'Tis the season

How is it already the end of July?!?! Softball season is almost over and students start coming back very soon...wow! Looks like the great idea of painting the house over the summer is no longer going to happen...oops!

Eric had 2 mens league games tonight and more on Thursday and that wraps up the 2007 season for him. I had high hopes for the co-ed season but those dreams were shattered early in the season with an unfortunate encounter with a folding chair! (helpful hint #362: one should never use a folding chair as a step stool to retrieve shoes from the top of a closet) So Eric ended up playing the co-ed season solo because of my stupidity. :) Good thing cousin Erin was on the team this year, she could fill in for me as his better half!

Let me introduce...

you to the favorite toys in the house...dos (red), nobbly, orbit, ball, dinosaur and the world in the middle. It looks like a blue ball because Maddoxx has made it a mission of hers to remove all the green continents from it...of which she's been very successful!

For those of you who don't "know" Maddoxx, she is VERY into her toys and fetching! Tonight she gathered all her favorites hoping we would pick at least one of them to play with her. I couldn't resist the photo opportunity!

Is there anyone looking for some quality time with a dog? Please come over and relieve us of our fetching obligations for a few hours! She is relentless!

P.S. Mindy, the dinosaur has come out of hiding after she wouldn't stop moping around the house on Saturday night. The squeaking has not become unbearable......yet!

Tired...

is how I have felt all week. The alarm goes off far too early every morning. And every morning without fail, I say to myself, "if I could just take an hour of vacation from work and sleep in I would feel so much better." I've yet to do it, but it still seems like a great idea everytime I hit snooze on my alarm clock.

I love this picture of tired Maddoxx, it just cracks me up! This was a night earlier this week when I was working on the computer too late and Eric stayed up with me reading Harry Potter. Maddoxx wanted us to go to bed in the worst way, but we didn't make it there quick enough for her, so she tried to make a bed out of Eric. :)

Jamaican me crazy...

We went to Jamaica this weekend...Jamaica, IA that is. Something just isn't right about a Jamaica sign being surrounded by corn fields. They do take their name seriously though, as the Jamaican flag is proudly flying in town. The town is complete with gravel roads. I think Main St. may have been paved but all other roads seemed to be gravel. In fact we were there on the day of the town parade, no lie, I think the parade route hit every street in town!

When I think of Jamaica from now on, I will block Jamaica, IA from my mind and only think of the "real" Jamaica...

I don't understand...

There are some things that I will just never understand. One of "those things" is wrestling. We went to the Iowa Games wrestling tournament on Saturday. This was the first time I have ever been to a wrestling meet! I spent the first 15 minutes continuously asking Eric why people do this and covering my eyes everytime someone got thrown to the ground or their extremities were twisted and turned in ways that should not be possible. I finally was able to stop covering my eyes and opted for wincing and saying "ouch" for the person on the mat. After I pulled myself together it was time to start taking pictures. There were quite a few boys from Eric's school that were competing so Eric videotaped it and I took pictures. It's a bit easier to view the pain through a lens because then you're not fully involved in the match, you're only trying to make sure you capture the moment. But check out this serious face plant I captured...why oh why do people willingly participate?!?!?!

Onto the second thing I will never understand...parents who FREAK out and are so mad at their kids for not performing top notch everytime. There was one dad I could not stop staring at during his sons match. I think I could see the steam rising from his head as he bellowed for everyone to hear that his son was doing terrible. He was trying to "coach" his son out of a pin (yes, I even know what a pin is now...basically I learned that it means game over :). And when his son couldn't get out of it, he went storming out of the gym. But don't worry, he first gave his son a "lecture". I wanted so badly to tell him to get old hairy butt out on that mat and try to wrestle and see how easy it is. :)

I'm so glad I never had to feel what that must feel like...oh wait, I would have first had to have been an athlete! No really, thank you mom and dad for not being "that parent" when I attempted to play sports. Perhaps you covered your eyes in embarrasment a few times but at least you didn't scream for the world to know I missed the athletic gene! Don't worry, I don't hold a grudge for giving it all to Matt!

(stepping off my soapbox now)

Once again it was a computer editing night for both of us. It soon turned into a pity party for Maddoxx, she was whining and crying because we were not playing fetch with her. So we decided to take her to the park for a run. Well, little miss pity party turned into little miss sassy pants. Check out the picture of the confrontation that ensued. Yeah, it had no effect...she continued in her non-listening ways. She really didn't care, she got her way. Man! Why do we always give into her?!?!

The happy ending is that I got some serious sun flare while Eric and Maddoxx were having their heart to heart. I'm likin' the flare!

Footage of one of the many pity parties Maddoxx threw for herself (turn your volume up!).

I would like to propose...

that another word be added to the dictionary in addition to ginormous and various other words that were announced today. My new word would be beautifuler. That's right, I propose that Mr. Webster adds beautifuler to the big book in 2008 in honor of today. Could there have been a more beautifuler day than today?!?! :) I got back to work from lunch and couldn't stop looking at the sky! Luckily I got a handy dandy Canon SD800 for my birthday so I am always "armed" with a camera now as Eric would say! No more lugging the SLR in my purse, I just whip out the tiny camera and forever capture any moment. :) My harddrive does not appreciate all the additional pictures, but I say suck it up Mr. harddrive, suck it up because, (sing it with me) I'm lovin' it!

Go ahead, make yourself into an M&M!

Check out myself as an M & M! Go to http://www.becomeanmm.com/ to make yourself into one too!!

Have fun!

Hey, I have an idea, start a blog and make your M & M your first post!

Happy 4th!

My plan for the 4th was to find the perfect place and set up the tripod and camera to catch the fireworks. The plan was thwarted when we got a call to watch the fireworks on the lake. Long shutter speeds and a moving boat just are not a match made in heaven. So I left the camera and tripod behind. As luck would have it, we got out on the lake and the boat light was broken! Yeehaw!! No boating in the dark without a light...it was time to go find the perfect place on land and get out the gear! (Wow, I'm really a big nerd!) It's amazing how fast the light show passes when you're having fun! Many long shutter speeds and zooming while open captured some fun shots!

This one's for you dad!

I've been a bit absent from blogging because we've been on vacation in 'Boji for a few days. No trip to the lakes is complete without a few deer runs. I don't think it's possible to drive around the lake without dad pulling into the "hotspots" for deer spotting. This doe happened to be hanging out across from the campground. Yes, the deer is real, perhaps I've altered the sign a bit. :)

Say hello to my little friend...

After a round about way of getting the UPS package delivered to Okoboji via Eric's parents and my dad's friend, I finally got my hands on my new 70-200mm f/2.8 lens! Can I scream YAHOO? Yep, and I think I did quite a few times! I would post the first picture I took with it, but it's a very scary close-up of my brothers eyes...I was testing the zoom and got a bit carried away. Instead I opted of the sunset a few hours after getting the package. I can't wait to get out and play more!

Success

This is the face of a PROUD hunter! There seems to be an underground community of ground squirrels that move between the black gutter extensions to homes. We happen to have the entrance to the community in our back yard! We often look out our back door to find Maddoxx trying to get into the gutter. Well, her wish has come true, she has successfully hunted down a ground squirrel from the community! This picture is post hunt....check out all the dirt on her face!

The other side

The ground squirrels have been taunting Maddoxx. This time, it is on the other side of the fence and Maddoxx can't quite figure out how to get there.