Day one - Heading back East (Tuesday)

I'm finally getting pictures up of mine and Annie's trip back East. I'm separating the days out so it makes it a little easier to see what we did each day, rather than having a long post, cause it would be very long. :)

Leaving Boise. We are excited for the trip, that's the only reason we are able to look so awake despite our flight being at 6 in the morning!

Driving across the George Washington Bridge. This was about 4 hours into the drive (we flew in to Baltimore cause it was cheaper) only 1 more hour to go to get to North Salem, NY!

Still can't believe I survived driving through Manhattan. So glad we didn't have to drive downtown though. :)

These are the only pictures we took this day. I'm still beating myself up for not getting a picture with the Freydberg's. (the family I nannied for 6 years ago) We got to their house around 7 and had dinner with them, then just enjoyed their company, catching up, and hearing some new stories. Gamble, who is almost 12, is my height now and skinny like his mom. They have a big dog now and a huge bunny that is the cutest thing in the world. I didn't get to see Mary Ward, because she was at camp in North Carolina, just gives me another excuse to go back and visit. :) After we got done chatting, I took Annie outside to see her first fireflys. Oh how I miss those. They are the coolest bugs ever! We stayed in the apartment above the garage, which is where I lived when I nannied for them. It brought back some fond memories, and I'm glad I finally got to show someone this little part of my life.

Ride for the Cure 2009

*I'm finally getting caught up on all the blogging I need to get done, so bare with me, there are going to be a lot of updates.*

Back in May my Dad asked if I wanted to ride with him for Ride for the Cure. It's a group of bikers that ride to raise money for the Muscular Distrophy Association. We all met at the Harley Davidson store in Meridian, had a police escort down the freeway to Bronco Stadium, then we took the back roads out to Kuna, then to Caldwell, through Star and Eagle, back to Boise, and ended at Joe's Crab Shack. It was a lot of fun, especially being on the freeway with 500+ plus bikes and no other cars.

Getting ready to leave the Harley Davidson store

Some of the bikers at the Harley Davidson store

Long line of bikers on the freeway, it was a pretty awesome sight

Getting our police escort on the freeway

Some of the bikes at Bronco Stadium

Annie's Graduation

After a lot of hard work, Annie finally graduated! She wasn't planning on walking, but after some convincing from her family she decided to join her cousin in attending graduation and walking to receive her diploma. *Most of the pictures I took inside turned out blurry cause the lighting was so low and I don't have a tripod. *

Annie and her cousin Rachel waiting for the graduation to start. I stole this picture off Aunt Sue's facebook, cause my fancy camera doesn't have a zoom lens yet. :)

Annie and Rachel getting their diplomas

Annie and her Dad Lou

Uncle Bill, Annie, and Aunt Sue

Rachel and Annie

Me and Annie

Spring time in Boise

On another day off, I decided to take the new camera out and get some shots of the beautiful spring scenery around Boise.

This is a little field that I pass by every day when I drive to and from work. It makes me think of rolling hills and open country. This particular morning I woke up super early so I could get a shot of it while the sun was coming up.

Then I headed over to Katherine Albertson Park to get some shots of the geese. I was happy to see a little family of geese out and about. The babies are just so darn cute!

Getting a close up.

Some lilacs soaking up the sun

Not sure what kind of tree this is, but it makes me think of the Primary song 'Popcorn Popping on the Apricot tree'

I love this shot through the trees.

Part of the gate that surrounds the field I pass by.

More shots of the field, this time with the sun high in the sky.

Zoo Boise

On one of my days off I decided to take a little visit to the zoo and get some pictures of the animals, and I wanted to check out the new African exhibit they added last summer.

This was inside the African school they had set up, I just thought it made for a cool picture.

The lions. They were hard to get a good shot of since they were so far away.


The cute giraffes

Zebras

Cute little bear that was soaking up the sun

The tigers

This one laid down right in front of the window

Little ground squirrels that were enjoying the sun as well.

More pictures!

Yesterday Annie was asked to play softball on Toby Thornton's (friend of ours that used to be in our bishopric in 11th ward) team so I decided to go along to watch. I brought my camera along so I could take some pictures. Well, just so you all know, Willow Lane Park does not have the best set up for getting good pictures of the softball players. :( Oh well, Toby's wife, Tammy was there to cheer Toby on and she brought Dallas with her too. So, what does one do when they can't take pictures of the softball players? Take pictures of the cute baby! He wasn't a very good sport though, it's almost like he knew what I was doing and he was not about to pose for me. Not too surprising though since he sees the camera in his Mom's hand all the time at home, he knows what's going on.

Isn't he so cute!

Gotta love the drool!

Yeah, he knew I wanted him to smile, but he wasn't going for it.

I love the one eyebrow sticking up.

I couldn't resist a picture of the cute Jordan shoes.

New Camera!

So I finally took the plunge and bought me a fancy schmancy digital slr, and let me just say, I LOVE IT!!!! Thanks to Mom, Dad, Grandma and Grandpa Barrus, and Mike and Sarah for their contributions over the last few years by giving me money for Christmas and Birthday presents, plus a nice tax return, I was able to purchase a camera that I've been dreaming about for years. I had a long standing debate on which brand I wanted to go with, I've always loved and always wanted a Nikon, but I know that Canon makes a great camera too. Finally it came down to price and the Canon was more in my price range so that's what I went with and I'm quite happy with my decision. I got the Canon EOS 40D and it's big and beautiful and heavy. :) I tried to get a decent picture of the camera with my point and shoot camera, but it was having some lighting issues and then for some reason or another, it wouldn't upload to my computer. So if you really want to see what it looks like, google it. :) Here are a few pictures I've taken with it so far, just playing around, getting a feel for it, developing our relationship with one another, and I might add, I think it's the start of a beautiful friendship. :)

Beutiful tulips

Annie's guitar

Some shots at Annie's softball game. The sky was awesome that night with the storm clouds rolling in.

Annie's Uncle Bill came over to help her put some shelves in the garage. I didn't get any of the finished product, but they look great! He's the dude!