Our Panguitch Pioneer Trek

I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  Our Panguitch ward recreated a pioneer trek in our Panguitch mountains.  Mormon Pioneers crossed the plains while our church was fleeing persecution.  We love our pioneer heritage and our Bishop thought this trek would bring spiritual growth for the youth in our ward.  I think the goal was met not only for the youth but for everyone that went.  We had about 75 people go on this three day trek.  I thought that this trek was wonderful.    The kids did really well.  I was impressed that these kids were able to pull and push the carts for about 22 miles.

This is Tim, He was bringing the mail.  The parents had written letters to each of the children.  I love this photo.  That horse is full of expression too.

My job was the official photographer.  I loved taking the pictures.  Besides the sunglasses and backpacks I think they look like pioneers.

Easter Ride 2015

I would like you all to meet most of my family.  From left to right there is Sophie, Eric is my husband, Jacob, Zoey, and Wylee.  Of course I am not in the picture because I was taking it and my oldest son, Cameron is not in the picture.  He is on a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Peru.  He comes home the 28th of this month.  We are so excited.

 We went to Colorado for Easter to be with family that we don't see most of the time.  We try to make it each year to the Easter Ride.  The girls were having an egg hunt and Wylee was playing with the ball.

 These are two of my husband's aunts.  They are a couple of wonderful ladies.  On the left is his Aunt Barbara.  She has the ranch that we go to for the B-B-Q and ride.  His Aunt Claudette is on the right.  She is so good at keeping in touch with everyone.  I just love both of these ladies.

We go on a scavenger hunt to find the treasure.  It is a load of fun.  Since we no longer have horses it is a great time for my kids to ride.

Barbara has the first clue in her hand.  She makes up the scavenger hunt and keeps the clues in pill bottles.  That way the papers don't blow away or get wet.  She also has them numbered.  She hides them the night before all over Mack.

 Our group was smaller this year but it was still fun.  I guess with a smaller group we have fewer problems with horses that don't get along.  We go through Mack, Colorado.  That is where Barbara's ranch is.

 This is my middle child, Wylee.  I antiqued this photo.  I think it looks like one of the pictures from that old picture book, Billy and Blaze.  I used to love those books.

Cindy is in the front.  She does trail rides and brings horses to match the abilities of the riders. 

 Here is my husband and youngest.

 Just the smile on Zoey's face makes this whole ride priceless.

Eric's cousin Dionne and her boyfriend are also great to help with the horses.  I don't think it would go as well with out them.  Other family and friends help too and are also vital to the whole get together.  So many do so much but the best part is being together.

 The group is heading back toward the ranch now.  My son drove me around so I could take photos.  I like taking pictures more than I like riding horses.  I can enjoy my pictures year round.

 Zoey was the lucky one to get to go get the treasure.  That can if full of eggs, chocolate, candy, and treats.  Then it is dumped into a huge bowl and everyone gets to eat what they like.

Rain and Fog

Rain

It has been raining for a month it seams.  Everything is green.  We haven't watered our lawn in a month.  Our house did flood a bit but I still love the rain.  As you can see we have ruts in the ATV trails along the highway.  One day they were full to the top with water.  These are a few photos of the area below my house.  I walk up the lake road with my dog some mornings and I thought it was especially beautiful this day.

I love the fall colors.  They are so vibrant.  That last burst before the plants go to sleep for the winter.

With the rain came lots of fog in the mornings.  I thought it was beautiful.  I took this with my phone.  It almost looks blurry from the fog.  I love the effect.  This is just below the hill that I live on.

Old World Photo Shoot

Old World Photo Shoot

This photo shoot was done at the State Hospital in Provo, Utah.  They have an amphitheater made out of stone that is beautiful.  It really lends itself to the feel of our shoot.  My mother made a bunch of costumes to create the look that we wanted.  I love the art work of William Adolphe Bouguereau.  That is the sort of feeling I wanted from this setting.  We used family members for our models.  It seems that they are well practiced in the way we want them to pose.  

This is Zoey, my daughter.  

These were taken in the fall.  The fallen brown leaves look great in the photos.

Giving Sophie a needle and thread gets her engaged in her project and lessens her focus on me, the photographer.  Her eyes may seem a bit puffy because she was crying. 

Sophie poked her thumb.

This is my third son, Wylee.  You put a puffy shirt on him, with a hat and vest and he is good to go for the shoot.  The rock wall was great too.

I love how her legs are positioned here.  I think that the little basket adds too.

This is a bird from the craft store.  You can hardly tell in the photos.

Sophie has a ball of yarn that I spun.  She also has a hook to play with but she is just poking it down in the ball.  

This is Sophie.  I got the sweep stakes ribbon in our fair.  I would have guessed the top photo of Zoey would have won.  I love both photos but you never know what someone will pick.  I have both pictures up in their room.

Mary, my niece, sewing.

Mary and Genevieve are so cute.  Mary is sewing to distract her from the photographers.  There was a lot of stuff going on in front of them on the lawn.  They were watching the other kids dancing and playing on the lawn.

Samantha and her daughter, Juliet are in this photo.  The colors are gorgeous.  Samantha is a little soft here but I still love the picture.

This photo I antiqued and I love the effect.  It almost looks sepia toned but still has color.

This is Cassie and Dagny.

This is my niece and her children.  You may not always notice when you are setting up your scene the way the feet are positioned.  In the photo before his feet are not as artistically placed.  I tend to take a lot of pictures so those little things that make me like my photos more happen naturally.

My Mothers Garden

My mother has a really large garden in the middle of the city.  It takes up most of her yard.  There are so many things growing it is like an oasis for my soul.  She is older now and can't keep up with the weeds like she used to.  My sister Heather, in the picture is great to go and help in the yard each week.
I am so grateful to her.

 This past week we went to visit.  We live quite aways from Mom.  I was able to help in the garden.  I love to weed.  I don't do it much lately.  I enjoyed myself.  My mother loves to be creative,  she took the opportunity to spend time with my girls.  She took loads of pictures of them.

My mother has costumes she keeps to use in her pictures.  These farm girl dresses and  baskets worked out well.  I didn't photo shop any so you could see how the shoot goes for us.  Normally I would crop the photos so that you couldn't see the shoes or my sisters arm.

 Her flowers are beautiful.  She really loves the garden.  After all the gardening my benders hurt.  My legs and back remembered what I haven't been doing.  I also remembered how much I am missing.  I really need to get my garden going.

 The flowers bring in the butterflies and bees.  The whole place is humming in activity.  There was one bumble bee I wish I had taken a picture of.  I wondered how it could fly it looked so heavy.

 Her garden looks so old fashioned.  The perfect kind for pictures.

Mom is a painter and uses her photography for her paintings.  These are mostly her photos.  It is so fun to be creative in so many ways and my mother is just that, creative in so many ways.

 Zoey is picking raspberries and Heather is holding the umbrella.  The clouds weren't always cooperating.  It really makes a difference to have that more diffused light.

 This is my youngest, Sophie.