This is my first attempt at posting pictures- the water lilly picture was a sample from my computer so it doesn't count. WARNING- I have never taken a photography class and so these are my best attempts using a 3.1 megapixel Kodak camera that I only slightly know how to use;) My sister Kristi inherited the photography genes! Maybe I can get her to start a Blog! The rose is in my front yard and I call this photo--- Rise Above---- Hahaha, I'm now a photographer!

This is our cat Nickels who is about 5 years old. I always wanted a cat growing up. My Mom and my Brother Randy were allergic to cats then but now have gotten over them somehow. My parents even have a cat that looks similar to Nickels. I love Nickels except I don't like finding him in Dallin's Crib. He is strickly an indoor cat and still has his claws. We are lucky our furniture seems to do just fine and it isn't in shreds. Now, if we could only do something about the fur.......

This is our faithful dog named Sampson. He is about 3 1/2 years old and is finally out of the puppy stage. He can sit, lay down, roll over (sometimes), throw a toy, speak, and he can get our morning paper from the driveway. When I say he CAN, it doesn't always mean he WILL. Sometimes he is so excited to be let out the front door without a leash on and realizes his doggy friends are waiting for him across the cul-de-sac. The other dogs are always outside and are tethered to stakes in the ground in the backyard. The families can't afford to put a total fence around the yard yet (like us), so Sampson has easy access to his friends. They love him and the feeling is mutual! Sampson is an indoor dog most of the time and only goes out to play/take care of business. I will have to write more about him later.

"Where is that bird?" wonders Sampson

One of our plum trees from our mini orchard. Most of the trees are dwarfs so that they can be picked easily and we won't get overrun by fruit. The kids love eating the plums for snacks or in their lunches that we make from home. Plums anyone?

Our neighbors planted the gorgeous Maple trees that you can just barely see in the background. They put in about 5 of them along that fence line. I love Maple trees, but hate the Box Elder beetles that thrive on the trees and propagate like crazy here. They begin laying eggs around the outside of the house and in several years I'm sure they will be all over IN the house. They are very hard to get rid of and I've already found a couple inside my house. But like I said, the trees are gorgeous!!

This last photo is of Tyler getting his Arrow of Light award and moving up into Boy Scouts from the Cub Scouting program. He is on the left. That's all I have for now! I hope you've enjoyed the pictures so far! Tyler and Sydney are at school now so I will have to wait to get updated photos of them. P.S. I've been trying to edit the wording around the pictures and get rid of the double spacing, but it won't let me. I need to learn HTML!!!!