Today I bring you some non-phone photos of our trip.  If you read my previous post you might remember that our plans got a bit rearranged.  Originally we were going to drive to Boise for Labor Day weekend, but the night before we were going to head out Hunter was up with a cough.  ALL NIGHT LONG.  Normally that wouldn’t have been a big deal, but just days before a friend called to let me know that her daughter had been diagnosed with whooping cough, so my kids had been exposed.  We decided that a trip to the doctor was in order, just in case, and then we decided to wait on test results before we left.  It gave us a wonderful long weekend where we had nothing that we had to do.  We bought a fire pit for the back yard, roasted marshmallows, camped out, played guitars and sang silly songs.  Sometimes things not going according to plan is exactly what is needed, and it was.

I decided that I would do the drive by myself the next week.  It was exhausting and empowering all at once.  We stopped in Utah to visit dear friends, then headed up to eastern Idaho to visit my brother and his family.  Can you believe these are the only photos I have of that part of the visit?

Those little cousins were so super cute– opposites in every way.  Savanna is bald– Eva has out of control fluff. Eva weighs 22 lbs. and Savanna is something like 15 lbs.  Savanna eats a ton of whatever you offer her– Eva just gave her food to Savanna.

While we were in eastern Idaho we also had a quick visit with my dear friends Jessica and Tracy.  I have no photographic evidence.  Our kids loved each other and played like they had just seen each other yesterday.  Poor Tracy laid on the couch with her hurt hip.  Jessica, in all her skinniness, ate roasted veggies from her garden and shared with me the finer points of Sparrow Girls.  One wonderful part of this trip is that I got to spend time with friends that I wish I could just pack up in my pocket and take with me everywhere I go.  Jessica and Tracy are two of those friends.  My friend Erin in Utah is another one.

On the way to Boise from Blackfoot we went to Craters of the Moon National Monument.  Every time we’ve done this drive I’ve wanted to go, but put it off for want of just getting there (either Boise or home).  This time I did it.  I took 6 kids to the crazy, other worldly landscape out in the middle of no where.  I, the lone adult, took 6 kids through lava caves.  It did take me 3 times as long to feed them lunch, clean up from lunch, get shoes on those 12 feet, and get on the trail than it would have had Barry been with me– but I did it!  It was worth the memories.

I’m popping in today to tell you all I’m thankful for you!  The other day I was at a neighborhood park and someone came up to me and asked, “Are you Jessica?”  Turns out she was a blog reader.  She had e-mailed me once to ask about a place we had hiked, but had never commented.  It was fun to chat with her, see her family, feel like we had something in common.  I left wondering how many people are out there reading this.  Well, to all of you, I’m thankful for you.  I’m thankful for this place to share the things I actually accomplish and finish, to share what I love, to archive the best parts of my life.

I’m also thankful that the holidays are near.  This whole month has been quite a challenge because Barry has been gone for training and only able to be home on weekends.  I am SO thankful that I am not a single parent.  I forget how disorganized and messy I naturally am when my partner in this crazy big-family-homeschooling endeavor is not around.  It’s good for me to realize that I seem on top of things because he helps me so much.

So, the kids and I are heading down to Colorado Springs to try out Dad’s hotel room for a night, watch TV (oh, the things that are a treat!), take a dip in the pool, eat out… and then come home and cook some turkey.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend that is full of everything good.

Photos by me (the top) and Brenna (the bottom) from our hike in the foothills this past weekend.

{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

I’ve been really fascinated by the Colorado sky this summer.  It is so big and expansive that you can see so much variety.  From where we live we can watch the clouds congregate on the mountains and make their way toward the plains, and in the evening light they are quite a site to behold.  There are so many times I’m driving around on errands wishing I had my camera to document the towering layers, but I never have it.  I can stand on my back porch, though.  Here are some of the heavenly sites from right outside my window.

These high clouds are altocumulus.  There are 3 basic types of clouds.  Cirrus clouds are high and wispy, cumulus clouds are the mid sky cotton balls, and stratus clouds cover the sky low and like a blanket.  It gets a bit complicated for me from there because from those 3 divisions they’re categorized into 10 basic kinds of clouds because most clouds are some kind of combination of the 3 basics.

These are cumulostratus– kind of cottony, kind of blankety.

Our very favorite library book on clouds has been Tomie dePaola’s Cloud Book.  You just can’t help but love Tomie’s illustrations and humor along with real, sound information.  The Man who Named the Clouds is about Luke Howard, the man who first devised the way to categorize and name clouds.  It starts with his childhood and shows how following your passion and studying hard can really affect the world.  I also need to get myself my own copy of The Cloud Book by Richard Hamblyn.  It’s a nature guide for naming clouds full of lovely photos and explanations of why clouds are called what they are.

Have you been looking up lately?

Potty– and shameless bribery.  I got a Buzz Lightyear that lives on the a moire and comes down when there’s tinkle in the potty.

A trip to the zoo.  Last week– highs in the 30s and 2 feet of snow.  This week– highs in the 70s.  Colorado– where you can have all 4 seasons in one week!

A welcome, quiet moment to sit and feed my baby.  The only way he’ll let me hold and snuggle him these days.

Blue skies and evening light.

Just a little late night quilting.

Life seems so very, very full these days.  School time, field trips, music lessons, church responsibilities, not to mention diaper changes, feeding people, and trying to dig through the ever accumulating pile of laundry.  But it’s joyfully full– baby squeals, spinning, and jumping, “look what I made,” reading aloud.  When I think of the things that my life isn’t full of I am oh so grateful.  Bring on the laundry– of it comes required with all these sweet blue eyes my life is full of, I can take it.

With the snow day yesterday we had Dad home, happy kids, and lots of good light.  I got the big sheet back out, set up the tri-pod, and got up and down many, many times to push the self-timer button.

We got a lot of pictures like this:

but we did get one good one to spruce up and hang with the others.

I must say, I am one lucky girl.  I have the most handsome husband, and the cutest kids– e v e r.

I’ve really needed updated photos of my kids for my mantle since, well, I think the last time I had pictures taken was 2 years ago.  I’ve got lots of snapshots of course, but I needed portraits.  The thought of making an appointment, getting everyone clean and dressed and somewhere on time has been giving me hives.

 I have big windows and lots of natural light in our family room, so yesterday I hung a big brown sheet at one end of the room and snapped away.   Most of the pictures I took turned out like this:

Out of focus, fake smiles, silly faces, or Ian in the Buzz Lightyear costume he found in the dress-up bin about a month ago and hasn’t taken off since (I had to bribe him with chocolate chips). Click here to see the out takes bigger, if you’d really like.

But the beauty of digital photography is that I could take LOTS of pictures.  I decided to go with black and white pictures so it didn’t matter what color the background or clothes were.  A few clicks in iPhoto, the Costco photo printing center, and $8 later, I’ve got these lined up on my mantle:

Not bad for a day’s work.

On Wednesday I turned 31.  That sounds so grown up.  I am now in my 30s.  Geesh.  When I was younger I had this idea that I would accomplish amazing things by the time I was 30.  You know, like have art hung in galleries throughout the world, a book or two published, things like that.  I guess what I have done– being married for nearly 11 years, given birth to 5 kids, lived all over the country– are pretty good things, especially that being married part and having all those little humans.  Those books and art gallery exhibitions will just have to wait their turn.

To celebrate my birthday I got to do my favorite thing–  walk around outside in an amazingly beautiful place with my very favorite person in the whole universe.

Barry spent part of the week being a judge at the International Science and Engineering Fair in Reno, Nevada.  We found a babysitter for the four biggest kids so that Hunter and I could tag along.  I had my first casino experience (our hotel was a casino, so we got to walk through it over and over) –not too impressive, just really disorienting and stinky.  Other than that, the trip was so relaxing.  I got to do things like nap and shop for jeans that actually fit, and best of all drive up the mountain to see Lake Tahoe, the lake of amazing turquoise water.

I didn’t think to bring Hunter a hat.  He did have a burp rag on his head most of the time, just not for pictures.  You know, having just one baby is a piece of cake.  He was so good.

I have a friend who grew up here by Lake Tahoe.  Her dad just decided that he needed to raise his family in a cool place, so he packed up his wife and 8 kids, moved to a little town by the lake, and started a business doing accounting.  They had a tiny house for such a large family, but there were those mountains and that water– way better than a big house. While we were driving around we tried to figure out how we could get that plan to work out for us.  When we got home Barry checked zillow.com.  Um, well, I think $3 million- $16 million is a little out of our price range.  A girl can dream though, right?

 Happy birthday to me!

(All of these photos were shot by Barry, the non-babywearer on this trip.)

 Outside:

  Inside:

I think we’ve got about 18 inches of snow since early Friday morning, and it’s still coming down.

And my curtains are coming along quite nicely.

I set up my tripod and got gradually closer and closer so I could get a picture of the mom on the nest.

Then I got out my step stool like I have been every day to take this picture:

It ended up blurry because I was under a swift attack. The mama was really brave today. I could feel her wing against my hair. I’m afraid tomorrow I may really get pecked. I may have to talk Barry into giving it a try.

The babies look much bigger, probably double what they were when they hatched, and much darker. I wonder when their eyes will open.