Pure Yumminess!

One bowl of chocolate, peanut butter Chex Mix.....deeeelicious!  And so easy to make.

Do your family a favor and make some of this right away!  The recipe is on the back of the Chex cereal box.

A Good Day for a Nap

In true Weimaraner style, Milo has taken this little tiny door mat for himself.  Weims have a knack for finding the softest spot closest to their human, and curling up or contorting their body in any way necessary to fit on that spot.  This little door mat is Milo's new favorite spot.  He's got the right idea though.  It's cold and gloomy outside which makes it a perfect day for a nap.

The Family Picture

I really love taking family pictures.  Why?  Every family is so different.  With different dynamics, different personalities, and different looks, I love the challenge of capturing everyone's personality and the way they interact with each other in one photo.  It's actually easier for me to capture that in families that I don't know already.  I think it's because I can take an objective look at them and see almost instantly how they all relate to each other.  My favorite kind of family picture is the silly picture.  You can tell how much fun a family has together by how quickly they all pile on when I suggest doing something crazy and a little out of the ordinary for a picture.

I know the family in the picture above because they're my family.  They're my husband's family, or half of it, to be more specific.  I'm always honored to be asked to take a family picture.  And sometimes I'm not asked, I just volunteer to do it because I know that 1, 10, or 50 years from now we're all going to look back and be so happy we took the time to take the picture.

With the holiday season in full swing, I encourage you all to take the time to take the picture.  It doesn't matter how polished your photography skills are or are not, just take the pictures.  Trust me, you'll be happy you did.  One of my favorite things to do as an adult, is to look at all the slide pictures my dad took when I was a child.  A stroll down memory lane always puts me in a good mood....even if there are significantly more pictures of my brother than of me.  You know how it is, the oldest child always has the most pictures and the youngest child only has a few, fuzzy snapshots of them wearing hand-me-down boys clothing with their hair wild and unkept and their faces dirty from playing in the mud.  Who am I kidding, my dad didn't take fuzzy snapshots.  He took good snapshots....of my brother.  Anyway, I leave you with these words.  Take the time to take the pictures.  And then share them.

My First Buck!

I had a great time this past weekend during the opening of rifle deer season here in Nebraska.  I went hunting bright and early Saturday morning with my hubby.  There's something so nice about sitting on a grassy hill with my husband, with no one around but us and the cows.  We had hoped there would be deer around too but there weren't.  Nevertheless, we sat there for 2 hours, whispering, watching, and finally shivering.  Once I started shivering enough we went back to my in-laws house for a nice breakfast followed by more hunting.

My father-in-law had originally said we weren't going to hunt all day, only in the morning and evening.  But of course, as soon as enough men got together in the house, suddenly everything changed and the plans were now to hunt all day.  This time I went out with my sister-in-law though.  We drove to a spot she thought would be good and as soon as we pulled up, there was a buck and a doe staring at us through the tall grass.  I kind of felt like we were interrupting something and maybe we should leave.  But I got over that feeling quickly and after much fumbling with the bullets and my gun, I finally got out of the truck and promptly scared the deer away.  They didn't go far though so we tracked them down.

In my haste to get a shot, I didn't get into a very good shooting position.  I just squatted down, lifted my gun up, looked through my scope and saw that I had a great opportunity.  I quickly cranked up the zoom on my scope, trained the gun on the deer's vitals and squeezed my trigger.  As soon as I pulled the trigger, I felt the gun throw my shoulder back in the most violent way I'd ever experienced.  Followed immediately by the scope hitting me in the face right above my eye!  I had scoped myself!  I couldn't believe it.  I looked at my sister-in-law and said, "Am I bleeding?"  "No," she said.  "Ok good.  Did I hit him?"  "Ya, I'm pretty sure you did," she said.  At which point we both squeaked and squealed with excitement like girls do when they're out hunting and one of them gets a buck.

Now let's skip to the good part and get to the pictures.  Here's my goofy picture taken immediately after finding the buck.

And here's my picture after going home and putting makeup on so I could look good in my picture with the deer.  I AM still a girl after all and looking good in pictures is always a priority!

A special thanks to my hubby for always making sure I have the best gun and ammunition available.  He hand loads all my bullets so they're exactly what I need for the situation.  And he taught me how to shoot, so without him, I wouldn't be enjoying this wonderful sport.  Nor would I be getting up at 5 a.m. in the freezing cold to go out and sit on a hill waiting for an animal to happen along!  But really, it's fun and I'm super excited to have taken my first buck!

My Camera, My Love, I've Missed You!

It feels like an eternity since I've picked up my camera.  I've been unpacking boxes, getting my oldest son settled in a new school, unpacking more boxes, cleaning the new house, painting the new house, wondering why I have so many boxes left to unpack still....

Yesterday I found myself craving the opportunity to pick up my camera and be creative.  So I grabbed my camera and my youngest son and set out to find some beautiful fall foliage worthy of a picture.  But it's too late.  I missed the peak of the fall colors already.  I headed back home a little bit dejected and remembering all the work I had to do.  That work included making chicken noodle soup since the kids and I have been sick for a week now.

Resigning myself to my house work for the day, I suddenly realized I didn't have to give up on my photos for the day just because I was cooking.  One look at my beautifully roasted hens quickly inspired me to not only make the best chicken soup I could, but to also photograph the beautiful ingredients.  So here you have it, two wonderfully roasted hens courtesy of my new convection oven that makes me oh-so-happy!

Some beautiful veggies sauteing in a pan waiting to be tossed into the stock pot with the chicken bones:

And my 4 year old son keeping a careful watch on everything in the pot.  He anxiously stood there watching it cook for a while until I told him it had to cook for 4 hours.  Then he abandoned his post.

At the end of the day, I remembered that I can enjoy taking pictures anywhere.  And I also realized that I don't want it to be so long before I pick up my camera again.  I truly enjoy taking pictures and I need to make time for it in my life.