Halloween costumes

I do have a tendency to go overboard at Halloween...

The White House

Sausalito

Supermoon

When Rachael and I drove to Utah, we had a chance to see the "super moon." It did actually look larger and brighter than average, although the picture doesn't really show that.  We stopped at a rest area somewhere across the salt flats to take this picture.

Family

Lorie came down to see Rachael in her 2nd grade musical.  It's so great to have a little family close for fun things like this!

Shoes

In this picture, you can see Rachael's favorite pink shoes.  We bought them last October to go with her Pinkalicious costume.

And here they are today, slightly worn.  She was genuinely disappointed when I told her they were no longer suitable for wearing.

2013

Dear little gratitude blog...

I didn't mean to be so long in posting.  You have been in my mind since July - like when we drove across the country and stopped at Mt Rushmore, when I took my last sunrise picture in Kentucky, when I took way too many baptism pictures of Rachael, two weeks ago in Yosemite, and anytime I take a quick picture of something that strikes me.  (Usually with my camera phone these days.)

So I have a new purpose for you, little blog.  Last year a got a sweet new MacBook Air and it is awesome.  Except I have used PCs my whole life.  Which is a long, long era in computer time.  Anyway, I need to figure out importing, organizing, editing and posting my pictures with my MacBook (and only my MacBook) so you are just the blog to do it.  Because now I can freely admit I have posted a lot on the family blog from my old laptop.  Ryan is rather embarrassed for us. But I'm determined to learn this system.

Let's start with a picture of Yosemite. It's currently the lock screen on my iPhone.

And I'll be back, gratitude blog.  I'm going to try to fill in one or two posts since last July.  I know there are plenty of pictures.

love,
me.

Mount Rushmore

On our driving trip from Kentucky to California, we took a 300 mile detour to see Mt Rushmore.  It was great to have something fun to do in the middle of that four day journey.  None of us had ever been there before and it was really something to see.

 Rachael at Mt Rushmore

They have flags from all 50 states on either side of the walkway 

Family picture 

We stayed for the lighting ceremony.  This picture doesn't really do it justice; it looks spectacular lit up at night.  

Peace Roses

I planted a peace rose when we moved to Kentucky.  I love them because they remind me of my Grandpa Page.  It has produced three or four good blooms a year, until this year, when it has bloomed like gangbusters, one lovely bloom after another.  I'll miss this beautiful plant!

Second Grade

Rachael's second grade portraits.  Because I knew we would be moving and I wasn't sure we would get a school picture this year, I made sure to get quite a few.  I love the giraffe print dress - giraffe is her favorite animal. We took these in our usual fashion: a few of my poses, a few of hers.  These are all my poses that I liked.

(This totally looks like a fake background to me.  But it's really the fence between our house and the neighbors.) 

(Same picture as above, cropped) 

Can you tell she's done for the day?