New Arrival

My sister had a baby boy on Friday the thirteenth-

an adorable bundle of chubby cheeks and wisps of reddish-brown hair, and 

while her labor went so quickly I couldn't be there to photograph the birth

as we'd originally planned,

I did get to be among the first visitors to capture his first few hours.

Love, love, love this sweet little man!

Foot Pop

I'm working on a romantic series project with this wonderful couple,

and here's what we nabbed the other night just as the sun went down...

Everyone loves a good foot pop.

Party in Pinedale, part 1

One of our big summer trips took us up to Pinedale, Wyoming.

One of Ryan's articles was published in the Rocky Mountain Fur Trade Journal, 

and with it an award ceremony,

book signing,

and opportunity to present and answer questions on his writing.

We had a blast!

This was not your typical stuffy symposium-

talk about a cast of characters!

With the AMM in attendance,

it was destined to be a place for laughs, jokes, and a good ole' shrub-drinking time.

(We passed on the shrub, for the record, but everyone else really seemed to really enjoy themselves!)

More on the presentation & other sights later, but here's the award ceremony, book signing, 

and opening of the weekend party...

A lovely pear

Along with so many other wonderful aspects of our move, we also inherited a sizable garden and orchard, and being the ever-persistent (read: stubborn) wannabe gardener that I am, you can imagine my joy.  Especially once you know that my husband isn't been shy in the past in pointing out my black thumb when it's come to potted plants I've let wither and die before my eyes. 

It's unfortunately true, but I am definitely improving- our garden is GROWING!!

However, I should probably give a bit of credit to summer rainstorms and the sprinkler system that take the watering element completely out of my hands.

Anyway...

When our eleven (that's right, I said eleven) tomato plants started showing tiny bulbs that would one day become a rainbow of heirloom tomatoes I jumped up and down, clapping my hands.

I audibly gasped the morning I saw from the kitchen window that our first sunflowers had opened to face the light, and when our ridiculously ambitious blackberry patch required picking every other day for ten weeks I religiously showed up with my stainless steel bowl, became 'one' with the patch, and only slightly lamented coming out looking like I'd been attacked by a gang of alley cats.

The summer is wrapping up, but luckily

there are still the fruit trees.  

I picked pears today, and I don't mind telling you

I'm head over heels all over again-

They are adorable, delicious,

and I have such marvelous plans for our relationship!

Man vs Mud

By a miracle, and the grace of an awesome employer, Ryan got a day off on Labor Day weekend to do a mud run with me! 

(insert squeaky sounds of joy)

We went back to our old stomping grounds in Cache Valley for the race, spent the night with wonderful friends, woke up early, ate some divine pancakes, dropped the kids off at more wonderful friends for the morning, and prepared to get down and dirty.

Crazy-steep water slides, rope walls, manure-filled trenches (or at least that's what I was smelling) were only the beginning.  It was an awesome date filled with laughs, a little muddy butt-slapping, and a healthy dose of competition (who was it, again, that vaulted over all those hay bales and whooped someone's trash in the army crawl?  Oh yes, that was me!)

Unfortunately, since the finish line was a larger-than-life water slide into relatively clean water

you don't get to see our mud-wearin' warrior selves in these pics.

We'll just have to remember to bring our own photographer next time to follow us through the course!

I am Sam

This is Sam.

He is incredibly sweet, 

one-hundred percent good-natured,

the newest member of a charming and adorable family,

and absolutely determined not to fall asleep.

Fortunately an easy disposition combined with 

those serene baby blues make for beautiful photographs!