365 W4

In a week where members of our valley have lost their sons, I dedicated my camera to mine:)

D22:  I was going for the forefront in focus, the background blury, look how even the back of his head is out of focus, I like it:)

D23: Giving Daddy a smile as he comes up the stairs

D24:  I was trying to get this face

 and somehow this one turned out with the background all black...cool mistake!

d25

d26  So this day we went to the memorial service for Taft.  It was also the anniversary of the plane crash.  The Conlin family lights a candle every night with a prayer in mind.  They passed out tea lights and asked for everyone to light the candle for Taft with their family.  The pin is what they gave the basketball staff.  I put them together for a pic.  I didn't mean to do it, but I like the reflection in the countertop.  I do not like how you can see crumbs on my countertop!

D27  Turns for Taft!  We headed up to Vail with the Letos.  Niles and Lonnie joined hundreds of people at  Chair 4 to do a run in memory of Taft.  You were suppose to wear pink.  That was Tafts favorite color.  Niles tried on my pink wig under his helmet.  He decided against it, but not before I could grab a pic with my phone!

A Week of New

Carter decided this week was the week to do lots of new things.  He started standing up in the middle of the room by himself.   I have videos of all the other things:)

A few steps!  Getting close to walking...

Why you ask does he have a bib and long johns.  The longs johns are from our trip to Vail.  The bib is bc he now does this...

Car fun, just learned to push this around

 I will post my 365 pics tomorrow!  Have a great week:)

Ammendment

I would like to amend the earlier post.  Taft and his buddies did not cut ropes.  They were skiing in an area that was open. Sounds to me like they closed the run from the very top, but did not close the gate where these boys entered the run from the side.  Vail resorts isn't exactly telling people that.  Please continue to keep the Colins in your thoughts and prayers.

365 W3

D15:  Snow!  I tried getting the snow frozen and blurred.  I need a better background, but I was feeding Carter breakfast and in my bath robe.  Not exactly going to venture out in search of a better back ground than my deck.

 D16:  Carter the trendy baby

D17:So another deck pic, but his time the sky is blue!

D18:  His hand and the look on Jasmine's face is fantastic!

D19:  I used my birthday gift to take candle pics

 We can call this...birthday self portrait ( I did take this one myself)

 and it took me so long I almost caught the cake on fire

D20:  Perfect opportunity to practice a little Macro photag with by birthday flowers

D21: Tried to get a soft, glowy pic of Jazz in the sun, didn't quite work out for me.  Need to look for a tutorial on how to do that!

Give your babies an extra hug

Niles got a call tonight telling him that one of the other Doctor's son had been killed in an avalanche at Vail today. He was 13 years old and made the wrong decision to duck ropes to a closed run. Whether you have 9 minutes with your son like the Bensons or 13 years like the Conlins, it isn't enough. Your children aren't suppose to pass before you do. Keep them in your thoughts and prayers please.

Vail skier dies in avalanche | VailDaily.com

Hapy Birthday to Me....and the Blog!

I turned 31 on Thursday!  I had a great day at school.  The band played me happy birthday and the kids sang it about a million times.  Niles made me Chicken Parm and cookie cake.  Carter was very thoughtful and sent me flowers.

Today happens to be the blogs birthday too!  We have officially been bloggers for one year!  The first post was all about our house renovations.  I think that is the only post that has not had Carter info in it.   I just had to pay $5 to keep putting pictures on.  I have exceeded the free limit.  That means expect lots more pics, I now have tons of space for them!  Happy Birthday Blog, it's been fun!

Unbelieavable Faith

I have just spent the last hour crying thanks to Natalie B!  We have a teacher in our district who found out he and his wife were pregnant, and then they found out the worst news possible.  Their baby wasn't going to make it.  She did not terminate her pregnancy and they had him on Monday.  I am linking their blog for anyone who would like to read a story of Unbelievable Faith.  I am not crying good tears, so if you don't want to cry, don't read it.  Lisa and Kelly I do not recommend that you read this.  I am just amazed by the situation they have gone through and how positive and full of faith they are.  Reminds me a lot of Jared Weiberg's mom.  After the plane crash, she was so full of grief, but her positive light shone through.  I just don't think I could be that positive, in either situation.

Eric and Cory

Spay Your Pets!

This was a mammary tumor (breast cancer) on a 12 year old dog.  It took 2.5 hours, but I was able to remove the bulk of the tumor.  There are other smaller masses under the skin, but they don't look anything like this!  We know for a fact that these tumors are due to estrogen, and spayed dogs don't make estrogen!  If you aren't going to breed your dog, spay or neuter them!

The dog is doing great at this point.  Hopefully when she fully recovers, we can maybe remove the other masses, and more importantly spay her.  I was worried about how long things had taken at that point, so we woke her up.  If we don't do the spay or remove the other masses at least the dog feels MUCH better.

One final point from my soap box: A routine spay is about $300.  This surgery alone was $1400.  She still needs 1 or 2 more surgeries for a cure.  Bottom line...spend the $300!

11 months!

This time last year, we had just had our last baby shower and were getting together all the last minute preparations for the arrival of baby Carter!  Here is my line of every month...can't believe it has almost been a year since Carter entered our lives.

Yes I know his hair is looking quite shaggy, but bad luck to cut it before he is a year old!

Things to Rember about Carter at 11 months:
-The kid will eat ANYTHING!  Well almost anything, for some reason he is not into eggs.  Anything else is in his belly.  His favorites right now are Mexican (particularly beans, rice and guacamole all mixed together), oranges, yogurt, broccoli, shrimp, cheese
-Off bottles for good! He is an all sippy cup man now.
-Can stand by himself for a long time, attempts to make a step and then looses his balance.  He also likes to just launch himself in the direction he wishes to go.  Take as long as you like to walk Carter, mommy and daddy are in no hurry!
-Mixture of crawling on his knees and belly.  If he needs to go fast, he goes on his belly.
-Favorite toys:  This soft puppy that is one of those fold up pillows with a blanket inside, he loves to snuggle with it, pots and pans, his push walker thingy, anything with music, books (!!!!)
-A little attitude is emerging!  When you take something away from him, almost always a few seconds of sceaming will follow.
-Saying dada, momma, and hi, not very consistent on any of them, but they come out clearly a lot.  He is really weird in he will say something for days and then he just stops, and then starts again.  Emerging language skills!


Here is a video to show how difficult it is to capture one picture of him sitting in the chair

365: Week Two

So my goal this week was to try and use manual setting as much as possible on my camera.  This was very difficult and made me want to throw the camera across the room.  I stayed home with Carter a lot this week, because of a no daycare issue.  Trying to use manual settings that I have to play with a lot and trying to take a picture of a very busy baby, do not mix very well!

D8:  Tried to take advantage of all the snow.  I went out with Sadie and Lily  to get a pic of Sadie playing in the snow, because she loves the snow!  She was not willing to cooperate.  Prob has something to do with the fact that she hates the camera and the attention she gets has drastically decreased in the last year.  I know she is thinking, "I'm not going to do what you want so you can get a picture."  Just because she is stubborn like that.  Anyhow, cool pic of lilly instead.  She is the want to please child.

 D9: I took two more pictures from the deck this week.  No more I promise.

D10:  Sunset...again, sorry we just have really great sunsets that I can't resist!  That sky is unreal.  I should have used editing in Iphoto and made all that snow disappear and then it would have been really dark below...oh well, I'm going to be lazy!

D11:  This one is cheating.  Niles took it, but I gave the bath!

D12:  I wanted to get some pictures for his Birthday Invite, this was the day I wanted to throw my camera.  I couldn't pick my favorite.  After uploading I need to work on the B&W.  I washed him out a little.

 Never mind I think this is my fav

 Day 13: Trying again

Day 14:  Homemade, whole wheat flour tortillas!  Not groundshaking photography, but they took a lot of work!

Well who knows what this next week will bring!

Not much going on!

It has been pretty boring around this casa lately.  Niles was on call for a bazillion days in a row, because of his trade for Christmas.  Niles on call=doing nothing.  Here on some random pics.  Most are from my old cell, so not the greatest quality.

Carter watching airplanes

YMSB New Years Eve

 Carter swimming in a pool for the first time with the Letos (they baby sat New Years Eve)

 Getting his cowboy on before the Fiesta Bowl

 They flood town park in the winter to create a ice ring, pond (not sure what to call it).  People ice skate and play hockey.  Really cool, small town stuff!

 Carter all bundled up for 12th night

 He is liking books now!  Very exciting!!!!!!!!

365: Week Uno

I had a lot of fun this week.  It was all about getting to know my camera.  I know everything now...not really.  I can change my aperture and shutter speed.  It is a good start.

D2:  Go Cowboys!  Carter had just gotten up from a nap and his hair was doing this...

D3:  Bowling with the Letos!  Lonnie won, Niles almost got beat by 7 month prego Taber. Maizy was adorable with Carter as usual.  I had prob with these pics, white balance is what I think I need to work on.

D4:  Sunset from our deck

D5: Carter's first Spaghetti

D6: 12th Night, this is where Christmas trees come to die:(  Fire is hard to photograph.  I need a tripod to do stuff like this!

D7: Finally we have...Snow!!!