PC Family Time

Since being inspired and encouraged by a fellow friend & another blogger I have tired more & more to work on my photo skills. What a better opportunity than family time at the park to get those shots in. We weren't really planning to go to the park, but I had some photo ideas in mind and thought why not bring the family along and see what I can capture. We were just lazy-ing around the house and I suggested our little outing. Jim & John were getting ready to head out into the back yard to play ball anyway. I had to do a little more encouraging & rallying the troops (ie forcing them to turn off the tv and get off the internet) to get them to all jump in the van.

What started as a "simple" hey let's go to the park turned out to be such a great time of family togetherness. The big kids & Jim played football. They even started inviting & encouraging other kids in the park to join in the game & soon a small crowd was playing.




The little kids played on the playground. Carmen & Andrew are our little monkeys. They have no fear.




I gathered everyone up on this big hill for my big PC shot. I will fully admit I stole this idea from another friend who has a similar photo on her blog. It's even the same hill in the same park. In her picture her 4 boys (ages 4 - 6) are perfectly holding hands and posing for the shot. I was wanting to created the same "perfect" look. Getting mine to get in birth order, standing still and holding hands like a big happy family was not really working like I wanted it to. In fact the harder I tried the more I was failing. So in desperation before I lost the attention of the 2 year old and heard one more complaint from the 15 year old I just snapped the shot. And this is what I got:


I can not tell you how much I LOVE how the photo turned out. It portrays our family more perfectly than a perfectly posed shot could have done. We've already printed this out in a big 8x10 to hang in the house somewhere. I also made this my profile picture on facebook & got several comments. It's a keeper and a great PC shot and a great family moment that we will never forget.

Once that moment passed we continued on with our playing in the park. I can only hide behind the camera for so long. Jim came over to tackle me since I was refraining from the football game.


We continued to play into the evening hours. We could have stayed out there all night. The initial complains & protest when I first launched my idea had long subdued. In fact when I suggested it was time to go I heard complaints of the opposite nature. Awwww, do we HAVE to go home? Just 5 more minutes? Those are complaints I like to hear : )



As much as I loved watching the atmosphere change and the evening sky turn lovely colors. It was time to call it a night or else become supper for a family of mosquitoes. I need to insist on more of these PC family nights. Sure, I'll get some great pictures, but the memories will last longer in the hearts of my children.

Flashback Friday

I didn't do a FF last week. Actually I didn't blog much at all last week. Partly due to this.Goody bags for the ladies retreat. It takes a lot of time & energy to shop for & put together over 100 goody bags. It kind of consumed my week, but in a good way. Then there was the retreat itself that I attended. It was wonderful! If you are on my facebook, check out my notes. I posted them for any/all to see and to refer back to myself from time to time.

Another thing that consumed at least one afternoon has to do with my FF. I scanned several pictures from my years of visiting Mexico. Thanks to the wonderful world wide web and facebook we have connected with several cousins, aunts & uncles that live in Mexico. This prompted the dragging out of photo albums, scanning & sharing all that we had.

It was great to reflect back on my many visits. It also tugs at my heart strings though cause I really really REALLY want to be down there visiting them all. If I could I would visit yearly, but that never works so I settle for every few years. As of now, it has been a little over 3 years. So I am getting antsy. I am missing & craving all the things that only Mexico can give me. Especially my family. And even more specifically my grandma, mi abuleita. Her smile, her hug, her kisses....her food!

If you know me well, you know I have deep, strong sense of my family. I posted several pictures on facebook (seriously this was not meant to be a fb plug) of my family in Mexico. So if you want to see them all check them out here. Otherwise on the blog we'll flashback to 1978, 2001 & 2004 and you can see pictures of mi abuelitos & me.

(I am on the left, my sister Lisa is on the right)

Welcome fall!

I was suppose to blog about this the other day. It's good that I didn't though, since, depending on your source, the first day of fall was either tuesday, wednesday or today. Take your pick.

Normally I'm extreamly excited to welcome the fall season. It is my favorite season of the year. And it's not that I'm not excited. I'm just not as excited. First off, on these first days of fall I am running the air conditioning and sitting here in shorts & a tshirt. Not feeling very fallish to me. Now I know that suddenly within one day we don't go from shorts to jeans or short sleeve to long sleeve. But I'm ready for it. Literally. I have the little kids dresser drawers stuff to the gills cause it is packed with clothes for both seasons. Even slightly more frustrating is when it's so cold in the morning that it warrants one type of clothing, but by afternoon it's so warm we are shedding them & slipping into the other type of clothing. Well, and we all know that I'm just sitting around with a lot of time on my hands to do extra laundry. Alright....whine done. It is but just a season....hahahahaha.

Normally you also get some kind of crazy silly post about my favorite coffee creamer (Peppermint Mocha) that ONLY comes out in the fall. You can see my annual posts by looking here: 2007 2008 & 2009 . And this, I am sad to report, will be my last of such annual tradition. Look closely at the label before you.....NOW ENJOY IT ALL YEAR! Which, yes is good, but it just takes away the fun and anticipation of it hitting the shelves. If you think it being available all year around would make it easier to find on the shelf, you are wrong. I've already learned to keep several on hand (they freeze well) because swinging by the store to grab one has resulted in me finding an empty shelf (sure it's available, but it being in stock is not the same thing). So goodbye to my quirky little annual tradition, but YEA I can buy it more frequently and be generous with my supply.


Some fall changes are comning slowly, but surely. Every day I look around to see the leaves changing colors. I try and keep that child like mentality & just marvel at the little, simple things of life. I really just brings my heart joy to look at the trees and note the changes each & every day. This tree is just in the beginning stages of change, but noticable to me. It's not one I see everyday, but I hope to go back & take a picture of the tree again once more change has set it.


PC ~ Out at Lake Storey, another scene I plan to go back & photograph when it's full a vibrant fall colors.

Some days

Some days you don't turn on the computer or sit down or eat anything until 2 p.m. Some days you call up a good friend that you haven't seen in months & she's had a baby. Some days you only spend about an hour together, but it feels much longer cause the talk is good & laughter is much. Some days you start to clean up your room & next thing you know it's all tore apart & you decided to completely rearrange the entire room. Some days you actually get all of the laundry done. Some days you know you are "suppose"to blog about one thing, but do it about another. Some days has been one of those days and that is today. Have a great weekend everyone! : )

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*PC reflections of the lake*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Watermelon Stampede & other running ramblings

I feel the need to write about my running. Even though, as of the last three weeks, there has been a great absence of said running. I'll get to that in a moment.

Jim & I competed in the Watermelon Stampede. It was held in my hometown of Muscatine, IA. Did you know that Muscatine is famously known for producing wonderful watermelons? I didn't think so. But we hold tight to that claim to fame. You have not had a real melon until it's a Muscatine melon!! No doubt about that!

So we went & competed in their annual 5k race. We both faired well, as you can see below, placing in each of our age groups.




I didn't fair so well on a personal level. I had to take it easy. It had only been a week since my Howl at the Moon 8 hour ultra run. In case you missed that update (I did only casually mention it) I ran 35 miles that day. No small feat since my previous long run had only been 15 miles. Going into that race (Howl) I had a nagging injury (sprained ligament behind my knee). It seemed only minor in the whole big picture of things. But when something is minor and is not taken care of properly then it can turn into something big. I TRIED to take care of it by not running for 10 days prior to my race. Aside from not doing the race at all (hello, that is COMPLETE CRAZY talk) there was nothing else I could do. So I rested it and then ran my 35 miles. In my defense it's not like I woke up that morning and said "hey, I think I'll run an insane number of miles and make my injury even worse". Although that is what I managed to do.

All the initial soreness and inability to barely even walk for a few days I chalked up to the massive amounts of lactic acid in my system. It's a perfectly good explanation. And as each day passed I was able to return to that state of feeling normal (whatever that is). Enter the Watermelon Stampede. I didn't have a good feeling about doing this race. But it was A) in my hometown and B) I had pre-registered for the event. Those two reason combined led me to go & compete anyway. Note that I said compete, not run. Cause I am admittedly very competitive when it comes to running.

Once the gun went off I knew things were not feeling right. So I took it easy. Well, for the most part. Once I got warmed up & past the first mile or so my leg didn't feel so bad. So I sped up. Some. I never got near the front runner, but I did pass up all them young school age girls (yes, my ego is key here). As soon as the race was over I could not get the ice on my knee fast enough. At that point I knew I had to get serious about this injury. I knew that if I did not nip this in the rear now it was just going to get worse. So I swore of any & all running for at least a month. I mentally pulled myself from my first official marathon that I had planned to compete in late September. (Luckily I had not yet registered for this race). I told myself NO RACES at all! No running. Nothing. Zip. Nada.

I've managed ok. I'd be lying if I didn't say that I miss it. The worse is when I step out the door early in the morning and feel that cool crisp air and feel the need to take off down the street. Or anytime I see someone out running, I think I seriously start to drool. I haven't completely lost it though. In time I might, but we'll deal with that later. One more week of not running then we'll test the waters & see how the leg feels.

Ok, back to the Stampede. Every year they give out free watermelons. Homegrown in Muscatine, of course! Jim's number was pulled & we got to have this beauty for free! (Although I would gladly pay for one.) Can you not see the sheer delight on my face. It's like Christmas morning and getting the present that you've always wanted. And yes, I am hugging it. Why not....it's a Muscatine melon!


PC: a truck full of melons.

Gadets

Last spring Angel tried out & made the Gadet squad for the high school where she has begun her freshman year. The Gadets are not cheerleaders, they are the dance squad. The two can appear to be the same, they both have pom poms, they both perform at the football & basketball games. The most important difference though is that these girls dance. I can't speak for everyone on the squad, but for Angel dance is EVERYTHING! You can take away anything, but you take away her dance & her life is just over. Good thing we don't live in a Footloose kind of era & town.

Below you'll find some of the pictures I've gotten so far. It is really hard to get good shots when they are in action. One way I combat that is taking video & then making a picture out of a video frame. The quality is not as good, but some of the poses & shots I get are much better.

I took this one at the Labor Day parade yesterday:
These are a picture from video during her first high school football game:


When the Streaks enter the field the band always plays the William Tell Overature. You have to go a minute or so in, but I got the whole routine on video.

Flasback Fridays - 15 years ago today

This flashback friday is extra special because today is Angel's birthday. I'm having a hard time wrapping my brain around the fact that she is 15. I mean, how did that happen?!?!? Suddenly I see her a 3 years away from being an "official" adult. WHAT?!?!!? Yeah, so for my sake & to spare me from running for the tissue box I'll just stop there.

We were so incredibly blessed with the birth of Angel. We have always said we named her right. Not that she's perfect by any means, but she is absolutely the best!

I dug out the following pictures from the day that Angel was born.