Autum Dogs

Gabbie (black), Daisy (white and ruby), Ivy (ruby)
Cavaliers make great Fall dogs! They were very good for their photo shoot.

Begin

Sometimes I feel like there are so many things that I want to do and I just don't ever get to them. Being a mother of four keeps me pretty busy. I often feel discouraged when I think of everything I would like to be doing. However, I love being a mother and am extremely thankful that I am one! I realize that I often choose to do things for my home and family over doing other things I would like to do, such as writing and art or other things. There are many days that I make a plan to accomplish a writing or art project, but by the end of the day when I finally fall into bed I realize I never got to it. So, I then feel like I need to just put all that stuff away and forget about it because I am just too busy to think about it right now and it just discourages me when I don't do it. A little while ago I read an article in an art/photography magazine that talked about BEGIN. Sometimes you just have to start. Just do it. I realize that yes, right now I am in a time of life where I am needed by my children a great deal. Maybe most days I wont get to some of the things I want to do for me, but that is okay. Right now I just need to do what I can, when I can and someday I will have more time for it all! I just have to begin somewhere. So, when I can I take out my camera and take pictures for fun, experimenting. When I am trying to relax in the bath and no one is banging on the door, I dream about characters and story ideas that have been swimming around in my head for years. When I get the paints out for the girls, I sit down and paint with them or when they get out their books to read, I dig out mine and read for a little while too! It is a good way to BEGIN.

Loves The Rain

In between all the chaos that is my life, I do try to work on my photography. Someday, but for now all I have is Begin.

Baby Cheeks

RAW

Shot in RAW. I found this works the best when shooting outdoors. I guess I've got a bit of practice ahead of me before I really know how to work my camera.

My Way Or The Highway!

I have never liked being told what to do or how to do something. It is an extreme rebellion that runs threw my veins. I do not like to follow patterns or recipes. I want to make the pattern or recipe. I want to try it my way. I also am not afraid to try new things. I am not exactly afraid of failure. Not really. It is usually worth it to at least give something a try. Years ago there was a ward pie making contest going on and I wanted to make a pie, but I had never made one before. Everyone told me that I couldn't make one, because, of course, I wanted to make up my own pie. Well, I did it. I made the crust and made up a pie all by myself and it just happened to win BEST TASTING PIE! This rebellion has gotten me into plenty of trouble over the years as well. When I was a sophomore in High school I had Geometry. I hated math, especially Geometry. You have to do math a certain way. You can't really just make it up as you go along. One day we had to watch this long, boring movie about Egyptian Pyramids and write notes on it! How do you take notes on a math movie? Well, I mentioned how romantic the Pyramids looked with the sun setting behind them. I guess this was not what the teacher had in mind because she actually had me pulled out of another class to discuss her disappointment with my paper. I suppose you shouldn't use words like "romantic" when writing a math paper. Oh well. That same year I had Biology and we needed to do a big term paper and we could do it however we wanted. I liked this teacher a lot. I was the only one who wrote my paper in story form. I made it into a story about a girl named Radinka. I think she fell in love with a Biologist and I threw in all those scientific terms. I got an A and the teacher read it to the whole class because she enjoyed it so much.
I still don't like to be told what or how to do things. I want to figure things out for myself and discover different ways to do things. I guess it is my way or the highway!

Flying

The other day I got on my old bike for the first time in YEARS. I don't even know for sure how long it has been. It is a 20'something year old lilac Schwinn road bike. I loved that bike. I remember feeling like I was flying . Well, it really isn't my bike anymore. We got it fixed up and I gave it to Kaeley. She is a little embarrassed of it. She says it is old. I tell her it is vintage. Anyway, the other day I decided to try it out. Is it really true that you never forget how to ride a bike? Well, yes, but you do forget how to ride it without wobbling all over the place. Now, something happened to me as I sat on my old bike. I kind of had an out of body experience. Or it was like my 12 year old mind realized it was stuck in a 32 year old body. And, not a girly body, but a WOMANLY body. This body is completely different than the body that used to ride that bike! It was as if in those few moments on the bike, I saw all that had happened to change this body and it hit me that I am not that little girl anymore. But, for a moment as the wind rushed past me, I did feel a little like I was flying.