Project 365 - Days 254-260

Day 254 - September 11

Another gorgeous sunrise - sorry, but I don't ever tire of these or of taking pictures of them either ;-)

Day 255 - September 12

Outside picking flowers (aka weeds) on a warm afternoon

Day 256 - September 13

We get some strong/strange storms here in North Texas, but this was only the second time I had seen these holes punched into the clouds like that.  Very eerie...

Day 257 - September 14

I also never tire of seeing the deer on our property.  I would name them if I could tell them apart ;-)

Day 258 - September 15

Another huge storm rolling in.  The enormity of this cloud was hard to capture on film.  My lens couldn't fit it all in nor show the hugeness (is that a word?) adequately.

Day 259 - September 16

I'm pretty sure these are from the same day but from another angle, taken up at the house.  This storm missed us, unfortunately, but to see it forming from the outside of the storm was incredible.  That is showing a LOT of wind activity in the cloud.  If I remember correctly, this was a pretty intense storm that hit Ft Worth...

Day 260 - September 17

Again, same storm but a few moments later when some new clouds formed...incredible.  While this storm missed us, I think this was the beginning of rain returning to North Texas.  As of today (Feb 17, 2012) we are officially just out of the drought here and storms like this coming on a more regular basis is the reason why, praise the Lord!

Project 365 - Days 247-253

Day 247 - September 4 

Rosie chillaxin' on the patio...she's so cute!

Day 248 - September 5

Starting to get all my documents together for our home study so we can go get her...

Day 249 - September 6

Rosie loves to race around our property

Day 250 - September 7

I never get tired of our sunrises and sunsets.

Day 251 - September 8

Amelia trying out her Daddy's motorcycle - this girl likes to go FAST!

Day 252 - September 9

Out for a little jaunt on Butters - she's learning how to balance and hold on at the same time ;-)

Day 253 - September 10

After the fire that got a little too close for comfort, I decided we needed to keep the trailer out in order to practice our trailer loading more often.  Ava did a great job with Tinkerbell!

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...

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...

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!  

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!

  

Project 365 - Days 212-218

Trying to catch up...seems weird to be going all the way back to July!!

Day 212 - July 31

This was my best attempt to get a picture of the bird's nest (with the Momma inside) in our tree outside.  She built it well within the tree so it was difficult!!

Day 213 - August 1

Quick trip to the American Girl Doll Store in Dallas.  The girls got to pick out a new outfit for their dolls and we had lunch (though not at the cafe there - they were closing :-(

Day 214 - August 2

Did I mention it was hot this summer?  And that we were in a major drought?  One of the few times in Texas where the heat index is LOWER than the actual temp...which 109 was the actual high that day...

Day 215 - August 3

Swimming lessons began again - second 2-week course for both the girls...

Day 216 - August 4

Ava loves taking her lessons and learning with the teachers and coaches.  She considered joining the swim team this fall but decided against it after I explained to her that it would involve going straight from school to practice 3x a week (which means no play time after school) and they don't "play" in the water at practice, they actually swim hard!

Day 217 - August 5

Love love love this verse...what a great reminder to keep our eyes on the Lord, even in the midst of trouble and tribulations.

Day 218 - August 6

We've started an evening ritual of getting in our swim suits, going up to the barn to muck the stalls, feed, and turn out the horses to graze overnight (coolest part of the day) then we run and jump in the pool to cool off and clean up!  Rosie joins us at every step but lays, gazing out the back of the property, looking for evil lurkers!

Project 365 - Days 205-211

Day 205 - July 24

Starting off breakfast with a little Angelina Ballerina on the iPad...

Day 206 - July 25

Swim lessons have begun again and this little girl is loving it!

Day 207 - July 26

Stole this one from last week because I needed a filler but here is Amelia with her great-uncle Darin ;-)  As many of you know, Amelia can be quite shy when first meeting people and while she has met Darin before, it had been awhile, but she warmed right up to him.

Day 208 - July 27

We were at the grocery store after swim lessons and Amelia was tuckered out.  She put her head down on the handle and fell asleep...here's what it looked like from the top (to give some perspective)

Day 209 - July 28

First fire of the season that hit close to home.  That's the back edge of the fire on the left side of the screen and you can see the trucks and cars of volunteers from the fire department lining the road leading up to it.  This particular fire was directly across the street from the Big Cat Care rescue near our house.  Very scary for them...in fact, this fire re-ignited in the middle of the night and thankfully, the owners' Great Pyrenees dogs started barking, woke them up, and when they discovered the fire had reignited, they called the fire department again.

Day 210 - July 29

Mi-Wah, my high maintenance barn cat, needed his first of several seasonal allergy shots so it was off to the vet.  Like most cats, Mi-Wah does not like going there and apparently, all the cats like to hide in this cabinet door, so the tech opened it so Mi-Wah could climb inside and "hide".  Didn't get him out of his shot though...

Day 211 - July 30

Speaking of cats, here are my other two showing some brotherly love.  They sat there for awhile grooming each other and as it does most times, inevitably turned into a wrestling match!