A Little Dusty

Wow. It's a little dusty over here at the old blog. I guess you could say I took a bit of a sabbatical. That sounds so much better than I just never got around to blogging for the past month, right? So, how about some random catching up? You know much I love the randomness of life.

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One of the bigger events is that my oldest, Caleb, turned 19!

He loves to jump off of things. Of course, I love to photograph it.

He's just a smidgen under 6' tall now. Not that you can tell from the pictures. I can't believe he's 19, though. Where on earth did the time go?

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I took a trazillion, er, maybe 1800+ photos in October. Perhaps that's why I never blogged. I was behind the viewfinder much of the month. (So that's where I've been!) My niece is always a willing subject for my picture-taking madness.

But don't let this serene image fool you...

...she's really a wild child!

(Yes, that's a guinea pig on her shirt. They have 5 of them at their house. Not including the one on her shirt.)

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John had a birthday this month, too. But I won't tell you his age, since it's not polite after a certain point, right? But I will tell you that both the boys are taller than he is. Not that height has to do with age, either, but there it is. Zach's about 6'1-1/2". His goal is to be taller than his uncle, who is 6'3". Since he's just 17, I think he has a shot at it.

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We still had some beautiful fall colors, since the weather was so mild.

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We also had our first snow of the year.

I didn't say we had a LOT of snow. Just the first one.

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There were some amazing sunsets.

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We played with some long shutter speeds.

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We visited some friends at their barn. No, they're not llamas. But they've been friends for a long, long time now. We used to be next door neighbors, once upon a time.

These three were about 2, 6, and 4, respectively back in those days. And yes, they're all tall. Once again, the time it does fly.

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Not that there weren't other happenings in October, but based upon a somewhat quick perusal of the 1800+ pictures I took, these were some highlights. Besides, I think this post has gotten long enough. I should save something for tomorrow.

26 Years and Counting

Today, John and I celebrate 26 years of being married. To each other (that's a good thing!). It has been such an incredible journey and I am more in love with him than ever. We love hanging out together, whether it's deep, late-night conversations or just sitting next to each other doing our own things on our laptops. I'm so grateful that after these 26 years and raising our two boys (now 18 & 17) that we still have such a great time together.

I would recount how wonderful he is, but I already did that last year. And the year before. He's still every bit as terrific.

A few years back, we attempted to play the Anniversary Game. That was a teeny bit challenging, but we pulled together this list. Here's the addendum to that one.


2008 update - Yes, we did buy a house, after making offers on seven houses total

2009
John - Started MD for RVs, providing mobile RV service
Me - The Gremlin Wrangler and her family came to visit

2010
John - Bought his first gun
Me - Stayed up crazy late with Zach to photograph the lunar eclipse

2011
John - Got the jeep back on the road after the motor swap
Me - Mom & I saw BB King in concert
Also watched Zach face his fear of heights and win!

2012
John - Bought his wife's first gun
Me - Started my photography business

We've now been married for more than half of our lives. Well, I have been. John has a couple months to go. Robbed the cradle by 5 months. Ha! Ha!

It's been awesome and I can't wait to see what the future holds for us.

Happy Anniversary, Honey! Love you like crazy!!

My Manly Man

Remember this tree?

Well, other than peeps, it's borne no fruit . . . or leaves . . . or anything. So we've already been talking about taking it out of the yard for some time. Granted, the boys will have to find a new place to hang targets, but they're creative. They'll figure out something.

So John mentioned bringing the jeep out back to pull the tree out.

Nah.

He don't need no stinkin' winch.

He's a manly man.

He'll just take out with his bare hands.

BOOYAH!

25th Anniversary

I spent nearly a week trying to come up with something good to write about our 25th anniversary, but drew a blank. Not that I don't majorly love my husband and think he's the best thing since bottled milk, cause I do. I think it was partly because I was busy with plans for our mini vacation. But that's a story for another post.

Me & John at Hanging Lake

We went out for a lovely dinner at the Mona Lisa where we had a delicious four-course fondue dinner in a cozy, romantic nook. It started with garden salads with a delicious apricot vinaigrette and old world Swiss fondue with veggies, fruit, and bread for our appetizer. This was followed with a traditional main entree, consisting of two types of steak, chicken, tiger shrimp, salmon, and brats, which were served with six different sauces. The pièce de résistance was an assortment of cakes, cookies, and fruit to dip in dark chocolate fondue with amaretto.

Since I covered it pretty well last year, I'm doing a repeat. Because all these things are still true about my amazing hubby.

• He lets me sleep in on Sunday mornings, goes downstairs, and cleans the kitchen. Even though he needs the sleep more than I do.
• He doesn't care what I do with my hair - long, short, straight, curly, colored, whatever
• He buys milk early in the morning so the kids & I don't have to go without cereal (them) and iced chai latte (me)
• He holds my hand when we're walking together
• He always hugs & kisses me and tells me he loves me before leaving the house or going to sleep
• He cleans the cat box
• He pulls over and stops while driving so I can take pictures of things
• He sometimes lets me have the remote
• He thinks I'm beautiful even without makeup
• He holds doors open for me
• He has integrity
• He taught me how to four-wheel
• He is patient
• He sends me sweet smoochie texts
• He hugs & kisses me, just because
• He loves our boys
• He loves Jesus
• He is honest and loyal
• He writes me love notes on the shower walls
• He lets me whine and vent when I'm overwhelmed. And he just listens.
• He pushes the cart at the store
• He supports me in homeschooling our boys
• He gives me time off
• He loves his in-laws
• He is helpful to many
• He works hard
• He changes the oil in my van
• He is humble
• He disposes of the bad food in the frig
• He gets rid of bugs and spiders
• He loves his mom and siblings
• He doesn't care if there's nothing planned for dinner and we eat pancakes. Or order pizza
• He fixes almost everything
• He has never been anything but kind to me
• He lets me be me
• He never complains about anything I don't do. Or do.
• He loves me, no matter what

I sure do love you, John!!

Unspoken Contest

Nothing's been mentioned, but I believe that John & I have an Unspoken Contest taking place in our bathroom. Actually, two of them.

1. Who can be the last person to use the toothpaste and the other one has to get the new one out of the box?

2. Who will finally cave and take all the empty toilet paper rolls to the recycle bin?



What say you?

Happy Anniversary to Us

I have now been married for half of my life. From here on out, I will always have been married longer than not married. Which is a very good thing. God blessed me tremendously when he brought John into my life.

• He lets me sleep in on Sunday mornings, goes downstairs, and cleans the kitchen. Even though he needs the sleep more than I do.
• He doesn't care what I do with my hair - long, short, straight, curly, colored, whatever
• He buys milk early in the morning so the kids & I don't have to go without cereal (them) and iced chai latte (me)
• He holds my hand when we're walking together
• He always hugs & kisses me and tells me he loves me before leaving the house or going to sleep
• He cleans the cat box
• He pulls over and stops while driving so I can take pictures of things
• He sometimes lets me have the remote
• He thinks I'm beautiful even without makeup
• He holds doors open for me
• He has integrity
• He taught me how to four-wheel
• He is patient
• He sends me sweet smoochie texts
• He hugs & kisses me, just because
• He loves our boys
• He loves Jesus
• He is honest and loyal
• He writes me love notes on the shower walls
• He lets me whine and vent when I'm overwhelmed. And he just listens.
• He pushes the cart at the store
• He supports me in homeschooling our boys
• He gives me time off
• He loves his in-laws
• He is helpful to many
• He works hard
• He changes the oil in my van
• He is humble
• He disposes of the bad food in the frig
• He gets rid of bugs and spiders
• He loves his mom and siblings
• He doesn't care if there's nothing planned for dinner and we eat pancakes. Or order pizza
• He fixes almost everything
• He has never been anything but kind to me
• He lets me be me
• He never complains about anything I don't do. Or do.
• He loves me, no matter what

I sure do love you, John!!

Wordless Wednesday - Golf Hazard

For more wordlessness, go here and here.

Blessed Indeed

While sitting here perusing my email, I was thinking how it'd be nice to write a blog post. Lo and behold, I came across the latest from my dear friend, Sprittibee. Her post was all about the blessings in her life. Voila!

Hubby's Business - It's been just over two months since my husband started his business and it's going so well. Even when he has nothing lined up for the next day or week, God brings him just the right amount of work. He has some downtime for phone calls, parts ordering, and research. A couple weeks ago, he was able to take a day off for a trip to Denver. It was so nice to have a family day out together. He's making about the same amount of money he was before, but he doesn't have to work as many hours for it. He's so happy doing this, which is a huge blessing!







We went to the Colorado Mills Mall - primarily because they have a Lego store. To the best of my knowledge, it's the only one in the state. ClayGuy was happy because he got to order a set that's not yet available in stores. Plus they ship free when you order at a store.

When you're photographing people, one very important thing is to take note of your background. You're supposed to ensure that there aren't things sticking out of the heads of your subjects. Unless you're me. Then you position your boys right smack in front of something that will stick out of their heads. It makes for a much funnier shot, don't you think?









We had lunch at McGrath's Fish House. Talk about delicious!! I had some killer skewered and grilled prawns. Well, they weren't killer prawns like you might think of a piranha or something, but they were fantastic. The Comedian had coconut prawns with spiced orange marmalade sauce that he could not stop raving about. Hubby had salmon that was incredibly awesome. And ClayGuy, my very picky, non-seafood eater, had a PLAIN hamburger. Cause that's what he does.





What's a trip to Denver without a stop at The Container Store? Rows and rows of colorful dreams of organization. I would sure love to have a big, huge gift card for that place. In the meantime, it would seem that my photographic silliness has worn off on my family. My guys set this shot up all on their own. I didn't even have to ask. I love these guys!







The House - It's slow going, but we're making progress on the house. When we moved in, everything (except a couple of bathrooms) was white. While that's fine for showing, it's not really my top choice for our home. It has taken awhile to get started because I couldn't make a decision about color. But we finally decided on chocolate brown and sky blue for the family room. I'm excited about getting this done!




Company's Coming - Carrie of Gremlin Wrangler fame and her family are coming for a visit! I'm SO excited! Can you just imagine the photography madness that will ensue with the two of us? I need to finish emptying my memory cards so I'm loaded and ready to roll. In addition, wonkiness will abound! My youngest son has been chatting and playing online games with their oldest, so I'm thinking they'll enjoy getting to meet in real life. Even though Zoe will be in the presence of even more boys, I have access to a couple of girls her age who love creating and crafts, so I plan on hooking her up.


We are so blessed and I am ever grateful for everything the Lord has done. Not just because things are good right now, but because HE is always good, regardless of circumstances.

"Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!" Psalm 107:8

Wordless Wednesday - Working for a Living

For more wordlessness, go here and here.

Leap of Faith

Where to begin? My thoughts are rambling around like so many kernels of corn in the heated popper.

My husband quit his job today (I began writing this on 4/29). Because God is leading him, actually us, into a new direction. He's starting a business. Very soon, obviously. He didn't quit today, he gave his notice. Thursday, May 7th will be the last day. Six days away. Friday will be a celebration with family and friends at an amusement park. That wasn't intentional, but it worked out that way.

My dear husband has worked on RVs for over 23 years now. He's exceptionally good at it. There's really not much he can't do or figure out. During that time, he's worked for nine RV dealerships or service centers. I'm sure that there are plenty of other businesses for whom it can be difficult to work, but I must say that it's been quite the ride with every one of these companies. For probably 21 of the 23 years, he has periodically done work on the side for people. Friends, family, and friends of both. We began discussing the idea of him having his own RV service business many, many years ago. Somewhere around 20 years ago. But it didn't happen. It was just a dream.

Eight years ago, the dream became a reality. A very short-lived reality. He did start a mobile RV service business. Naturally, there are those issues you can't anticipate until you're there. We learned some things. Things that we would handle differently if we ever ventured down this path again. In the meantime, he was offered a position with his previous employer. A position with a promotion and a nice raise. Money was running low, so he accepted. At least we had tried. And we had experience.

January of 2008, we began considering the possibility of him starting his business again. Instead of mobile service, we began looking at facilities. Something with a couple of bays and some office space. Nothing big or fancy. We found a place that looked like it might work. And then we got the $400 utility bill at home that took us down a different path. The path to buying a house. When you are self-employed, you have to be in business, and be profitable, for quite some time to qualify to buy a house. So the business went on the back burner while we spent months looking for a house.

Recently, the thoughts of a business came to the forefront again. We knew it would be a better time of year (last time we started in January - a little early in the season). He already has people wanting him to do work for him right now. There's been a lot of stress for him with his current employer. Enough to make him stay home sick in bed about once a month.

Last week, we sat down and more purposefully discussed the issues at hand. What would we have to do, specifically, to start the business up again? Not really all that much. We had done much of the groundwork eight years ago. We jotted some tasks and numbers. We'd been praying. It seemed that this was the direction God was taking us.

As He is ever so gracious to do, God began to open the doors and lead the way. We were listening to Dave Ramsey's Town Hall for Hope last week. One of the questions? Is this a bad time to start a business? No, not really. Dave actually believes that it's a very good time to start. Because many businesses have already failed, there is less competition. He shared a number of people who began their businesses either near the end of a recession or just following. Companies that have become very successful. It was encouraging to hear.

Update: Today was it. The last day working for someone else. I just wanted to wait and post this after he was officially done there. It just seemed the right thing to do.

We've filed our reincorporation papers, changed the address on our federal tax id, begun the process of getting insurance, printed biz cards, and created a web site (sort of - I just used existing templates. I don't know how to create a web site). We have a couple other things to wrap up on Monday or Tuesday. And he's ready to roll.

Here we go, leaping off the cliff. Into the plans of God.

Wordless Wednesday - Peeking

Go here and here for more wordlessness.