I stayed home and sewed.

Here is my super cute (and easy) skirt. It's white eyelet with black lining.And my terribly cute pj's with blue and green big buttons on a brown background. How me is this material? And how me are these expressions? My face is all red from the tissues...I'm so cute.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Gosh! I'm 29!!! Hehehe. I got some fun presents from my friends. I had a little party at Karen's (thanks so much, you are the best!) with some friends. We made cards and ate cottage cakes (which are super yummy pancakes with cottage cheese in them - Karen has the recipe on her food blog) with Nutella and many other yummy things on them. So fattening! :D Then later that night Bryce and Eva made me my favorite...

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie!!

Bryce made the little heart in the crust - he loves me!!!

We also had fried Ice Cream and yummy dinner. I am so spoiled!

On Sunday we played games and missed Gordon's family (they were a little busy with a new baby - and me with a cough - lame).

Anyway - the day was great - I love celebrating myself! :) Really, I love a party and people don't throw enough of them - so I have to come up with reasons to celebrate. Yeah, I'm 29!

All About Eva

Eva and I got to do our first school "art" project. It was supposed to be a circle map "all about me" of things Eva loves. I didn't have big enough paper to do a circle...so this is what we did.
Doesn't she look happy? :D I love this girl.

She picked the things she loves and took pictures of them (and I printed a few extra pictures of her doing things she loves). It was so fun to watch her pick something and take the picture. Here are a couple up-close pictures of the project.

I had lots of fun! Thanks, Eva, for letting me do this with you!

(And thanks, Karen, for the paper ;)

Really? Already? (Sigh)

My baby started Kindergarten on Monday - Eva, not Bryce ;)

Doesnt' she look grown up in her uniform? She was up and ready to go to school by like 7:05am (Eva is NOT my morning girl) and said she couldn't wait around for the bus to come at 7:35 - they would have to walk :) So we all walked to school on Monday.

Isobel started school last Wednesday - isn't she cute?The pigtails were just a coincidence - but the backpacks I got last fall on clearance at Target for like $3.75 - wahoo! They were happy to have matching packs.


I don't know about you guys, but have you noticed how ornery kids are after the first few days of school? Eva went from hanging out with Daddy ALL Day to Class ALL day - she is pretty grumpy. She came into my office and put on my graduation cap and made this face when I wanted to take a picture:
Notice how she had to get those tights and shoes off as soon as she got home?

So we walked the girls to school and as we got in the kindergarten hallway - I told Eva where we were and she said, "Bye, Mom!" and let go of my hand. :) I told her I was walking her to class. (We took this picture in the morning and she was waving to Bryce who was making faces at her thru the window.)
Oh, that little face! She can't be so grown up yet.

I have to admit, as Bryce and I left Eva and school and started walking back home, I did get a few tears in my eyes (and held back the rest). I wasn't sad for Isobel to start school - she was just SO ready and I was excited for her. I am excited for Eva, but I'm not ready for her to be that old yet. I guess I am a "normal" mom ;) People have told me how they cried when their kids went to school or whatever and I just couldn't imagine it. Now I get it. It's hard to let your baby go. I won't get a chance to do this again - or have her home again - or be more in charge of the kinds of things she is exposed to. I'm trusting her to the school for most of the day. I am not ready for her to be so grown up. I thought I was a year ago when we were talking about it - but now I want to hold on to her longer.

I love my little girls.

Very Large Array and Pie Town, NM

I am sure some of you have seen Katie's blog posts about the Very Large Array. Well, when Bryce and Polly came to visit, we drove down to southern NM near Silver City and we stopped at the Very Large Array on the way. (We also went to the Catwalk that Katie talks about.) Anyway, it was cool and I took a few pictures.

We also stopped in Pie Town, NM to eat lunch and PIE. When we saw the signs for it, we decided that we could make that stop "on the way" down south. I ate almond creme pie, Bryce had NM apple (which had green chili and pinon in it, of course), Polly had pinon pie, and I think Bryce Sr had triple berry or something. It was worth the stop, but I have to say that my strawberry rhubarb pie is better. ;)

Random Santa Fe Pics

My phone is broken and I have to get a replacement - it should come in the mail next week. However, I don't have a memory card and had to email my pics to myself. Therefore, I have a new group of random pics to share :)

This picture is of an old machine they used to use to give "permanents" - you know, the crazy curly hair. This machine has all these wires and you clamp them onto the curlers and send electricity down to your hair and basically fry it into curling. Looks like a torture device. (I found this in the Clayton, NM museum - who says you can't find treasure everywhere:) These next few pictures I took while I was training in February. I have to say, I love this trail and I love New Mexico clouds! Beautiful!

Anyone wanna come visit and go for a run?

Another favorite place of ours is the kids museum. I took this picture just the other day when my friend LeAnn came to visit. I love this girl.
Here is a couple of super cute pics of the girls with Bryce. It was just a couple days after Bryce's birthday - I'm sure they wanted to remind them how much they love him.

Hope you enjoyed your random tour of my phone pictures and have a superb day!