More random-ness, is that a word?

A Wii competition at Jay's last weekend , nothing like a trip to Vancouver in the dark on friday night, in the pour rain to make your eyes burn.
The Wii games were hilarious, I was stiff for three days, that darn tennis did me in. Corbin won of course...I think he cheated.
And soccer camp in North Vancouver, this is the before. Nice ,white and clean

And After....filthy, sweaty, wet and not white.
These are all kids from Williams Lake who travelled to the camp. We never all go at the same time, we were suprised that 5 of them were there on the same weekend. And Coach Saibo in the middle. I didn't realize how tall Logan is.

A whole bunch of random stuff

We drove up Desous Mountain to find a cache yesterday. An amazing view, to say the least
This is the road up, covered in snow.

Me at the top, thanks Corb for taking a pic of me.

And Logan

and Corb....

It was a little chilly, but a good day for a drive :)

The other Brother

Last week, the middle child, my brother Troy showed up on my door step. Using up some overtime hours from work, he took a holiday. (forced holiday) It was so good to see him, it was last Christmas when he was here.
Although he was annoyed with my snap happy ways, he did let me take his photo. I love this shot!! He looks happy, He needed the break from the everyday, and he needed to hang out with people who love him , for who is is ...right now.
Troy, I love you for who you are. You are a great person!! And don't you forget it!
I'm so glad that you have that sparkle back, I can see it in your eyes.

Update for the people that harass me :)

Early in September, I think it was the 12th., we took a day trip to Horsefly with our favorite people, Gord and Jay. We went to see the salmon, the run this year was huge. The most salmon I have ever seen. The Channel was a sea of RED.

We hung out and walked around in the rain, the leaves were starting to change, it was beautiful. And the area is amazing, we missed the salmon festival by a week, which is good, we had the whole place to ourselves. I couldn't get a picture of gord without his camera attached to his face, but I love this shot anyway.
And my blurry shot of the boys with Auntie Jay, did I take more than one shot...nooooooo, that would be too smart. After hanging with the fish we went to the local cafe for lunch, I think Logan had fish and chips..ironic? maybe. It was a great day!

Finalist

For the month of August ,I received not one, but two finalist in the Better Photo ...photo contest. I am thrilled that I received the cool little buttons below my photo. Although I didn't Win , past this round, I think that having my photos chosen out of 19,1oo photos is a BIG deal :)

http://www.betterphoto.com/Premium/Default.aspx?id=221625&iPage=1&mp=V3

This link is to my gallery

Reminds me of Pat!!

Took this on Sunday. When I saw the drops , the voices in my head said "Pat would love this"
Click click.....haha

Some from Summer :)

Just going through the 20 folders on my desktop and realizing that I haven't posted a bunch of photos. So here are a few , just for fun.

wild flowers and trees

I'm learning about the important things

I can post all my best photos, but they usually aren't my favorite photos. I do love to have photos that are composed properly, that make me say wow, but they aren't my favorite. They are good practice for me , they make me try harder to achieve something amazing....BUT they never measure up to the everyday photos that capture our lives and that will make memories.

On the weekend, Hanna was over and we decided that since the fire ban has finally been lifted, we... ok Corb would start a fire for us. Picked up some hotdogs and marshmellows and headed to the back yard.
I know for sure that Hanna would think these were horrible pictures of herself, but I think the opposite. She is just being Hanna, eating smores and telling me not to take pictures of her eating. I love the giggle, when her mouth was full :)

We have found out that the best way to make smores is to buy the no-name graham cracker cookies coated in chocolate. They are the best! Way less work and much cheaper. Corbin is the king of how to eat a smore. The gooey brown marshmellow and the perfect finger placement.
And I had to post this one of Logan. If you act like a retard , I will post it. The thumbs up is for the pefectly browned marshmellow. Yes , it was a competition, but there was no prizes, just bragging rights.

And roasting hot dogs! There is no better way to eat these things. Ok hot dogs are gross, but every now and then, you should eat one roasted on a fire.

So on a nice cool September afternoon , on Labour day weekend, I took some of my favorite pictures. Just us...being us

A Saturday Drive

Ok , so it was a full afternoon of driving. But we did see a few beautiful lakes, 3 bear cubs, a couple rabbits, and this Amazing sunset on our way home...seriously it was breath taking
We headed out at 2:30 and by the time I took this picture of the boys (that I love), we had found 8 geocaches. This was at the Bullion pit out by Likely BC on the gold rush trail. It's really changed now, lots of signage and old machinery, kinda cool.

And for Logan...it was a good day! Can you tell by his smile. We were on the backroads, travelling from gavin lake to the ditch road. No cars, no one.....so Mike let Logan DRIVE !! He drove for about 15 km, he had to stop, backup and turn around on single lane dirt roads. Not that this is a big deal for us, but he is only 15 and doesn't drive yet. I think he loved it.

And if this doesn't make you laugh...well you get the picture. Chloe loves car rides and she loves hanging her head out the window. she was standing on Corb to get high enough to stick her head out.

And yes , on the way home there was a traffic jam! Cariboo style. This bull was making no effort to get out of the way. He looked like he was going to ram that dodge. So funny

I have more pics of the scenery, but since I haven't updated my blog in awhile , we'll do people first :)

sidenote.... the fires are still burning but there is no smoke in our area anymore, it's like there is no fires. I know that they will burn until winter, but the fear has left me and I'm sleeping like a baby..all is good

Still on Fire....

Well.... the fires continue to rage in the Cariboo. The smoke is dreadfully thick, and going outside to play is not a good idea. August has been a rough month, not because we are in danger, but because it has cancelled soccer practice, bike riding and it's just not healthy to breath in smoke 24/7. This afternoon , the wind picked up and we finally had a bit of a break, ahhhh fresh air, clouds and blue sky....the things we take for granted.
Tomorrow it is suppose to rain, and I'm praying for the kind of rain that makes rivers in your driveway, the kind of rain that makes mud last for days , the kind of rain that puts out fires!!
For our family ...we are fine. the fire is on the west side of the river Mike plotted it on the computer today, there is 14km and a river between us. We are not in any danger, at the moment, and I'm completely confident in the abilities of the fire fighters that are here from across Canada and the USA. But I do have some things packed up ...just in case.
So now....some photos, hurray, she finally stopped blabbin'

This is Graham Telford, in front of the sikorsky helpicopter that is helping the fire fight. Thank you Graham for calling me and inviting me to take pictures of the helicopters. And thank you for explaining what is going on with the fires, i slept better that night.
and I took this shot down on Soda Creek road, it was so smokey, I had to lighten it a bunch so you could see the train. The next morning this road was closed and the evacuation alerts and orders were put into place. The visiblity was next ot nothing. The evacuation orders have been lifted , but the alerts are still in place. This is 3 minutes from out house.

And this is for my Dad. We had gone and watch throught the fence while he was here, but being able to stand next to this HUGE chopper was something else. I wish you had stayed longer Dad, you could have gone with me :)

And this was last Monday, before the smoke rolled in . My neighbour Bev has the prettiest garden, veggies , flowers. It's just so serene. I love hanging out with my camera there. corbin was mowing their lawn, so it gives me a few minutes to snoop. Until George comes out and tells me he is charging me for every photo i take. I must owe him a bag full of money by now, but I keep going back , because he hasn't sent me an invoice :)

I love this one

Ok , it's bedtime. I'm going to sleep for at least 8 hours tonight...all at once without waking up!!

My people

These are pictures from July, I'm a little behind . both the boys attended soccer camp for a week. L did camp with his team and C was in goalie camp. I love this shot of Corb, doing a flying dive to save the ball. He is a good goalie.
and this one of Logan...he looks so grown up! And so serious...don't smile or anything Log..GEEZ

Chris , Ashley and Amber were here last month too. The girls have grown so much since the last time we say them. Ashley is taller than me now, and so grown up too. Amber (aka Molly) has grown and is such a cutie, and has a great sense of humour,,,what a goof. So here is a picture of the Heryet cousins.

And of course a pic of Mike and Chris...the brothers. I know they had a good visit. We were so happy to have them here.

I'm trying to go through all my photos , but I'm slow....I will get there soon

More of the Same

The fires are still burning around the cariboo, with no relief of rain in the forcast. Some days it's clear, some days not so much. This was out my back door at 9 this morning, the smoke has settled in the valley again. Last night was clear, it just depends which way the wind is blowing

And some shots from the airport, a buzz of activity. Bombers , helicopters and alot of air traffic Mom and Dad were here, and have now left for Jason's, sad thing is the smoke followed them...opps, haha.

This morning is quiet..almost eerie, I actually like the sound of all those water bombers flying over my house, it is comforting. They must have changed their flight path due to the smoke, I hope that is the case.

smokey smokey smokey!

The sun in the back yard...yikes. This was at 7pm, when the sky should be bright and beautiful blue
Down by the lake, nothing is visible

There is ash in the air, and it hurts your throat. 70 new fires since tuesday, lightening caused. Air bombers are flying over our house ever 10 minutes, and tons of helicopters.

The closest Fire is less than 20 km from our house. It is far enough away, and there is a river between us, but I am still nervous. House insurance is paid and if it was neccessary, we could pack some important stuff and leave. I hope that doesn't happen.

To all the forest fire fighters...stay safe

Canada Day Geo Cache

Last year on Canada Day, we climbed a mountain, this year we headed out to find a geocache also, but this time we made our way into a cool canyon of volcanic rock towers, in the middle of the forest. It was amazing, we walked down a regular dirt trail, and then head through some dense brush into this wonderful forest surrounded by rock columns. Although we went to look for tupperware in the bush, but we had a great time climbin around.
On the one side, the rocks towered above us. And after tell Corb not to go to close to the edge, he informed me that it wasn't that high. When I walked around the back side, it was only 2 feet off the ground. The rocks were grown over with moss and lichen. The light inside the canyon was dappled from the trees...a photo nightmare, but I took pictures anyway.

Logan looks lost, holding the GPS, look at the huge column behind him

And I wanted a picture that looked like Corb was climbing to the top

And there was a carpet of dogwoods, growing out of the moss. So Pretty!! I had to go back and take some photos. Wild Dogwoods, such pretty flowers.(British Columbia's flower). The whole place was like a hidden treasure...so very cool.

On the way home we stopped at the fudge shop. Nothing like a pound of fudge after a good hike!

And they even had Maple Walnut fudge for Mike, because in his world , there is nothing better than maple walnut. It was a good day!

Two weekends worth of sweat

We started last weekend. Cutting trees on the top of our property, they were all little trees , and they were dying from the bud worms. We left the poplar trees, but all the small trees are gone. Two full days of cut and move. This weekend we have finished most of it. We moved the old ford cab, and the boys have decided to make a bike jump out of it.
We need Grampa!! And we need a loader!
Lots of hard work, sweat and BUGS!! And tons of catepillers...YUCK!

Finally a new post

I forgot about this photo from California, the only one of all of us, together. Not the perfect family portrait, but at least we have a picture of us :)
And look at these beauties. They were gifted to me by Alice Leake and Jaylyn...they are so cool and so old. I love them and I need to figure out where to display them

And this lovely stink bug in our weeds. He's ugly and he stinks but everyone should have a chance to shine. He was watching me as I got closer and closer with my camera. Look close, I think he's smiling

And Logan and some teammates, deffending on a free kick against them. This was from the may long weekend in Kamloops. Funny but we seem to travel south this year. I bet Uncle Glen is happy we aren't crashing on his door step every weekend...We know you miss us..Glenny poo

Last week was Track and Field for the district. Corbin was in Triple Jump (2nd) and Long jump (10th). He place in both, and brought home some ribbons. It was a miserable week of rain though...... crazy weather!!

So that should catch me up a bit. Soccer is still running our lives. School will be done at the end of the week for Log. And Corbin at the end of june.