Camp Over

This is the setting in the back yard for J's first big camp-out/sleep over!

We set up a whole camp area back behind the swing set!

There were games:

There were marshmallows!

There was a plan to squirt any wild animals that came there way!

And they drank an entire gallon of milk in less than 12 hours!

All in all, a success!

Horror! Horror! Horror!

I just got an email from Costco advertising:

BACK TO SCHOOL SPECIALS!

Not okay! Just in case you were wondering. Summer is just starting. We haven't done the fun things yet. It's not even the Fourth of July yet.

IT IS NOT TIME TO THINK ABOUT BACK TO SCHOOL YET!

That's all I've got to say about that.

Four for Four

Yesterday was the last game of the season and J went 4 for 4 in batting. Plus, when he played pitcher (with the machine) he had a great fielding play, throwing a guy out at first base, even though he had to throw the ball over the pitching machine to get it there.

In this photo the catcher is a little guy from church, and after this swing at a low pitch, the catcher said "Hey J, what are you playing, golf or something." which elicited a huge grin from J. Then, next pitch he hit is strong and out of the in field for a base hit.

While I like that he plays ball, having the season over is a relief because it bring havoc to our dinner schedules - I don't think we've had a sit-down dinner in well over a week. Now maybe we can get a few good family meals in before I leave for Dallas.

By the way, top photo taken 10 days ago with old camera. Other two photos taken last night with new Canon Rebel T1i EOS. I'm liking it very much, although miss the familiarity of the menu and functions of my Pentax. I'll get there with this camera, I'm certain of it.

A New Month Begins!

Some new things to go with the new month.

A new camera - yes, for me! I'm pretty excited with it. Will do a practice maternity shoot with it this evening. All the photos in this post were shot with it. I got it last Friday, so I'm still learning and learning and learning. But it is so fun!

Also, a new seminar year for Mary Kay, meaning new goals. I'm struggling with making goals in that area because while I know I want to grow with my business, I'm not sure how quickly or how far. I'm going to spend some time in the next few days trying to focus on that.

Side Note Begins: On the finshing up the Mary Kay year yesterday, I also finished a challenge to do 100 faces between April 1 and June 30th. I was the only one in my unit to meet this challenge. It feels good to have such an accomplishment. And there will be some celebrations/reward for that in Texas in two weeks at the Seminar Convention I'm going to. Kind of exciting.Side Note ends!

Another exciting thing is that Grandma and Grandpa are in Big Sky for a couple of weeks, and it's just us and them. As much as we love having cousins and Aunts and Uncles around when we visit with Grandma and Grandpa, it is also very special to have just them. We visited with them on Sunday and J got to tromp around with Grandpa and Andy as then cleaned out culverts, cut down a tree, and did some general guy stuff around the house. And today the three of them are fishing the Firehole river in Yellowstone National Park. Very exciting and good for them! I love it that Grandpa gets to see J fish and J gets to learn more about fishing from Grandpa!

Finally I'm also revealing my new hair cut - it's been about a month, so maybe it's not so new any more, but I still feel like it is. And already I'm probably ready for a trim!

July is going to busy with some travel for me, camp for J, lots of company coming at the end of the month, and some major Forth of July Celebrations this weekend. Gotta love it!

A walk in the rain!

J and I went for a walk the other day. He was still willing to hold my hand - makes a momma's heart skip a beat when that happens! We walked up a big hill.

On the way back down, it started to rain.

We got pretty darn wet. But it was good exercise.

Today, no rain. Possibly another walk - down to see the horse that was born last week. Hopefully J will want to join me.

The Fly Fisherman

J and his dad went fishing on the Firehole river in Yellowstone National Park. He caught more fish than his dad, according to him. I'm not sure his dad has the exact same story, but I know J is a good fly fisherman. And I'm proud of that!

He's also a bit of a ham! He's wearing his new waders and showing off a bit in these pictures.

Its fun to watch him beginning to do more and more of the grown up activities with his dad.

These photos were taken this morning in our creek behind the barn. Things are green around here, and wet too, as we've had just a ton of rain. Good for crops, not so good for getting a chance to go out and work in my garden. Oh well, I'll get there someday!

New Looks!

My sister-in-law and I are both Mary Kay Independent Beauty consultants, and today we thought we'd play around with make-up. We started like this:

We decided to try the smokey eye look - a bold move for me in particular since I generally go for a more natural look.

This is Stacy when we got done:

Although it is very dramatic, I like it and think she can pull it off very well.

Me, well, don't laugh too much. I have some of the most hooded eyes you will ever see, so when they are open you can't even tell I'm wearing make up.

Plus, I'm almost 20 years older than Stacy, so I'm not as smokin' hot as she is in the dramatic make up. Here's a close up of the eyes to let you know that I do indeed have make up on: So, being older is a disadvantage. Heck, you can even see the grey streaks in my hair to frame my face.

Speaking of hair, it's getting cut off tomorrow. I know for many of you getting a hair cut is not a big deal. But for me, I'm going in with this:

And coming out with something just below my chin. I will donate the length. But you've got to know, I'm a bit nervous. Wouldn't you be!

See you tomorrow with a totally new look!