My Two Partners...

Everyday...

Is full of these faces...

My superheroes.

Plenty of hugs and kisses.

It is so much quieter around here now!

A Walk...

Sunday afternoon seemed to be busy for everyone...

except me.

I was out of sorts.

Too "in my head".

I needed to get out and away from...

everything.

So, I grabbed the camera and decided to take a walk down the road.

I am so in awe of the beauty all around me.

I can't believe that I live here.

You may get tired of me talking about how gorgeous this place is...

but somehow this place really speaks to me.

Deep down.

The black dots you see in the photo below are birds.

I could hear them long before they took flight.

I wasn't sure which trees they were in because there are trees all around us.

Suddenly, they seemed to lift into the air all at the same time...

It was magnificent...

and a little frightening...

I am, afterall, a product of saturday afternoon movies like "The Birds"...

Yikes!

The cloud formations are always so beautiful.

We didn't get the same type of clouds in Utah and there just seems to be so much more sky here.

As I passed this pasture, I thought all of the cows had taken off when they heard me coming, but suddenly I realized that this Huge guy had stood his ground.

He wasn't afraid of me.

They really are beautiful creatures.

Oh, sorry...

She stood her ground... and she needed a good milking!

Down, down, down that road....

This house was BIG!

And for sale!

It was so pretty.

There was a garage with a separate apartment attached to it.

I kept thinking how great that would have been if my Mom was still around.

We are getting settled.

No, that doesn't mean the construction going on around here is anywhere near being finished.
Expenses, mean time.

However, the inside is slowly coming together. 
I am feeling much more positive about things.
Dirt can be cleaned up afterall.

This has been a really big adjustment.
I don't think I realized how big.

Alaska... I can do it.  Bush town.  Oh yeah.  I grew up in one, afterall.
Farm country?  This is a whole new adventure...

But, one absolutely worth taking!

Moon...

The moon...

coming over the mountains...

Beautiful...

Friday Night Lights...

I've never watched more than 10 minutes of this television show.

Why?

Well, because I didn't want to.

It is about football, afterall.

In my house of girls, football has never played a major role.

Except when my cheerleader daughter had to be at all of the games.

Last night, however, started a new chapter in this household.

FRIDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL!

I now live in the country...

outside of a very small town...

where football is KING!

Everyone attends the games, rallies, bonfires that are held the night before each home game.

Each business in town has signs supporting the team.

Cars have signs supporting the team.

Most importantly, though, is that everyone attends the games.

So, we packed up the crew and headed to the high school to attend the first game of the season.

I guess you have to leave early if you intend to park anywhere near the high school.

We ended up parking in the grocery store parking lot.

We walked up the road (hill) to the high school where we suddenly realized where the entire town was...

In this photo you can only see a fraction of the bleachers.

They were full, people!

The game had already begun, so we quickly found some seats and got into the spirit.

Flags were flying...

whistles blowing...

The sound of bodies crunching and collapsing, while my insides shrivelled up because I suddlenly realized...

That one day, my son will be out there!

Relatively quickly we scored and the crowd went wild!

Then, I thought we were going to lose the whole thing.

The sun started going down.

Which is when my little ones really thought the game was cool.

"Momma, it is REALLY dark! But, we don't have to go to bed yet."

Ari kept screaming, "Go Cheerleaders!"

I looked behind me, down the road towards the one stoplight in town and noticed that it was completely empty.  Where was everyone?  Where were the people heading here there and everywhere?

Well, they are sitting all around you at the football game, silly!

The sun was shining right in our faces...

Not good!

So we started using the Man vs Wild trick of telling when the sun will be gone...

and in 15 minutes...

away it went.

Now, my husband works one of those crazy jobs where he has to go to work at 3 in the morning...

So, we didn't stay for the entire game.

Next time, we may have to drive in separate cars.

It was fun to be a part of a community event like this.

It was cool.

I included the shot below because it represented that initial moment when these yound men would throw themselves against the body in front of them...

It is...

MAN!

ROAR!!!

Violent

Vicious

Protective

Engergetic

It is what I want to see my son become...

just save the injuries for someone else, please.

The only thing I would have changed, would be that I needed my daughters husband, the football guru to sit beside me and let me know what was going on.

Why did they throw the flag?

Why did he get in trouble for yanking on that guys jersey?

Why did that kid get mad and walk off?

Why are they kicking the ball now?

What is that sign that says 25?

Why does the sign say 21? 

Why are they kicking the ball again?

Where are they selling the funnel cakes?

Yeah, Galen should have been my "interpreter".

By the way, we won 34-13...

Good vs Evil...

Little boys are full of energy.

Full.

Of.

ENERGY.

My little boy is always wearing a cape and flying through the house or the yard or down the driveway.

It seems there is no shortage of "bad guys" out there.

This was about the time when the loud thump was heard by all.

It seems that he hasn't quite figured out that hardwood floors are not the same as carpet.

Pain may be involved.

However, the fight for justice must continue!

I don't know if this means he won...

or maybe he was captured by the evil monster zarb and was being held captive until...

or maybe that is just my imagination.

The only thing I know for sure, is this little man can go and go and go.

He doesn't give up...

until......

The fight is over.

Rest assured, however...

This little man will fight again.

Wherever evil is...

my superhero will surely arrive in the nick of time.

Afterall, good always prevails!

The Work Day Never Ends...

When you run your own construction business...

The work day never ends.

My dad frequently comes home from an extremely long day and then sits and writes up bids and draws up plans.

I guess it makes for  a great nights sleep, though.

For those of you who care...

Football starts in our town tonight.
The whole town is geared up.
There have been rallies and bonfires and food and lots of talk...

All I need is my sweet son-in-law to sit beside me during the entire game and explain what is actually happening on the field.
Yeah...
That sounds good to me!

This Is Not The Way Momma Did Homework...

When I was a kid...

long, long ago (children want you to know)...

I would sit down with book, paper and pencil to do homework.

Now the kids come home and jump on the computer.

They can access information at a speed that boggles the mind.

They came home the other day and informed me that every classroom in the middle and high school in our new hometown is equipped with a smartboard.

Ummmmm....

say what?

What you talkin'  bout Willis?????

I didn't know what that was until they explained it to me.

(And, Yes, I get that I totally dated myself with the Willis comment.)

Then I realized that we have truly moved into the era of

Minority Report or

The Matrix.

It is so cool!

What Happens...

...when you point the camera at a 6th grader for an extended period of time.

I guess we call it...

Death

on camera.

Look Who Came to Visit...

Uncle... otherwise known as my brother.

He also brought along his dog, Rusty.

The dog who came in the house...

and brought the chiggers with him!

We woke up in the morning and poor Miranda was covered in bites because he had climbed up on her bed for a few minutes.

Yeah.

That won't be happening again.

Sorry, Rusty.

An Unnamed Man and His Dog...

There is a certain man...

Who shall remain nameless...

Who pretends that he doesn't love a certain dog...

Who I will name.

Taz.

As in, the tazmanian devil.

I am told that he was a little crazy when he was a youngster.

Now, however, he is a huge furball of love.

He is huge, people.

Huge.

I thought Raider was big...

Compared to Taz, Raider is a small dog.

I just want it to be known that I see all of the little signs of affection between the unnamed man and Taz.

I see the petting and...

shall I say it...

baby talk...

That goes on between them.

How could you help it, though?

A huge furball of love...