Cousins , grumpy girl and Bears. Oh My!

My parents live out of town on 5 acres of beautiful land full of trees, wild flowers, and wild animals. We hear coyotes at night sometimes. My cousin killed two bears on my grandparents property (which is a couple miles from here) in the last couple months. Here is a picture.

THIS is why I don't let my kids play outside without an adult. I don't know why I was allowed to when I was a kid! Mom!?!  :)

 This is the boys with their cousin Joel.

 There are some fun props around here. Oregon is beautiful. I would much rather be a photographer here than Idaho.

 

 The boys all wanted their shirts off. It was pretty warm. Can't blame them.

 Ashlyn would NOT smile for me. Stinker. I had to get Dallin to make her.

 

 Love this old truck. I don't know what is going on with the paint.

 Girly Girl.

Any computer nerds out there know how to make high quality pictures look high quality on my blog??? They look great printed and on photoshop but stick them on a blog and they look funky. Ok, only the very observant would notice.

30 is the new 20

Didn't you hear? Ha ha. I am OK with 30. I feel better now than I did when I was 20 actually. Nate and I went and took pictures of each other since we are both celebrating today, with it being Father's Day too. I hate sharing my day with the Dads. Oh well, only happens every few years.
Happy Father's day, Nate. You are a wonderful dad, who obviously enjoys fatherhood.
You are a natural. We love you!

 It is easy to be a goofy poser when it is your husband behind the camera.

 Nate did a pretty good job, I think.

The kiddos

It has been a challenge getting a good picture of all 3 of my kids.  I love this one though.

The boys got Ashlyn cracking up when they blew bubbles.

Overboard on pictures and lens talk

I just couldn't stop shooting pictures yesterday when I got my 50 mm lens. I've been wanting one for so long. They are great for portraits.

Ok so this isn't the greatest portrait. I wanted to aperture wide open to get the fuzzy background. Didn't focus on his eyes very well, more like his nose. But I love his expression.

 Great for low lights. This was in the evening indoors. No flash.

I love how sharp the pictures can be.

Ashlyn watching the kids play in the water.

 Yes, I paint her toenails (when she holds still enough)

 First taste of watermelon. This is her not-so-sure-about-this look

My new favorite picture of Ashlyn

 This is a different lens.

 

We love watermelon.

 Chawna came too. I followed her kids around a little bit too yesterday. Her girls are little monkeys. I couldn't believe how easily they climbed those tree. Must be the Tongan in them.

 

 

 

Sickies

I am the only one who hasn't been sick in my family. We've got never ending snot and coughs. No fun

On a lighter note, I got my new camera lens today (happy early birthday to me, ok, it is more like, Happy Mother's Day, Birthday, and Anniversary) and had so much fun with it today. I will post some pictures tomorrow.

OH! And, I started month 2 of Insanity today. Oh.My.Gosh. If I am not in tip top shape by the time I am done, well, then there is something wrong with me. I am feeling stronger after month 1, but not leaner. Maybe month 2 workouts do will do the trick.

Dallin's birthday party

It was actually a birthday party for all the June birthdays in my family. There were 6 of us with birthdays in June. We had a barbeque at a park. 

 Dallin loves bubbles but can't blow them so I got these that have a straw on one end that you blow through and then the wand that you just wave around. My beauty.

 Tanner and Li filling up squirt guns.

 Chawna and Li. She is the cousin doing Insanity with me.

 I think Ashlyn looks like Nate in the picture. The eyebrows maybe?

 Tanner and his cousin, Joel

There were over 30 of us there, I should have taken more. This is why I want to come back to Oregon: so much family here. It is great. I am actually going to be sad to leave Oregon this time. Last time we were here I was anxious to get back to Idaho. We'll head back mid July.

Jacie's wedding

My cousin Jacie got married today. It was beautiful. I took a few pictures. I don't think I would like wedding photography very  much, unless it was all candids. I watched the photographer set up all the traditional family ones, and that would not be fun.

The brides maids and flower girls. Tanner was dancing with the flower girl on the left for a while. It was sweet. When it was time to go, he said "No! I want to keep dancing!"

 Jacie and Sam

 

 A drunk lady got her hands on Ashlyn and didn't want to give her back. I am glad mom made her sit down before she could hold her. :) Speaking of drunk, Dallin had his first taste of alcohol. I think Dallin just picked up someones cup of spiked punch. We don't know how much he drank. He didn't get sick or tipsy, so probably not much. 

Ashlyn was kind of grumpy. Giving everyone faces like the one on the left side.

 

Rodeo

Nate has been wanting to go to a rodeo for a long time. He plays rodeo with the boys all the time. He lets them pick if he is a bronco or a bull and he bucks or broncs for 8 seconds. They LOVE it. Dallin wasn't too interested in a real rodeo. He liked playing on the bleachers more. And there was a Premiere West Bank bear that was walking around that he was obsessed with. Had to say hi about 5 times. Tanner liked the rodeo though.

Before we went in there were activities for the kids. They got to go on a pony ride.

 Get their faces painted and make sheriff badges.

 Look how cool this black widow is. She did a good job.

 It wasn't the best night at the rodeo, only because no one was scoring any points. There were maybe one guy from each event that actually scored points. Oh well, it was fun to watch still. The rodeo clown had to be quite the comedian to keep the crowd entertained.