If you're getting tired of seeing Amber and Cole ....

Torrie and Darrell - other painfully better looking younger sister than I.

whatever. :p!

So anyway, can't believe how much I improved in a year. These were taken 2 fall seasons ago. I just had a point and shoot digital so it doesn't take as great of pictures as my new camera, but I still loved how these 3 turned out. All these pics were taken by my parents house, they have 2 ponds right up the hill so that made these pictures a little more special.

Now if I could just get Darrell to crack a smile once in a while. sheesh.

Before they were Mr. and Mrs.

I promised engagement shots. These were taken last fall in Maryville.




Hands down, my favorite picture of the bunch. Cole kept squinting laying on the ground, so I told him to just shut his eyes and the look was just "bliss". I love it.

BTW, Amber and Cole - Congrats on the house! Sounds like an awesome deal! Trade ya labor! LOL. (roofing for electrical??? ;)

From a house to a home

We, once again this weekend, worked on the new house. It's turning from a dirty old almost worn out double wide, to a sweet little ranch on 2 acres called "ours". I'm loving the colors we picked (below). We literally bought paint 3-4 times before we decided that we'd pick one color chip (tans to greens to browns) and use ever color on that strip. VERY helpful. No way the paints won't coordinate with each other.

Green is my second favorite color, and I love the combination with brown.

Having said that... how about black cabinets? :)

I know, it's dramatic, but my gut tells me that it's going to work! We found an awesome deal on granite, but it only came black/white/grey and I really don't want brown with it. yes, the cabinet doors are a pretty wood color on their own, but the cabinets themself (styles and rails) are bad. They aren't wood they are particle board with a picture of wood on it. Which really did do a good job of tricking me when we first bought it, but I have a hard time putting granite next to a picture of wood. Sooo.... Gene is letting me decide. *wise move*.

Hey, it's just paint! it can always be repainted.

BTW, white? NO! Who wants to scrub it every day?





We bought a weed trimmer!!

Yes, I'm excited. I've always wanted/needed one but never had one and the weeds were getting BAD around the house again. We needed to get it in check. So Gene did my trimming today. That's hot.

Kinda hard to see the pics above, but click to see them larger. Upper pic is looking at the house standing at the front door. You seen the living room, looking into the dining room and kitchen. The big green wall is my "accent wall". I dig it.

Lower pic, dining room corner.

OK, so a little input is appreciated for those of you actually reading. The dining room is fairly big compared to the rest of the house and we really don't need a huge room. I'm trying to think of multi fuctioning for it (since at some point we will be reselling the home). The kitchen is going to have a home office in it, so I'm trying to think of another idea for the dining room. My best idea so far is some bookcases for a "library". But I want them to be more "built in" sort of feel, not something bought at walmart. Any other suggestions are greatly appreciated!

More posts coming. I'm gonna share some engagement pics of Torrie/Darrell and Amber/Cole tomorrow.

postsecret.blogspot.com

I'm not a huge fan of people that post videos on their blogs, but this is a site that I go to every Sunday for almost 2 years.

People tell a secret on a postcard and mail it to Frank at postsecrets. It's now the 9th largest blog out there and incredible. You will laugh, and cry, you will be amazed and scratch your head. You might even blush but you will think about life a little differently.

postsecret.blogspot.com

I'm apparently a big liar

Yesterday, I thought "I'm gonna make it" (posting). And then summarily forgot. Grr.
LOL.
So I'm gonna post a LOT of pictures to make up.

Working on the house last weekend, This little butterfly fell in love with inside and Tanner. He kept hanging out inside even though we kept putting him out. He had to go out for good before we put out the bug bombs! I love my new camera! On the larger pics, you can see the hairs on his (her?) wings!

Last Sunday morning, I was served breakfast in bed (almost every Sunday morning I get that) but this Sunday I got pink roses too! I couldn't resist snapping lots of pictures. Just because. A bright spot in an otherwise difficult week. Just lots of "stuff".

2 weeks ago was the Nodaway county fair. We talked Gene's son into bringing up the girls for the parade and carnival. Rides are completely overpriced, but everyone got to ride. This is one of my favorite shots, and a complete accident. Gene and I rode the Ferri Wheel (an annual tradition with me) and the girl stayed on the ground. I was trying to snap shots as we went around. Right as I snapped, this light came into my shot. It's just so "carnival" and artsy. I love it.

Grandpa kissing Cheyenne. I love this photo. I love the look on her face. Bliss and "I love my grandpa" all mixed in one. I wish they lived closer so we could see them more.

We did a little photo shoot while they were here. It sorta started out as me telling Maddie (Madison) that I loved her freckles and I wish I had some. I told her I was jealous and that they were beautiful. She said "My mom has freckles" and then we talked about her mom being beautiful - and she agreed. So, the votes are in.. Freckles ROCK! (jealous)

This is Miss Maddie. The first time I met her, I knew she was "Princess I-Do-Not-Have-An-Attitude!" (complete with head bob) (She does. LOL). The second pic I used her own eyes as the color which totally is brown in this pic, but in real life, her eyes are brown. No idea what happened with that!

Here's the Youngest Caidence. Ornery and MY GIRL! Totally not what I expected but when she's around, she's my shadow. I totally stole her from grandpa and I'm totally not giving her back. HA!

And last but not least, this is Cheyenne, she's the oldest and Grandpa's spoiled girl. She's a mini cowgirl and spunky and smart. I like it.

One thing I like about other people's blogs is being able to read them daily and seeing something new. So I'm going to make it my goal of posting at LEAST 3 times a week. I'll try to post more than "I worked today" and "we worked on the house today" both which consume my life!

Looking forward to moving into our own house. There's a broken main or something in my yard, and no one seems to care much about it. I'm not all that interested in ANOTHER flooded basement!

I've been bad

I haven't been posting.... .and I even have pictures!

I don't have any here, as I'm at work (we have one computer with internet), but I can't upload from here. I promise I'll post pics tonight or tomorrow.

Bobby is coming up again tonight, that'll be fun. I'll try to get better pictures of him this weekend. I have promised not to make him drywall (ok, maybe later) LOL. The granddaughters were going to spend the night with us last night but they couldn't make it. I was kinda disappointed, I was looking forward to spending the day with them. I have some awesome pictures I took of them a couple weekends ago I'm going to share when I get back home.

Reading a lot about photography and trying to improve my skills. I think I'm doing better. I'm working on discovering my new camera. Laicey, if you're reading this, I wanna do your Senior Pics soon! Laicey is my niece and will graduate '08. I suddenly feel old. (that means my kid is a JUNIOR!!)

Speaking of Seth, I have to admit I'm quite proud of him at the moment. He's worked at Hy-Vee for probably more than a year now and they've decided to put him behind the meat counter full time and boost his hours (he was a stocker, then a cashier). Why is it, he can be polite and respectful enough at work to get raises and a primo job, but at home..... well.

If I talk about one kid, I gotta talk about the other. Tanner finally saved enough $$ to buy his scooter. That's $280!! (now that summer is almost over). He has a paper route and made money by getting good grades. He took a slight detour by buying a portable dvd player (barely watches) that I tried to talk him out of. Oh, the impulse buys of children!!

I'm VERY much looking forward to Tanner finally getting that scooter. I'll post pics of course. He worked really hard to get it, it's something to be proud of. Oh, and can you believe that in ONE MONTH I'll have TWO teenagers? Wahhhhhh! And I have 3 little girls insisting on calling me Grandma. *blah* I think I can settle for meemaw which Cheyenne wants to call me.

I am not old.
I am young.

I swear i have no wrinkles and I get carded still!!

Sigh.
I have some issues.

Not much other exciting stuff to share. Just working and doing house things on the weekends. I'll post more within 36 hours I SWEAR!