What Happened to Spring?

I thought we just celebrated the first week of spring! Sure it's been a little cold and a little windy, but there were promises of more glorious days ahead. Here's a few pictures I took a little over a week ago. Brockton was here to visit and of course we couldn't resist taking pictures. I watched him while Stacy took pictures, but I did happen to hurry and snap these two. He's such a cutie! He recently turned 15 months old.



Last Saturday I took him to the neighborhood park. He had a lot of fun climbing, sliding and exploring. I had a lot of fun watching him and taking pictures.

Here's the view from my backdoor this morning:

I think I'm ready to move!!!! Or at least head out to Disneyland and possibly forget to come back.

Winter (my niece, not the season) took engagement pictures of her brother and his fiancee and bridals recently in Arizona (where she lives) and California (on their family trip to Disneyland.)

See, doesn't that just make you want to move to a place where it's basically always warm and beautiful!?!

Click here to see more of Winter's pictures and in better resolution. They are wonderful! She's such a good photographer!

A Windy Day

Today was windy, but when I suggested that we go take a few pictures and Stacy said that she would actually pose for me, I was thrilled! She is so fun to take pictures of! I love my little girl! For more pictures from today, check out my photoblog.

More Town Square

Some more pictures Stacy and I took of each other at Town Square.

The Blue Hour:

My daughter the photographer

Her camera's smokin'!

Gotta love that gorgeous blue sky and of course my gorgeous daughter!

Town Square

Stacy and I attended an all day photocamp on Saturday. It was informational and we saw some great photos! I think our favorite lecture of the day was given by Trent Nelson photographer for the Salt Lake Tribune.

Afterwards, there was a photowalk at Provo's Historic Town Square. We got there a little early and had a great time. It was fun to see all the different types of people coming through the square. I would love to go there more often. First, we saw this great couple below. I didn't have my telephoto lens on yet, so I pointed them out to Stacy and told her to capture them. I love this photo. The look on her face shows how much she loves him and is glad to be with him. Look how she's all dressed up for the date and he isn't. It seems he's more focused on where they are going and she's more focused on him. Love it!


We also saw a couple on a bicycle built for two and another couple on a pair of bikes.

Then I saw this little old lady in her wheelchair. I hurried and put on my telephoto lens and snapped a few pictures. She sat there for awhile untying one of her bags.

I took this picture as she was leaving. She kind of used her hands and feet to move the wheelchair along. It was while taking this picture that I noticed her left foot was gone. How sad....

He's too Cute!

Stacy took these pictures of Brockton when he came over the other day. I know they're not the best with all the clutter in the background, but I thought she captured him perfectly when we told him "No, no."

Yum!

Okay, most of you know that I LOVE good deals and that I love "nummies." Awhile ago, Stacy had a buy one get one coupon for Baskin Robbins Sundaes. I got the most delicious sundae ever and I have been craving it ever since. I got their brownie sundae with Love Potion ice cream and I think raspberry sauce instead of hot fudge or maybe I got hot fudge too. I can't remember! How am I supposed to reproduce it? Anyway...I just found a BOGO coupon for sundaes again!!! Yea!!!!

Baskin Robbins BOGO Coupon

Last night was Jace's choir concert. It is tradition for me to take him to dinner afterwards (usually Wendy's.) He asked to go to Arby's last night. Sorry the prices were just too high, so we made the trek over to Wendy's after glancing at the menu board at Arby's. Too bad I hadn't found THIS COUPON before then.

Hope this post helps someone else who might be craving some "nummies."

By the way, notice I added a new link (Coupon Geek) to my Money Saving Blogs List. That is where I found these great deals!

I may just have a new favorite

at Jamba Juice! They have a few new flavors. I decided to try Red Gummy Bear yesterday. Mmmm.... I love it!!!

Now if only I could get me some of those palm trees...

Julie Parker

Stacy and I have been fans of Julie Parker's photography for a few years now, so when we found out that she was doing a seminar, we signed up fast. The seminar was today and while it was a little cold, we learned a lot and got some great shots. It did make me realize once again that I really want a new camera and lens!

This is Kathryn. She is such a cutie. You can see more photos from the shoot at my photoblog.

The Rest of the Story

I talked to some of my kids and they said it was okay with them if I wanted to post what was happening on my blog. On Monday I got a phone call from my ex-husband's second ex-wife. She asked if I had heard from my son McKeown. I told her that he told me that we were dead to him since I couldn't afford to loan him $250 in January. She asked if I had heard about what was going on with Kerry (my ex) and I said no, thinking she must mean that he had lost his job (again.) I was not prepared for the news at all. She said that he had been sent to PRISON for embezzling $230,000. I didn't know what to think, though I can't say I was totally surprised.

I had learned throughout my marriage that he could be very dishonest. He had tried embezzling from my parents when he worked for them. They fired him and paid for some counseling and encouraged me to stay with him, which I did for about 10 more years. He stole his brother's credit card twice and charged it up to $4000 each time. He loved to gamble. The list goes on and on. My relationship ended with him when I found out he was cheating on me, and that it wasn't the first time. I also found out that he had stolen the kids' savings bonds and cashed them in to pay for hotel rooms for his little lunchtime trysts. I kicked him out even though I was 2 months pregnant with Jace. We had been married almost 13 years. He met his second wife a few months later and they were married soon after. He was married to her for almost 13 years also. I thought that must be his limit. His new wife is 31 or 32 I believe. He is 47. I figure she was about 2 or 3 when we got married. She was an affair he had while he was married to wife number 2.

I heard a couple of years ago, that most of the jobs that he has lost over the years have been lost because he has embezzled. I have wondered why no one has prosecuted him. I guess his luck finally ran out. He was sentenced to prison for 1-5 years. The story he told his wife and one of my children was different than what I had heard. I wondered what the real truth was. But the more I thought about it, his story didn't ring true. Hadn't I learned he couldn't be trusted? I asked a reliable source and found that he was indeed convicted of theft by deceit and ordered to make restitution of $233,000.

I hope that he will find the time to reflect on all his actions over the course of his life and finally learn something from them. Hopefully this will make him a better person. In the meantime, I have now lost my child support. Dang him! I am tired of paying for his bad choices!

I have to have faith that all will work out. I read the following quote years ago in the Ensign by a woman with cancer:

"The Lord is perfect. His plan for me is perfect, and I know that He loves me."

Weird

Tracy pulled up my blog today at work to show my eagle pictures to Allen. I walked in and noticed my old house photos all had white around them! They do not look that way on my computer. Do they have a white border around them on yours?

It's Sad

When you find out that you really don't know a person as well as you thought you did. Oh sure, I don't know him anymore. But back then, I had no idea he would turn out to be the person he is today. And once again I ponder, why do I have to pay for the misdeeds of others?

I read this quote on another blog today:

"The only way to get through life is to laugh your way through it. You either have to laugh or cry. I prefer to laugh. Crying gives me a headache."...Marjorie Pay Hinckley.

Me...I don't know which to do, I am in a stupor. Wondering what the truth really is.

Old House

Yesterday, Stacy and I were going to go take pictures after her bowling league. Tracy and I decided to meet her at Costco in Bountiful since Marinda had just gotten a Costco card and could get me on as an additional member! Yippee! I am finally a member of Costco! On the way to our photo shoot, Stacy mentioned that someday she'd like to stop at "that house" and take pictures. I asked her what house as we were driving by. I thought it was pretty cool so I told Tracy to turn around since we had our cameras. As we pulled in, the owner arrived in his car and walked over. We asked if we could take pictures and he said sure. I added a little sepia to the following three photos and then added a worn out overlay.

Eagles

Allen (at work) told Stacy and I that we should check out the Eagles at Farmington Bay before it closes for nesting season. So we decided to go on Saturday. That is where we were headed before we got sidetracked by Costco and the old house. At first Stacy thought it was so neat, she declared that maybe she should start taking pictures of birds instead of dogs. Then today she asked if we could get a bigger telephoto lens, one that we could take really cool pictures of the birds with. I thought she had decided nature photography was "for the birds" after she lost the pendant to her new neclace. Here's a few of my pictures. Remember this is on telephoto, then cropped close so you can see the birds better, also I'm not the best at holding my telephoto lens real still, so the pictures are not the best, but I thought I'd share anyway just to show how I spent my day.

These geese just stood there, didn't do anything exciting, so I only took a couple of pictures and they look exactly the same. I told Tracy maybe they were frozen to the lake. : )