52 Weeks of Blessings- week 39-- fall

This week's blessing is that of the change of seasons from hot hot summer to the cooler mild weather of fall!  Fall is my favorite time of the year! I love the colors and the perfect cool weather.  If I could, I would live where it has fall temps year 'round..... but then I'd miss all the beauty of fall. For your viewing pleasure:
The leaves begin to take on new colors.
I love the reds and oranges on this tree across the street.
And the yellows of these trees near the bridge.The beauty reflected in the river.
The red and yellows of this tree also near the bridge.
The reds and greens of this ground cover.

In the week since these photos were taken, our yard has become a bounty of color!  If you live in an area of the country or world that doesn't get fall and you need a run in the leaves or a dip in a leaf pile, we would be happy to grant your wish (and provide pictures!)

Foto-story Friday #17 -Fascination

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

We went riding with the twins on Tuesday.  There is a trail down to the river that we like to take.  I love this snapshot.... It's like you can almost hear the conversation: "So, ya come here often?"  "Yeah, every few days, just for something to do.  And you?"
When we returned home, the twins found something that caught and kept their eye:
We drove up to find MDU guys surrounding the power pole on the corner.  They have been, for the last few days, adding lines for the new apartment building a block from us.  {Which has resulted in several power outages. :( }

They stood there for a long time just watching the men up in the baskets.  Scott and EmmaLece kept wanting to get closer and closer. We finally had to put them in the back of the truck, to keep them from running over and getting under foot.

I'm fascinated by the twins and they are fascinated by the power guys!

SkyWatch Friday-tickle me pink

Sunday evening we pulled out of Nanna's place to the sky a blaze:
I kid you not, this is how pink the sky was -- these pictures have NOT been altered!
The angle was not quite what I'd hoped for, but you can see the sky reflected in this mud puddle.
I like the contrast of colors in this one:  green, pink, blue and orange {I should crop out the rooftop}.
For more skywatch check out the official blog!

An award!

Mandy gave me an award!  Thank you thank you!
Here are the rules: I have to answer the following questions with one word answers and one word only! Then I must pass it on to seven others! I guess this one also comes with a list of questions:
1. Where is your cell phone? nightstand
2. Where is your significant other? work
3. Your hair color? brown
4. Your mother? always
5. Your father? poetic
6. Your favorite thing? family
7. Your dream last night? strange
8. Your dream/goal? forever
9. The room you're in? family room
10. Your hobby? blogging, reading, scrap-booking  {I cheated and used 3 words!}
11. Your fear? dark 
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? content
13. Where were you last night? home
14. What you're not? boring
15. One of your wish-list items?cruise 
16. Where you grew up? Montana
17. The last thing you did? eat
18. What are you wearing? pjs
19. Your TV? front-room
20. Your pet? none
21. Your computer? attached
22. Your mood? happy
23. Missing someone? yup
24. Your car? suburban
25. Something you're not wearing? shoes
26. Favorite store? ?
27. Your summer? quick
28.Love someone? lots
29. Your favorite color? purple
30. When is the last time you laughed? today
31. Last time you cried? ummmm
 As to who to pass this along to.....

David at Authorblog if you've not check him out, you should!

Latree at Dandelion  I love to learn about her life in another country and culture

ONEHM and ZB at Hope and Believe for the wonderful photos and the weekly challenges

Melissa at Are you Serious this is Life for keeping it real and surviving this house challenge!

Heather who is private at Swanson Family for finally joining the ranks and keeping us informed since she moved SO far away!

And for all of you who I didn't name.... if I read you, then to me you are preimo!  grab this award and display with pride!

Weekly photo challenge--Zing: actions/filters

"So the weekly challenge is present 1 photo with 2 or more different actions/filters (whatever) that you are debating on. This can be something you are working on currently or something from the past (to make it easy)."

I think this is what the challenge is about.......

Original right out of the camera.
Fisheye effect
Sepia toned
And of course I couldn't just do one.....
Straight out of the camera.
Spotlight and Cartoon effect

Changed the tint to green and changed the angle of the photo making the hands more of the focal point.

Go here for more weekly challenges!

52 Weeks of Blessings- week 38 -the telly

The telephone!  Having always lived in an age where we had a phone, I couldn't imagine not having one!  Who remembers party lines?  When I was a kid we had a party line ... I think there were 3 people on our party line.  I can't remember how long that lasted, but then we got our own line!  Now we have cell phones, which are nice but also are a daily battle.  {I'm sure you can figure where this is going!}  It seems that EVERYONE has one:  mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, every kid you see,but not my kids and they think we are horribly mean for it too!

I do think the phone is a blessing though, I can pick it up and call across town, across the country or across the world!  Letters are nice and emails are great, but to be able to hear and speak to my family or friends who are not in town is such a great blessing to me!

All images in this post were found on the net.

Going Goth?

Check out the kids in a bit of Goth make-up.  They have been trying to decide what to be for Halloween.... Go tell them what ya think!

SkyWatch Friday-clouds

Click the here to visit other skywatchers.

I found it fitting as I hoped over to the sky watch headquarters that this week they chatted about clouds.  I had already decided to post a few pix of the clouds I'd observed this past weekend.  So here they are!

The sky over Billings, MT as we prepared to head home Saturday.

Taken from the passenger window on the ride home.  When I first looked up and saw this, it was a heart, by the time I got the camera out and pointed, the shape had changed.  Now it looks like a window to heaven.
Taken while cruising down the freeway nearing home.

I wanted to thank all of you who came and checked out my first skywatch last week!

Foto-story Friday #16 -- weekend get a ways

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

So, last week, Troy was at training across the state about 7-8 hours away.  We had planned a weekend get-away with some great friends.  It was to be a trip to Denver {a place neither of us have been} that included a pro baseball game.  But just days before he left for training, our friends could not get the time off due to some changes at work.  We were all seriously bummed.  It was looking like Troy would just be coming home and we would carry on as usual.  I was less than thrilled with this plan!  By Thursday, I was way ready for that little get-away!  Troy's nightly calls were not encouraging, he just wanted to be home and sleep in his own bed.  Finally, I either got through to him that I NEEDED this or his parents convinced him -- either way he decided that we would meet in Billings and the other guy could just go on home alone. A major thank you goes out to my in-laws for taking care of our kids and giving us this weekend and the use of their car!  You guys are awesome!
I loaded a few things in the car and headed the 3 hours to meet him.  These black eyed susans were nearly lining the whole freeway throughout the drive.  It is pretty hard to get a good shot of them when you're driving 78 mph and hoping you're actually catching the intended target {I know, I know one should NOT drive and take photos at the same time ...}  Also while driving I saw a huge flag waving in the wind it was a beautiful sight, but I couldn't quite capture it:It was somewhere below this beautiful blue sky!  We ate a late dinner at IHOP after visiting with some friends until most of the eateries were closed up.

On Friday, we got up and went sight seeing.  I mentioned in my blessing post, that we went to my favorite toy store, here's a peek:



This is just a small sampling of the tractors and farm toys that the store holds and sells.  It is not a very large building, but it has quite an extensive collection.  This last shot is taken into one of those round mirrors strategicley placed so that the shoppers can be observed. I kinda felt funny taking pictures in there, but I'm like a kid in a candy shop when I go here!  I get all giddy and I want to touch and hold and test out all of the tractors!  Of course there are signs that say "look with your eyes".

We also stopped by the Harley shop.  That was a first time for me, I'd never been inside a Harley shop before.   There were signs like this:What do ya think?

Is it me?  This one is not a Harley, I like the chopper style.  
This one is a Harley, but I couldn't get Troy to sit on it {he thinks I'm a little crazy!}  Should we get one?!  Well, they are WAY out of our price range, but I kept hearing, "one day ... one day we'll have one."  We bought T-shirts.
We also saw some big boy toys with signs like this:Intended to prevent people from messing with them.  I would have been tempted to go climbing .......  control, must show self control!

Friday evening we had a good home-cooked meal at our friend's home. {Sorry, no pictures, I just never felt it was the right time to click off a few shots!  I had the camera hanging there around my neck.... I was maybe intimidated by there big wa-zooie camera! :)}

We had to try out the water slide at the hotel.  We went Friday afternoon, but failed to bring the camera.  SO Saturday morning we took a quick dip and a slide or two:

We packed it up Saturday and headed to the temple.  What a great ending to our get-away!

I never tire of capturing this beautiful building.  I try to get a different angle each time I visit.