HELLO!!!

Yes, I know, once again it has been a month since I posted last. Somehow I just keep getting busier and busier. No complaint, I love all I do, so that is why I can't cut anything out. Below are photos of some of what has kept me busy the past few weeks. Yesterday, I dropped my camera!!! I could not believe it as it crashed to the floor. I ended up taking it in to the camera shop for repair. It felt like I was taking Dennis (he was our accident prone kid) into emergency when he was a kid. urgent. It will be a week to get an estimate and then 2-3 weeks to fix it! We are headed to Argentina in October, so I have been meaning to take it in to have the sensor cleaned. The sensor has been spotting the photos when I take anything with blue sky in it. But I just kept putting off taking it in. There is never a good time for me to be without my camera. I NEED it ALL the time! So now I have been forced to part with it for a while. Sometimes that is how things have to be to get us to get done what needs done.

I made it my goal to learn how to take a good moon shot before the summer was over. I am pretty proud to say that I think I have it figured out. I have a pretty great vantage point to see the moon in all it's phases....and have been able to practice. Next goal...star trails. Long exposures that show the movement of the stars.

Josiah is growing up so fast! Having him here with us has been so much fun! I can not believe how many little things I am able to see as he moves into each phase of growing up. I am constantly amazed at all the things I missed or took for granted as my own kids were growing up. It is such a pleasure to be a Grandma and be able to sit back and watch it happen day by day.

CANBY FAIR!!! It has been a few years since I have been to the county fair. When I was a girl, I used to go every year. I was in 4-H, I did knitting, sewing and cooking. My Mom was my 4-H leader. So was Bonnie's Mom. They lead it together. I remember that all the clubs in the county had to make the same thing for our fair project. Muffins. Our family ate a LOT of muffins...I had to perfect them for the fair. I still have all of my ribbons from my muffins, along with ribbons for my sewing and knitting. I even still have the slippers I made and the apron. Not the muffins, though. A couple of times my project was even selected to go to the State Fair in Salem. It sure brought back memories to see all those plates of muffins.

Josiah is a BIG fan of the fair...where else can you see so many animals in real life? Along with seeing them, you get to hear what they REALLY sound like, not a canned version from one of his toys or one of us adults with our crazy imitation.

I love roosters! One of these days, I am going to get me one! Along with a few hens. Really. gotta do it!

Pigs...well, I don't love them, or even want one...but had to take a few photos anyway. Do you see the smile on this pig in the pen? don't know why I wanted a photo of this other pig's nose.

This Llama was happy to see us!

Joshua got a water dragon. He named him Greedo. He had to work hard to earn the money to buy him, along with do extra chores around the house, memorize some Bible verses and all kinds of extra things to show he was ready to take on a pet like this one. Good work Joshua! I went down last week to meet Greedo. Joshua fed him a meal worm while I was there so I got to see him do his trick. Then, because I had been raving about the flower fields in Silverton, I loaded them in the car and we took a drive. Emily loves to take photos almost as much as I do. We stopped off for lunch and I took a group shot with my new wide angle lens...pretty fancy huh?

Two weekends in a row, I have been invited to a wedding. One at my Spanish church, Seferina and Eduardo. Below them is my pastor and his wife. Then the next weekend was a wedding for one of the sons of one of my PTA friends. These are the friends I have had since our kids were in grade school. We used to get together all the time as the kids were growing up, we even took a few trips together. It is always so fun for us to meet up, wish we weren't all so busy!

Bonnie and I have been out shooting. We heard about some fields in Silverton. The Silverton Seed Company. Wow! Was it ever worth the drive out there. Unbelievable. We were shooting and shooting and finally had to just say ENOUGH!! We also went on a night shoot in downtown Portland of 3 fountains with a Flickr group that meets regularly. By the time our group made it to the last fountain, it was shut off for the night, so one of the guys in our group entertained us with a light on a cord that he swung around...it was a new experience for me to shoot something like that. (it is the green ball in the bottom left photo) You can't even see the guy, only the green ball he made as he slowly turned while we shot.

The last of July was the 1st McCool family reunion. I met family that I didn't even know I had...well, OK, I have heard names, but had never met them. Can you believe they only live a few hours away? Weird how that happens, huh? Anyway, it was good to meet the ones I had never seen before and especially good to see my aunts, uncles and cousins that I really knew and grew up with. The top photo is of the McCool kids from my grandparents. My Dad is the guy without the hat, he is the oldest, then comes my Uncle Mick, who is next to him and on the other side is my Aunt Marg and on the end in the hat is my Uncle Dan, he is the baby of the family. Fun times!

It has been a busy summer...fruit and flowers have kept me busy!

While Emily was off to church camp, Joshua was due to run in the Regional Track meet in Spokane, but while they were gone, Emily needed picked up from church camp and got to spend a couple of days with us while Joshua ran. He did a great job! He broke his own best time and even qualified to go to Nationals! While Emily was with us, we went to Sandy Mountain Days. Emily had a riot on the rides, but as you can see in the photo, Josiah didn't quite make the measurement to ride them with her.