Video of the Week - Week 35 - Fire!

While I've already blogged about the fire and posted this video, I wanted to post it again for posterity's sake...this is the fire that was less than a mile from our house...

Project 365 - Days 240-246

Day 240 - August 28

I was taking some shots of the gorgeous sunset when this hummingbird flew right in front of the camera!  I was able to shoot the picture before he flew away - and this was taken with my iPhone too!  I was impressed with the fast shutter speed!

Day 241 - August 29

My beloved horse, Tommy.  I got so lucky when I bought him! (Though I didn't know it at the time...)

Day 242 - August 30

One of the two greatest gifts I've received in my life were from my father-in-law.  The first was a gas powered heater for my tack room in the winter, and the other was this portable swamp cooler for the barn in the summer!  Neither heats nor cools efficiently nor a big space but it takes the edge off the heat or cold!  While it wasn't on at the time, even the cats know cooler air comes out of here and I think MeiWah was hoping to get some...

Day 243 - August 31

The day of the big fire that threatened our property...

Day 244 - September 1

This was the day we first saw our little peanut's face for the first time!!  I can't show her publicly yet - not until final approval from China but I can assure you - she is a super cute girl!

Day 245 - September 2

Ava and Trinity joking around with a skeleton at Trinity's Daddy's work...

Day 246 - September 3

This rooster lives at our friends' house - the friends who let us bring all of horses to their property when that fire threatened our house earlier in the week.  Anyway, I liked the silhouette in the early morning sunlight...

Video of the Week - Week 34 - Kittens

This was just too cute not to share...and has a funny ending!

Project 365 - Days 233-239

Day 233 - August 21

Nothing like a quick Panera lunch after church!

Day 234 - August 22

Ava's first day of 3rd grade!!

Day 235 - August 23

A rare shot of Jason and I (rare because Jason hates having his picture taken - doesn't it look like he's in a trance?) on our 15th wedding anniversary!  Ava took the picture of us!  I think we were headed out to dinner with friends...

Day 236 - August 24

Oh yes, we went out to dinner with our friends the Joiners.  Kelly and I made the guys sit in the back seat for the ride home...

Day 237 - August 25

Took these two out for a ride...that's Tommy on the left and Magic on the right...

Day 238 - August 26

I had to my ultra-zoom lens zoomed all the way in for this shot of our neighbor's horse getting some respite from the sweltering afternoon heat.

Day 239 - August 27

Well this shot is not for the faint of heart but this deer trunk/body brought Rosie's bone collecting habits to all new level...she was very proud of herself...

Video of the Week - Week 33 - Prayers

This is our sweet Amelia saying her prayers before bedtime.  I'll write the translation below in case you can't understand her but this was her standard prayer for months...;-)

"Jesus, I pray about, pray about:  we need rain quick!  Our horses are getting dusty (or thirsty?) and our plants won't even grow!  Amen."

Project 365 - Days 226-232

Well the good news is that I spent the good part of two days going through the rest of my photos from last year and quickly editing them and picking out the daily photo.  That means that hopefully, I can finish up my 365 project for 2011!  Based on the little amount of picture-taking I've done thus far, I might just be doing a monthly or at the most, weekly photo...

Day 226 - August 14

Here is our new cousin-in-law, Kory, with the girls.

Day 227 - August 15

My Dad and his sisters, from left to right, Kathy, Dorothy, and Nancy. 

Day 228 - August 16

Our family photo with my Grandpa and Grandma Lang.

Day 229 - August 17

It was difficult at times to see the swollen and flooded Mississippi River along our drive there and back.  The detours (due to parts of major highways still under water MONTHS after the rains) added many hours to our trek and while we were suffering from such a terrible drought back home, it was incredible to see the effects of too much rain here...

Day 230 - August 18

Once home, we quickly returned to our routine of swimming, lunch, swimming, napping, and then more swimming ;-)

Day 231 - August 19

Rosie is not a water dog, but even she would frequently wade onto the steps in the pool in order to cool off...

Day 232 - August 20

This is one of two hawks that live on or near our property.  I've seen one of them many times but this second one is darker and a little more elusive!  

Video of the Week - Week 32 - Fishing!

Here is the video I mentioned of Ava trying to unhook her first fish that she caught!  (And yes, we partook in the 'catch and release' program as we had no intention of eating that fish ;-)

Project 365 - Days 219-225

I'm trying to decide if it's worth it to try and catch up with this...life has become very busy and I'm finding I need to trim some of my schedule...so I will continue for now and perhaps trim this Project 365 as well!

Day 219 - August 7

We took off on a ten day vacation to attend my cousin's wedding in South Dakota (and for which Ava was going to be a flower girl).  We decided to take our time and first drive to Arkansas and spend some time camping at Ft Smith.  Ava was very excited to sleep out in her tent (while the rest of us enjoyed the air conditioning of the motorhome) and set out to set it up.  She actually did a great job and in a short amount of time, her tent was up!

Day 220 - August 8

The Ft Smith state park is actually quite nice and clean.  It was sweltering hot while we were there (though they did get several rain showers which we were desperately needing just a few hours south of here) but it didn't help to cool things down too much.  Still, we had a great time...

Day 221 - August 9

We were able to bring their bikes and Ava (and Amelia as well) spent a lot of time riding around.  Because it was the height of a hot summer, and the middle of the week, the park was fairly empty and there was a lot of room to spread out.

Day 222 - August 10

One of the fun things we did while we were there was rent a boat and go out to do some fishing.  Well, we tried to fish.  They even included a GPS device that detected where the fish were and at what depth, etc.  We still weren't successful although Ava and Jason went back to the lake later that evening (while Amelia and I stayed back in the motorhome) and Ava caught a fish - I'll probably upload that video as my video of the week so look for it soon!

Day 223 - August 11

One of the great things about going back for this wedding was the opportunity to see so many extended family we hadn't seen in a long time.  This was Amelia's first time meeting my grandparents and she quickly warmed up to my Grandma Lang (above) and my Grandpa Lang as well.

Day 224 - August 12

My sister and her family came as well so we had some fun times with Jack, my nephew.  He was a hoot with these goggles!

Day 225 - August 13

Ava excelled in her role as flower girl (as I'm sure you can imagine).  We had a wonderful time and feel so blessed to have been able to attend!