4. Biggest Fear

I would love to say that I didn’t do this theme earlier in the year because I couldn’t figure out what I was afraid of…. but it’s probably the opposite – there are so many things that creep me out or scare me that I couldn’t decide on what the “biggest” was.

I wouldn’t say this is my biggest fear, but a snake that climbs trees definitely ranks up there with things that freak me out!! I think what’s even more terrifying is that I used my iPad to take this photo… that probably scares me more than anything! =)

 

 

17. Gate

The one thing I love about living further “out east” than before is seeing open spaces and being able to enjoy the view on the backroads.

Last week when heading home from my daughter’s volleyball practice, there was an amazing sunset… it even made the clouds opposite the sunset beautiful!

A4. Patriotism

We spent the holiday weekend in Cashiers, North Carolina visiting family. As I went to one of my favorite old barns, I noticed that they had hung a flag in honor of Memorial Day.

11. Descending

My kids absolutely love to ski. As I play catch-up on my blog and am trying to organize photos from the year and ran across this one. My son is 9 and an absolute kamikaze on the ski slopes. I dress him in crazy pants so I can find him on the slopes before he barrels past me.

 

39. Rainy Day

It seems that it usually rains in the afternoon right before my kids get out of school! I have an enormous sunroof on my vehicle, and I love to capture the raindrops sitting on the glass. Nothing fancy done here… just used my cell phone and shot straight up at my roof. Love the color of the clouds above the drops.

8. Common Cliché Phrase

The most common cliche phrase that seems to come to mind these days is “curiosity killed the cat”. I promise – the cat is not dead, and has not been harmed in any of his exploits yet….

I’ve always been a dog person. My mom is allergic to cats, and I never really spent any time around them. Somehow, my children convinced me to get a cat. We had gone to the shelter last summer to photograph dogs and I told them that we would look at the kittens. We didn’t really pick one out, he actually picked us. He was too small to go home then, and we were going to be away for five weeks, so we ended up picking him up when we returned home in August. This cat has been a great source of entertainment, and often I’ve wondered what in the world goes through his mind!

He likes to be inside things and on things where he doesn’t belong….

Sometimes he has a playmate that also climbs in places he doesn’t belong….

Sometimes we are on lizard hunting expeditions…

and probably the easiest way to end up getting yourself in trouble – eating out of the dogs’ food bowls….

and then to make up for it, ends up doing this after his exploits…

34. OMG!

I will warn you now… this is not a pretty picture!

My cat. He creates many OMG moments in our house. He appears to be a calm, sweet kitty… but he’s not. He is a lizard assassin. No lizard – no matter how big or small – does not stand a chance with him.

He is an inside cat, but is the king of the lanai. I normally close the door when he’s out so he doesn’t bring anything inside with him. I learned a few weeks ago that lizards “play possum”… if I find ones that he’s killed, I usually place them outside in what my husband calls our Lizard Relocation Program. I don’t know what I was doing, but I grabbed a napkin and used it to pick up the lizard and throw in our trash can. The next time I opened the cabinet to throw something away, the lizard jumped out and ran across the kitchen floor!

Anyway… back to my OMG story that actually has photos. Yesterday, I see the cat on the rug staring at something… he’s newest little lizard toy. I grabbed the cat and locked him in another room then grabbed a kleenex to pick up the lizard. I normally won’t do this, but my husband and kids weren’t home, so I had to grab him. When I came back in, I found the rest of the lizard on the floor….

 

yep, that’s its tail. One worse? It was still moving….

 

 

 

41. Shades Of Gray

I’m not a huge fan of cold and snow, but I do really enjoy our time out west in Teton Valley, Idaho during Christmas break and my children’s mid-winter break. While everyone else goes out and skis, I usually wander around the valley or head over the pass to spend the day in Jackson, Wyoming and Grand Teton National Park.

This was taken in the Valley one day this winter… it was pretty gray to begin with, so it really felt like a photo that needed to be black and white.

48. Three Of A Kind

When we moved, I knew we were moving further “Out East” and knew that further out in the country meant more and different critters, which is a little scary considering how many we had at our old house! Surprisingly, we apparently moved to the tree frog capital of the world. These three were hanging out near one of the carriage lights waiting on a snack….

23. Letters

Some letters…. and a couple numbers. =)