F.I.R.E. in the desert

We smelled smoke yesterday and noticed a plume of smoke coming from beyond the "R" mountain - out in the desert. A lightening stike started a fire many miles away but the air current brought the smoke directly to us! It wasn't as bad as last year - thank goodness! Looked out the window to see the 'sun on fire' and ran for the camera (daaa, really?) and captured these shots. Bob and I took the doggies for a walk and carried the camera with us.

Check out the smoke in the valley below. My pretty-much-first-attempt at a silhouette . . . Bob and Bella . . . she adores him!

You can see (left) the smoke rising from the fire at the same time the sun setting in the west! We weren't the only ones who noticed the spectacular sunset as people were coming out of their homes and lined the streets to watch this beautiful ending to the day!

"Thank you FATHER!"

school starts

Took this photo in June and forgot I had it on the computer. There is a little 'homestead' in town where the gardening is magnificent and a little log home still stands in the corner of the lot. As we drove by, I couldn't resist the colors of these flowers - definitely caught my eye.

I've got myself some-what programed to go out and exercise in the morning (like it or not) but when I get home, I get so side-tracked. Seriously need to learn to focus better and get more done. I was walking back home after doing Poleline Road twice (takes me an hour) and noticed all the kids out waiting for the bus! I was thinking all morning it was Tuesday and wondered why they were waiting one day early! Joke was on me - school started today and the bus showed up to cart them all away to their first day of school! Daaa! I start teaching guitar this coming Monday as I've taken the summer off - first time in thirty-eight years not teaching in the summer!

We met up with Whitney and her little family down south to go see "Bodies, The Exhibition" last night. The exhibition features real bodies with skin removed to view muscles, tendons - well, everything the human body has to offer. The bodies are actually from China's morgue - unclaimed bodies! They go through a process of preserving everything. Well, it was impressive - to say the least and I walked away with a new appreciation of what the human body actually consists of. Well, let me put it this way . . . I'm going to be very careful what goes into my body and setting goals to take much better care of myself ! ! ! If you have a chance to see this exhibit, be sure and go but take your time! As I walked this morning I couldn't help but think how our lives here on earth, our bodies are no accident - there is a God with a plan (the "great designer" if you will) that is greater than us all - no doubt in my mind! We all headed to dinner after and enjoyed hanging out with each other.

This past weekend was our County Fair. For the first time, I decided to enter some photos and ended taking (5) to be viewed and judged! I got a text/photo from my granddaughter, Morgan, that one of my photos had a red (second place) ribbon on it! Wow, that peaked my curiosity and Bob and I went down and checked things out for ourselves. Nicole's 'sassy' photo on the horse received 2nd place and the Teton's black and white photo (ta-ta-da-daaaa) earned "GRAND CHAMPION"! Little did I know that we also got a cash award to go with it!!! I was shocked - money? I heard roomers that it would be $50 for Grand Champion - wow, I started adding on my fingers how much that would total - so I rushed over to the building where they were handing out checks! There was a long line so I started waiting patiently. When I finally reached the front the guy checked my ribbons and yelled to the other guy, "That'll be $29!!!!!" I was slightly deflated but figured $29 was better than NO dollars - I would have totally been happy with my pretty-frilly ribbon - really I would! Haha!

Started TODAY to attack my next 10 lbs of 'fatness' following the "17 Day Diet". So far, 31 lbs of poundage are GONE, GONE, GONE! I really love this program - it is a sound program of eating and exercise that can't be beat. It does follow many of the principles of Weight Watchers - but just eliminates sugar and white flour from your vocabulary. So, between Bob and I, we shed almost 70 lbs. Hurrrray!

c.l.o.u.d.s.

Bob and I go walking daily and we just look at each other and say, "We live in the most amazing place - just look!" Then we walk quietly and look around us at the pristine beauty that surrounds us.

We had clouds one day and I headed for my camera and we went for a drive. Just a few miles from our home we found these sights.

This is probably my favorite - marshmallow clouds. I'll be back tonight for some journaling - so come back and 'sit a spell'!

zooooooom-zooooooom 2011

Who needs an alarm when you have "zooooom-zooooom" early in the morning in the summer-time?

mosaic monday - harvest collage

Believe it or NOT, it's almost harvest for grain! Where did the days go this summer? In one more month, it will be potato harvest! So today, I compiled the photos I entered on Sunday to make my entry to "Mosaic Monday" over at Mary's place. You'll see some amazing photography and some fun stuff and really creative people!

Journaling notes: coming tonight!

s u n d a y

"peace and tranquility"


We had an amazing Sunday today! The weather has been well, perfect. If I could wish for a perfect summer in the future - it would be this summer with it's warm days and cool nights, rain, light breezes - just amazing.

"rolling potato fields at sunset"

I love going to church! I have a chance to work with young women (ages 12 to 18 years of age) and today we were loosing two of them (and their family) to a move to Utah - I was sad, to put it mildly. I've had a chance to teach them both for the past three years. One of the girls was one of my guitar students as well - so super-close. So, we decided to give them a photo that I took of the Rexburg Temple and that now hangs at BYU-I. I was honored that they would ask and all the girls in the Young Women organization signed the back of it. It was then presented to them and they asked me to explain about the symbolism behind the photo. I then gave a lesson to my class. At one time, we had 12 girls in our class - now we're down to 6 girls! We've lost five girls in the last month due to moves. My time at church was well spent - I learned a lot.

"whisper soft wheat field"

I rushed home to gather some food and we (Bob, Grandma and I) headed north to meet family for dinner and dessert. As we drive north, I love looking off in the distance at the Teton mountain range - captures my heart and soul, big time! I never get tired of photographing it's beauty. Whitney and boys were waiting at Heather's for a last second barbecue and they invited us - I had little to contribute but Whitney stocked up at Costco and headed north! I was pretty hungry and the watermelon especially hit the spot! Whit called Shawn and family and they drove 1 hour to come for dessert! ! ! It was good to have everyone together, watch the kids play and take a mile walk after dinner. Such amazingly beautiful country. Grandma did so good today! She went to church (all three hours), came to dinner, visited and had a great time. She hadn't done that much all month!

"wheat, potatoes, wheat fields"

Five hours after we left, we arrived home to some lonely puppies! They were happy to see us and did some leg crossing while we were gone as we had no surprises when we got home! I felt bad leaving them all day - but thank goodness they have each other - they're quite the little family - all three of them! It was early to bed as exercise was waiting in the morning at 6:30 a.m. It's totally dark at 6 a.m. - so we're able to snooze a little longer.

TODAY was a GOOD DAY!

― Abraham Lincoln

“I will prepare and some day my chance will come.”

just a thought

“True friendship is like sound health, the value of it is seldom known until it be lost."

-unknown

"The magic is inside you. There ain't no crystal ball." -Dolly Parton

breaking my silence

"my little daisy patch" - front yard, home-sweet-home

I hardly know where to start after being gone for so long - but just like starting exercise after a long lay-off (say decades!) you just START! Well, that's what I've been doing this summer - eating healthy and exercising. Bob and I started a few months ago - he's down 35 lbs and I'm down 26 lbs and holding! I'm 'resting' for a week and then going to attack another 10 lbs! Little by little it's coming off and we're both feeling amazing - so much better with so much energy!

My new baby . . .

I have a new bike (yea !!!!!) that I've been riding and Bob bought our son's mountain bike - fixed it up like new and we're planning on a ride this evening when he gets off work (started back today). So, my time away from blogging has been fruitful but, I did miss a lot of journaling - here and there I'll try and get caught up on important events. HAPPY, happy, happy to be back.

Still helping my mom who's been recovering from her leg surgery several months ago - she's finally getting back on her feet. I called her yesterday and asked her if she'd like to go to lunch and she sluffed me off saying she had too much to do (?) so I told her I was coming to pick her up to get her out of the house as she rarely goes out any more! We drove her car, went to lunch, filled the car with gas (she insisted on doing it herself - yeaaaaaaa) and then headed home. She really did good other than I had to tell her to slow down in a residential area! She almost seems to be frightened to leave her home - but can relate some-what. I've been transcribing her life story into a book (shhhh, don't tell her) and am learning some things about my mother that I never knew before - helps me to understand why she does some of the things she does! I think Heavenly Father's been wanting me to learn some patience as this summer has been filled with many opportunities to do so.

Bob started back to work today (man, that went fast) and he wasn't exactly a happy-camper! He enjoys his work - the summer/freedom just went too fast this year. The summer has been amazing with gorgeous weather - never over 90 degrees with lots of rain, something we rarely have as we live in what's considered 'high desert' country. Everything is lush and green and not dried out as opposed to the majority of the country that's having drought. We've been blessed this year - for sure!

Last week we had a chance to head to Utah (oh happy day to get out of the "Burg") for Oliver's baptism - what a cutie-pie. I am ashamed - not one picture the entire trip. Don't ask me, can't figure it out - other than just needing a rest? Let me tell you, I missed a lot - we had lots of family there too. Go figure! I did, however, want to kidnap Oliver, R.O.B., Henry and Leah from Ashley's grip and bring them back to Idaho with us - I miss them so much - would LOVE to watch them grow up a little closer to me - but can't complain too much, they could be in New York!

"almost ready" - field near our home, almost ready for harvest

Sure hope you're having a GREAT summer - it's almost over!