Foto-story Friday #9 -- THE plate

Now this looks like an ordinary 'ole dinner plate, but this plate has a tale to tell.....
But to tell this tale, we have to go back to the beginning.....  In the beginning there was... oh wait, that is a little too far back..... In 2000 we were living in Las Vegas, our friends asked us {that is:  Troy, Shantel and I} to be in their wedding.  

 Following are a few shots of the wedding {sorry about the quality of the photos as I took pictures of the pictures, thus I making them photos I took! :)} 
The wedding party!
The flower girl and her daddy!  Aren't they cute?!
The walk down the aisle, er I mean the sidewalk.
They paid a lot of money {like took out a loan} to have the wedding at a ranch.  It was a very pretty night, the food was good and we had a good time.  It was fun watching all the others getting a bit tipsy.  I think the waiters were imbibing too... 
Because as we attempting to leave, a waiter ran out with a wrapped plate saying: "Hey wait, don't forget your plate!"  Yup, he gave Troy a plate full of food.  We were a little suprised, but what did we know?  A few days later the groom told us a story:
Seems that as part of the wedding/catering deal, the bride and groom would have a plate of food made up for later. He was a bit miffed, OK he was pretty well ticked that they forgot to give him his plate of food! We didn't have the heart to tell him that they did in fact "make up his plate", they just gave it to the wrong "big guy"! That is the tale this plate would tell, IF this plate could tell tales!

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Weekly photo challenge-- green

Check out this blog for the weekly photo challenge.

52 Weeks of Blessings- week 30-- pioneer day and freedoms

I like to go against the grain sometimes, ya know not do the same things as everyone around me.... So with July almost over and it being the month we Americans celebrate our freedoms and the month we Latter-day Saints celebrate our freedom in the form of pioneer day, I have chosen this the last Monday of the month to express my thankfulness for the blessing of Freedom.  I am ever so grateful for those who have gone before me to fight and pay for my freedoms.  Freedoms that most of us take for granted.  I am thankful for the soldiers who currently fight for freedom round the world and fight to preserve those freedoms.  I have family members who have worn and currently wear those uniforms and put their lives out on the line to uphold freedom.  

As for those pioneers who fought, in another sense, for their freedoms by heading to the deserts of the west, I didn't personally have family that crossed the plains in those wagon trains or handcarts,  but my husbands family did.  They truly were fighting for their freedoms and rights.  What a sense of relief that must have been felt as that first wagon train crested the mountains and they looked out over the valley and the peace of religious freedom as Brigham Young declared, "This is the right place!"  I am thankful for the blessing of freedom!

Foto-story Friday #8-- my bestest bud

I think for this Foto-Story I will not dig quite as deep in history.....  only to Halloween 2001
2001 was the year we moved back to MT.  It was rough having left our new home in Vegas, but we were up to the challenge.  We really wanted a small town to raise our kids in, we weren't excited about having them attend school in that vast city, self named "Sin City".  Shortly after we moved to this little map dot, another family moved in.  They had one daughter Shantel's age and were expecting another in a few months.  I wanted very much to become friends with them. I just looked like we could be good friends.  We lived out of town on the farm {about 25 miles out}.  So I didn't get into town on a regular basis.  A few times we chatted on the phone, but that was long distance and ran up the bill.  She invited us in to go trick-or-treating with them.  In case you live in a balmy place, you should know that MT in late Oct. is COLD and often SNOWY!  It was not warm and we drug this crew all over!  Poor Robby was miserable. {and this was before we even got started!}

I think that was the night that sealed Wendy's fate!  She was stuck with me whether or not she liked it!  About a month later we moved into town and I'm an outgoing kinda gal, so I just started inviting myself over.  We spent many a late night together with all the kids.  The summers were crazy we would be over there till almost midnight.  We fixed appliances, put in her kitchen floor, shared meals, built rabbit cages, scrapbooked, watched each others kids, shared exciting news of babies -- hers and mine.  We spent countless hours together.  She is my "bestest bud"! {aside from my husband}  Then, in late 2004, they moved all the way across the country from me, it was hard.  We spent many hours on the phone bridging the gap.  Wendy started school and the time to talk became harder to find, with schedules and the time difference.  We went from daily to weekly to monthly calls.  

In 2006, her daughter came and spent a week or so with us.  It was nice for Shantel.  It was a surprise for her, all she was told was that Grandma and Grandpa were picking up something for her in Billings!  Wendy and I wished there was a way we could get together, but with life, kids and school there didn't seem to be a way.

Then in June 2008 she and the girls came to stay for a month!  She is training to  become a P.A. and in order to have the summer months serve 2 purposes, she setup her rotations in places she could stay with friends and family so a little visiting could get done as well as her training. 

I kept her up way too late visiting and playing Wii.  Truly, it felt like they had never left.  Her girls had grown and changed SO much! 

Ever try to get 9 kids to sit still long enough to get a photo with them ALL looking in the same direction?  Not an easy task!  I took about 5 shots and then gave up!  This was the best one of the crew!
She HATED every photo we took while she was here!
Self Portraits --- we may look silly but at least we were having a good time!
My birthday was June 28th and I was a bit bummed since my husband was going to be working
and Wendy was having to leave for her next rotation.  She spent a lot of time planning out a surprise birthday party for me the day before.  It was a wonderful idea, and they did a great job keeping it from me, I honestly had no idea until about an hour beforehand.  That day was crazy and the poor kids were trying to do everything while Wendy kept me out of the house.  It turned out good in the end but it was a bit hairy there for awhile!  
The cake was designed by Cody and fixed up by Wendy.All too soon the time was up.


Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

What kinda fruit are you? and Scottisims {Emmaisims too}

You Are a Banana

You are mellow, easy going, and a total softie on the inside. People find it really easy to get along with you. You suit most tastes. And while you're very sweet, you're not boring or ordinary. You have an attraction to the exotic, and you could show up anywhere... doing almost anything! You are spirited, energetic, and a total kick to be around. You're also quite funny. Your sense of humor is on the goofy side, and it fits you well.

What Type of Fruit Are You?

It's been awhile since I did Scottisims, June was crazy and I'm still trying to catch up-- I know, I know it's almost August, but hey life happens! :)  Without any further adieu .... Scott and Emmisims:

5/15/08

Scott:  "Feel my legs. They're hot, kinda sweaty hot, yeah!"

5/16/08

EmmaLece:  "Isn't he just SO cute?  I just love to pet him & kiss him!"

Scott:  "I don't like that, Emmy.  He doesn't like kisses and hugs."

EmmaLece:  ''Well, mine likes kisses from boys!'

They were talking about their imaginary pets.

5/17/08

Em:  "Hi, mom, we're playing dominoes.  I'm building a rocket ramp.  That's even cooler, ..... yeah cooler!"

5/20/08

Scott:  "Do you spell spider:  e-f-g-p-s-k?"

Mom:  "S-p-i-d-e-r is how you spell spider."

Scott:  "Yeah, well, I don't know HOW to spell!"

5/26/08

We were in the car headed to K-mart and I said we were going to the store.

Em:  "The Albertsons?"

Mom:  "No, another store."

Em:  "There's more than ONE store?  Cool!"

I guess we spend a lot of time at Albertsons!  

5/30/08

Em:  "Mom, how do you spell cup?"

Mom:  "C-u-p"

Em:  It says: S-o-l-o."

At this point I stop what I'm doing and take a peek at what she is looking at.  It is a plastic cup on the counter.  She is reading me the letters she sees.

Mom:  "That is the brand name of the cup."

Em:  "Oh .... what's the brand name of me?"

Mom:  "I guess that would be Keiser."

Em:  "Cool."

6/6/08

Scott:  "Mom. Mom. Mooooooommmm."

Mom:  "Yes?"

Sang to me by Scott:  "I sure want some breakfast!  I sure want some breakfast! I sure want some breakfast! "

6/20/08

Scott comes to sit by me and informs me in his whinny voice:  "I just want to eat food ALL the day!  That's what I'm talking about!"

I promise I fed him and it was still an hour till lunch!  Growing boys and their endless appetites! 

7/5/08

Scott:  "Mom, Robby just catched a mop {moth}!  Yeah, he knows how!"  He was highly impressed with his brother's mop-catching abilities!  We practice catch-and-release. ... except for spiders, which get SMASHED beyond recognition!

7/16/08

Em:  "OK, I've got a list with me, in case we need something else.  Just in case."  We were headed to the grocery store and I'd toldher first I needed to write my list.

After returning from the store....

Scott:  "Can I have P-d-s?"

I have NO idea what this is, all I can guess is that since we sometimes spell things out, he was trying to spell something to eat.  When Savanna asked him what that was, she said it was candy.

7/22/08

Scott:  "Emmy saw a bug.  Now I need-a-shoe-to-kill-it! {Said in such a rush that it sounded like:  I need to shoot and kill it!}  He got the shoe and raced upstairs to kill it..... SMACK SMACK SMACK!

Em:  "One more time."  SMACK SMACK

Scott in his singy voice:  "I killed the bugs, I killllllllllled the bugs!  Mom, there were 3 bugs and I killed them with my Lightening McQueen shoe!"

7/23/08

Scott:  "Is it tomorrow?"

Mom:  "Yesterday, today was tomorrow."

He just stared at me like I was speaking German or Celtic or some other foreign language and repeated:  "Is it tomorrow?  Tomorrow I get to fill up my squirt gun, is it tomorrow?" 

 

Wordless Wednesday--hair crazy

52 Weeks of Blessings- week 29-- Computers

My blessing this week is........My computer!  

Seems silly, but the computer can be a great blessing..... instant results.  You can search for anything and anyone.  Find old friends, keep in touch with family and friends who live far away or find new friends who live all over the world.  You can keep track of your life or just have fun making digital scrapbook pages.  You can watch movies, listen to music and do family history.  
{not the best picture of me, Cody took it! It was bright n early and I HAD to check my email and my blog.....ya never know there might have been a new comment!}  Thank you Ryanne for this great gift!  and we have {finally} gone wireless!  It is nice to sit on the couch or where ever I feel like sitting and blog, index, or surf.  Or maybe win something:  
I couldn't bring myself to cut this material.  I looked up Batik on line and discovered how it is worn-- as a wrap-around skirt held up by a belt with the edge down the front.  When Batik is Worn

Batik dresses are worn for several purposes, such as ;

Informal Dresses
It is a free choice, usually for daily casual wear.
Formal Occasions
In some parties, as a state banquets, receptions, etc, the invitees are requested to wear batik. Long sleeves shirts for the men and 'kain batik' (long batik to cover the lower body) for the women.
Traditional Occasions
It is worn to present the traditional wedding ceremonies, special ceremonies for the Royal families, etc.
In a wedding ceremony the bride and the bridegroom wear the same motif of batik Sidomukti, symbolizing a happiness and prosperous life. Using the same motif symbolizing the togetherness. The parents of the bride and the bridegroom wear batik with motif of Truntum, symbolizing the advice of the parents to the newly weds to enter the new life with full of love and confidence.
Traditional Dress

Women's traditional dress, especially in Yogya and Solo court families, consisting of :

Jarit or Tapih or Sinjang
A 'kain panjang' (long cloth of batik) measuring around 2 m x 1 m to cover the lower body, tightened with stagen (large waist band)
Kebaya
It is a traditional long sleeved shirt (the material used is not from batik, usually from silk and other fine materials).
Selendang
It is used as attractive piece of clothing to compliment the traditional dress. The 2 m x 0,5 m selendang cloth hung over one shoulder.
Kemben or Semekan
It is special for ceremonies in Karaton (palace) or Royal family ceremonies. Instead of wearing Kebaya, to cover the upper body, a kemben is worn.
Men's Traditional Dresses
Jarit or Bebed
Men kain panjang, tightened with stagen.
Surjan
Men traditional long sleeved shirt (only for Yogya style) and the material is not batik.
Beskap
Instead of wearing surjan, the men wear a coat (beskap of Solo style or Atila of Yogya style), the materials is not batik.
Blangkon
It is a headgear made from batik.
Keris
The dagger is worn at backside of the waist, as a compliment to the dress. there are many sites that provide information about batik.   I tie it off making sure the edge is right down the middle.  I've gotten many the compliment on it too, thanks Latree! 

You could even get a free {not yet published for sale} book:
The book Farworld book 1 Water Keep by J. Scott Savage is being published by Shadow Mountain where you can read about it in the coming soon tab.  I'm halfway through and I got it on Saturday afternoon.  I've already got a line of interested readers waiting for me to finish!  The web site will soon be up.

Foto-story Friday #7-- Helena

I think I should call my photo-story Fridays:  Flash-back Fridays since I seem to dig up the old photos to tell stories with!  Once again I've dug through the archives for this story inspired by reading this blog last Friday.  She was bemoaning the fact that her laundry facilities are outside on the porch.  I remembered having lived in Helena for 6 months from September '96 to February '97.
Here are Cody and Troy cleaning up the yard shortly after we moved in this charming 2 bedroom 1 bath house.  If this house could talk, oh, what stories it could tell.....  
This house started it's existence as a barn!  That's right, we lived in a remodeled barn!  {go back to the first picture, look again, see that pole?  It was one of the coral poles!}  Now, this house had laundry facilities inside, but our old {free} washer and dryer were too big to fit side-by-side.  So we had to rig up someway to dry the clothes....... {What I tried, and failed to find, was the picture I was SURE I'd taken of the shelter we created out of pallets.  I am SO bummed.  I even went so far as to look at the home videos we made, to see if I had captured it and I went through all of the negatives!  What I learned was in 2003 I lost all my brains and recorded over a section of time that could have had it!  aarrgh!}  So imagine, if you will, we ran the power cord through the vent into the house.  We placed a pallet on the ground and placed the dryer on it. We then took pallets and built up the back, side and top leaving the front open.  It really wasn't that big of a deal, until it snowed.  
Cody all dressed up for a day in the snow.  We woke up one morning to so much snow that we had to dig out a path.
In order to get the clean cold clothes that had been safely waiting in the dryer, I had to dig a path around the house to the back door.  The snow was right up against the door and it wouldn't budge. It was crazy.  Here is my path leading to the dryer.  {still bummed that I can't find a picture :(} 



Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Table Meme

Keeley tagged me for this meme:  Weird things on my table, which originated at Ship full O' Pirates.   rules are:

Any table will do.
Any number, descending order or not.
The things don’t even have to be weird, maybe unique, or maybe just out of place.
Pictures please.
No obvious set ups, unless it’s hilarious.
Tag some folks and link back here.
Since my dining room table only had a cup on it I went in search of a table with a few more things on it.....
I found the scrapbook table was FULL of stuff!
One box full of books, a baby toy, phone charger and pj's that I need to send to my sister.
Two items to read.
Three odd items, a frame, a bag of interfacing, and a doll bib.
Four electronical items:  a tester, a cable, a 20 Q, and a broken mini mag flashlight.
Five odds and ends:  a birthday banner, a flyer about calcium, a screwdriver, a Nuggies socket set, and a Walmart receipt from April 22.
Six scrapbooks, need some attention.
One cleaned up table!

Now as to who I should tag.....  Who's table would I like to see..... yes, it will have to be:

Shellie, Laurie {private blog}, Kate, and IdahoHubers.

52 Weeks of Blessings- week 28-- Stay-cations

Swimming pools in the heat of summer are great blessings. 
With gas prices rising almost daily, we opted for a different kind of "vacation".  Recently, we took a mini vacation -- as in, we rented a cabin at our local campground and  "camped" overnight.
We swam in the pool and went out to eat, all the things we would have done IF we had left town.  The kids were happy and we were happy to save a lot of money!

Today we took the kids to the public pool to cool off from our 90 degree weather.  Scott and EmmaLece got brave and ventured away from the edge!  Robby tried to pass his deep end test... he needs a little more practice.  We had a fun few hours enjoying the pool!  I keep thinking back to pioneer times and they only had rivers and lakes and the oceans to cool off in, I'm so grateful to have swimming pools!  I feel safer knowing where the bottom is!

Checking out settings on my camera

The camera is a Kodak Easy Share Z1012 IS

settings:  black & white, f=57mm, f4.0,1/1000, 0.0, ISO 1600, -0.7  

Gives it an almost negative look.
camera settings: black & white, f=96mm, f7.1, 1/1000, 0.0, ISO 1600, -0.7

This picture I colored his eyes afterwards with my picture program.
color picture settings:  natural color, f=74mm, f7.1, 1/000, 0.0 ISO 400, -1.0
black & white settings:  f=96mm, f7.1, 1/1000, 0.0, ISO 1600, -0.7
color picture settings:  natural color, f=96mm, f5.0, 1/1000, 0.0, ISO 800, 0.0

black & white settings:  f=96mm, f7.1, 1/1000, 0.0, ISO 1600, -0.7