Featured Twice.... So Honored!

I am part of a Flickr Group that is participating in a 52 week photography challenge.

 

I have thoroughly enjoyed this challenge, I feel like my skills as a photographer have definitely grown.  I love to ponder the weekly theme, then visualize the shot, then make it happen.

 

I really like when it all turns out. Makes me feel kinda grown up, lol.

 

Anyway... I have been featured as Eye Candy 2 of the last 3 weeks, WOOHOO!

 

Check it out!

 

http://myfourhensphotography.com/photographers/

 

ID is Mom212345

 

 

 

You can also check out my Flickr Page for this group...

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30415084@N08/

 

 

 

All photos are copywrited by Desertbloom Photography

A week in the life...

What a week it's been!

 

First, the election.

I know God's in control and this is all part of His great plan.

It still saddens me to see our country in such a moral decline.

 

Then... the car caught on fire while McGyver was out of town.

It was an electrical issue and fortunately I was able to keep calm and take care of most of the problem, still called 911 though.

Made pumpkin muffins to thank the firemen/women.

 

McGyver came home immediately after hearing about the car. He was in Colorado working on the Little Blue House. He got home Thursday morning, around 3am.

Friday morning, we woke up and he offered to go get coffee.
He came running back upstairs and said

"we've got a puppy!"

 

Huh?

 

So I threw on my bathrobe & came down to find Miss Ruby giving birth to #2. Then #3. Then #4. Poor little doggie! Then #5!

3 boys and 2 girls.

So sweet!

 

 

Friday, our Ely friends came to visit and spend the night.

The 2 older girls were fighting for the State Championship (soccer) here in the desert.

It was our first cold night of the season, and it wasn't only cold, but windy too.

Brrrr!

 

 

The Middle Child...

This is my middle child.

He is such a treat!

 

He plays guitar - classical, electric, and acoustic. He plays clarinet. He writes very tiny and with very little pressure on the pencil. His artwork is very detailed. His room is a mess. He likes coffee. He is going to be an engineer. He was a preemie. He is going to be very tall. He is getting very handsome. Very, very handsome.

And he is a Momma's boy!

 



Around the House....



 

 

A  game of Risk takes up the day...

quilts everywhere...

cups everywhere...

shoes everywhere...

Little Bear's everywhere...

Romney- Ryan Rally

Today we went to the Henderson Pavillion for the
Romney-Ryan Rally!

 

It was our Social Studies / History class field trip, lol.

 

What a neat opportunity to view some of the political hubbub going on these days.

 

Who knows when the kids will have this opportunity again.

 

 

 



And He's on His Way!

 This morning, dark and early, we arose to take Missions Boy to the airport.

 

He and his team of 11 others left for Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

 

They are currently in the middle of their 13 hr flight from LAX to Seoul, South Korea, then a 4 - 5hr flight to Phnom Penh.

 

I miss him terribly.

 

173 days till he is back in the country, then about another 21 till we get to see him.

 

I can't wait!



Then and Now....

Here's a photo of Missions Boy taken in May 2012...

 

nice clean cut boy, ready for missions...

 

 

 

 

He comes home tomorrow fromTwin Peaks, Ca.

He's been there 3 months, taking intense Bible classes and missions training classes.

This is what he looks like now....

 

 

 

He's not even in the jungle yet!

 

I'm heating up the wax and sharpening the razor, lol!

 



Un-Paper Towels... Very Green!

This is what I've been working on lately!

 

Un-Paper Towels, the 'in' thing for the 'green' people.

 

Each set has 6 towels. The towels snap on to one another, and the base towel snaps on a base. The base fits nicely on most paper towel holders.

Pull one off, wipe up a mess, then throw it in the wash.

 

I am working a Farmer's Mkt tomorrow and will hopefully sell out!

 

I don't have these on Etsy, and I don't know that I'll sell them there.

But they are definitely fun and easy to use. 

Grandma's Back Yard!

Look what was in Grandma's back yard on Monday!

A family of 6 big horn sheep!

Last weekend, I took a few of the kids out to Twin Peaks to visit Missions Boy.

Wow, it was SOOOOOOOOOOO GOOOOOOOOOOOOD to see him again!

I have missed him so much it hurts sometimes.

Survivor Man & Guitar Man came with me. They miss their older brother too.
And I am sure it had nothing to do with stopping at Bravo Burger or Subway. 



Everybody but me & the hubby!

It's been a crazy summer!

It seems everyone is traveling except me & the hubby.

Sailor Boy went all over the east coast on his ProTraMid, then to Russia for a month!

He flew home to the desert on July 23rd and we are tickled to have a little time with him.

Missions Boy is off to Twin Peaks, Ca. till October, then home for a short weekend. Then he'll depart for overseas, somewhere to be determined. We really miss having him around, and NOT just because he is an extra driver, lol.

I really missed him hard on my birthday this past week. I cried.

GuitarMan is back from his stint at Boy Scout Camp near Pine, Az.

He went to camp and then worked there for a few weeks afterwards. He came home a few days earlier than planned, which was wonderful! He was able to be home for his birthday ;), I can't believe he's 16????

Survivor Boy has been to Boy Scout camp and then a week to church camp in California.  He got pretty sick at the church camp but made it through ok. We're glad to have him home.

Chicklet went to church camp too, for the first time! She had a blast! She seems to be spending the night at friends' houses all the time. I told herI miss her!

MissionsBoy suprised Chicklet and Survivor Boy at church camp!

The shepherd couple brought him over to surprise his siblings, who were totally elated to see him. I am so grateful.

Besides taking MissionsBoy to California overnight, I haven't been anywhere since the beginning of June. Neither has McGyver. Hopefully that will change soon!

We're planning a trip to Colorado on the 12th or 19th of August. I get to stay as long as I want!



Missions Man graduated on Friday, the 25th of May!

It was a wonderful celebration - only 3 seniors and 90 min+ of graduation!

It was really neat though, because the ceremony was really about the graduates!

Now Missions Man is getting ready for his Mission trip. He leaves for California on July 5th, boohoo. Mommy is going to miss her boy!

Here is a photo 'borrowed' from www.fatmumslim.com.au , May Photo of the Day Project.

It's my goal to take a picture everyday that matches the theme.

I also hope to post them on here, lol!

Here's pix from weeks 16 and 17. I am not sure where 15 is and I haven't gotten around to week 18 yet, I am a little behind,





April 9 2012

Here are submissions to my M4H52 Flickr Group.

Check them out sometime if you have a chance. There is some amazine work there!

Week 13 - Nature

Week 14 -  Home

To me, a house is not a home until there's a piano playin' in it!

Ever-changing

I feel like I never have time to post on here, or when I do... I don't remember anything that's going on!

If I work my way back, I might cover some ground.

We are on Spring Break this week. We started by having Hunk #4, who will now be referred to as Survivor Man, a belated bday. Do I need to say his bday is in October? Yikes. We needed to have it before we had Chicklet's slumber bday party. Survivor Man had about 6 friends over (all hand-picked by me ;) ) and they had a blast! S'mores over the firepit, sword fights on the trampoline, cake, candy, soda, icecream, just a sugarfest any way you look at it.

Chicklet's slumber bday party followed 2 nights later. She presented me with an invitation list of @ 20 people,,,, NONONO!

I again picked the sweetest ones off the list and proceeded to kick McGyver, Hunk #2 (Missions Boy), Hunk #3 (Guitar Boy), and Survivor Man out of the house for the night.  Pizza, soda, candy galore, goldfish, cake, icecream, candy, s'mores (but they never did get to them), french toast with fresh Queenie eggs and orange juice... it was fun!

I never had a slumber party when I was growing up. This was totally blessed... the girls were fun, kind, no one was left out. They were even asleep by 1am or so. Wow!

Missions Boy is now called Missions Boy because he was accepted into the Y.O.U.T.H.C.A.L.L. program at our church. It stands for Youth Out Using Their Hands For Christ In All Lands & Languages.  He will leave for Twin Peaks, Ca sometime late June/early July for 3 mos, then overseas for 6mos, then back to Twin Peaks for 1 mos or so. We don't know where he's going. He won't find out till @ 4 wks before he leaves. It's all a walk of faith. Not just for the kids, but the parents too, lol.  I am so excited for him! There are currently 9 others going from our church.  One is also a senior, the rest are between 18 - 30.  We are praying and thanking God for providing the approximately $7500 he will need!

Missions Boy will be graduating highschool on May 25th. Wow. Am I old enough to have 2 kids out of highschool?  I don't think so. My body says yes, my head says no.

Sailor Boy is off to Russia this summer for his 2nd block. I am very excited for him, but will be very happy when he is back on U.S. ground. Same for Missions Boy.

I had a revelation on January 1, 2012. Sailor Boy was still home on Christmas vacation.  We were talking about next year, and I realized, Missions Boy won't be here next Christmas. I had (and still have) no idea when my family will all be together again. Wow, that was hard to take. I got on the phone w/ Miss B and begged asked her to PLEASE take our family photos before Sailor Boy went back to school. God bless her, she did.

January 2, 2012

Chicklet, Survivor Man, Guitar Man, Missions Man, Sailor Boy, Me, McGyver



I must be having fun, because time is flying by...!?

Time flies when you're having fun, right? Or so they say?

I look up, and another month has gone by. I look down to do something, look up, and more time has passed. That is one of the few things we can never recover.  Time gone, words spoken in anger, pre-baby weight, etc.

McGyver and I have been sick for a few weeks with a nasty cold.  Mine went to my chest and is now visiting my sinuses.  In addition, our pine trees are releasing an unprecedented amount of pollen, lol.  It's spring time, right?

Chicklet celebrated her 12th birthday yesterday!  She had a great day.... Daddy/Daughter breakfast (and won a huge gift basket filled w/ goodies), got a new guitar, had chocolate cake, opened more presents, went out to dinner with one of her bff's, had a sleepover guest, and today.... get's her ears pierced!  She's been waiting and waiting for this day!  I know we're behind the times, but that's ok.  I want her to have things to look forward to, to wait for... rites of passage.

 I remember (now I digress), Sailor Boy's 8th grade dance. (1st of all, really? 8th grade?) He H.A.D. to have a tux because everyone else was going to wear one! The girls were all going to wear formal gowns. REALLY? In 8th grade? So I found him an inexpensive one on eBay, much to his chagrin. But he wore it, and was soooo handsome. Anyway, I remember dropping him off, and outside the school were many young ladies, poured into these long, formal gowns. I don't think one of them had a slip on, or a girdle (lol) for that matter. I determined then to make sure my daughter always wore a slip of some sort!  I felt sad for these kids.... what was there to look forward to? They've already worn a tux and formal gowns before highschool. The Senior Prom was going to be boring by the time they got there. (and I PRAISE GOD we have no more senior proms because the other kids are in a small private school or being homeschooled - Sailor Boy's was enough to last me a lifetime).

Ok.... I will spare you the rest, hee hee.

Here are some of the submissions to M4H52. You can look for their group on Flickr.com.






Sparkle - week 12

Color

 Wild Card

 Blue - Week 11

M4H Weeks 3 - 6, Playing Catch Up!

It's been a little while since I've posted.... life has been full!

Here are my submissions for weeks 3 - 6 for M4H 52 Challenge. You can find the group on Flickr.com

Week 6 - Emotion

Week 5 - Simplicity

Week 4 - Imperfection

Week 3 - Inspiration

Thinking of a shot for each weekly theme has been a true challenge.

I sometimes wish she'd request something like 'child with pet',  that would be soooo easy!

I have enjoyed the challenge though and am blown away by some of the submissions entered.