Nature Through My Lense.....

Sunrise......

Shadow.....

Tyler's Challenge for Me

This post is about Tyler. As a mom, we sometimes have to give in and grow in areas we previously didn't want to venture into. Playing chess was one of those areas for me. I have never been a good stratigist (is that a word?) and math was not my favorite subject. For these reasons I avoided learning how to play chess as I was growing up. When Tyler was about 6 years old and in Kindergarden, it became obvious that he was gifted in the area of math. I used to play games such as Uno and Skip-bo with him and for some reason he wanted to learn to play Chess. I decided to look up the rules on the internet and we used a cheap set that we already had. I taught him the basics and he picked it up really fast. Now he plays at school for fun and claims to have beaten one of the best players at his school. I have to admit I rarely beat him now and he can beat his dad occasionaly (Ryan is really good at math and is good at stratagy games- what do you expect of an accountant/auditor?). Now, back to the picture- it was a really pretty Saturday during Christmas break and Tyler gets this great idea of playing Chess outside with me. I didn't jump up and down at the idea but I agreed too because it was such a pretty day and I needed to get outside and soak up some Vitamin D. Tyler got this glass set for Christmas and wanted to use it all the time. It was about 30 degrees outside and verrrry bright. We had to wear sunglasses! We played in our front driveway. As usual, Tyler won and I was able to savor the memory of our together time by taking a picture. Tyler has since given me the compliment that he likes playing against me because I challenge him(I don't play easy). I guess I've improved over the years! But he still beats me!!!!!!

Dallin's Broken Wrist

Dallin spent the last month in a cast after falling off my bed! Our bed is pretty high up since the newer mattresses are so thick and plush. I was in my bathroom and had just set Dallin down on the bed to watch a PBS kids program with Sydney. It was a Sunday morning and I was getting ready for the day. All of a sudden I heard a loud boom that sounded like someone hit the floor hard. For a brief second I paused to listen for who it was and if they really did get hurt. Dallin started screaming and I rounded the corner fast and saw him face down with both hands on the ground on either side and his neck twisted up. He had landed face first I thought. After a few seconds of checking to see if he could move, I carefully moved him to my bed to check him out further. I thought his neck muscles were really bothering him on his right side. After about an hour, he had settled down and our Home Teachers came. Dallin favored his right arm and would off and on wimper. I had given him some pain medicine and was really trying to see if it was only muscular pain- in which case there isn't much doctors can do except tell me to keep giving him pain medicine. After the Home Teachers left, I decided to take Dallin to the doctor. I took him in and the doctor didn't think he broke anything and didn't offer to take any x-rays. I really thought he was right and that his neck was just twisted. A week and a half later I took Dallin in for a checkup and told his pediatrician that I was concerned about his crawling since it had changed after the fall off the bed. One hand was turning outward instead of turning inward as he was crawling. We immediatly were sent for x-rays. I was surprised to find that his wrist was broken about a half-inch above the joint. Then I was mortified that he had gone so long without a cast on!!!! What a tough kid! I took these photos right before they were going to take off his cast. If you scroll down to the christmas post, the picture of Dallin playing with his new toys is during the time that his wrist was broken but not in a cast yet.

Gorgeous January in the Rockies

A couple of days after Christmas we needed to make an unplanned trip to Richland, Washington to pick up Ryan's sister Kathryn and move her back to our house. She had planned on driving herself in the moving van and with the help of her ward, she was going to pack everything up despite having total knee replacement five weeks earlier. Well, she got ill and Ryan, Sydney, Dallin and I drove to Washington to help her move. These are some of my favorite pictures on the way to Washington.

Here is our front entryway with the temporary wall and door that Ryan constructed to close off the front room so Kathryn could have her own room. She is a painter/artist and so we have been privledged to she her in action in her room/studio. She also can play the piano and brought her electric keyboard. I will post a couple pictures of Dallin playing it in a later post.

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning we did our family tradition of reading from the second chapter in Luke of the Saviors birth. We had my brother-in-law Rich with us and spent the rest of the morning opening gifts and had an awesome christmas dinner. Rich knows how to cook very well and he and I worked together to have turkey, potatoes, real cranberries, a great greenbean dish with garlic and onions, stuffing and gravy that took four hours to make! It was perfection! I forgot to get pictures though! Thanks for all your work Rich! We had a great time!