Foto Story Friday #99-- A Hike

A few weekends ago we went for a hike in our local state park, Maksohika.

It's full of cool rock formations

pretty pruple and white wild flowers

a natural arch, on which to pose

and show us your attitude!

The views are like no other

All the above photos were taken on the Cap Rock trail.

At another location in the park there is an old cabin that we hiked into.  Another great place to show attitude, I guess!

Plus a cool place to hang from if you happen to be a boy!

The view from the cabin, if you know just where to look you can see the road that weaves up the side.... don't look too hard it is VERY hard to find.

A herd of horses we came across, not sure whose they are, we've never seen a herd there before.





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Foto Story Friday #98 -- Treasure

A few years ago Papa (Troy's grandpa, on his mom's side) passed away. Before he passed, he talked to all of us and told us how much he loved us and pretty much made everyone cry. One of the things he told Troy was that he wanted him to have his tools. Troy and his dad went down to get the tools, filled the truck full and had to leave some behind! This fishing box has been sitting in the garage ever since. The other day, Troy pulled it out and we discovered it's a treasure box.
Looks well used or well loved, huh? I've been told that he loved to drop a line. Most weekends he could be found out on the lake doing just that.
I'm surprised that the sticker is still intact.
Look at all the treasures we found! Can you tell how old these are? Kinda hard so I broke it down for ya.
First the cool metal bait box that hooks on your belt. He bought it for my father-in-law cause they both have the same name: Bob. My FIL grew up across the street he spent a lot of time over there and often accompanied him on his fishing trips.
Still full of line and ready for your next fishing excursion.
In case you have an accident .... how long has it been since you've seen a metal bandage box? And guess what? There are still bandages inside!
These cool metals sinker boxes, and yes there are still sinkers in them as well.
An old film case that he converted to a leader box.
Papa liked tie his own hooks and he would store them in these little glass bottles.
This looks wicked..... I wouldn't want to be caught by it. I don't know a lot about fishing, so I'm not sure what kind of fish you would be trying to catch with it.
Occasionally he did buy pre-strung hooks and we found a few still in the packaging, waiting.
But as I said he liked to tie too and these boxes are full and ready for tying.
There are all kinds of treasure and these are absolutely treasures to us. A little piece of Papa to share with our kids. The 4 youngest never really got to know him, Savanna and Robby do have pictures with him but they were so young and the twins never got to meet him, we never made it back to Vegas before he passed on. So treasures like these and the stories we have of him will help them to know him.
What are your treasures?


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Foto Story friday #97 3 years old

This past Saturday morning I had a date with this little guy.

I set up shop in his front room and he was such a good sport.

As you can see, he was full of smiles

and just too darn cute! Go here for a collage and a few more cute pictures of him.

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Foto Story Friday #96-- Easter photos

Easter Morning after showers we set up a backdrop and gathered a few props for our Easter Photos.

(click to enlarge for a better view also check them out here.)
I think I need a few more backdrops.... sometimes they blend into the black and white. I think I need a nice brown.


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FotoStory Friday #95-- A Letter!

The other night, about 2 weeks ago, they had the winter sports banquet. It was on a night that Troy worked and I didn't really think that he was going to get any awards or letter. He only wrestled on varsity twice placing 6th both times. He never missed a practice or a meet. When I was in high school (ages ago, just ask MY kids!) you had to place so many times and all sorts of other things in order to letter. So since it was $7 a plate and I really didn't want to pay for the whole family to attend in the slim chance that he would be given anything, I opted to not go. I talked it over with Cody and he also didn't figure he would be getting anything, so off he went to the banquet.
Boy, did I feel like a bad parent when he came home with a big ole envelope full of all sorts of things and to top it off he lettered! I was SO happy for him and his accomplishment, but really I should have been there who cares if the dinner was $7? Bad parent!
So here he is showing off his newly acquired high school letter!

All smiles and a bit of silly.... notice he put his letter upside-down? He was smiling and laughing bcause he was sure I would notice BEFORE I took the picture!

After flipping the letter over, it was not so much fun to hold it up for a photo, darn teenagers! :D

The letter all by itself!
The best part of this story is really a rewind..... When he first started out the school year he really didn't understand how you got a letter. I caught him researching it online! :D Of course, now that he has rightfully earned a letter, he wants the jacket to go along it!
One more funny story on Cody..... For Christmas he got a car (which he will have to share with his sister when she gets a license) from his grandparents. We finally got everything switched over into our names: insurance, title and we had to get new plates. They offer so many choices for plates these days and I couldn't resist the urge to get something cooler than the new plain jane blue plates. I saw wrestling plates, I had to have them for him. We registered the car for life so it was worth it to pay the extra for the cool plates. SO while Cody was at school, we found the car and changed the plates. It was lunch time and there were a few high school kids watching and wondering what we were up to. After school, Troy and I were at the church setting up for the pinewood derby and in need of some stuff from home. I called Cody and called and called until he finally arrived home to answer. He was laughing. He said: "I walked past my car three times! I kept thinking 'I know I parked over here, but that's not my car cause those are not my plates!' Finally after the 3rd time past the car, I decided it was my car!" Oh if only I could have been there to watch him walk past and talk to himself, it would have been SO funny! See we live in a small town and I think there are only 2-3 other cars of his make and none are the same color!


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