With my boys. We played some poker - which I've never done before - I think Brian won the big pot of $20. One of my presents to Brian was Jiffy Pop and the blueray Inception. His gift to me,

A few from the Odneal (Iowa) Christmas. At Bruce and Kays this year. Lasagna-Manacotti-Salad-Garlic Bread-Strawberry desserts-
Yummy. Brian brought his new girlfriend (pictured) - she's a sweetie, not sure what she thought about our 'gifts'. And SNOW!

...... SNOW
And Duke's thinking, I'm not goin' out there!

Lisa came over and helped me with my tree or it probably wouldn't have happened. I do love Christmas but it's hard to get in the spirit when you're working too much. Some day ...... sigh. The light won't go up any higher so it looks a little awkward - oh well - it can be seen from the road now.

NOT! - Looks like I'll have to wrap my own presents - no Brian this year :( Bart's going ice-fishing? (brrr) so I'll have to see how much I can get done while he's gone. Not sure I can drag the tree out by my self but I'm gonna try. Glad they messed up on the snow amount!

Wait .... I might need more than one entry!

I submitted this to Schnacks weather shots - - It's not the best composition, I had the camera in one hand and the phone in the other - but look at those colors!

Awww...... (too bad we couldn't get Grandpa in the picture.)

Well after the Odneals on Thursday, I thought I was prepared for a family of only 4! Ah - not so much.... the little guy took an instant dislike to the camera! (or was it me?) So this is a composite with the little boy added in - still not good but trust me - this was him cooperating!

and apparently deep thinking nephews!

I went with my friend Bev on her Senior shoot yesterday. She still shoots film, so we traded off with my digital camera. I bought it from my business - April got a new camera - and Now Bev is going to buy it from me! Woohoo! I think she liked the instant gratification part of seeing your results right away, but it helped when we discovered her flash and strobes would work with it also. So now - I can get my dream camera -sadly not as good (or new) as Aprils - but a step or two up! This lil' gal was a trooper today - it was COLD!!!!!! top 2, I took - Bev took the cute over the shoulder.

I hate it! I really do - prefer to shop online (which I did this a.m.) But..... yesterday my friend Lisa and I went to Des Moines. A little road trip with a mission. I wanted this leather (like) bench and the only store in Iowa was in DM. Ain't it cute? And on-sale. I also had a -$10 coupon - even better. We went to Jordan Creek mall also, went in an Apple Store - that's where I could drop a lot of money- like I haven't already spent all my Mac money! We also went to a Homemakers store in Urbandale - HUGE! and some unusual furniture. So here's my bench - will replace the pink one that didn't really go.

Finally got their metals done!

Project Manager
Howrey Construction, Inc. - Rockwell City, IA

Another football Sunday - and not that I don't like football - it's just hard to drag Bart away from the TV. I don't have much room to talk, I worked on our website and pictures all weekend, all while watching the whole 1st season of Breaking Bad. Anyway, I made him take a small road trip for about an hour, looking for fall foliage which proved impossible. We went to Rick & Pams for the witch picture and these two are from his friend Dale Ws farm(?). He raises a few sheep and has one guinea hen. Bart says it's a 'great' watch dog -( huh?) - I guess it raises a lot of ruckus when people pull in to his yard. Good thing I stayed in the road.

Ashley made this witch for her Dad's Birthday! Isn't she creative!?! Made with a tomato cage....

My sister gave these to me for Christmas last year, and 'we' decided they were too delicate for our country winds. But after showing them to Mom, 'we' decided to give them a shot. They are solar lights and change color - - and so far the wind hasn't taken them for a dangerous ride. After Bart put them up I commented "this is probably it for Xmas lights too?" and he seemed to think that was a good idea. So Thank You Barb - I love them - and wish I hadn't hid them in the basement for so long.

I didn't forget about ya!! I was just too lazy to look for a picture :) Hope you're having a great day!

April did bridals tonight of this pretty lady and they are all gorrrggeous! I wanted to post this on Romantic Images facebook page - but this is probably a surprise for the groom, so I better not! I'm sure he doesn't read digitalmom blog so prolly safe posting this here. I've been in the painting mood, here's Devyn!

April took this big sis picture - and while I'm supposed to be editing them - I'm playing instead.

This is Rick & Pams niece, Alex. When I took their daughter Ashleys pictures, Alex came with us - and she told Pam that I ' would be taking her sr. pictures too'! So here are some - I have about 200 to go through and I'm struggling to edit them - I like them so much. I had to have a friend recover these files, for some reason my camera card messed up. I would have been sick if I lost these.

This was the 1st picture I took with the used medium format camera I bought many years ago. I entered it in a contest and won 'honorable mention' . The photography bug started big time about then. I've come a long way - I hope, but this is still one of my favorites of my boys.

Is everyone elses hummingbirds still hanging around? We have 4 that are fighting over the same feeder even tho we have 3 of them. (this is an old pic) I can't get a good pic from the feeder they do like cuz it's in the dark.

This was taken on my friend Joes last day at work. He RETIRED! We worked in the same room for the last 7 years, but actually worked together for 15 years. I miss him a lot! He is a great photographer, musician, artist, computer guru etc. So he has lots of interests to keep him busy tho he's afraid he'll be bored! The other gals are my friends Deb and Barb. We all worked in the same dark room at one time and got to be quite the crew! Maybe why they separated us! hmmm

This is a pic Rick sent tonight (you know how I feel about camera pics) but it's the biggest pumpkin he's grown so far! 120lbs! That's a lot of pumpkin pie. yum

I found this entertainment center on Craigslist. At first it sold right away, but the guy who "bought" it never showed up, so the seller contacted me. YEAH! Thanks to Rick and Kyle for moving it for me. And Thanks to Jeff and Bart for building a desk that will jut out from the middle armoire part. I will have plenty of space for all my 'stuff ' so no excuse for a messy desk!

The horses were a 'no show' again this Sunday! So I stopped at George Wyth where they were just starting a Triathalon. There were tons of boats on the water with mist and sparkle etc. It was sooo cool - but when I pulled in they had pylons set up - police everywhere - so nowhere I could jump out and get the picture. I had to settle for dew on the field. Still pretty, but WHERE are my horsies?!?

I've been working on this book for the better part of the weekend. My computer is no longer keeping up with all the stuff I'm pushing at it. Time for a new one! Here's just one page - waiting for approval from Mom and Tiff before printing.