First Day of School

My oldest son started ... gulp... second grade today. He has been so excited to start school again. Not sure if he really is Lineman's son or not - liking school as much as he does! Every year he stands here for his back to school picture to see how he has grown from year to year.

My middle son is still only 4 so it is another year until he gets to go to school. He sure was wishing he could go today.

On the way to meet the bus. He has an awesome bus driver. I asked if he wanted to ride the bus or have me take him to school. I do wish I could have taken him to get pictures at school. I said he had a choice though. If he chose to ride the bus today then I would be driving him to school on his first day of high school. He thought that was a good idea. Wonder if it will last?

A last good bye hug.

And he is off for another great year.

Is it really that hard?

I am wondering... is it really that hard to just stand still, smile, and let someone take your picture? My two (too) cool nieces and my oldest boy are nice and ready for the picture. My middle boy? Pulling out all the funny business once again.
I thought with a "take two" on the picture we might get a good one. Nope, he is goofing off, still.
On to some individual pictures. All I want is just a quick photo to remember our time at Mt. Rushmore. Pretty easy I think. My cool niece shows us how it is done. Nice smile and we are done. Thank you. Next. Another awesome niece has no problem with the task. Stand in front of Mt. Rushmore, smile, and we are done. Thank you very much. Next.

My oldest son. I love this boy. He is always happy. Always ready to please. A quick smile, *click*, thank you oldest boy. I love you! Next.
Oh no. What do we have here? Just a smile is all I need and then we are done. Please. Just one smile?


I GIVE UP!

Sunday Sunsets

Our Nation....

Have you ever really thought about what our founding fathers did for us? Presidents that had a vision for this country? It was great to see the light show at Mount Rushmore and to be reminded of all that was done for this great country.

I am proud to be an american. How about you?

Is it an alligator or a crocodile?

Reptile Gardens. Cool. Gross. Cool and gross at the same time. They had many of the worlds deadliest snakes. One of the largest crocodiles in captivity. Cool tortoises. The list goes on. There were more than 50 alligators and crocodiles all piled on top of each other in this enclosure. They had more room but they seemed to like to snuggle up. Can an alligator snuggle? How about a crocodile? Can they snuggle? Is even possible for something that looks like that, with huge teeth and rough skin? Speaking of teeth, one of these huge guys mistook a rock for a piece of chicken. Ooooo You should of heard the sound of his teeth breaking!Don't you just want to stand in a alligator/crocodile pen with a bucket full of raw chicken? Looks like fun to me. What a bunch of crazy kids. From the left, my middle boy, oldest boy, their cousins Kasey and then Kali. The boys have so much fun with their cousins! I hate to say it but I love these cut outs for people to stick their heads in. Maybe they are cheesy but I love to get pictures with the kids' heads stuck through the cutouts. I always have. Always will. I remember I did that as a kid. I remember my head being stuck in a Pea Soup Anderson board. Ah, memories.

We love tortoises. This guy was about 60 years old.
That's their Uncle Jake putting our Little Man up on the tortoise. I tell you, these boys LOVE their Uncle Jake. And did you notice Little Man, I think he is part Michael Jordan, that tongue is always out!

Black Hills Wildlife

We sure did have a great time on our vacation to the Black Hills. Of course I had my camera stuck to my eye the entire trip. I managed to get many wildlife pictures on the trip. On most of these I had my telephoto lens as far as it could reach and it was well worth it. (But I still want a bigger telephoto) =) There were several elk bedded down in the afternoon. Can you see the velvet hanging down in this guys face, there is still blood on the antlers too. What a treat to see. Behind him there is another bull laying down and you can see his antlers in full velvet. I guess I was kinda surprised to see these so low. We had always seen Sheep up by my mom in Montana, we new their local hangout and could usually get a glimpse of them. But those Sheep were always up high in the rocks. I'm not complaining these guys were so low, they were pretty awesome to look at and provided me a great photo op. Okay, I couldn't believe we spotted a Mountain Lion up in the trees. It was actually the first time I had seen one up in a tree before. I can remember all those years of riding with my mom up in the mountains. The horses would cock their ears and stop on a dime. They would jerk their head to the side and be so aware of their surroundings. I would usually get goosebumps, give a heel to my horse and we would be off down the trail. Now looking back, I wonder how many Mountain Lions we rode under... goose bumps again.
I just could not believe the amount of wildlife we saw on our trip. This cute little cub was taking a nap in a pine tree that had seen plenty of abuse from the bears.
I'm wondering if this is a sow? Could it be that cubs momma. It looks pretty big though, maybe it's a male. How nice of him to pose for me to get this shot.

Wow, two more bears. That sure is an interesting rock formation there. I can't believe all these bears. I mean, it was one thing to see the elk, and the sheep, but this is amazing. Look how funny this bear is, sitting on that log the way he is. Wait one minute... Is that a car in that picture? What is going on here?

Okay, okay.... We were actually in Bear Country USA. It was really a cool place to see. These cubs were just adorable. Earlier they had all been playing in a tree, but of course I missed it.
If you are ever in the Black Hills make sure and stop and Bear Country. You start by driving through each section of the park that contains the different species. For some reason they want you to keep your windows rolled up. Can't imagine why. I broke the rules several times for pictures but a wolf never did jump through the window so I guess it was fine. Once you finish the driving portion you are able to park and get out and walk to see more animals and Babyland with all the cubs. It was a great place to see, take the time if you are ever in that area.

2 Fast 2 Fearless

I posted a few back about my middle boy being fast and fearless. Maybe it's because he learned a thing or two from his older brother. He is certainly both of those things. He loves racing down and up the coulee's.


I love this last shot. It captures my oldest going all out. Beautiful clouds in the background as well as new windmills. (Wyoming is windy in case you didn't know that yet!)

WaTiki

Okay, this may be taking the easy way out but I have yet to really look at my pictures from our awesome trip to the Black Hills. We stayed at a hotel that had the WaTiki Waterpark connected to it. Here is their own video of two of the slides.

We all loved the Superbowl. The boys said it looked like a toilet bowl.... hmmmm, perhaps.

So Sweet

I enjoyed the chance to do a quick photoshoot with our neighbors little girl. I did this while I was babysitting as a surprise for her parents for her 4th birthday.

It's ALL Boys

When I was pregnant with my first we did not want to know if baby was a boy or a girl. Right after I gave birth I heard the doctor say "It's a boy". Oh how exciting. We cried tears of joy our little boy was here. So much fun raising a boy.

When I was pregnant with our second child, again, we did not want to know the sex of the baby. I delivered C-section and the doctor says "It's a boy". We cried tears of joy. Another baby boy to add to the family.
Now, picture me pregnant with our third child. Unlike the majority of parents out there, we still did NOT want to know the sex of the baby. There are just too few surprises in life and we think this is a terrific surprise and well worth the wait. The doctor had told me several times that once you have two of the same sex baby, the pattern usually will continue. Maybe that's why Lineman has two uncles that both have THREE girls. My FFA advisor had SIX boys. A good friend has THREE girls. I have heard this over and over. However, God is in control and whatever He has planned is what we go with. I delivered C-section and my very cool doctor says "It's a boy"... .. "Come on, Carin, you knew it was a boy". Well, maybe I had a good feeling but I didn't KNOW it was a boy. We cried tears of joy for the third time. Our little boy was here. We had a beautiful girl name picked out but it just wasn't meant to be.
And that is because I was meant to be a mother of boys.
And I wouldn't have it any other way!

I love my boys.

Fair Shots

These were my night shots for the fair. The first in color, the second in black and white. I had so much fun shooting these. The storm was getting pretty close to me and it started to rain when I finally used some good judgement and got out of there.
When I was growing up I used to be quite afraid of storms. I would usually go into my parents room and hop in bed with them. Obviously I got over that. My kids on the other hand get all excited when a storm rolls through saying, "Mom, are you gonna go take pictures?" Looks like I'm creating little storm chasers already!

During a storm we usually sit right by the window and look out at the lightning, enjoying the sounds and taking in the smell of resfreshing rain. What do you do during a storm?

No Stopping Him

He has been going like crazy lately. We went over to our neighbors house and my boy got to ride in the neighbors "Pit of Doom". He did really great and only came off twice. The first time he hit a big 'ol root that was dislodged. The root was about the size of my kid so the root won. The second time he came off was when he hit a divot the size of a VW Bug. I have to say that he didn't even hint at the possibility of crying. Not once. But when we got home he was walking he tripped and got the teeniest, tiniest, itsy bitsy, teeny weeny little cut on his finger (you needed a magnifying glass to see it)..... that is when he cried.

The Talk

There comes a time in the lives of a father and a son that they must have "The Talk". It is an important, lesson sharing event that must take place for both the father and the son to grow. I imagine that every father feels a sense of responsibility to make sure the son understands the importance and severity of "The Talk". Of course, the son usually is doing all that is humanly possible to not roll his eyes. Just sitting there patiently waiting for his father to finish "The Talk".

Here is the beginning of "The Talk". Oh, by the way, this is motorcycle related. Not sure what you thought I was getting at but it is definitely motorcycle related. Do you see that screw that Lineman is holding in his hand? It is the most important little piece of metal to me. It represents some form of forced restraint. That little, itty bitty screw is now going to be the source of all my gray hairs. You see, I like it when the screw is IN the bike, not out of the bike. That little screw is a throttle limiter. It is there to manually limit how much throttle a kid can give his bike, therefore limiting how fast he can go. Lineman just.... gulp.... took it out of our ornery, daredevil, thrill seeking, speedster punks bike. Gulp, that means he can make the bike go as fast as it is capable. Which is pretty quick really.
Thankfully they are having "The Talk" though. A heart to heart to make sure our speed demon little child understands what this means. This is tough for me. He has been riding since he was three years old and he is four now, has a great sense, good balance, and has been riding several times a week. Still, I worry about him.
So does his older brother. Lineman gives them both "The Talk" once more. My oldest boy is very level headed, unlike his brother. I'm glad he'll be showing him the way on this one. Here they go. Can I take it? What will happen? Will he go slow? Will he go fast? Will he ride just like he did five minutes ago? I can't take it! I can't take it!
Oh no. Here comes a grey hair.

Dog gone it

Ah, such a nice day to sit outside with boys best friend. This is one tolerable dog, let me tell you. The kids sit on him and he really doesn't do too much. That is, except for what is about to happen....
He's getting pretty close to that kid.....
There goes the tongue!
OH, he did it. Never fails. You mess with the dog, you get the tongue!

My youngest boy sure is sitting close to Koda. Does he know what happens when you sit that close?
That's sweet, he is petting him. The bond between dog and boy starts out strong.
Oh no! He's going in for the lick!
"What's wrong kid? It was just a little lick. Let me make it all better for you"

He did it again!

The poor kid, he can't even run away. This just give him more motivation to learn how to crawl.