Pride in Progeny

By the time I had posted here last week, grandson Ty had already distinguished himself in a video published by the Cowboy Lifestyle Network for the National Western Stock Show in Denver, Colorado January 14th and 15th. He had qualified for this (in steer wrestling) in December when he and his dad made a run over to Denver. His run of 6.4 seconds was good enough to get him in the top 15 and we were over-the-moon proud! Here is the video. Watch closely at about :27 seconds in for Ty Allred right before Trevor Brazile, a 13-time PRCA All-Around Cowboy World Champion! Our grandson - right up there with the big guys!

So darn cool!

Although his two runs in the show Saturday and Sunday didn't get him in the money, it was super awesome that he was competing at this level at age 18. He has hooked up with a couple Texas steer wrestlers who rodeo in the PRCA and this gives him a wonderful opportunity to not only hang out with the pro's but at the same time gain valuable experience in what hard rodeoing is all about.

Two of our grandsons, Ty and Tee, are at Odessa College in Odessa, Texas on rodeo scholarships and Ty's desire is to be a professional cowboy. He seems to be well on his way.

Photo taken by Ty's mother from the stands at Sunday's performance of the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo.

That weekend, granddaughter McKenna (Ty's sister) was home from college (Utah State in Logan) to dogsit while her mom and dad were in Denver. Grandpa invited her to saddle up the two horses left here at the ranch (the grandsons have six horses in Texas) and go for a ride at the Deseret Peak Complex arena. Here she is with Tigger.

Pretty cowgirl.

Grandpa truly enjoyed being back in the saddle and, when he has the chance, he will take the ponies out for afternoon rides.

A couple weeks ago, about the fourth of January, I started an online class called Digital Project Life: 2017 Edition, offered by jessicasprague.com. Although I have a room full of physical scrapbooking stuff, I just couldn't get myself motivated to scrapbook, especially since I take far too many photos and would need to get them printed, etc. I had done some digital scrapbooking from 2006 to 2011, I stopped, did a few paper pages, stopped and began pursuing other paper crafts, particularly stamped cards. Project Life, a concept developed by Becky Higgins, is "a simple system to document your story while still living your life." Jessica Sprague has taken it a step further by creating an easy digital method (although there are other classes/kits/apps available from other folks as well as Becky Higgins). Since I take so many photos that essentially record daily life, I figured I'd give this a try for 2017, and so far, I'm having a ball!

Here's how Week One looks.

I have almost finished Weeks Two and Three and by February 1st I will have January pages ready to send for printing. Then, I'll put them in a photo album for daily perusing. Stay tuned for my progress!

In other news, daughter-in-law Jennifer is putting on a baby shower for granddaughter Brittany in a couple weeks. Clare and I are giving the new parents a pretty nifty (and rather pricey!) stroller; it has a detachable carrier/car seat and so I am making a couple neat blankets for it. Here is a picture of the pattern found and "pinned" onto my Pinterest board, For Grands and Greats.

From here.

I have leftover fabric from this quilted blanket I made last October for them and so will use that, plus I bought some adorable baby dinosaur fabric at Joann's to make another. Sadly, I haven't started them yet as once I cleaned up and organized my craft/sewing space, I am reluctant to mess it up!

More later. Hope you're having a great start to 2017!

Complete - 2015 Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt

Happy September!

I think it's fair to say that I've completed the Scavenger Hunt with all 21 items, plus the three alternates. Here are numbers 13 and 21 to round it out:

Although this is NOT a merry-go-round/carousel in the strictest sense, it goes around, it has horses (live, not wooden), and it's amusing (as in entertainment for children at an amusement park). It actually is a horse walker but it's the closest I got this summer to #13 on the Hunt!

Number 21 - A photograph of you with a sign reading "2015 Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt"

That's me and the sign printed out from Rinda's blog (doctored a bit with white pen to make the words stand out - a suggestion from my sweet husband).

So, although a few of my photo finds are doubtful (#'s 7, a turtle; 13, a merry-go-round; and, 18, an over-loaded truck, car, bicycle or other vehicle), I had a great time hunting! Thanks again, Rinda, for providing another summer of photo diversion!

Here's how it ended up, with links to posts:

SCAVENGER HUNT LIST

1. A bouquet of flowers
2. An ornate door knocker
3. A person walking a dog (or other animal)
4. People playing a board game or card game 
5. Architectural columns
6. A metal bridge
7. A turtle8. Someone "plugged in" to social media 9. A tent10. A college or university
11. A cellular tower or television satellite dish
12. A public restroom, bathroom, or toilet
13. A merry-go-round or carousel
14. A traffic signal
15. A flag pole with at least three flags on it
16. A panoramic view, taken while standing someplace high in the air
17. At least two people wearing matching outfits or uniforms18. An overloaded truck, car, bicycle or other vehicle
19. A ticket booth
20. A natural body of water
21. A photograph of you with a sign reading "2015 Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt". Note: you may not use a substitute for this item.
If you find something on the list too difficult, you may substitute one of the following items for any one item on the list, except for Item #21:
Alternative A: People eating outside
Alternative B: Someone holding an umbrella
Alternative C: A rocking chair

I'll be back in a day or so with My August in Numbers. Do check out Julie's August Month in Numbers here - she truly has a gift for entertaining narrative! 8)

Ta for now. 

More Finds for the 2015 Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt

Hello, hello!

Following along with Rinda's Photo Scavenger Hunt, I'm happy to add a few more finds.  Yesterday after taking a photo of the college campus down the street and then the traffic signal on Main, it occurred to me that (duh!) there are [#9] tents aplenty set up in parking lots selling fireworks for Independence Day celebrations! So, without further ado, here are not only photos of a couple of those, but a few more to whittle down the list.

#1 - A bouquet of flowers

Appropriately, an Independence Day bouquet! Display at the entrance of Albertson's market.

These, I thought, were lovely, but I didn't buy one; probably because I am pretty single-minded when I'm at the market and headed right for the steaks (for tomorrow's BBQ), cob corn, and watermelon!

#7 - A turtle

There is some controversy going on amongst hunters, I've noticed, about turtles vs. tortoises. This, after looking closely, is most definitely a tortoise; a plaster yard-art tortoise. 

I will continue to look for a "turtle" but in the meantime, I am going with this! :)

# 8 - Someone 'plugged' into social media

My husband and BC (Barn Cat) checking ...

...the PRCA (Professional Rodeo Cowboy's Association) website which for him (my husband, not the cat) is social media!

Hoping this works!

#9 - A tent

And here are two of the, at least, three tents set up to sell fireworks for the Independence Day holiday; and, in Utah, Pioneer Days on the 24th  of July.

I thought it was cool the way I captured the big U.S. garrison flag in the background of the second tent! Doesn't take much to entertain me!

#10 - A college or university

The Tooele Regional Campus of Utah State University right down the street!

I suppose I could also claim #5 - Architectural column with this photo, but I'm hoping to find something a bit more elaborate. That is all part of the hunt, right?!

#14 - A traffic signal

Stopped at Main Street in Tooele, heading east on Vine.

This is certainly not as original as the traffic signal on the lock that Amanda put up, but it's representative of the signals in this small town. You can't see in this photo, but Main Street is under construction and traffic is very dependent on these signals!

#16 - A panoramic view taken while standing someplace high in the air

I was standing on a knoll above this, looking down. This is the Wyoming Wild Horse and Burro Shelter in Rock Springs, Wyoming.

There are lots of wild horses here, all gathered by the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) as part of the Wild Horse Adoption and Management Program. This was one interesting bit that we saw on our day road trip to Rock Springs on the 21st of June. Rock Springs isn't much to write home about, but people probably say that about Tooele! :)

So, here's how the list looks now:

SCAVENGER HUNT LIST

1. A bouquet of flowers
2. An ornate door knocker
3. A person walking a dog (or other animal)
4. People playing a board game or card game
5. Architectural columns
6. A metal bridge
7. A turtle
8. Someone "plugged in" to social media 
9. A tent
10. A college or university
11. A cellular tower or television satellite dish
12. A public restroom, bathroom, or toilet
13. A merry-go-round or carousel
14. A traffic signal
15. A flag pole with at least three flags on it
16. A panoramic view, taken while standing someplace high in the air
17. At least two people wearing matching outfits or uniforms
18. An overloaded truck, car, bicycle or other vehicle
19. A ticket booth
20. A natural body of water
21. A photograph of you with a sign reading "2015 Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt". Note: you may not use a substitute for this item.
If you find something on the list too difficult, you may substitute one of the following items for any one item on the list, except for Item #21:
Alternative A: People eating outside
Alternative B: Someone holding an umbrella
Alternative C: A rocking chair

Ten out of 21 - not too bad for one month and three day's worth of hunting! Tomorrow I'm pretty sure I will find #17 (people in parades tend to dress alike!), possibly #13 (there might be a carousel at the park but most likely it'll be a bounce house!), and definitely #19 when we go to the rodeo tomorrow evening. I should consider capturing the alternatives, just in case by September 22nd, I've not found a couple that may give me a problem; like, #4 and #18!

Happy summertime greetings from HOT Utah!

Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt 2014 - Beginnings

Hello!
Here again with a few words about another challenge I've taken on . . . thanks to Julie's Month in Numbers where she noted that she'd gotten seven of 21 photos for this challenge.  When I went here and saw the list, I thought how fun and "should be easy!" Well, I've gotten four so far and now find my mind is dodging here and there trying to figure out how to get them all! Rinda's list is truly a CHALLENGE but I'm game. Here's the list:

SCAVENGER HUNT LIST

1. A sign welcoming people to your home town (or a nearby town)
2. A garden gnome
3. Birds on a wire
4. A group of tourists
5. A rack of post cards
6. An urban street scene
7. A rural landscape
8. A tattoo on a person
9. A bakery
10. A photo bomb (someone found lurking in the background of photo; the lurker may have intended to disrupt the picture or may be doing it unintentionally, but the background lurker is a surprise to the photographer)
11. A horn
12. A mascot
13. A sunrise
14. A parade
15. A juggler
16. A sign in a language other than English
17. A lamp post
18. A water fall
19. A public garden
20. A bus (not a car, truck, lorry, camper or RV) with a picture painted on its sides.
21. A photograph of you with something representing the season (recognizing that the season will be Winter for our friends in the southern hemisphere). Note: you may not use a substitute for this item.
If you find something on the list too difficult, you may substitute one of the following items for anything on the list, except for Item #21:
Alternative A: A kite, hot air balloon or blimp

Alternative B: A bird house

Okay, so here are those four:

#7 A rural landscape. This photo was taken at 7:15 a.m. (MDT) on June 18. It is the landscape we look at every day from our backyard. Of course, now (and, in fact, by the end of the day June 18th) the snow is melted. Note the seagull (Utah's state bird if you can imagine!) winging its way to the County Landfill probably! haha!

#10 - A photo bomb. I was taking this picture of the library to add to my Collect calendar and thought I was good when, boom, this reading patron blew out of the door! This was quite unintended on my part but a good one to use to check off the list!

#13 - A sunrise. This photo was taken at 6:30 a.m., July 2nd. the sun is just striking the tops of the trees as it peaks over the Oquirrh Mtns to the east. This I suppose, could also be considered a rural landscape as it is the same view as #7 above. But, since I took it at a time when I'm not usually up and about, and the rainbirds are still on (farmers must turn them off by 7 a.m.), I'm counting this as a sunrise! What do you think? Okay?

#17 - A lamp post. There it is to the left here at Veteran's Memorial Park in downtown Tooele on July 4th.

Alrighty then! Thanks, Rinda, for this fun summertime activity. It beats setting up a lemonade stand on the front lawn!

In other news . . . our two high school rodeo-ing grandsons arrived back last night from Winnemucca, Nevada and the Silver State International Rodeo, loaded down with great memories and accolades for super performances. They did especially well steer wrestling, both of them making the "short" round yesterday morning. Grandson Ty came away with this championship saddle for best average of the three rounds during the week. Woohoo, Ty!

Last year grandson Tee won the championship saddle at the Panguitch Invitational Rodeo. It seems we're getting quite a collection of leather! We'll be heading down there on the 16th again this year. 

That's it for now! A-hunting for photos I go!

Ta!

Rodeo Week

Hi, Hi!
Well, last night we finished up with the 2014 Utah State High School Rodeo Finals in Heber City and some memories were made for sure! My favorite of the week was this photo of grandson Tee with two of the rodeo royalty, Queen Baylee LaFleur and Miss Congeniality Kortney Backus; kind of a cute thorn between two roses!

Tee's kind of splattered as this performance he seemed to be designated steer pusher - not a particularly clean job! These cowgirls were real good sports though!

The two grandsons competed in team roping and steer wrestling with good and not-so-good results for the three "go's." In the first go or round, they were "no time" on the team roping but both of them got decent times in the steer wrestling. Second round they caught in the team roping with a fairly good time but their average on two steers was not enough to get them to the "short" go or final top 15 performance. However, their second steer wrestling times (grandson Ty won the round with a 4.40 second run) got them into the final performance Saturday evening. 

The final performance then, was an edge-of-the-seat sort of deal . . . turned out pretty good for grandson Tee with a 4th place run, but disappointing for grandson Ty with a "no time." 

At any rate, the four days spent there were good times with alot of the family there to cheer on the boys and all the other really amazing young people competing. Of course, the arena setting is truly beautiful nestled in the lush Heber Valley. Here are a few photos of the rodeo grounds, etc.:

The proud flag leaving the arena

Looking southwest at Mt Timpanogos and Provo Canyon

Grandson Ty on Boomtown getting ready to go in the box for his first steer wrestling run

Grandson Tee and Boomtown waiting for the barrier to be put up for his first steer wrestling run

Pretty team roping run

Up in the stands for Friday night's performance

Cowboy transport

The draft horse wagon with young people representing Primary Children's Hospital

Yep! Another rodeo year ends and we look forward to late summer and fall rodeos now. There'll be some serious trail riding for the summer I think as well as a little bit of practice.

Happy thoughts!

My April Month in Numbers

Whoa Nellie! I am ever so late in posting my MinN for Julie's meme! Fact is, much of April I spent in a bit of a funk and even into the merry month of May. Okay, so you don't want to hear about that especially since I myself can't really explain it!
So, moving on to a few memorable numbers for April:

Three inches of snow on the third of the month. The next day, not surprisingly, it was gone and the lawn got mowed!

Here are the two doggies - Riley, our grand-dog, reclining after a roll in the snow and our border collie, Tip, nosing around. 

Read four books (only four???! What the heck was I doing, sleeping? :() ) 

Four birthdays this month. Great grandson Lucas turned three on the 5th, grandson-in-law Travis turned 25 on the 20th, and son David creeped up towards the half century mark, turning 46 on the 26th. The fourth birthday was not for a human but for our horse, Ranger. He marked 20 years on the 11th of the month. This scrapbook layout I did after receiving the prints (back in the film camera days) shows not only Ranger at just a few hours old but also gives an idea of how I scrapped back in 1994 (and that's a whole other story)!

I am duplicating one of these pictures below along with what he looks like now. You can see how very much he looks like his mama!

                    

In this now photo I am pushing Ranger's head up because he was very interested in getting at that green pasture grass!

Easter Sunday at First Lutheran was wonderful and the altar looked lovely with the five Easter lilies I put there.

Made 18 bunny dinner rolls for Easter dinner with son David and his family at his mother-in-law's home (my friend Judy). Also made a chocolate sheet cake which was memorable too. But the rolls were a hit!

Can you see their little eyes?!

Attended two high school Junior Proms (as observers, NOT dancers! haha!). The first was on the 25th for granddaughter McKenna. She was Prom Chair and was last of 76 couples to be announced for the promenade dance. Her dress was beautiful, she was beautiful, we were proud! 

McKenna Clare and her date

The second prom was on the 26th for grandson Tee Douglas. I said to him, "Tee, I didn't know you could dance so well!" And he said, "Neither did I, Gramma!" 

What really rounded out the month of April in numbers was this:

From April 28 to May 1, my friend Heather and I visited nine stores, traveling 645 miles, having lovely lunches at four restaurants (two of them brand new to us), and spending LOTS of $$$! The stores each had a theme (each had done cards for the craft, "Make Everyday a Celebration") hence the interesting photo props. This was lots of crafty fun and my stash is really out of control now!

So, there we have it . . . much fuller than I first imagined!

May is over halfway and my mood has changed up a bit. Am ready to tackle some gardening projects and have been inspired to "get into" my craft space. 

Bye for now!

Where has the time gone?!!

Hi, hi!

Yeah, I know, I know; another month has come and gone and I'm whining about it flying by again! Whatever! Just can't seem to get into a routine here or anywhere for that matter but enough already about that!

We had a really great visit from my dad, Bob Carr, this last week . . . a month from today he will be celebrating his 90th birthday! Can't tell ya how very ecstatic we are that he's motoring around so well and seeming to have inexhaustible energy! He drove out from his home in California to here in Utah in one day without incident, arriving last Wednesday, the 4th. And to top it off, he stayed a full four days which is WAY unusual! I wish of course, that I'd taken more pictures but here are a few that I like particularly for how they show his vigor!

I love this picture of Pedro "communicating" with Dad!
We were out at the arena watching the grandboys practice
their team roping.

A random shot taken with my phone in the kitchen.

Out back watching Clare work on the horse walker motor.

I think Dad had a pretty good time; he was on top of everything that was going on and interested in all the activity. He got up bright and early Monday morning and drove back across the Nevada desert to arrive at his home that evening, again without incident.

I'm going to go ahead and post this as I promised I'd have it done today! Hopefully, I'll have another post before Friday when we leave for a high school rodeo in Cedar City.

Night, night!

Mid-August Ramblings

Hello, hello!
Already mid August and the ordinary days are whizzing by! haha! I can't even remember how August began but I do know that taking photographs sure helps keep me on track; I should take a photo-a-day (or more) in order to document this passing of time . . .
Last week, Wednesday the 7th, Grampa Clarence drove off with son Doug, grandsons Tee, Ty, and Johnathon, Tip the dog, three of the mules, five of the horses, and a bunch of camp gear for a four day pack and camp trip on the North Slope of the High Uintahs.

The Hillsboro stock trailer looks pretty beat up but makes a good "ranchy" backdrop for Doug, Tee, Johnathon, Ty, and Grampa Clarence. Three mules and two horses are in this trailer; the other three horses in the small trailer that Doug pulled with his truck.

   They lost phone signal at about 2 p.m. (MDT) that day and were out of contact until Sunday the 11th at about 1 p.m. (MDT). We're talkin' OUT IN THE WOODS here! They set up camp at the China Meadows trailhead.

Thursday they packed mounted up and made a 28 mile trip up to Lower Red Castle Lake; it started to rain pretty hard at the upper bridge just before the lake, so they didn't attempt going to Upper Red Castle. Doug snapped this really great picture of Clare with the three grandsons and Red Castle in the background.

Johnathon on Ranger, Rooster the red mule, Clare on Willie, Tee (kind of grumpy!) on Dolly, Wilbur the mule with his nose in the grass, and Ty on Hollywood

Friday and Saturday were spent fishing two different locations and then Sunday the broke camp and journeyed home. Although Clare caught a bug and had a sore throat and headache most of the trip, it was a memorable time for everyone.

While they were gone I did anything I wanted! Which was . . . Wednesday I cleaned house and went and had a pedicure; Thursday morning I went and picked up my friend Heather and a couple bags of her crafty stuff and we spent the next two days doing a card-making marathon! Whoa! It was pretty darn fun for us both. I'll compile a slide show (or something) of the creations we came up with but here are three cards I made which went in the mail already:

2nd Anniversary card for my granddaughter and her husband. Modified a Mason jar Silhouette cut file to a print and cut. Papers from Dear Lizzy 5th and Frolic.

This jar was stamped on vellum using the SU Perfectly Preserved set and diecut. Modified flowers and stems from a Kerri Bradford freebie cut file. Papers from Doodlebug Flower Box 6x6 pad.

Birthday card for my son using AdornIt Nested Owls papers. Medallion and happy birthday banner from SU Blue Ribbon and Itty Bitty Banners stamp sets.

After Heather left I hadn't had enough and went a little berserk with the AdornIt Nesting Owls paper I had left over (had the coral collection too) and ended up with six cards! Had a card-making mojo going! Now if I could find my scrapping mojo!

Since Sunday the 11th there's been a very bad fire over in Skull Valley which has caused some very gloomy days in our valley. Last night there was a rain of ashes giving everything a dusting of greyish white. Hoping that it can be contained soon.

Instagram photos of the smoky sunset.

Going to Oakley this Friday and Saturday for grandsons Ty's and Tee's first Fall High School Rodeo. Grampa will be hazing for their steer wrestling runs. Fingers crossed!

Nighty night!