Rose

From the back yard....and I have stopped to smell it several times!

2

 

I made the mistake of blinking and she turned two. 

She has grown leaps and bounds - probably more so to keep up with her big brothers.  I love her independence, her sense of humor, smarts and cleverness.   She hugs back.  She says "I love you" first.  She cuddles with her brothers and likes Transformers and Bat Man.   Oh, and she has some great dance moves!

Happy Birthday Quinn!

11

Wyatt is 11 today.  Time has just flown by and I wouldn't trade a moment of it!

Happy Halloween

We certainly tried to get a picture of them all together!

Fall

Fall seems to have finally arrived.  We have gotten rain...though not nearly enough to do anything about the drought.     It was cool enough to wear a sweatshirt, and the dark skies seemed to have calmed us.  The constant summer weather makes you feel like you need to go go go!

New Craft (gasp!)

From a blog I follow, Angry Chicken, I was lead to another blog, Honestly WTF.   That is where I was introduced to the Sticker Mandala and the awesomely talented Lauren Venell.

After reading the tutorial on HonestlyWTF, I decided to have a go at the project.  I picked up some Mrs Grossman's stickers from Boswell's as well as a sheet of cold pressed paper (Hobby Lobby).   I chose that paper because it claimed to handle erasing and was only $2.  Next time I will go with a more substantial paper.  My second lesson learned was to draw the registration lines very lightly, and erase as much as I can before placing lighter colored stickers.  Lastly, I learned to lightly place the stickers in case I need to reposition them.  

Below are my results.  I think I'm hooked and will do this again.  I love how from far away the image resembles a flower, but when you get close you see all of the funny details.

 

Bodie, CA

Yesterday we drove to Bodie, CA.   The town is located about 220 miles East of us, near the Nevada border.  It is a "Ghost Town" that has been maintained in a state of arrested decay.   Bodie started off as a mining camp in 1859.  By 1879 it had a population of 10,000.   Thirty three years later they printed their last newspaper.  The town was labeled a Ghost Town in 1915.  When you hear of their difficulties (20ft of snow, winters as cold at -30°F) as well as the violence and illness,  it is a wonder they lasted as long as they did.  

Today only about five percent of the buildings Bodie contained during its heyday remain.  I am grateful to the people who have maintained this land and have allowed the park to stay open so we (and the 200,000 other annual visitors) are able to walk in the footsteps of these men and women.  After driving through the mountains,  I cannot express how much in awe I am of anyone traveling this land during the late 1800's!

This is only one of a very few shots from the car of the mountains I was able to get.  No picture would ever be able to capture how small you feel around such a magnificent mountain range.