Arizona Life Through My Eyes

Sometimes...

2011-12-04T08:55:00.002-07:00

IMG_6141bwc, originally uploaded by torri_g.

There are sometimes that you just need to step away and hide for a bit. The last several months have been just that for me as far as blogging goes. There have been lots of changes since July, lots of stuff going on and basically I just didn't feel the need to blog about most of it. My photography work taking off in ways that I never really imagined. Stephanie and a heart condition. Life in general...Todd having to leave for Afghanistan, just to be able to have a job. Lots of stuff, and lots to adjust too.
I'm not really sure why the sudden break of my blog silence today, but maybe it is a sign that new and current normal is finally settling in. How long it will last is the real question though. It may be hit and miss but I think I will try at least, because I do have a lot of photo's to share.

Round Barn

2011-07-16T07:34:00.002-07:00

Round Barn, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Not broken down or forgotten...but something different.

Forgotten Barns of Iowa

2011-07-15T06:44:00.002-07:00

Forgotten Barns of Iowa 10, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Forgotten Barns of Iowa

2011-07-14T08:22:00.002-07:00

Forgotten Barns of Iowa 9, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Forgotten Barns of Iowa

2011-07-13T08:28:00.002-07:00

Forgotten Barns of Iowa 5, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Forgotten Barns of Iowa

2011-07-12T06:53:00.002-07:00

Forgotten Barns of Iowa 1, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Sorry about the delay in posting yet again, but there was a medical emergency with my oldest. She is out of the hospital and while we really don't have an answer as to what or why, I'm sure that we will because her PCM is working very hard towards figuring this all out.

Anyway, old barns is going to be the theme for the next couple of days. You know the one's that you look at and wonder just how in the world is it still standing. Once upon a time the old barns were a dime a dozen, but with new highways built to bypass the very small rural towns, they are more difficult to find. You have to get off of the highway and onto the back roads and dirt roads to find them anymore. They have been replaced with the shiny new metal barns that require less maintenance. While yes that makes sense, there just isn't the same look that an old wooden barn has. I know that change happens and that change is usually good, but give me an old wooden, broken down, don't know how it manages to keep standing barn any day. There is something to be said about keeping reminders of the past and where it started that far out weigh the new shiny look.

Gone far to long

2011-07-07T07:47:00.002-07:00

IMG_4090, originally uploaded by torri_g.

I'm back again! I have been gone for far to long. There was an 18 day trip back to Nebraska and Iowa to visit family, then having any number of fire evacuees staying with us once we got back home. Then clean up of the house from all of the company that had been here, and just busy life stuff in general added on top of all that. Oh and I have been stuck in portrait editing for the last several weeks too. But now I'm done with the portraits and hopefully back on track enough to start posting some photo's daily from my now huge collection of shot's taken while on vacation. I'm going to start with this peaceful scene and hopefully work on putting thoughts together for more blog posts this week.

Ah the pretty colors

2011-05-05T08:25:00.002-07:00

Daiseys, originally uploaded by torri_g.

I've neglected my blog here for far to long. I really haven't meant to, it is just something that happens when I let myself get distracted with a little thing called life. There have been lots of projects being worked on around the house. Ton's of running kids here, there, and everywhere. Plus just a busy schedule of other things filling my days. This week is a prime example of busy...Five horse back riding lessons in one week. Girls prepping for the next J-6 riding event this Saturday. Birthday party, graduation party, science project, and a handful of other assorted things. (Maybe two handfuls)

My other keep me busy has been planning a summer vacation home to visit. Come this July 15th we have lived in Arizona for 7 years, and I have only made trips back home twice in that time, and both times were sadly for funerals. So I think it is about time to make a trip that is for happy reasons...like we just want to! Of course my camera is going with me and I'm going to see just how many pictures of people and places I can take. I have lots of nieces and nephews that I would love to photograph and I can even think of a couple of places that I would love to get some pictures of.

In the meantime I can't promise that I won't continue my neglect of my poor blog here, but who knows maybe there will be a ton more pictures from this coming weekend that will inspire me to try posting regularly.

Wrapping up at the J-6

2011-04-08T06:18:00.002-07:00

IMG_1817-3, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Time to wrap up this week of pictures and tales from the J-6. I have tons of favorites and love all of the pictures of my girls, but this random shot photo is my most favorite one. I think it sums up what a full day of riding in the J-6 event will do to all of the riders regardless of their age. This little guy rode his heart out at the event, and when he needed rest his very loyal horse made sure he got some.

I hope that everyone has had a great week, and that there is a wonderful, restful weekend waiting for all of us.

Cheyenne at the J-6

2011-04-07T07:01:00.003-07:00

IMG_1739, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Cheyenne rode Pi for the J-6 riding event this past Saturday. Pi is a gaited horse and her and Chey have a lot in common...they both have attitude! I don't mean that in a bad way either by the way. If it is possible for a horse to love a person then Pi loves Cheyenne and in turn Cheyenne completely loves Pi. They are a perfect match.
Chey won 2 first place, 2 second place, 1 third place, and also won the high point division champion ribbon. Cheyenne was very much all about supporting her sisters and the other riders on Saturday, and I'm very proud of her for that. Oh yeah and all of the ribbons that she brought home too.

Paige at the J-6

2011-04-06T07:37:00.002-07:00

IMG_1506, originally uploaded by torri_g.

I know that she isn't on a horse in this picture, but this is one of my favorites of Paige from this past Saturday. I mean look at her...just perfectly comfortable looking standing inside the practice arena, watching everyone warm up.
Paige being my complicated young woman is actually off of the horse because the huge crowd made her very nervous and upset. Which lead to it all getting her in brain, which lead to her horse Bob feeling her anxiety, which lead to Bob being fairly hyper. I was very proud of her though because she got off of the horse and talked to Dad, and talked to Mom and spent some time just watching and getting her mind settled. I took time to talk to their teacher/coach and then she spent extra time talking and calming our Miss Paige down. It is funny to me that Paige who doesn't let many people in finds great comfort with her teacher. Which was truly a
blessing on Saturday.
Paige won 2 third place, and two fourth place ribbons. She had one time thrown out because of the back end of Bob crossing the timer plain, which disqualified that time for the ride. I think Paige enjoyed the comfort and encouragement from her sisters, her teacher, and Todd and I enough to not let that one ride set back get her down though. Her teacher was very proud of her for getting back up on Bob and riding though, and for pushing through the whole day. I think everyone needs to look out though because now Paige knows what she needs to do to prepare herself for the next riding event.

Stephanie at the J-6

2011-04-05T06:21:00.003-07:00

IMG_1787, originally uploaded by torri_g.

As promised I am back and going to start oldest to youngest with posting pictures and tales of how they did.

The events were the Clover leaf barrels, washington poles, hour glass, gated keyhole, and cow barrel. Stephanie rode Valentine for all of her events on Saturday. If you rated horse on an alphabetic system Valentine would be about a "J" for needed skill level. Stephanie is the only one with enough consistent ability to put on Valentine for the whole day. Plus Valentine gets a bit of an attitude with the other girls every now and then because she isn't quiet a finished horse.

Miss Stephanie brought home 2 second place, 1 fourth place, and 2 fifth place ribbons on Saturday. Turns out Steph was more about the equitation on the horse during the even than being about the speed. Their teacher/coach is now hoping and planning on getting her ready for fall and English riding events where all that equitation will pay off well.
Funny thing about my Miss Stephanie is that her favorite ribbons are the fifth place one's because they are pink! I have to give my girl credit though, when it came to sitting in the saddle and looking almost perfect at all points in time form wise...she nailed it!

3 G Girls

2011-04-04T06:06:00.002-07:00

3 G Girls, originally uploaded by torri_g.

The girls rode in their first J-6 riding event this past Saturday, and oh what a great day it was! Being Mom I could not have been more proud of my girls than what I was Saturday, and not just because they brought home a ton of ribbons. Their support of each other over the course of the day, their support of the other competitors, and just watching how much they have grown in ability over the course of the last year. WOW is about all I have for that.
The flip side of it was the photographer in me was in pure joy overload with all of the beautiful horses to photograph. Over the course of this week I will post favorite pictures of each of my girls and share how each on of them did, and of course post some of my just favorite pictures of other horses and riders.

Feline Friday

2011-04-01T05:51:00.002-07:00

Lucy, Perry, & Mina, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Thoughtful

2011-03-31T06:48:00.002-07:00

Romeo, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-03-30T08:05:00.002-07:00

Mina, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Work

2011-03-09T06:00:00.002-07:00

IMG_1092, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Working on projects around the house are still keeping me busy here. This past Saturday though brought the huge project of working on the back yard. Actually Saturday started off with great frustration over a sink drain that broke and leaked water everywhere in the master bathroom, but upon arriving at my favorite place to shop anymore, we saw BOB sod! Not just BOB sod but BOB sod at a really cheap price! So 600 square feet, Todd's truck very heavily weighed down, all of us raking, lifting, carrying, and rolling out, we have grass in the back yard. Now we just need to get about 2000 more square feet of it to have the back yard that we want. (I'm pretty sure my whole body just screamed at the thought of that one.) As soon as we were done laying the sod out the girls had their shoes and socks off for a walk in the grass barefoot. After some quick clean up 2 of the 3 girls went for sun dresses and bare feet for playing in the new non sticky things grass. (Thanks for the dresses Oma and for the one who just didn't want a dress, she got two necklaces one of which being the most wanted black swirl one from the first batch.)

It is amazing how much the look in the back changed just by adding the sod. I'm hoping we can get more this week and hopefully even finish the whole back yard before the end of this month. It is heavy hard work, but oh so very worth it!

Feline Friday

2011-02-25T08:11:00.002-07:00

IMG_1026, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Miss Mina kitty loves to spend her day playing with the little soccer ball toys that we have in the house. She loves to play with just about anything that will roll quickly and can be tossed around. The day of the Super Bowl we spent more time watching the cat attack the screen where those football players where tossing around the ball. Who ever had the ball was the one that she was leaping at the screen to attack. I'm not sure but I think she would make a great football player. She would claw their eyes out to get the football and run like mad to keep it! Oh and all the quarter backs better really look out cause she really doesn't seem to like any of you hog that football and keep her from getting to play with it.

Now What?

2011-02-23T07:42:00.004-07:00

IMG_1059, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Last week saw the final painting of the final walls in the house. I no sooner had all of the paint brushes, rollers, and other paint supplies cleaned and had the thought go through my head "Ok now time to get started on those ceilings!". Actually the ceilings are going to wait just a little bit longer for right now. There is a whole long list of projects that I have. Sadly some of my next projects like new ceiling fans and blinds are going to cost a bit more than the painting did. But slowly and each pay day there is budget being set aside to go towards all those things. Let's not forget that there are also projects outside the house being done too. Sometime this week there is going to be some more fruit tree's bought and planted. I'm not going to bother trying to list out all of the projects because this would turn into the never ending post then. There is more than enough, and there is a want to get a good amount done here in the next couple of weeks before our much warmer weather starts to show up.

In the mean time I will try to take some pictures and post them of all of the area's of the house. and I'm also going to figure the answer to "now what?".

My Little Diva

2011-02-15T07:24:00.002-07:00

IMG_1057, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Just a quick picture of Chey (a.k.a. my little diva) from this past Friday's winter formal. She had a wonderful time!

Keeping Busy

2011-02-06T08:23:00.002-07:00

IMG_1011, originally uploaded by torri_g.

What has been keeping me from posting on a regular basis? All things house related of course. Painting, planting, planning, all thoughts are currently tuned to a just about the house process. Last weekend while waiting for the call that Mina was out of surgery and ready to be picked up, I removed the 5 foot mirror that took up the entire wall of the half bath off of the family room and painted it. (You can see the mirror in the reflection of the new smaller mirror that is now in there.) After finishing that project it hit me that I only have one large area left to paint! The living room and dinning room are going to be the last rooms to get their new color added to the walls. Don't think that all of the painting will be done then though...oh heaven's no. There is an issue of the ceiling needs painted. It seems and looks as if they used several different kinds of white for the ceilings in here and that is something that I plan of fixing. There is also an issue of very large not needed or wanted mirrors in the other bathrooms that need to come down and get the walls behind painted before new mirrors go up. So I guess when I add all of that I'm not really as close to being done painting as I first thought.

Ever so slowly though I am getting to the point of starting on other things of my list of "Changes I want to make" to the house. The list is really pretty long, but keeping with the set so much aside each pay day for budget is working out very nicely. Also trying to alternate between work inside the house and landscaping outside. Our first fruit tress have been planted and the area has been planned out for planting more in the coming weeks. The apple trees right now just look so very small and lonely. I have been mentally drawing plans for flower beds in the front of the house, and wondering if Trinity doggy would leave some alone in the back yard area. Probably not since she has a real love of digging and chewing on things.

Anyway, these are the things that are keeping me busy right now and away from posting. Plus then add on just being Mom and having to transport kids from here to there. I will continue from time to time though to put something up here to share. I hope that everyone has a great Sunday.

Perry

2011-01-30T20:39:00.002-07:00

IMG_0996, originally uploaded by torri_g.

One Nation with Hope

2011-01-09T06:55:00.002-07:00

P4130509, originally uploaded by torri_g.

I find myself this morning going over everything that happened yesterday and the bombardment of news that ensued. More than that I find myself wondering how to explain to my daughters just how someone could do what they did yesterday in Tucson in the name of politics.
All three of the girls had the opportunity to meet Gabby Giffords over this past 4th of July while working at the event in the park in Sierra Vista. All three commented on how much they liked her. Her genuine concern, and care about things people talked to her about. A politician that listened to what other had to say instead of just pushing her own words on everyone around her. They were struck by that and they liked that a lot about her. When the news broke about the shooting at a rally in Tucson yesterday at first their attention wasn't really caught by it. Sadly I think that as a nation we are all just a little to used to hearing about shootings, or bombings, or just death in general now a days and sometimes the first thought is "Great it is just yet another one." Then they heard Gabrielle Giffords had been shot. Suddenly all three of them were glued to the coverage, talking about her, talking about their time meeting her, wondering why someone would do such a thing, wondering how someone could do such a thing. They talked with each other, they texted with friends and at the end of the day there still were no good answers to the question going through their minds. Even sadder is that there will be no good answers to their questions and the best answer that I have for them is that it is a nation very divided that we live in now, and there are some who are willing to go to very extreme levels to make a point. Even if no one understands just what that point is.

I've said many prayers since yesterday for those who were shot, for those who lost their lives, and for the families that have to try to piece their broken hearts back together again in the after math of all of this and I will continue for days I'm sure. I hope to be able to give some explanation to my girls that will answer their questions. I hope to be able to understand it myself. I also hope that as a nation we can take a step back and take a look at where we are going without pointing fingers and placing blame.

SNOW!

2010-12-30T12:09:00.002-07:00

IMG_0979, originally uploaded by torri_g.

It is snowing here today! It took it most of the morning to get going but the rain finally changed over into snow. I will take more pictures over the course of the day here because I can't wait to see how much is actually going to fall.

The cookie angels

2010-12-27T08:20:00.002-07:00

IMG_0930, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Well leading up to Christmas I was taken down and out by yet another bug that made its way into the house. Fever, body ache, feeling like I had been run over by a couple of trucks, left me with very little energy or ability to get anything done. Who was going to get the last of the cookies baked? Who was going to get them put onto trays? Who was going to get them delivered Christmas Eve? Well, my three girls of course who have now been named the Cookie Angels. The finished the baking, they put together the trays and got them all delivered. So the tradition of baking tons to give away was saved! Mom cheered from the couch under the ton of blankets because the fever chills were just to much for her. I was saddened though because of the the Cookie Angels also fell to the horrible mean bug Christmas Eve.

Today is first day that I have felt semi human in a couple of days, and just wanted to tell my Cookie Angels thank you so much for saving the cookie tradition this year!

Dreaming of Christmas

2010-12-18T08:01:00.002-07:00

IMG_0903, originally uploaded by torri_g.

They aren't real sure just why this tree is standing in the living room, but they love the bows on the presents that are under it. So I think their curled up sleeping dreams are about more pretty bows to play with and for Mom to lose that stupid water bottle! Oh and her flashy camera thing!

Morning

2010-12-16T07:52:00.002-07:00

IMG_0907, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Mother and Daughter

2010-12-15T07:25:00.002-07:00

C&L, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Most of the time I don't post portraits that I've done, but every now and then I just have one that I want to. This would be one of those times. I did Christmas portraits for a friend and was very happy that they turned out so well, and that she was thrilled with all of them. There are several that are my favorites but this one pretty much tops the list.

Happy 20 weeks old!

2010-12-07T08:12:00.002-07:00

IMG_0804, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Today the kittens are 20 weeks old! What amazing little miracles they are. I posted pictures of Mina and Lucy already so of course today has to be the only little boy...Mr. Perry. He is now the biggest of the three kittens but by no means the boss in any way what so ever. Perry is just very content most of the time to laze around and watch the world going by, or his sister's flying through the house at high speed.

Happy 20th week of life our dear little kittens! I can't wait for your 1st birthday and what you all will be like by then.

Simple Monday

2010-12-06T05:15:00.002-07:00

IMG_0803, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Just a quick picture of Miss Lucy kitty. Lucky Lucy is living up to her name because she is lucky daily that I don't kick her tiny little kitten butt! Lucy has the idea that she is to good for kitten food and must eat people food...not like we haven't had kitties before her who tried that.

Simple Sunday

2010-12-05T19:22:00.002-07:00

IMG_0794, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Not going to be a long entry, but at least going to get a picture put up here. Miss Mina looking just so wonderful wondering why Mom feels the need to point that super flashy thing at her. More pictures of kittens over the next couple of days coming and hopefully a return to some semi regular posting.

Home Sweet Home

2010-11-26T06:28:00.002-07:00

IMG_0711, originally uploaded by torri_g.

It has been well over a month since my last blog post, and oh what a crazy busy time it has been. Most of what all has gone on I'm not going to type about because it falls into that personal category, but I will talk about the fact that during all of the other insanity we closed and moved into our new home! The last couple of weeks have been filled with unpacking, painting, and working on projects around the new place. For the first time Wednesday night we lit a fire in the fireplace and oh what a calm and homey feeling came over all of us. Slowly but surely the new house is coming together, and I'm sure that by the end of this weekend I will have one more set of rooms painted and organized. I will post some more pictures in the coming days, but until then I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and that the long weekend is spent with those that you care about the most.

House Update

2010-10-19T06:05:00.002-07:00

IMG_0636, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Yesterday I got a phone call from M asking if I had pictures of the house. Me have pictures of the house? Only a ton of them! He wants to use the photo's for a collage of start to finish for the office and asked if I would continue to take pictures of the process. Wow...I don't know if I can deal with having to take as many pictures of the house as I want. So of course that meant grab my camera and head over to the property and shot tons more pictures! It worked well because we also got an update about progress on the build. Inspections were passed for septic and water yesterday, electric will be out Wednesday to finally put up the pole, transformer, and run the line, oh and install the meter! The picture is in the morning room where the french doors will be going in at, which is just about ready for those doors now. The master bedroom retreat room has been prepped for the door that will be going in there and there has been quiet a bit of dry wall work done already this week.
I'm sure today is going to be the sound of the bobcat moving dirt back to fill the holes for the septic lines and probably the completion of the electric trench. There is also tons of dirt to move back into place to cover all but about 6-8 inches of the foundation that will be getting moved. Walking around the property you have to be a bit careful because suddenly you hit very soft spots right now which catch you off guard for dirt here in Arizona. I also found myself getting very excited with the thought of the soon to be completion of this and our move. How sick is it to be happy about making a move?

Sibling Sunday

2010-10-17T06:42:00.002-07:00

IMG_0600, originally uploaded by torri_g.

I once upon a time used to be able to snap pictures of the girls together for this post, but it seems that those days are very long gone. Any time I'm hit with the thought that I would like a picture of them, by the time I get my camera one to all of them have left. It is a busy life with them all anymore and it just seems to be getting even busier. Oh well, it is what is supposed to be after all so let's do some updates about things going on with the girls.

Cheyenne was off this past week for fall break and the end of the first quarter has happened. Which mean just one more quarter of her being at Buena. Due to her unhappiness with class sizes this year, and my overall just not happy with the school, we have talked and decided that it is time for the run there to come to an end. With the start of the new semester in January she will be heading to new start at Tombstone. In the mean time there is a list of DECA activities and other that will be added I'm sure in the next couple of weeks. She had a great birthday Friday though and I'm sure that I'm about to start hearing the count down of 6 months till she can get her learner's permit. Outside of school stuff there are her riding lessons which she is just oh so very good at and in her spare time aside from that telling me hourly that she is just oh so very bored.

Stephanie is still in the busy routine of work, school, work, school, riding lessons, work, work. Although she has found that having her own car is a great freedom that she truly enjoys having. She has found that she now has the ability to spend some of her sparse free time with friends, which is something that she didn't have before.

Paige's routine is picking up here slowly now that she will be primary trainer of Kisses 4 days a week, plus her classes. Yesterday I got a call from our neighbor about hiring Paige to travel with her for a horse competition in Phoenix as a groomer. It is a two day event and with it is the youth expo which Paige would have the ability to attend during her down time. It will be an all expenses paid deal for her, and sometime here this morning she will need to give an answer as to whether or not she wants to do it. I'm pretty much fingers crossed that it will be a yes because I think it will be a great opportunity for her to network with some people. Heck just to be given the opportunity is great.

I think that is about it for this weeks update about the girls. I hope that everyone has had a great weekend so far and that today is one that brings lots of smiles and laughter.

Horse Training 101

2010-10-16T06:46:00.002-07:00

IMG_0602, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Wednesday started the girls and Kisses training. The girls were taught how to view the horse and look for any conformational flaws or trouble areas. They quickly learned how to spot training flaws and their first training issue to work on is working with the lunge line with Kisses. Everything is fine with the lunge line till you actually get it to close to her hind quarters, then she kicks. There was a correction to her age because she is 7 and not 4. Overall her submissive training for things like backing up, lowering her head, lifting her hoofs, and moving to the side were all very good. The girls have tons of reading material, and even some dvd's to watch over the course of the next 5 weeks.

They have also set up with their riding teacher Redhead to come out to the property and do some waste management for her during this time period or other odds and ends jobs. We are going to be heading out there tomorrow for a day filled with nothing but horses and work actually since Friday proved to be a difficult day to get Paige's riding lesson in. You know the scene from the Scorpion King in the desert with the sand storm? Or from any western set in the old west with the dust storms? Well we had that happen yesterday. This was no little dust devil that came up it was full blown sand blast your face dust storm followed by torrential down pouring of rain! So tomorrow Paige will go for her lesson, and while she is doing that the other two are going to put in some time working and then they will all get their next lesson on working with Kisses. Sounds like a great way to end the weekend to me.

Happy Birthday Cheyenne!

2010-10-15T20:17:00.002-07:00

IMG_0610, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Dinner out with family and what better way to end the night than with a "Death by Chocolate" cake, chocolate icecream and a big glass of chocolate milk to wash it all down. Happy 15th Birthday my Little Bug!

Kittens 12 weeks old

2010-10-13T06:55:00.002-07:00

IMG_0598, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Yesterday was huge deal for all three kittens, they hit 12 weeks old! They pretty much play till they collapse anymore. Their jumping and climbing skills are just about perfected, they know their names when called, and daily routines are set solidly. They even have gotten to the point that they know that playing with Trinity dog is fun and that she is not going to cause them any harm, well unless she forgets how much bigger than them she is.

Kisses

2010-10-12T06:51:00.002-07:00

IMG00790, originally uploaded by torri_g.

For the next six weeks the girls get to say that they have a horse. This is Kisses a very beautiful 4 year old Quarter horse. Yesterday they got to learn about what it takes to load a horse on a trailer and get them out safely. Over the course of the next 6 weeks they are going to learn about feeding, care, training and about everything else that there is to learn. Paige will be learning the most since she will be spending 4 days a week with the horse but Steph and Chey are going to be over also when their schedules allow them time. They were happy that they were allowed to rename the horse because she had a not so great name. Thought was if it makes them blush to even try to say it, then it really needs to be changed.

There will be better pictures of Kisses coming in the following weeks. I only had my cell phone available since I was part of the crew for loading and unloading.

Monday Madness!

2010-10-11T11:18:00.002-07:00

IMG_0582, originally uploaded by torri_g.

The house is on the PROPERTY!! I only stayed over there long enough to shot about a 100 pictures and be given a joking hard time by the contractor.

Saturday Catch Up

2010-10-09T07:36:00.002-07:00

IMG_0474_edited-1, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Alright let me play catch up from the last couple of days. Due to paving being done on a bridge in Huachuca City, our contractor and the seller of the house could not get a permit to transport the house Thursday. I'm not going to spend a lot of time on the topic because the whole thing just triggered a great irritation for me. Fingers crossed for Tuesday since the paving project was finished as of last night.

Kittens had appointment last night and it turned into the marathon appointment of 2 hours! Great news though they tested negative for FLV/FIV! They got round 2 of their respiratory immunization and got their first round of the FLV/FIV immunization. In three weeks we go back and finish up. Dr. M was amazed to see how very big they have gotten and was oh so very happy to see them all. By the way we love Dr. M because she is just the best ever! They all weight about 2.8 pounds now which is huge difference from their just barely 3 onces when Dr. M first saw them at 4 weeks old. All three kittens spent time loving up on Dr. M last night and I think it was done in hopes that she wouldn't give them any shots.

Todd got back home from Colorado yesterday and I'm looking forward to having him home for what should be the whole week because of all the hours put in during this TDY.

Chey is happy that this coming week is fall break and is going to enjoy having the whole week off plus her birthday come Friday.
Monday Paige and Chey are going to go help their horseback riding teacher move a horse. A horse that we are renting for the next six weeks! Paige is going to be learning all things needed for training and working with a horse. Four days a week for 4-6 hours a day this is what she will be working on for the next month and a half. She is very excited about learning and working with this horse. I think her bigger hope is that maybe this could lead to a more permanent thing with this horse.

I believe that is all that I wanted to catch up on for this post. I will try to get my camera and get some pictures and get back into the everyday posting for this week. Have a great weekend everyone.

House Update

2010-10-06T13:43:00.002-07:00

IMG_9991, originally uploaded by torri_g.

I've been holding off posting today because I was hoping to be able to post pictures of them moving the house onto the property today, however that will not be happening today. This morning started with delivery of the septic tank, and ac unit and multiple other things which lead to the house being moved to be held off one more day. Plus the fact that mother nature seems to think that it is still monsoon out this way and it has poured rain for three days! I know that the septic tank is now in the ground though and everything that was delivered is now stored out of the way so that the house can be brought out tomorrow. I even know what time they will get started! Now I just have to hope that I will be home when they finally get it out here, because Thursday is still one of my busy drive days.

Oh Happy!

2010-10-05T07:51:00.002-07:00

IMG_9967, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Yesterday my phone was very active with phone calls from...well just about everyone who has been dealing with getting things moving for the house! The best phone call came at 3:30 yesterday afternoon though. It was the phone call that we have waited forever for...the title and deed to the land were transfered into our names and the first round of funding was paid out so the build can really get going! My best phone conversation of the day was getting to share the news with Todd last night when he got done working in Colorado. We have time frame list out of when for things now and tomorrow will bring the moving of the house to the property...our property! (so love saying that!) So what better than to share another picture of the house? This is of the family room just off of the kitchen. The space is open between the two which is something that I just love about it. The living room is on the other side of the house. Can't you just picture some color on those walls?

Anyway, I hope that everyone's week is off to a great start and I'm going to try to get my feet back on the ground again here.

Please make them go away!

2010-10-04T08:51:00.002-07:00

Please make them go away!, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Trinity would really like for these three kittens to just go away today! They seem to have the idea and she is one of their play toys and man that tail of her's is great fun! Since they will be 11 weeks old tomorrow and have appointment with vet on Friday for their second round of immunizations, I'm trying to have them be out in the main part of the house for longer time periods this week. Trinity would like for them all to go back to living in the bedroom and never see the rest of the house!

I hope that everyone has a good Monday!

Feline Friday

2010-10-01T07:24:00.002-07:00

Mina, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Little miss Mina is the funniest little kitten. She loves curling up to sleep on her back! Give her a pillow and something to cover up with and she will cuddle up and sleep for hours. Mina is also the mini mama of the group of three and turning very much into a Mama's girl. She love's wild play time but had this thing about when she says enough is enough she will let the other two know that it is time to stop!
I'm loving seeing each kitten become their own feline and watching their personalities develop and shine through.

Here is hoping that everyone has a great Friday and a wonderful weekend!

Happy 21st Anniversary!

2010-09-30T08:54:00.002-07:00

Scowling, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Hey my guy! Another year added to the count and let me check real quick...Yep I still love you! I wish the do over of the paperwork for the house was the final closing instead, but I can't think of anything better than spending time with you today so it is good no matter what. I love you sweetheart!

Brothers

2010-09-29T07:22:00.002-07:00

Brothers, originally uploaded by torri_g.

This is from our camping trip over Labor day. These two little guys were part of our group that went that weekend, and at ages 2 & 4 they were quiet the amusing pair. Everything was a weapon to be used against their brother, juice box drinks, fishing poles, and whatever else they could find. The littlest one liked telling you about how the "Big" guys got the campfire going...It was "HOT" and "BOOM" then repeat that about a hundred times!

Everyone have a great Wednesday!

Interesting

2010-09-28T17:28:00.002-07:00

IMG_9971, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Hmm...on Sunday I made comment in post about Steph and her buying the car, and Monday we got phone call with great news. On Monday I typed up post about the limbo with the house, and today we got the phone call with great news! Now I'm wondering if i post something about really wanting to win the lottery if that could happen this week. Probably not right? Oh well I don't care because I'm to happy! The long wait has come to an end. The releases are in and come Thursday we get to go and do the great signing of the paperwork...again. Which means coming up in the next week or so I should see my house get moved out to the property and set on it's foundation! FINALLY! I'm not kidding there has been a collective cheer from everyone who has been working so hard to get this done, and today they finally had everything in hand. So Thursday noon Todd and I get to go and sit with "A" and spend a hour of our 21st anniversary signing, dating and initialing the paperwork for the house...again. Hopefully before the end of October I will be able to post about the final closing once the house it totally done.
The picture is of our soon to be kitchen from the day that I walked the girls through the house for the first time. I can't wait to get all of this done and maybe just maybe spend the holiday in our new place.
Oh and what the heck I will give it a try...if I could just have the winning lottery ticket this week that would just make this week so very complete. :-)

Kittens!

2010-09-28T08:55:00.002-07:00

Kittens 10 weeks old, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Today the kittens are 10 weeks old! Based on the high level of play and amount of food they go through daily, I would have to say that they are very happy kittens. They are all happier now that they figured how to get those collars with tiny little bells off. The bells were to help us find them when they move into playing hide and seek with us. Oh well I will try to find where Lucy hid her's and get all three back on them again. I will not give up! So happy 10 weeks to our tiny little babies! We are all so glad that you have done so well.

Look what I bought Ma!

2010-09-27T19:14:00.002-07:00

Look what I bought Ma!, originally uploaded by torri_g.

YES!! I know this may be difficult to believe but this little girl of mine has been at least half of my insane back and forth driving for about a year now. Well that ended today as of 4:50! Steph is now the proud owner of her very OWN Suzuki Vitara. The best part of this used car is that she got financing all on her own! The dealer said she had to be the luckiest young lady he has ever met. She may have car payment now, and a little bit of a list of things that she needs to get done or buy...oh and let's just not even talk about that car insurance now but it is all her's. She saved the down payment, she did it all. Best look you will ever see as a Mom is when they look at all the paper work that has just their name on it.

Random Monday

2010-09-27T08:00:00.002-07:00

IMG00745, originally uploaded by torri_g.

I'm trying to keep posting on a regular basis, but before I over kill it with kitten photo's I guess I can pull from the cell phone photo file.This picture is from the day that we marked the placement of the house on the land. I have tons more pictures of the land and pictures of the house but since we are in a state of limbo waiting on banks to finally do title releases for the sellers, I just don't want to post those yet. What is funny about the waiting game is everyone said things like "Oh VA appraisal can take long time", there was the added worry about job status for Todd with the shake up of the contract world on base, but no one saw this hold up coming. It is an issue of one bank putting a lien on the land that should not have been put on it, and another bank not wanting to do their partial release for the well easement. My excitement about the house has gone up and down with each weeks updates. We are very scary patient about waiting for this though. It is one of those things that no one could have seen coming, and everyone has been working very hard to get this cleared up. The awesome news about this whole thing though is because our contractor owns the land, he has been working steadily getting the foundation done and everything else that he can while we wait. I think a great anniversary gift this Thursday would be to hear that the releases are done and then the house can be set on the foundation. This is actually one move that I just can't wait to make, for now we wait in limbo.

I hope everyone has a great Monday.

Sibling Sunday

2010-09-26T10:57:00.002-07:00

arbys, originally uploaded by torri_g.

There should be a picture of the three G girls, but getting pictures of them all is pretty much an impossible task anymore. At any given time only one of them may be in the house for a picture. It is okay with me though because it gives me reason to use this picture that Stephanie took over the summer while we were out for "Girls" dinner while Todd was on one of his many TDY's.

So let's start this with stuff Steph a.k.a Binky Sue:
August brought the start of college classes yet again and full time plus is the name of the game for Steph. Let's not forget the working just about full time balanced on top of full time classes, throw in horseback riding lessons, and that all equals no real free time for her and me with the never ending driving during the day. Good news for this year she has been able to drive herself once Mom is done needing the car. Even better news is that Friday Steph went and started process towards possibly buying a car of her own! Mom and Dad had to take her money down in yesterday for her because you know she is always working...but hopefully before the end of this next week she will have a 2003 Suzuki Vitara of her very own. Fingers crossed so hard they hurt!

Paige a.k.a. Sweetpea also started college classes in August. Two art classes which she does see to love. She likes them even better when the "grown up's" of the class are just quiet and working on projects. She doesn't understand why anyone would take art if they really don't like it and finds some of her classmates to be annoying. Her search for a job has turned up nothing as of yet, but coming up in October she is going to be getting a real work out because of learning how to train a new horse with her riding teacher. Her love for horseback riding lessons is still being filled with weekly lessons and in general she is just very happy with how things are going.

Cheyenne a.k.a. Little Bug has had a very busy couple of months with school. She has had weekends filled with DECA activities, babysitting jobs, horseback riding lessons, home work, and stress of how full classrooms at the high school are. She has asked that I see about transferring her over to Tombstone High because she is feeling that because of the 40+ kids per class for her that her grades are starting to slip due to not being able to hear, and frustration levels of teachers is causing a lot of them to shut down and give up. So yes come tomorrow I will make phone calls and see just how horrible it would be to make a move to a different school.

I know it is kind of short and to the point with all of the girls, but they are all doing well for the most part, and just busy. I hope that everyone has had a great weekend and enjoy a Sunday spent with those you love.

Caution: Kitten's at play!

2010-09-25T06:34:00.002-07:00

IMG_0384, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Oh no another photo of kittens, but right now they are about the only thing that I have time to take pictures of because they are at least right here in the house. Well I did have the sudden urge to take a picture of my "Really Big" drink out at LaCasita's last night but all I had was my cell phone and it just would not have done that drink justice. Dinner was very good but that raspberry margarita was even better and less than half way through it I suddenly felt very relaxed and very tired for the first time in more than a few weeks.
Anyway, back to my original thought for this post. If coming to visit us here in Arizona there are a few things that you should be aware of now:
1. Be careful where you step because even if one second you don't see anything there you may find yourself stepping on a tail or paw of a blazing fast moving tiny kitten who is trying to kill you by dodging between your feet.
2. Be careful when sitting down because the kittens claim every seat in the house as their own. Same thing as rule 1 they may not be there when you first look but their speed allows them to get there before you.
3. Know that they are the guardians of the bathroom. Their self appointed job is to make sure that you are safe while in there.(You get used to them lining up to stare at you over time)
4. Lucy seems to think that she is part dog and therefore any shoes that get taken off are fair game for her to drag off and chew on. Don't bother trying to figure out why the kitten is trying to chew on the shoe, it is just her thing!
5. Once you finally get a spot to sit down at (if you get a spot to sit down at) you have made the statement that you WANT the kitten's to come and use you as a playground. Don't worry though once they are tired of playing they will then use you as a bed to snuggle up and nap on.

I'm sure that we will be adding to this list of rules as the kittens continue to grow, but for now these are the most major ones.

I hope that everyone has a great Saturday and I'm actually going to try to do a Sibling Sunday again for the first time in months tomorrow.

Feline Friday

2010-09-24T10:14:00.002-07:00

Lucy, originally uploaded by torri_g.

If you move in closer Lucy will share a secret with you...the kittens are 9 weeks old this week and so very playful most people would say they were wild. We wouldn't though because we know they are just growing and love exploring everything! This week they finally have been released from their usual over night holding spot of the master bathroom to the master bedroom. They have found that curling up with Mom in the blankets is nice and cozy until you feel like playing at 0300 in the morning. Then Mom politely picks you up and places you down on the floor, with the warning of stay down there.
Our miracle kittens are truly growing fast and learning even faster. They are to the point now that they get to spend a good share of their day checking out the rest of the house as long as Gypsy kitty isn't out. They each now know how to deal with Trinity dog and Trinity is even getting very good about letting them play jump off the couch onto her back. In just 3 more weeks they will be 12 weeks old and get more immunizations done and then they will be free to be anywhere with anyone they want. Their days of needing to be kept in one space so we can keep an eye on them are about to be over and probably not one second to soon for them.

I hope that everyone has a great Friday and enjoy a wonderful weekend!

Thinking Thursday

2010-09-23T05:53:00.002-07:00

100_7918, originally uploaded by torri_g.

With the way this week is dragging along, I'm finding myself thinking of more peaceful surroundings. I feel so run down that a vacation is sounding wonderful. One were I don't have to do anything other than relax and at most take lots of pictures. Oh what a wonderful dream...now back to reality and time to get ready to start my day of driving kids, errands and appointments. It was a great couple of minutes at least.

Hope everyone has a good Thursday.

Wordless Wednesday

2010-09-22T07:41:00.002-07:00

IMG_0199, originally uploaded by torri_g.

The Twins

2010-09-21T05:50:00.002-07:00

IMG_0046, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Yes it is another blog post this week! I'm not going to say that I'm getting back into the swing of things with regular posting just yet though. I am however enjoying having a computer that will allow me to do a post without wanting to pull my hair out.
Today is another photo taken while we were back home that has just sat in files. Meet the twins! Cute, sweet, playful little guys that they are. One looks more like a twin to their older brother than his actual twin. I found it interesting watching all of the older kids with these two. Funny to watch the one who were once the babies at the house stepping up to offer help and care of the ones that are. These two will probably be the last of the baby's till the current younger generation decides that it is time for them to start their own families. Just thinking about it makes me wonder if the house is big enough to hold us all once they get going. Oma and Opa might need a bigger house, or at the very least yet another room for the kids table!

I hope everyone enjoys a wonderful Tuesday!

Simple Monday Morning

2010-09-20T09:12:00.002-07:00

IMG_0067, originally uploaded by torri_g.

With the transfer of pictures done I can finally post a photo from our whirlwind trip back in August! This is much like the picture of the crew in Waterloo, but for this one it started with Grandma sitting in the middle of all of the kids. Once again I think that it is ironic that the one hold onto the youngest in the photo was the one being held in the last one. Much like the other picture there is one girl missing, and for this one there is one nephew not in the picture. Still good to get most of the crew lined up for photo.

I hope that everyone has a good start to the week and that it isn't to busy for anyone.

Simple Sunday...maybe

2010-09-19T08:48:00.002-07:00

m4, originally uploaded by torri_g.

I hope all the kitten photo's aren't driving everyone crazy. Oh wait I doubt that would happen because it is kitten cuteness after all. I had a different picture that I have been meaning to post for several weeks now but that is on the desktop computer that has driven me about as crazy as it possibly can. When it takes 30 minutes to start up and you are lucky if that is all it takes, I'm pretty sure it is time to just find it a final resting spot. Since it will take me a while with my process of picking out a new desktop we found me a laptop. Which is much nicer than I planned on getting but some times some prices are just WAY good! I got a very nice HP for a lot less that I really should have. Anyway, I need to finish back up of photo's from the desk top and then do a transfer of some photo's to the laptop. Maybe, just maybe I will enjoy posting again here soon.

Everyone have a great Sunday and hopefully the start of the new week will take it's time getting here because I have a lot to get done before then.

Feline Friday

2010-09-17T07:51:00.002-07:00

IMG_0318, originally uploaded by torri_g.

We live in a vortex of constant kitten cuteness here anymore. Miss Mina showed off her future posing skills a couple of nights ago and I dare you to say that you aren't currently saying "AWWWE!"

The cuteness is just their cover to keep them out of trouble since they are now in "Kitten Ninja" phase of growth. Running, jumping, climbing, fighting, escaping are just a few of their ninja moves that they have just about perfected. My favorite though is the team effort to climb and get paper towels out of the trash can. Then the one left on the floor grabbing them and running with them to the kitty condo to hide and protect them from me. We have entered the never a dull moment with these three little miracles.

Everyone have a great Friday and hey if you have some cute furball pictures that you want to post and and leave a link in comments maybe we could get this back up and going again.

Not a clue what to call this

2010-09-16T08:43:00.002-07:00

IMG_0319, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Not sure just what the look is all about but think I might have something to do with having her picture taken. That or she wants everyone to think she is crazy Lucy kitty.

Kitten Play Time

2010-09-12T10:55:00.002-07:00

IMG_0225, originally uploaded by torri_g.

The kittens will be 2 months old this coming Tuesday! Amazing to me when I stop and think about their birth size and their whole start to life on that day. They are now 1 pound 10 ounces, eating and growing like tiny little weeds. This past Friday they had another appointment with Dr. M and were able to start with one immunization, and get a full check up from the tips of their tiny ears to their tails. Healthy...very very healthy is what the Dr said. She also took some time to talk about how amazed she is that they are doing so well, and to tell us that she is very proud of us. They get to return to see Dr. M in one month and at that time there will be a start to all immunizations and tests that need to be done since their Mother was a feral cat.

The kittens are now confined at night in the master bathroom because they have figured out how to escape anything and everything else. Having a door to shut is the only thing that works anymore but we have to be very fast! During the day time though they get to spend time in the kitchen with a gate in or if Trinity is in bed they get to run around in the living room exploring till they are just to tired to explore anymore. I will keep trying to take pictures of them once a week as they grow and post updates about them.

Friday Kitten Cuteness

2010-09-03T08:15:00.002-07:00

IMG_0151, originally uploaded by torri_g.

We have kitten cuteness in the extreme here so must share it. Everyone have a great Friday and a very safe holiday weekend!

Six weeks old!

2010-09-02T08:36:00.002-07:00

Mina with Steph, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Have to be real quick here this morning but did want to make sure I got this done this week. Mina, Perry and Lucy hit the 6 weeks old this past Tuesday! They are all over the 1 pound mark finally, and they started eating independently! Okay so they still get bottle feeding for their last feeding of the day but that is because they all love the cuddle time. There is lots of hopping, running, exploring, climbing going on in the house with these three now, and they are going to out grow their safe zone pen here very shortly. I've already started to introduce them to Trinity and Gypsy and things have gone very well for all animals. Next up is first round of shots which will be heart breaking I'm sure but something that really needs to be done for these three.

The G Boys and Girls

2010-08-22T08:03:00.002-07:00

The G Gang, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Several years ago while we were home visiting family we lined the little G gang up for a photo in Oma's front yard. If I am remembering correctly at that time there were 7 of them. A couple of them were very difficult to keep in the shot because they were little and didn't want to stay still or be touched by older siblings who were trying to keep them in place. That original group has grown up, 4 have been added (if I am remembering right Panda wasn't in that picture yet was he Connie?) and I find it funny that the two holding the twins were the one's having to be held themselves for the last photo. We did have one missing though because she had to stay in Arizona for work, but I'm going to see if I can do some photo magic and photo shop her into the picture.
It is amazing when all once little ones tower over you! They are a wonderful group of young ladies and gents and just for good measure we still have a couple of those very little ones in the group to enjoy.

I hope that everyone has a great Sunday spent with those you love, because those are the moments that make your heart smile.

Update on Kittens

2010-08-20T08:44:00.002-07:00

IMG_0092, originally uploaded by torri_g.

This week the kittens hit the 4 weeks old mark! They are all over 10 oz now and eating like crazy! They have a vet appointment tonight with a new vet who I'm hoping will be able to give me some guidance with next steps for food and other things. I'm also hoping to see about getting something for their little bottoms which have been pretty raw.
The picture is of Perrywinkle or Perry for short. He is the most laid back of the three kittens and really just loves to curl up and cuddle. The further away from his sisters that he can get the better he views it, because they are pretty mean to him. I think Perry is always going to have some very spiked hair because of his sisters...poor little guy!

I will post some more new pictures of all of the kittens and give some information about each of their personalities which are really starting to show. Everyone have a great Friday!

Kittens

2010-08-09T08:26:00.003-07:00

IMG_0017, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Wow it has been almost a month since my last post! I'm not going to go into any ramble about reasons, enough to say that life has just been very busy here in Arizona.

What I am going to do is introduce some kittens! July 20th we found an abandoned litter of kittens under the back patio. After a lot of crawling around in the mud and having to dig a couple out we had 6 very newborn, very premature kittens to either care for or get quickly to a shelter. We opted to care for the kittens since things that morning were very bad for them. Warming, running out for food, and the journey with the litter of 6 began. When they first entered the house they weighed 1 oz to 1.45 oz as the heaviest.

In the first 36 hours we lost 2 of the kittens, hearts broke and tears were shed but the girls and I stepped back up to keep going and to keep fighting to give them all of the love and care that we could. They had ups and lots of downs, but nearing two weeks we still had 4. Then two of them made another down turn, which we all did everything we could to help them fight, one turned back around but one didn't and died just after passing the 2 week mark. Even more tears this time because the hopes were that we could get her to turn back around. A vet visit to have them checked for general health and any suggestions for things that we needed to be doing proved to be annoying because the vet didn't have any good suggestions other than maybe we should just give up! We didn't and aren't giving up though.

As of today they are all 20 days old and tomorrow marks their 3 week old day. They have all opened their eyes, they are starting to attempt walking instead of the crawling drag. They are 5.70 to 6.73 oz now and eating like mad! The are snuggling up when they are done being fed, starting to clean each other and you, and they are beautiful! The girls and I remind each other each day that there is still a chance of losing them, but that is just to keep one another prepared for the possibility of heart break. We each have the determination to keep fighting for these little ones and will do it for as long as they need us to. Perry, Lucky Lucy, and Mina are all very loved!

If you want to see more picture of the kittens from the last couple of days click on the photo and it should take you to my flickr set of them or use the following link.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/angelstorms/sets/72157624563176497/

Sunday

2010-07-11T08:12:00.002-07:00

IMG_9936, originally uploaded by torri_g.

I have managed to yet again take a couple of weeks without posting anything. I think the idea of trying to post daily is for now just not something that is going to happen, I was really hoping for that though.
Summer vacation for the girls has turned out to be just about as busy as the school year was this year. Stephanie is working just about 40 hours a week and is on Monday going to attempt her drivers test one more time. Fingers are crossed for Monday because that will mean come fall term she can just take the car for those night classes...to bad the rest of the day hours are going to keep me in the car till we get her a car of her own.

Paige this week became a part time student and I couldn't have been more proud of her. She will be taking art classes this fall and she has been on an excited high about it all since Thursday. She also put in a couple of applications for some jobs and is hoping that soon she will hear.

Cheyenne has been busy working the Summer Cruise at the high school this past week and will work it again this coming week. Hard to believe that we are only about a week away from back to school registration time. She still needs to get her summer reading book for her AP class but finding time to sneak into a book store is proving to be a bit problematic. I'm hopeful though that this week will be the time that I can get her there and knock that one off of the never ending long list of things to get done.

In the area of us buying the house and land...well the paperwork has moved into processing phase and I think the only one's moving quickly with getting requested paperwork into them is us. The appraisal was ordered a week ago and everyone is waiting to hear a date for that one. There is a need for an address for the property which it doesn't seem to have one because it has never had a house built on it, just a huge garage for storage of cars and other toys. Plus add to that the fact that the one who needs to get that info was on vacation since before the 4th of July! This week it was nice to hear the sound of SSVEC out on the property starting their work of digging for running lines for the pole, transformer and pedestal. I have also heard the current owner of the property who just happens to be our contractor out there clearing trees, brush and digging holes for septic. I realized that I love the sound of this construction because it is for something that is going to be ours.

I really don't have anything else for this one. I hope that everyone is well and enjoying summer. I'm no longer going to make promises to be back daily, but I will try to post when I have a free minute or two.

Sibling Sunday

2010-06-27T07:45:00.002-07:00

Gypsy Rose, originally uploaded by torri_g.

I don't actually have all that much new to tell about the girls today. Riding lessons, work, summer vacation and a few school things have been filling their week. So instead let's follow Miss Gypsy Rose's example and just have a lazy lay around Sunday! Everyone have a great day.

Simple Friday

2010-06-25T07:44:00.002-07:00

IMG_9708, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Isn't he just a very handsome horse? A very wonderfully well trained horse too!

Something that doesn't scare me

2010-06-24T08:22:00.002-07:00

IMG_9712, originally uploaded by torri_g.

After the spider and lizard scare marathon here this morning, I'm trying to find my happy place and not think about the creepy crawling things of Arizona for a little bit.

Get Back Up

2010-06-23T07:23:00.002-07:00

IMG_9765, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Riding lessons for Paige and Cheyenne on Tuesdays is about to get renamed "Tossing" Tuesday or something similar to that. In the last two weeks they have made sure that my lungs are working fine and I can attempt to gasp in all of the air in Arizona.

Let me start with Cheyenne and last week. Since she started lessons she has done great except for whenever the horse makes a miss step in the arena, then her fear of falling would kick in and keep her from doing real well. Never fear though Cheyenne came up with a solution to that and last week I heard the words come out of her mouth to her teacher..."Push me off of the horse!" Yes when asked what she could do to help Chey get over her fear, Chey asked her to push her off of the horse! Hmm...yeah something not real right about that. They talked back and forth and then suddenly my cell phone rang with a call that I had to take, but keeping an ear on the back and forth conversation about being pushed off of the horse. Probably a good thing that I had my back to what happened next because Chey won and she got pushed off of the horse! Now not a mean push, it was a push of measured control, or at least that is what I keep telling their teacher. Cheyenne just went with the fall in a huge way! Scraped up arm, small bruise on thigh, some tears and then a funny thing...a determination to get back up on the horse and ride, oh and ride she did. There have been no fear of falling looks on her face since. She sent pictures of her battles scars to her friends and told them all what she did because she is very proud of herself for having the guts to do it. Side note to all of this is their teacher who I think is just wonderful, called several times that day to make sure Chey was alright, and several times in between the lessons to check. I think she may have some emotional scaring from the whole thing last week but of course Paige had to add to it this week.

Paige's was not a "push me off" thing, it was an "Oh Crap!" thing. I'm going to back up just a little bit with Paige for a minute. In one of her first lessons the horse got spooked and she had to do what their teacher calls the "Emergency Exit" off of him, and she did it perfectly. Even better was she did that move without even having been taught it by the teacher yet. So yesterday and her falling really just came out of the blue because she knows how to get off that horse without having to hit the ground. Their teacher is spending time introducing them to all kinds of riding right now and bareback has been the lesson the last couple of weeks. They do half of their lesson in saddle and then bareback. Paige loves the bareback riding. I can see her face light up as soon as she hears the words it is time to take the saddle off. Paige loves being close this horse and bareback gives her that connection that she loves. Bad thing about bareback if you are the second lesson of the day, the horse is getting really slick! All was going well till getting the horse up to a trot and doing leg muscle building by doing posting while bareback. One slip of Paige's grip with her legs, one bounce to many over trot polls and Paige was unseated. She tried like mad to get settled in her seat again but it was to late. She went from slipping up top to being kind of on the side of the horse, to the ground under the horse in less time than it takes to blink an eye. Paige did hit hard on the ground but immediate fear was they had been in trot mode when this happened and she was laying under the horse. Ever see a 1200 pound, 16 hand horse stop on a dime? Well, I did yesterday...and not only did he stop on a dime he self backed two steps with look of fear that I'm sure was greater than anyone else's out there. Paige on the other hand wasn't wearing a look of fear...she was laughing! She got up and let all of us know that she was fine, and then spent some personal time face to face with the horse telling him he did nothing wrong it had been her mistake, and thank you for not stepping on me. Then she got a boost back on the horse and went right back to what she had been doing.

Right now today thinking about these two and the fact that they keep pointing out that they have raised the bar for falling has me worried about lessons on Saturday with Stephanie, but we will go and will keep going. I am starting to think that come lesson days I might need some medication to help keep me calm and breathing though because yesterday there were words like learning to do jumps and barrel racing! Oh my!

Catching on Thorns

2010-06-22T07:40:00.002-07:00

IMG_9349, originally uploaded by torri_g.

I did it again, got one week of every day posting done and then blew it last week. To be fair to myself though I don't really remember my feet touching the ground all that much last week and I don't think the idea of signing on ever crossed my mind. What could keep my feet from touching the ground? Well we are in the process of buying 5 acres and having a house built on it! The great news and the speed at which so many things have already gotten done blew my feet right off the ground. It is still at the point where there are many miles to go till a moving day can be set, but after waiting for so many years I'm finding each small step right now to be very exciting!

Today is riding lessons for Paige and Cheyenne and I think I'm going to try to remember to take my camera out with. I really need some "focus" on calming my speeding mind this week and some time behind the camera should do the trick.
I hope that everyone is having a good week so far and that there are many good days for everyone.

Friday

2010-06-11T07:20:00.002-07:00

IMG_9621, originally uploaded by torri_g.

I have just about gotten back into a daily posting here! Of course having the pictures of the new baby girl to kind of helped get me to the desktop here this morning. Mama and baby girl are doing great and last night when we ran trash out to the cans they were out in the main paddock with baby girl checking everything out, of course she was staying very close to Mama while doing it. The really great part about the paddock that they are in is that it is right out in front of my place instead of up near the owners house. Which means that I can head out at any time to shot more pictures of this little one. I'm sure if I ask I can also head in any time to take pictures of the other baby girl to though. I'm thinking about trying to get a good picture of the proud Papa of both of the girls today also.

I hope that everyone has a great Friday!

June Baby Born

2010-06-10T13:21:00.002-07:00

IMG_9627, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Just real quick there was a new baby born this morning! I was so happy to be able to get out and take the first pictures of Mama and new baby girl!

Two weeks later

2010-06-10T06:44:00.002-07:00

IMG_9524, originally uploaded by torri_g.

It has taken me two weeks to get this picture posted, but at least I'm finally getting it done. Graduation night for Paige was to say the very least emotional, and I think this picture with her Dad pretty much says it all.

Two weeks later she is settling into life after graduation. There is a list of places she wants to go to put in job application, she wants to head to the college to check into taking a few art type classes, and she will be finishing up her thank you cards for mailing by Saturday.

I hope that everyone has a great Thursday.

When the horse puts you in time out!

2010-06-08T16:45:00.002-07:00

IMG00584, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Paige and Cheyenne had riding lessons this morning and I am completely blown away by their progress! Chey with only three lessons has just about caught up with her sisters, and Paige stepped it up a couple extra notches today too. Bob...who is the lesson horse...did have to let Paige know one time that she wasn't as in control as she thought she was. Instructor had Paige drop the reigns and do nothing but use leg to control Bob and the first couple of tries led right back to the same area of the arena...the GATE! See Bob by this point in time would have loved for the lessons to be over and since Paige wasn't using enough leg he picked his own direction and what he wanted to see done. The exercise was great for Paige though because she finally got the legs going and made Bob do what she wanted him to do.
Both girls were introduced to show maneuvers today and I can say that parking the horse on the bridge looked very difficult but both girls got it done. Paige was happy about being able to get to take Bob up to a cantor today with no lead line today, which was a huge deal for her.

Tomorrow Ms. Steph gets to go for her lesson and I can't wait to see the look on her face with how much her sisters stepped up the game today for lessons.

Early Monday Morning

2010-06-07T06:15:00.002-07:00

IMG_9528, originally uploaded by torri_g.

I'm just going to use another of the baby photo's since I haven't sat down at the desk top computer to upload any other pictures as of yet. But how could you not love looking at pictures of this tiny little girl? I'm still waiting to get a phone call about the birth of the next baby, which I hope will be sometime this week. Of course I will have to take some pictures of the first baby girl just to update her growth.

I think we have the start of our summer routine going, and I'm hopeful that it will find me with more time to get out with my camera. Today is going to be a lazy start day here though after a long weekend of just about all girls working. I hope that everyone has a great Monday!

Taking time

2010-06-03T07:41:00.002-07:00

IMG_9548, originally uploaded by torri_g.

I'm back again to play a little bit of catch up. Seems like I'm always playing catch up here anymore but hopefully I will learn to get that balanced back out this summer. Let's start with the picture first then I will move on to all things "G" country.
One of the two expected baby horses arrived this past Saturday and I was thrilled when I got the phone call about it. Paige and I rushed over to see the 10 minute old baby girl and loved watching her get acquainted with those very long legs of hers and her Mama. Mama horse is a first time mama and did a perfect job of helping her new little one get going, and protecting her.

The end of the school year came last Thursday and graduation was that night. I have pictures to post from that, including a very emotional wreck Paige getting a huge hug from her Dad. Project graduation was skipped because she just couldn't get past the emotional state that the whole thing left her in.
The busy last week of school lead to a very busy weekend and finally this week there was a bit of a crash and catch our breath. I think on Monday this whole family redefined doing nothing and being lazy people.

Yesterday Todd left for Atlanta, Ga for his TDY and the girls and I went out and did some summer wardrobe shopping and dinner out. Today is the day that we all try to get into a summer routine. Steph is working every day and Friday will be her last day at one of her two jobs. Paige is taking this week and next as a break and getting herself focused before making phone calls and getting in contact with some people about doing ride alongs this summer with horse vets. Thanks to some new friends she has a good list of people to contact and see about learning more about the field she really has a passion for. Cheyenne is is going to keep me busy running this summer with a baby sitting job that anyone would love to have...well the pay is what they would love to have. She also has some DECA activities that will be going on and there is a summer AP reading list that we need to get the books for.

The rest of summer is going to be filled with horse back riding lessons, hopefully some swimming and whatever else I can come up with. Since we are looking at Todd having to travel every month this summer I'm thinking about planning some day trips with the girls when they aren't working to help pass the summer time. Oh and hopefully sometime this weekend the second baby horse will make its appearance so we can enjoy seeing that one get going in the world too. It has been a crazy last couple of months and I have never so looked forward to summer vacation as I have this year. Even with the busy of still having to keep on schedule it will be far less than what it has been.

Opps I almost forgot to mention something...Steph got another scholarship from her Lion's Club so now it looks like her first two years of college will be taken care of with a little bit of help with books from us. No student loans! Just so you know try riding home in a car with her after she gets that news! I'm still pretty sure that the car floated home with her in it that night.

I hope that everyone is doing enjoying their week and have a wonderful Thursday!

Sunday

2010-05-23T06:16:00.002-07:00

IMG00547, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Look a picture! Of course it is one that is off on my cell phone, but that is because I haven't bothered to download the pictures off of the card in the camera. Oh wait I would have to have more than just a few minutes of time to get that done, and that is not something that I have had and probably won't till after this week is done. It is time for the last week of school and the build up to graduation this week. I will be spending tons of time in my car this week transporting or picking up at so many different times I'm not even sure if I will be able to keep it straight. Even hubby dear has some assigned times for driving because no matter how hard I tried I just couldn't figure out how to be in two places at once.
Today however, I'm going to take time to be like this little lizard and just sit and soak up some sun and chill. Well other than getting laundry, cleaning and dinner done. Okay for the most part I'm going to try and have a semi lazy kind of day, which most of my lazy time will probably be right now sitting out on the patio with hubby, laptops and cups of coffee.

I hope that everyone has a wonderful lazy as can be Sunday.

Graduation

2010-05-22T06:00:00.002-07:00

Well for anyone that is waiting the news is that by Wednesday of this week we found out grades for Paige and she will be walking with her class next Thursday! I have no idea how she did it, or the even better question to be answered of why she would have created the problem to being with, but she pulled that grade up and passed! Yesterday was her last day of school, and now all that remains is three rehearsals and a graduation. I can honestly just about happier than she was heading into the school yesterday. The thought that I no longer have to try to convince her that this is important or that just because she feels the need to mess with a teachers mind she doesn't get to is the best for me right now. Today I will make yet another attempt to get a cap and gown photo of her and see about finishing one last graduation project.

I hope that everyone has a great weekend!

Keep Trying

2010-05-16T07:50:00.002-07:00

I keep trying to get back into the routine of posting pictures and small entries here, but life just has been keeping me so very busy. Running kids here, there and every where...rapidly approaching the end of yet another school year and all the chaos that brings. Riding lessons, work schedules, printing projects, announcements, and the list continues. In the last couple of weeks it seems that Sunday morning and bringing my laptop out to the back patio is about the only time I am actually sitting down at a computer anymore. So even without any picture for today how about an update.

Todd- Work is going fine and he is coming up on another TDY trip here quickly. I think this time it will be GA but I honestly would have to look at the schedule to be sure about that. He had a good 46th birthday this week, and enjoyed all of the gifts that the girls and I got for him. His netbook will make traveling with computer much easier come June and I'm blown away by how small yet powerful that tiny little thing is.

Stephanie or Binky Sue- She finished her freshman year of college this week and by Friday she had a second job. She is juggling riding lessons, 2 jobs, and driving lessons for the summer vacation and I hopefully I will get to see her every now and then for a meal.

Paige or Sweetpea- The final countdown is on as of tomorrow with only 5 more days of school left for her. I still need to shoot a cap and gown portrait of her and put together the last of my printing projects for her senior year. Paige let her grade fall in the third quarter in a major needed class and will be sweating this week to hear if all of her hard work paid off or not. Graduation is on the line and there has been a major lesson learned and I got to hear the words "Mom you were right". I can honestly say this is one time and one thing that I would have rather not been right about, but hopefully it is something that she will not forget. I have done everything for her with the thought that if she pulls this off I'm going to be yelling at the top of my lungs "Thank goodness I'm done!"

Cheyenne or Little Bug- She is another one that is trying to keep me trapped in my car for endless hours but other than that there isn't all that much. She is already looking forward to her sophomore year and we haven't even hit the end of her freshman year. She has already made changes to her schedule for next year and hopefully come registration time she won't feel the need to make even more.

Me? Well I'm stilling trying to take over the world via spending as much time in my car as possible. Still thinking about adding a coffee maker and small fridge in there since I always seem to be in it. :) Life is good and very busy but I'm hoping for some down time coming up here and maybe some real time to grab that long neglected camera of mine and shoot some pictures.

I hope that everyone is enjoying a great weekend and I'll keep trying to get back into some kind of regular posting.

Sibling Sunday

2010-05-02T15:06:00.002-07:00

IMG_9233, originally uploaded by torri_g.

If I can't get a picture of all three of the girls together I can at least go with the next best thing...a picture of stuff that belongs to them.

It has been a good while since I did a sibling Sunday post and as we draw near to the end of another school year and I'm supposed to be sitting working on printing senior portraits, what better way to blow that off than to sit here typing up an entry instead.
If things are straight in my mind, which heaven knows the odds of that aren't very likely, this should be Binky Sue's last week of classes. She has had a great first year but is very much looking forward to having the summer off to focus on things like working more. Binky Sue has been doing driving lessons, and horse back riding lessons so I guess one way or another she is going to become self transporting here this summer.

Sweetpea is glad that the final stretch for senior year is in sight now. Actually I think she would love for it to be done today instead of still having a couple of weeks to go. Since this semester has proven to be a bit of a battle with Sweetpea we aren't doing any type of push asking what is in store for after graduation...we just want to see the graduation and then work our way from there. Sweetpea is loving her horseback riding lessons and can't wait for summer and is hoping to be able to have more time to spend with the horses.

Little Bug is still doing great with school and is already looking forward to next school year when her older sister won't be at the school anymore. She joined DECA and is seeing just how much she can add to my already full daily calendar, but I'm happy that summer vacation will be here soon so that can stop for a little while. Little Bug will get to start her riding lessons coming up here soon if all goes well.

I really don't have to much more to report for the girls other than I can't wait for summer vacation this year just so I don't have to keep living in my car on a daily basis! I hope that everyone has a wonderful Sunday with those you love, and I can't wait for hubby to get back home here tonight from his TDY. Everyone take care and I will try to be back with more pictures this week.

Friday

2010-04-30T06:27:00.002-07:00

IMG_9179, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Close up

2010-04-29T08:16:00.002-07:00

image, originally uploaded by torri_g.

What happens when you take to many pictures of one horse? Well, the horse that isn't getting their picture taken comes over and shoves you in the middle of your back through the fence around the arena. She got my attention and I made her happy by shooting a couple pictures of her. Then she wandered off to a different area of the paddock. All I will have to do is remember to point the camera at her a couple of times each lesson and hopefully I won't get pushed from behind again.

I hope that everyone has a great Thursday!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-04-28T08:02:00.002-07:00

IMG_9161, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Flowers for Tuesday

2010-04-27T08:16:00.002-07:00

IMG_8966, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Keeping it short and simple here this morning since I have to head off to riding lessons with Binky Sue here soon. Did want to make sure to at least post a photo again today though.

I hope that everyone enjoys a wonderful Tuesday!

Late snow

2010-04-26T08:19:00.002-07:00

Late April Storm in AZ, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Here for your viewing pleasure is a photo taken Friday after all the rain, snow, and ice stopped. I spent a good share of the day wondering if I was actually in Arizona that day. Our last winter storm usually comes in conjunction with the Easter weekend. I guess this year mother nature thought that one wasn't enough so mixed up a good one for us. It was very pretty at times, and once the snow stopped and the sun finally got to come out from behind the clouds that had been hiding it for three days the snow was gone in about an hour. Almost all of my plants faired well with the cold, just some mild pruning of some that got a little cold burnt on leaves or flowers.
I'm just hoping that we don't have another storm like it this week. Warmer and windy would be fine, I don't want to risk another windy and wow cold with the plants.

I hope that everyone has a great Monday and that the week brings great things to all of us.

Sunday

2010-04-25T07:12:00.002-07:00

Birdy war, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Don't need a lot of word for this one, so I'm not going to.

I hope that everyone has a wonderful Sunday spent with those you love.

Riding lessons

2010-04-24T16:19:00.002-07:00

Riding lessons, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Today was the girls first day of riding lessons! They have a great teacher and Sweetpea and Binky Sue were thrilled to get started. Little Bug will be starting just a little later because her Mom is a big mean Mom. I'm happy that we didn't have anyone falling off of the horse today, but we did have one fall while trying to get on the horse. Watching one try to put the saddle on the horse was very funny and I'm not sure the horse will ever really trust her to get that saddle on without lots of help. We have next lessons set for this week and very much looking forward to it.

I hope that everyone has a wonderful Saturday and that there is lots of laughter for you today.

Sweetpea Senior Portraits

2010-04-21T08:36:00.002-07:00

Paige Portrait Finals, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Over the weekend I sent out the link to family and friends to Sweetpea's senior portraits for everyone to start picking what they wanted. If I missed sending you a link please let me know and I will get it sent to you. This weekend the printing gets going but don't worry if you can not decied what you want this collage is sample of what we have planned for those who can not pick, plus we have other's as back up choices.

I hope that everyone is having a good week and I'm keeping an eye out for e-mails with portrait picks!

Happy Sweet Sixteen Alexandria Marie

2010-04-13T08:45:00.002-07:00

IMG_8836, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Simple Wednesday

2010-04-07T08:10:00.002-07:00

IMG_8710, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Simple Tuesday Sunrise

2010-04-06T08:13:00.002-07:00

IMG_8790, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Simple Monday

2010-04-05T09:22:00.002-07:00

IMG_8928, originally uploaded by torri_g.

There was nothing simple about getting this photo uploaded this morning, but after 10 minutes it finally is up. I think I'm going to stick with a simple theme for this week and posting just a picture and very few words.

I hope that everyone has a great Monday and hopefully it will be a good week.

Should be sibling Sunday

2010-04-04T20:01:00.002-07:00

IMG_8701, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Hold on a minute...I'm making another post in less than a week's time? Yes I am! I am trying to deal with my posting issues here. My biggest issue right now is that my internet is great for things like browsing the web or sending e-mail, but for uploading pictures to my flickr account it is painfully slow! Painfully slow tends to not work well for me so I keep just closing things down and walking away. Which of course will lead to nothing being posted. Tonight though I have made myself sit for the upload and I am going to post a real update about family.

Let's see how about we start with Ret. Army Guy. He had a good share of this last week off because of getting back from his TDY. Since he was off he helped me with some projects out in the back yard, and getting the last of some stuff moved over to storage. We also took a day to just go shopping for a few more new clothes for him. There are a couple other pieces for his work wardrobe that I would like to make a trip up to Tucson to buy, but he is pretty set otherwise. I enjoyed our day of shopping because it had been such a very long time since we had done that. Then again I loved working out in the yard with him for the same reason.

The girls...they are still the girls! The school year is running down quickly, and I think all three of them are starting to look forward to summer vacation. Oh and it is April which means that it is time for family and friends to look at portraits of Sweetpea and start thinking about what you want. I will probably send links back out to everyone in about a week or so. Don't worry though Sweetpea will be making her choices for what will go out for anyone who just can't narrow it down.
I know that I should probably have more to type about the girls but to be honest if I wrote down every thing I would still be typing come tomorrow morning, and I really just don't need to do that.

As for me...I'm loving finally having the feeling of being settled into the new place. I'm really loving living out here and I'm starting to pick my camera up more often again. I find myself smiling contently most days, and love the sound of laughter that has started filling this house. From birthday last year to birthday this year there isn't a whole heck of a lot that hasn't changed, but here I am on the other side of it all and finding that I really do love just how it all has gone.

Alright...I hope that everyone has had a wonderful Easter spent with those you love. My goal for this week it to make myself sit daily and do an upload of at least one picture. Fingers crossed that I can not pull out any hair in the process!

Friday

2010-04-02T10:05:00.002-07:00

IMG_8864, originally uploaded by torri_g.

It has been a while since I posted any animal for Friday, heck getting to the point that it is just a while since I posted anything at all. I will keep this one simple though and just post a picture of one of our new animal neighbors. I still don't know this one's name, but I can tell you that she is very pregnant and getting a bit on the tempermental side. I think since I didn't have food in hand she really didn't care for me standing out there taking her picture. That or she just didn't want any photographic proof of just how big she is.

Anyway, it is Friday and that means time to share photo's of your favorite inside or outside fur or feather covered friends. I hope that everyone has a wonderful Friday and a very blessed Easter weekend.

Simple Saturday

2010-03-20T07:35:00.002-07:00

IMG_8765, originally uploaded by torri_g.

I'm taking forever here with trying to get back to posting on a regular basis. Between the move and setting up the house, all the running of kids, getting sick twice and company, I'm just not doing a real great job of it. Oh and let's not forget that since it is March there is the round of three birthdays in this house this month! I'm trying though and do hope to get better about it now that I have some photo's to share of things.

Sweetpea and I spotted this butterfly yesterday and did a search of the tree's around the house for more chrysalis and boy do we have a good number! Sweetpea would like for us to daily do a watch of them in hopes of catching pictures of one as it emerges. So finger's crossed for that.

All of the girls are doing fine and have been enjoying their spring break this past week. To bad it ends come Monday morning, but we have had a pretty good week here with some great temperatures. Now if we could just get rid of the wind that seems to be never ending this year!

There is probably a lot more that I could post about but since it is Sweetpea's birthday today I'm just going to keep this short for now. I hope that everyone enjoys a wonderful weekend spent with those you care about most!

Feline & Furball Friday

2010-03-05T05:53:00.002-07:00

Mia, originally uploaded by torri_g.

It is Friday which means it is time for the felines and furballs to have their day to shine on the blog. Mia is starting us out here with the first week back since the move got started. We have lots of new furry neighbors to photograph out here and I'm looking forward to not only capturing photo's of them but sharing stories about them all.

Now if you want to play along all you have to do is post your own and leave a link here in comments by next Friday. That's it! How more simple can it be?

I hope that everyone has a wonderful Friday and a great weekend.

New Start

2010-02-28T04:24:00.002-07:00

Sunrise, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Odds of today's sunrise looking like this are pretty slim since the storm finally rolled in and it is pouring down rain. I finally got the desktop set up so I could get pictures downloaded off the card in the camera, and next is hanging pictures and other things up in the house. Which means that I'm about done! I still need to move some things over to storage, but that is going to depend on just how much rain this storm dumps on us here this morning, because if it dumps to much the road will be like driving on soup.

It is the best feeling to be just about done with this. I still think a cross country move is easier, but since I no longer have plans of making that type of move I will just have to deal with the stress that a local move brings from here on out.

I shot the sunrise picture earlier in the week and my thought other than "how beautiful" was "new start". We are done! I know that retirement was November 1st but moving was the final tie. Now yes, Todd still works on base...but it all feels different now and I like that. So here is to a new start and all that may come our way!
I hope that everyone enjoys a wonderful Sunday.

Trying

2010-02-27T12:45:00.002-07:00

I guess another post without pictures is just going to have to do for now. I have a good amount of new pictures on the card in the camera...I just don't have the desktop completely set up and ready for downloading yet. Heck I barely have it set up for being able to sit down at to type or even do much web surfing as of yet.

The unpacking of the house is going well, it is the setting up that seems to be taking me a little bit longer than normal. I've done something to my back and it just seems to hurt more with each thing I do and each trip I have to make in the car. Which seems to be like a million trips a day right now. Good news is that the even that is starting to settle down some and I should be achieving a form of balance here shortly.

All three of the girls are getting settled into new routines and the house rapidly. I'm hearing less questions about where something is located now and that is always a great sign. I'm hoping that by tomorrow I can have the desktop finally set up totally and be able to come back and post some pictures.

I hope that everyone is doing well and staying warm. Have a great Saturday!