40 reasons

  1. for his soft heart
  2. for his love of animals
  3. for his love for his grandmother

  4. for his work ethic
  5. for eating whatever i put in front of him for dinner with no complaint
  6. for not allowing me to sit around on the couch all day even if i want to
  7. for actually sitting around on the couch with me all day once in awhile
  8. for getting me icees
  9. for his love of the patriots

10. for treating my friends as his own
11. for his motivation
12. for his sunny morning disposition
13. for making me breakfast on the weekends
14. for bringing me prezzies from his fun work trips
15. for packing the car so i can spend a few extra moments with my family
16. for accepting duke as his own

17. for his school boy giddiness when we first get up to camp
18. for being supportive of me
19. for his diligence in keeping track of our finances
20. for his love of the red sox

21. for his loyalty to his friends
22. for agreeing to me having my own bathroom that always has the seat down
23. for always wanting me to be happy
24. for always being there when i need you
25. for always telling me you love me
26. for putting up with all my picture taking

27. for being such a gracious host to our visitors
28. for his love of travel

29. for his love of wine

30. for being my best friend
31. for loving my family

32. for going on day trips with me
33. for his spontaneity
34. for his love of adventure

35. for being handy
36. for knowing when to call someone else to be handy
37. for being silly with me
38. for dancing with me
39. for his love of ice cream
40. cuz every girl's crazy about....

MY 40 YEAR OLD MAN!!!

Happy birthday honey!  I love you wicked bunches!

b&w class - shadows & contrast

these past two prompts were about shadows and high contrast
me & my shadow

in contrast

b&w class - rim light & flare

the last two lesson on the b&w class are about rim light and shooting into the sun
rim light
before

after

shooting into the sun
before

after

before

after

before

after

so which one is your favorite?

b&w class - white out

this lesson was on the high key technique or white out
these are "welcome home" flowers some of our maine friends brought over
oh, and by the way, sean said it's too hot in texas already so we've made the switch!

before

after

another photography class

last week i started another photography class

this time i'm trying to learn about black & white photography

the prompt was patterns

before

after

before

after

ropin' 'n ridin'

the other weekend we headed back to the ranch where i took all the wildflower pictures
but this time we had a different agenda
we were there to live the country life

like for realz - ridin' off into the sunset
it always makes my knees hurt so bad while riding but it's just so relaxing and fun
except the going into the canyons and being scared outta my mind that there would be a repeat of last time and i'd need to bail off my horse
but i was nervous for no reason
we all survived - even sean (who had only been riding twice before this trip)

doesn't he look so cute sadlin' up his horse?
and don't you love the horses enjoying rolling in the dirt after the ride was done?

it seems riding is tiring business
and looks like someone should have remembered the sunscreen

we also took this opportunity to celebrate a couple of milestones
that would be a Tollhouse Pie and bread pudding

living the country life wouldn't be complete without a bonfire

and speaking of bonfires - just a few more days and we'll be enjoying all the bonfires we can stand

texas wild creatures

while we were at the ranch we saw lots of wild creatures

ok so maybe these aren't wild but they are from texas and sure are cute!
so just so you don't think i tricked you, here's a wild creature for you

hope you've had a great day!