In which Sarah discovers the macro setting on her camera...

What a beautiful spring we've been having! Everything is blooming about a month early. So I took some pictures around the yard of our blossoms. I was getting frustrated with the blurriness and as I was trying to figure out how to adjust the aperture setting, I read online that I should just use the macro setting (on a point and shoot)...so after some hunting around and frustrated grumblings...I discovered how to set it to "macro" for close up shots on all of the different settings--I felt like such a dummy--it was super easy. After that, the blurriness was due to the breeze, not the camera. :) You can find all of today's photos here.

High Trestle Trail

After a brief bout of winter in February, March has skipped us right into early summer. We've broken record highs 5 days in a row. Yesterday we topped out at 84 degrees and 83 degrees today...which is just downright bizarre for March. I have to admit that we turned on our AC. Coming right along with this beautiful weather, next week is Spring Break. I can remember blizzards during Spring Break, but I can't ever recall summer-like temps. So to kick off Spring Break, Rob and I took a little drive North of town to check out the High Trestle Trail Bridge that crosses the Des Moines River Valley between Woodward and Madrid, Iowa.

It's a nifty bridge that was made out of an old rail bridge. The old bridge used to be a trestle bridge, but it is no longer--now the trail is named after the old bridge, and so as not to confuse anyone, they went ahead and called the non-trestle bridge the "High Trestle Trail Bridge." When they turned the bridge into a bike path, they added "cribbing" in a radiating pattern along the bridge to allude to the days when they used to mine coal in the area. It creates an impressive affect. The portions of the cribbing that are directly above the Des Moines River are also lit at night. I look forward to returning at dusk once the leaves have come out to get the full experience.

As you can see in this photo--the bridge is set high above the valley and allows for great views. You can see the rest of the photos we took today here.

Winter Arrived

Last weekend we got our first significant snowfall. It's been cold and blustery all week so I guess Winter decided to finally show up. I was kinda hoping we could get by without Winter this year. It started snowing on Friday night and kept snowing until well into the afternoon on Saturday. It was hovering right around 32-33 degrees so the snow was really wet and heavy. It was also excellent snowman making snow--so we had to go out and play in it a little bit. I mean we just had to. ;) So we went out with the dog and made a snowman. Then we cleared the driveway and sidewalks. Here are some photos from our afternoon in the snow:

Happy New Year!

We had great Christmas weather this year (no snow and temps mostly in the 40s) which made our trips across eastern South Dakota a lot more pleasant than usual. We visited Vera for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and were in Estelline for a couple of days after that.

Here we are at Vera's apartment posing for our annual holiday photo.

We got together with my parents and Marie and Kris in Estelline right after Christmas. Here are a couple shots of opening presents.

You can see the rest of the Christmas pictures here.

Falls Park "Winter Wonderland"

We spent the first part of our Christmas Vacation in Sioux Falls with Rob's Mom. On Christmas Day we went to Falls Park to take in the holiday decorations. The weather this Christmas was beautiful and the decorations at the park were lovely. It was a great night to be out and walking around among the lights. I've posted a couple of videos I took of the falls and of the lights. You can find the rest of our photos from the park here.

Macy's Parade 1939

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and is enjoying their weekend. Rob and I did go to Target at midnight, but we were in and out in about 35 minutes, so certainly not die hard Black Friday shoppers. We went home afterwards and went to bed.

If you watched the Macy's parade this year, here's a video of the parade from 1939 for comparison. No silly lip syncing artists, but you can tell where the inspiration for a lot of what they do now has come from.

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade - New York, 1939 from standard on Vimeo.

(there is no audio on the video)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, it’s Thanksgiving week, and I’ve started to see lists pop up online of everything that you’re thankful for. It’s a wonderful tradition, so I thought I’d do a list of my own. Of course I’m thankful for the traditional things: A great husband, a warm home and a roof over my head, a loving family, and an adorable dog, good friends, indoor plumbing etc… But in this list, I want to focus on some of the less common things that people really should be giving thanks for. After all, it's the little things in life that make the difference.

What I’m thankful for:

10) Staplers and paperclips. I’m a teacher, and these workhorses of the office often get overlooked. I even did a post just about paperclips. That’s how thankful I am.

9) Cheese. Though I’m certain cheese was probably invented on accident, boy am I thankful that someone let their milk spoil.

8) Digital Cooking thermometers. Never having to wonder if your burger is done. Priceless.

7) Breathright Strips. My husband is probably more thankful for these than I am.

6) Nonstick aluminum foil. This stuff is magic. Not even burnt cheese sticks to it.

5) Wireless Internet. We live in the future. I can check my email at McDonalds. I can use my laptop without cords. Woo!

4) Chocolate. No explanation necessary.

3) Board Games. No electricity or computer required. Just good clean fun.

2) 64 oz bottles of Gold Peak Unsweetened Iced Tea available at the grocery store. It’s like getting an expensive glass from a fancy restaurant every day.

1) Spandex in Jeans. Jeans were comfortable and casual before, but now whenever I wear a pair of old jeans without a little spandex in them, I’m reminded of just how much more comfortable they are now.

Have a great Turkey Day everyone! And be thankful!

Grandma's 90th!

Yep, that's right...Grandma Esther turned 90 earlier this year and now it's Grandma Anetta's turn. The family got together to celebrate at 10 Mile Lake in Minnesota (near Fergus Falls) a couple of weekends ago. On Saturday the whole family wore Twins shirts to have our photo taken, and that evening we all ate dinner at the steak house at the resort. Games were played, lots of food was eaten, and good times were had by all. :)

My aunt Julie, Grandma Anetta, Tenley, and my Cousin Janee got together for a 4 generations photo. And below is a photo of Kris and Marie hanging out in the cabin.

You can find the rest of my photos from the weekend here.

Having a Bad Day?

Nothing a little Captain Picard can't fix. :)

End of Summer Recap

Well it's October, and I'm dreadfully behind on blogging...so even though it's chilly and the leaves are mostly turned, I'm going to blog about stuff that happened in August to catch up a bit and to remind us of warmer times.

In August we finally got our yard fenced in. We were on a waiting list for much of the summer...but it's been so nice to let Molly out without having to tie her up. She loves running all over and greeting the neighbor dogs and kids as they walk by. There was a bit of a fiasco the first day they were installing the fence posts though. They hit a gas line next to our neighbor's house. The lead of the fence crew excitedly told me that they would have to evacuate the neighborhood. So I stood outside with Molly on leash in case we would have to leave in a hurry. We waited for about 40 minutes until the gas company arrived (the police and fire departments were there within 10 minutes) and then were told we could go back in the house. It delayed our fence being installed by a couple of days, but nothing blew up.

More photos of our newly fenced yard (and our neighbor dogs) can be found here.

About a week later, we went to Farm Bureau's annual State Farm Day. Rob and I really enjoy getting the chance to go to the Iowa State Fair for free....but we always make up for our free admission by spending too much money on food. We may have to savor this year's experience as Rob's company was sold off from Farm Bureau to an out of state company, so they may not have State Fair day next year.

Rob thoroughly enjoyed his smoked turkey leg as usual. The rest of our photos from the 2011 Iowa State Fair can be found here.

And to end off the summer recap...a photo of our dog Molly. You can find more of her here.

Fall updates to come...during fall hopefully :).