kirstencan

Panguitch, UT

On our trip to Bryce, we stayed in the nearby town of Panguitch.  It is tiny.  A small farming community, it is innundated with tourists for much of the year.  All the motels are older and dated, but we still had to make reservations months in advance.  Very few stores or restaurants were open, but it was fun to walk around.  We popped into the thrift store (mostly because it was open!) and the nice ladies working there were telling us how in the early days of Panguitch, there was a brick factory, and workers were paid partially in bricks to build their homes!  I found that fascinating. 

At any rate, for a town with not much going on, there was sure a lot to look at.

Bryce

We've been itching to visit this place 'for real' for two years.  Loved it.  Beautiful and inspiring. 

So glad we went!

The only hitch we ran up against was discovering a major fear of heights in the Redhead.  He did enjoy himself, but there were definitely some hard parts.  When asked if he wanted to go back he said no (sad).  When asked if he'd like to go back to Zion, though, he quickly said 'yep!'.  So at least there's that.

Fun at the Renaissance Faire

Monarch

It's not everyday you get a shot like this of a monarch!  Or any shot. 

Thanks, Holly, for letting your butterflies loose in my garden.  We were happy we had flowers for them and apparently we have plenty of milkweed.

(This was taken with my 35mm lens, not a zoom.)

At 10,000 feet

Just got back from the best family camping trip.  The kids are at perfect ages, the weather was awesome.  No bugs.  Tie-dye, bandannas, and holes in the knees of jeans.  Yummy, simple food.  HIKING.  Card games.  Painting. Relaxing. 100 new favorite photos.

More, please.

Up close updated

Another morning in the garden with my camera.  My friend Whitney says that you could take a picture of your toenail with a lens at 1.8 and it would look amazing.

It's probably true.  And I think garden photos at 1.8 look even prettier than a toenail.  Especially in the morning.

I've decided the peas are the most photogenic vegetable.  They have pretty leaves, twirly tendrils, pretty white flowers that remind me of white party dresses.  When they start getting pods it's like they're just showing off.

The garlic is nice and twirly right now, too.



The hollyhocks are at eye (lens) level - can't wait for them to bloom!

The mock orange is getting it's first blooms - we are so happy it's come back from last year!

We have had a few purple poppies flower.







Did you know we planted a LOT of giant sunflowers?  Well, we did, they're about a foot tall right now, can't wait for them to be massive!  Should be fun!

NOTSTAGRAM #mothersdayfood

#allfromscratch   #yeahhedid  #bejealous

(forgot to mention the onion and green pepper in the calzone - drool)

ps. Thanks to all who commented on yesterday's post

glad I'm not alone in my thinking, and glad some people still read here!

Garden - shooting wide open

So, I've been weeding again.  Man, gardens are really pretty in early morning and early evening lights.  Even big weedy ones like ours.

One morning I took my camera out - and shot with my 50mm/1.8 lens wide open. That means I shot all of them with the aperature at the biggest setting, leaving the background nice and blurry/making pretty bokeh.

Anyway - These are all straight out of my camera, no editing, I just had fun taking them and will have to practice out there more!

Tomatillo 'skeletons' from last year. We gave up trying to keep up with the tomatillos last summer.

So lacy and pretty, I find them fascinating!  They must be tougher than they look to survive all winter!

Dewdrops on small strawberry plants.

I did mention I was weeding, right?

Had my focus been right on these baby peas, I'd be super happy.  Seriously, I was a little bummed this didn't turn out.  As out of focus as it is, pretty bokeh!

This lens is super fiddly and I'm finding I sometimes have a hard time telling if the subject's in focus when it's really bright out... also other times. :)

Raspberries.

Hollyhock leaves.  So pretty and ruffly.  We have hollyhocks all over - last year we had hollyhocks and tomatillos growing in the most random places after the fire.  We can't wait for these to bloom!

Irises.

We have quite a few irises, and I was SO happy to see so many return post-fire (not all, but oh well).  But they burned before they bloomed last year, and so I didn't know how they'd do this year.  And they're blooming!



This one is really pretty big - click!

Can't wait till the poppies bloom!

And then snow happened...

... so that was good.

Costumes 2012

I think every year I've managed to post costumes before Halloween - mostly because costumes always have to be done for our neighborhood carnival the weekend before - but I didn't take photos until today.  And now the boys are tucked into candy-induced-sugar-comas bed I have a few minutes to post - so at least it's not AFTER Halloween! ;)

First up, a '20's girl'/flapper.  We were originally going for more of a Thoroughly Modern Millie look with a handkerchief skirt, but fringe is darn fun.  And darn expensive.  I didn't know that when I promised her...

My mom and I made the dress (fringe + slippery fabric = never. again.), I made the headband, bought the stockings and she borrowed the necklace and shoes.  We kinda faux-bobbed her hair, her hair is so thick and crazy luckily the headband hid some of it.

Her beads hang straight. ;)  Oh, and we gave her a 'beauty spot' on her cheek.

I need to post the video of her dancing to the 'Tapioca' when she was... 1 or 2.  No lie.  She loves that movie.

Next up:  can you guess from this shot?

It's Tintin and his dog, Snowy.  Off to solve a mystery.  He liked last year's movie, which led him to the comics and old cartoons on Netflix.

All I had to do for his costume was whip up some knicker-type pants and buy the dog.  His was still the cheapest costume (again).  His sister's sweatshirt turned inside out worked just fine - lucky for me!

This is the second time he's used his red-hair as a prop.  Next year he should be Archie.

Guess what his favorite part of his costume is? :)

And then the Egyptian Soldier.  Do not call him a Pharoah.  His sister got him into the Kane Chronicles books earlier this year, and then he got the Survival guide for the series because he's so into it.  Anyway, he loved his costume.

AND he loved that I made it.  Seriously, he said that it's cool that I make their costumes and that they are better than store-bought ones.  Made my day.

Anyway, this is a total Kirsten-style improv costume.  I couldn't tell you how I made it if I tried.  The white is a men's size L tshirt with a little gold ribbon trim on the sleeves.    I had the worst time with the iron-on stuff I used for the collar.  I usually use a different brand that works much better.

Here's a closeup of his headpiece.  The headpiece and necklace symbol are cardboard with hot glue spraypainted gold.

Originally they were all going to be from Lord of the Rings:  Galadriel, Frodo, and Sam.  *Sigh*  I love theme years.  But I think they ended up picking pretty cool things that they were really excited about, so that's awesome.

Also, they all got finished, which is awesome in itself as I wasn't sure it was going to happen.  Our little Egyptian was finished JUST in time for his piano party.  Cutting it close!

I LOVE seeing kiddo's Halloween costumes, esp DIY ones - let me know if you're posting yours!

Here's some from previous years (because I love looking back):

2011- Faerie, Knight, Ash from Pokemon

2010 - Felicity, Han Solo, Link

2009 - Hermione, Ron, Harry

2008 - Maid Marian, Postman, Spiderman

2007 - Leia, Star Wars pilots