Start your sabbath with a little bit of Mormon

THE photo project of photo projects

Im ready to replicate some photos like these above.  This is an Irina Werning Photography project over in Buenos Aires --> irinawerning.com She travels around a lot and gets some amazing photos, plus she has amazing ideas.  If only I had a bunny suit my size to replicate this one:

Bird!

So Matt has become one with the birds.  He knows his birds.  Thats why I am most attracted to him.  He took me on a "bird walk" one day and it was a lot of fun!  Here are some of our shots (i say our because I took maybe one of these:)) 

My duck posse..pay no attention to what I'm wearing..

And here it appears that Matt is trying to feed a duck from the other end.  Silly Matt

im a working fool!

im happy to say im back in the grocery biz! when im not nannying, im here.  when im not here im asleep on the couch.  pretty convinced this is better than any hospital job:)

6 months down

6 months down.. an eternity to go

         

         

 

ciara richardson photography

Arizona Balloon Classic

 This is us at the Arizona Balloon Classic. They have this three day Balloon festival just south of Phoenix. I thought they were going to have a lot more balloons, like 30 or maybe even 50. But there were maybe ten there this night. It was just the first night of the three day festival too, so maybe the sunday night one will be a lot bigger of a deal. Hot air balloons are SO COOL! we got to see them get blown up and one of them took off just a little ways in the air, but the others just lit up. I guess they are not supposed to fly them at night.
Our friends Johnny and Kristin were able to meet up with us and afterwords we went out to get some food. But, we got to see a lot of them get blown up and we could walk right up to the basket if you wanted to so we got to get a lot closer than we had expected. Hot air balloons are one of our favorite things about Arizona.

The Grand Canyon

Welcome to the Grand Canyon, one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World.

We ended up having some free hotel nights from priceline and Allison had a day off so we decided to get the heck out of town. Allison has been working a lot lately with her nanny job and her new job at Trader Joe's. She's a hard worker! She was pretty tired from having to work at 4 am the day before and I wanted to go see the canyon at sunrise. So, I let her sleep at the hotel for a little while longer while I went and took a look around. I got there just as the sun was rising. Our old camera got knocked off the book case...and broke. I did it....on accident, but we got a new camera the day we left and this was it's maiden voyage. I imagine, for a camera, it was like being adopted by Daddy Warbucks to get your first shots at one of the most traveled to destinations in the world. There were lots of foreigners there. We were probably out numbered by them actually.

 

Anyways, we got lots of great pictures and while there I got to identify a lot of awesome new birds for my bird list. I think I got at least 5 new species! These are some western bluebirds. I also saw some mountain bluebirds, juniper titmouse, nuthatch, and a common raven.

 If you've never been to the Grand Canyon, look forward to that day to see how huge it really is. It seems to go on and on and at first look it doesn't look too deep, but if you look closer you can tell it goes real deep. Allison and I agreed it was so big it is kind of eerie.

 They played a video that talked about some of the first explorers that came here and the first ones to float the entire river, they said it was lonely and foreboding. I don't see how they would have got out even if they wanted to. They would just have to float the river out because back then with no trails I don't know how they would have got out. It is really steep on the sides.

 But nowadays you can hike down in because they have a bunch of switch backs and well maintained trails all the way down to the bottom and up the other side.  We hiked down in a ways and had some granola bars that were twice as much as normal at the little grocery store outside the park. Definitely plan on bringing more food from home next time instead of getting it there.

Here's Allison! I was so glad she had a day off and we got to come out here. It was her first time and my first time since I was maybe 10 or so. I remember vaguely seeing a really big canyon and the visitor's center had a bunch of native american stuff that I thought was pretty awesome. Go figure I would remember a little fake tomahawk more vividly than I would remember the GRAND CANYON! It meant more to me this time. Seeing thins like this make you realize how small you really are and how big this world is. There are people from all over the world and China there. Then of course the enormity of the canyon makes you think of how small you are. You are not big enough to be an exception to the rules, so follow them and be nice to everybody you meet. This thing took over 6 million years to be made and grows deeper every year about the same depth as a sheet of paper. Every little action in our lives makes a difference even if they seem small, they will all add up, whether they are good or bad! It was a fun little vacation. 

jimmy kimmel halloween challenge

Holy schmokes this is TOO good!  Matt and I both agree we would definitely have a melt down too if our candy was eaten by our sneaky moms

pumpkin for my punkin

did you know that grocery stores get rid of all their "normal" pumpkins the day after halloween?  It makes me wander what the hurry is to get rid of them so soon.  have they forgotten that pumpkins are kind of a big deal for thanksgiving too?

luckily i found a couple of stray pie pumpkins that i snatched up so i could make my mama's dinner in a pumpkin recipe.  instead of making it in one giant pumpkin i made them in 2 lil pumpkins.. like little bread bowls.

matt was hesitant to eat straight out of a pumpkin when i put it in front of him and was a little disgusted that i was scooping big spoonfuls of pumpkin stew right into my big mouth.  apparently he used to gag at the smell of a pumpkin when his family would carve and gut pumpkins out.  luckily he ended up liking it which keeps me on an unspoiled record of making super-licious foods.

bands like it when you yell yar at them

the minus the bear concert was pretty amazing.  this was their 10 year anniversary tour so they played a lot of songs from their older albums and only a couple from OMNI.

So back to normal here.  Matt has finals next week so he does a lot of this:

and occationally i will come home to find him in places like this:

me on the other hand am doing the sewing thing and making messes like these:

i love sewing.. i think.  i cant tell you how many broken needles, machine dissections, seam ripping, re-stitching, and curse words have been had around here:)
but so far my check off list is coming along:

cloth napkins
heart pillows
ipad case
laptop case
shoe organizer
aprons
baby blanket
pin cushion
hot pads

heres to being domestic :)

Halloweeeeen

   

Hope everyone had a super Halloween!  We had some friends over to make caramel apples and yes costumes were required.  We made Matt's costume and I have to say it turned out perty darn good!
Here was our inspiration for it: You Can Be A Birdketeer!