Wednesday, August 29, 2012

the Hunt family!


Okay, so I admit to my bias...but this is one beautiful family!  My daughter, Ashley, my son-in-law, Byron, and of course, well-known to my blog, my sweet grand-daughter, Harper Jean!  We headed out the door in the evening and the light was beautiful, so...pictures!!!  Harper just turned 6 months old...and time will continue to fly by as we enjoy her little personality developing...she's starting to babble, a lot, she loves to smile and giggle and cuddle...ahhh, she's just so cute! 
I am headed on vacation soon and it is beginning to occur to me that I am gonna miss her sweet little face!  Next year, I might have to take her with me!
 







 

Monday, August 27, 2012

Taylor!

This is my beautiful niece, Taylor!  She is sweet and sassy, fun and smart...and I mentioned beautiful, right?!  We met up in Boise and headed to Freak Alley to do some fun graffiti shots...and then wandered out of the city to do a little rural thing too.  (She is a little bit country...and a little bit hip-hop!)  Fun weekend, and I am excited to edit the rest of these images!










 

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

I confess, I am not really a morning person....

...particularly when they are absent the smell of freshly brewed coffee...  But this particular cold April morning...well, this beautiful, golden sunrise was worth the cup of instant java I was sipping on by the banks of Oxbow Bend...


Monday, August 20, 2012

The secret to being Nana...


...okay, so maybe I don't really have a secret...because maybe there AREN'T any real secrets, to being a Nana, or to being a Mom (or a parent), for that matter.  Maybe the real secret is that we all just do the best we can...with our kids, and then, when we are particularly blessed, with our grand kids...and really, in life.  We all just do the best we can!  

Harper, my granddaughter, is growing fast, though she is still so tiny!  She explores her little world eagerly, paying so much attention now to expressions and faces and sounds and kitties!  She is almost ready to sit all by herself; she loves to stand up, with help; and still loves to be cuddled into her blanket too!  She laughs the cutest little belly laugh, especially when her momma is playing with her!  She is so fun to watch because everything is new to her...so watching her explore is a little like seeing the world for the first time, again!  I mean, I had totally forgotten how much fun it was to put my toes in my mouth!  Ahhh, she's so adorable and I love her so much!

A sweet friend of mine, a young mom, posted a picture on Facebook today of her son heading off to Kindergarten...and it doesn't seem that long ago when I took those same pictures; of new backpacks, clean shoes, fresh crayons...time really does fly by!  I was remembering a letter I had written to the girls' elementary school parents and faculty upon quitting my job there and moving here...  I wrote to them about some of lessons I had learned while working among incredible educators and alongside amazing parents...and honestly, I probably learned the most important lessons from the children themselves...lessons about being a kid, and about being an adult...lessons about the human experience.  The last line in the letter was this -
"I have learned that we all really want the same things for these children - for them to feel success and pridebelonging and security, for them to feel encouraged, nurtured and appreciated, and a sense of 'being a part of" something...and really, we all want the same things for ourselves..."  
The secret to being a Nana...well, I don't have any secrets, but I am ready with lots of love and kisses, and boxes of fresh crayons (when she's ready!)...and, I am just doing the best I can!


Oh, but here is a pretty new secret...I'm going to be a Nana again in February!!!  Congratulations to Allison & Stephen!!!  I am so excited for you!



Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Summer.

I wish the Winter months would fly by like Summer months always do!  My last blog posting was in June and I was at the Oregon Coast...and here it is August already?!  And, while I am really looking forward to more beach time this Fall (including a trip up to Seattle and into the Olympic National Park and then more Oregon time!)...the Summer has mostly been spent closer to home. 
We left the beach and made a detour to Washougal, WA, to watch Mike and his brother, Shawn, along with thousands of other crazy people, compete in a Spartan Race!  If you've participated in one of these races before, good for you!  If you've thought about it, watched the videos, studied the courses and decided against it, even better for you!!!  It was crazy and intense, and I was just a spectator!
Shawn is an amazing competitor, kind of a BEAST, and he killed the course in under an hour!  I am pretty sure he's hooked now...I hear he's going to do another run this fall!  And Mike did great!  I will be honest, I kept an eye on the ambulances that were standing by, a little bit worried...but he did really well ("for an old guy" he would say)!  He got hung up in a pack for awhile on one obstacle, which the participants aptly nicknamed "Cheese Grater Hill" (imagine crawling uphill for about a hundred yards on a thin layer of mud over a cheese grater [a rocky hillside]...ouch...oh, did I mention you'd be crawling under barbed wire?!).  But, he finished it with a smile on his face...I think that was a smile, it might have been mud...?!  Mike says he is really glad he did it, but don't be looking for him on another course any time soon!
The brothers; before and after...still smiling!

The weekend after we got home we packed up again and headed south to Mack, Colorado for "Country Jam", a weekend outdoor music festival which takes place in a giant dust bowl in the middle of nowhere!  Luke Bryan (who was an amazing performer!), Jo Dee Messina, Trace Adkins and, my favorite, the Zac Brown Band, were among the long list of performers over the weekend.  We did a lot of people watchin' in and around the concert grounds (plenty of crazies!), wandered into the cute little town of Fruita, and spent one morning exploring the Colorado National Monument, trying to stay out of the heat wave!  We got to have a fun, unexpected breakfast with my Aunt Sally and her husband Mike, who were passing through...and then saw them again a few days later when they came up through Wyoming to Pocatello. 

The Colorado National Monument...if it looks really hot and really dry, well, it was!
We spent a pretty quiet 4th of July, watching the local fireworks show from our deck, headed to the mountains for some kayaking, and then spent a couple of weekends in Boise helping Mike's parents move into their new digs. 




In between our travels we, of course, got in lots of Harper-time! She is growing so fast and has the cutest little personality developing!

I could do this all day...!

Tummy time!

Momma at work!

Seriously, how cute is this face?!

So sweet!

Reading stories!

5 months young!

They make cute babies!

And then, finally, Allison & Stephen arrived!  Oh, I sure do miss her when she is away...and she has been away for awhile!  They've been having adventures of their own, in Alaska, California, Alabama and Florida!  We headed to Jackson for some great kayaking (minus the crazy storm that literally chased us off of String Lake!), have had a few dinner/bbqs with both our girls and their hubbies, missed out on our camping/hiking trip because a stomach bug infected our house : ( ...but have enjoyed spending a quiet week just kind of hanging out.

Harper time with Aunt Allison!

Floating the Snake River, near Oxbow Bend.

Leisurely float down the Snake River.

See those thunder clouds coming over the Grand...

...yep, chased off the water by rain...and thunder...and LIGHTNING!

Triangle Rock!  String Lake.
Clouds cleared away...beautiful day on the lake!

Considering...
Making the leap!

Mid-air!

Splash!

They like each other a lot.  :)

Up next, well, Allison is packing up the rest of her things (we've had fun going through all of her childhood stuff...I didn't know I had that many stuffed animals in my house!) for their move up to Seattle!  Stephen starts school again next month and Allison will be settling in, making a new home and looking for work...and we'll get to see them soon with a truckload of their household stuff!


We're all headed to Boise for a Hawks baseball game and a birthday celebration (Happy Birthday to Venita, my sweet mom-in-law, who will turn 74 on Sunday!).  And then, a kayaking trip in the works, a trip to Boise to do some senior pictures with my beautiful niece, and then...finish out the summer with a trip to Washington and then Oregon!  The beach is calling!