Sunflower Field

 Every year a local farmer plants several sunflower fields. They are not always in the same place twice in a row - he rotates his sunflower and wheat fields quite often. This particular field was only a few miles down the road from our house. We drove out one evening during Golden Hour to take our annual Sunflower Field Family Photos. It's so fun to see the changes in our family year after year! This year again, my niece was staying with us so we got to include her in the photos.

  

In the Orchard photo challenge

I Heart Faces (click link above to see their site) has posted their weekly photo challenge, and the theme this time around is "In the Orchard". I love this photo I took of my three kids this summer when we went to pick peaches. We did not spend nearly as much time in the orchards as I wanted to this year - life just got crazy busy - but this day of peach picking was super fun! Just me and the kids - no big group event. We had a fun time, and got a big box of peaches - some to eat fresh, and the rest I froze and will turn in to jam when we get all settled in our new house.

Sam

Sam was our first "baby" - we got him in June 1995 when he was only 6 weeks old. James and I had been married a little over a year when James stopped by a pet store, saw him, and brought him home. He has gone through everything with us. He has always been so faithful.

Lately, though, Sam is really showing his age. He just turned 15 this year. He's been on epilepsy meds (phenobarb) since 1997 and on thyroid meds since around 2001. His hips are going out, so he often falls down, splayed out like a giraffe, and can't work his feet back underneath him well enough to get up on his own. He's becoming grumpy in his old age, and doesn't like to be left outside for more than 5 minutes at a time. He still follows me around the house, like he has since a puppy, but now he lays at my feet instead of trying to climb in my lap.

I have strong suspicions that he will not make it to Christmas. I'm so glad that we are moving to our new property this weekend - perhaps he can spend the last months of his life enjoying what he used to enjoy so much as a puppy - being outside, going for walks, chasing sticks. Or maybe he'll just find a warm spot in the sun to lay down in. I can't imagine how our lives will be without him when he finally goes. I just hope he goes peacefully.

But until then, we will love on him and keep him as comfortable and happy as possible. Here is to my Sam, who has been a faithful friend for 15 years.

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You Capture - Faces

You Capture has chosen Faces as the theme for photos this week. I caught this photo of Gretchen tonight, peacefully sleeping in her bed. Notice the blanket up near her face - this is how she always sleeps. She has to have that silly blanket bundled up near her face all the time - I think it is the smell that she likes, although I can't imagine it is very pleasant since she drags it around the house everywhere with her! She's such an angel when she's sleeping! When she's awake, she is full of energy, spit, and vinegar! I love having a redhead in the family - she definitely keeps me on my toes!
Check out this week's You Capture for more wonderful photos.

Austin's Invention

Another week, another theme for I Heart Faces. This time it is Photojournalism. Our definition of Photojournalism for the sake of this challenge: Using an image (or images) to tell a story.

I love this series of photos of Austin. He loves to build - with blocks or anything else he can get his hands on. When we went out to my mom & dad's over the 4th of July holiday, he was in Heaven! So many "treasures" to play with. Grandpa tends to have a lot of things around the farm, and Austin eagerly found a quite place away from the craziness and just started creating. I love watching his mind work through his hands. He is going to do big things someday, I am sure of it!

Faceless Photos - today's inspiration

Over at the inspirational blog post for the day was on photos that don't necessarily have faces in them. This brought to my mind one of my very, very favorite photos that I took last summer while at Gearhart Beach, Oregon. Thanks to Twila and Susan I was able to do some fun editing of it. Hope you like it.

Beach Fun photo challenge

This week's contest is Beach Fun, and I had lots of fun beach photos from our trip to the Oregon Coast last summer. I chose the one below with Austin looking up. I thought it was an interesting composition. When I took the photo, I was trying to just get all of our feet in it, with all of us looking down, and just as I clicked the camera, Austin looked up. But when I looked at it later - I actually loved it. Hope you do, too!

Shades

The challenge over at I Heart Faces is "Got To Wear Shades". I chose this photo of Austin taken in February 2009 - all dressed in his fireman jacket and hat and ready to go!

Sunday Shutterbugs - N is for Nature

This week Sunday Shutterbugs has posted Nature as the theme. I have two photos for this, both taken near the Bowl & Pitcher Campground on a June weekend of camping. Enjoy!

Sunday Shutterbugs - M is for Macro

The Challenge on Sunday Shutterbugs is to post a photo using your macro setting on your camera. I experimented this weekend with some still life shots using my sister's camera. Although I didn't set it on macro, I tried to take some close up photos for a different perspective on things. Hopefully it worked. Here's my submission:



And here's another one I liked:



I'm not sure if it hits the challenge exactly, but it's what I have for now. I accidentally left my camera battery charger in our hotel room when we went to my brother's wedding Father's Day weekend, so I can't use my own camera right now. I should be getting the battery back by the end of this week, so then I can experiment a little more with macro.