Here I am!!!

It has been a bit, but I think of you all often! 

May be a bit long-ish post, but I'll try to bring you up to date.

I, along with dear daughter, son-in-law and my friend Shelley

ran the inagural 'Running of the Elk' in our hometown of Elk Grove, CA.

This was my 3rd half marathon of the season...

 Baby girl turned 5 months!

She is just the light of our lives...

 With Spring's arrival came the return of our dove family!!

This is Momma dove's second year visiting, last year she had six hatches...

Each hatch produced two babes!

These two are her first of this season!!

 Another month passed...  Baby Girl turned 6 months!!

She is riding a rocking horse made by my parents for her Momma

when she was a baby!!!

So happy I held on to it and got these shots...

 This shot makes me SO happy!

Momma dove returned... We thought she would not ~

After the previous shot of her new babes something

snatched them from the nest :-(

We have secured a safer planter for her and added shades

to hide her & her babies from predators!!!

 A little photo shoot at a local ranch

afforded me these gorgeous shots of a wheat field.

Hope you are enjoying your Spring/Summer...  Summer vacation has begun for kids already!!

Where have I been...

Yes, I have been missing and trust me I have been busy!

We took a hike in the foothills with daughter, son-in-law and baby girl, her first real hike...  It was a 2 mile hike into the falls with a jog stroller friendly trail until the last 1/4 mile.  We ditched the stroller and carried the baby the rest of the way and were treated with amazing scenery at the falls.

I ran my 1st half marathon (13.1 miles) of the season and have 9 more planned :-) 

This run was our local Shamrock'n run for St. Patricks Day, and is very popular!!  This year the total of runners was 5,600... The run starts at Raley Field, the triple A affiliate to our local MLB team the Oakland A's playing field.  We finish the race by running into the stadium from center field and your finish is broadcast on the big screen!!  We, as runners aren't able to see it, but your friends and family are able to...  Here I am with my co-worker Shelley as we entered Old Town Sacramento.  My daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter surprised me by coming out to cheer us to the finish line!  I finished with a respectable time of 2:31

We have a new car!!!

Dear hubs and I went to the dealership to look at purchasing a used car and came home with a 2012 Acura TL, my dream car...  She is a beauty and has so many bells and whistled and I feel so blessed to have her.

Ran my 2nd half marathon of the season!!

This was my first time running the River City half and almost thought we would be running it in the rain.  It rained all night the night before and on our drive to the venue.  Fortunately, by the time we made it to the start line we were able to ditch our garbage bags (which kept us dry and warm) before the gun sounded.  This was a much smaller race, only about 500 runners and we ran a portion of the bike trail that I have never run before.  I felt many times like I was out there alone as we were all so spread out.  Dear daughter & son-in-law finished in 1:53, while I finished in 2:33.

We have been watching this little one grow like a weed!!!  Baby girl is just the sweetest natured little one, she is always smiling and loves to MOVE!!  She loves to kick her feet and is so happy to be standing.  She has a walker that she sits in and is so interested at reaching out to play with all the toys on the walker.  She is definately teething and tries to put everything in her mouth.  As you can see her smile just lights up a room...

and finally, I wanted to share with you the sounds

 that warm our hearts more than I can begin to tell you...

Dear hubs watches babygirl on the days her Mommy & Daddy both work.  Once a month I have been taking a vacation day and going with him.  We have the best time taking care of her and her Grandpa can get her giggling everytime!

I hope you all have enjoyed the first quarter of 2012 as much as we have!!!

March is Endometriosis awareness month

 Approximately 176 million women and girls worldwide suffer from endometriosis;

8.5 million in North America alone.

I'm supporting my blogger friend http://www.myperspectiveblog.com/ by helping to spread the awareness about endometriosis. 

 Feel free to share your support by visiting Nicolasa and leaving a comment.

 

The K family

I recently was offered the opportunity to take pictures for my Sister's family.  I am learning and still have so much to learn, but with the help of great subjects and my Sister's prop I think they came out well.

Back in the kitchen

One of my favorite places in my home is my kitchen ~

I love trying new recipes and making food for others!

I spent 5 hours today in my happy place :-)

I prepped a pork roast for the crock-pot by smothering it in my homemade BBQ sauce

Having used the last of my sauce, I made a new batch!

Now that dinner was cooking I set out on my next dish...

Mocha cheesecake

Next I set up dinner for Tuesday night, Valentine's Day



I found a great recipe for chicken cordon blue

for the crockpot!!!

Lastly, I made the cakes for my attempt at Red Velvet cake!



I'll take that to work on Wednesday, but with the cakes baked

I'll only need to frost on tuesday night.

Hopefully I am please enough with it to take a photo

to post later !





Uncle Tommy's visit

Dear Son came for a visit from Seattle to see his niece.

I get super excited when I see his plane arrive :-)

We put Uncle Tommy right to work feeding the baby...

Next day we hosted a brunch for the family and shared our baked goods ~

Hubs and I had made swedish tea ring and sweet rolls...

Granddaughter Harlow & her 2nd cousin Jake 'performing for the family'

We put the babies in the center of the floor and

they kept everyone entertained for nearly an hour!! 

It was great to see them together :-)

Harlow & her Uncle spent some time watching the NFL playoff game

Uncle Tommy just cracks me up!!!



It was a great visit, always wonderful to have my family together ~ ♥

Uncle Tommy was able to spend quality time with his niece

and we look forward to the next visit!!

Nature Bike Ride

I've been itching to get out and take some nature shots,

so once it warmed up to 40 degrees today we set out on our bikes...

We were in search of some gorgeous wood ducks,

but they were off somewhere else, naturally!

Found some cinnamon teal... Which we don't see much of around here!

Beautiful mallard hen and drake

Crazy way to get a meal :-)

A great white heron 

A cattle egret who had an 'admirer'...

The egret was frightened off by the cat, who was then frightened off by the egrets pals!! 



The little otters were my bonus today!

Saw them swimming around and I was able to catch them playing on the bank near their den...

And finally, my railroad track shot ~  There is just something about them so intriguing to me!



I wish you all a great week -

We are preparing for my Son to visit from Washington this weekend,

which works out perfectly with my Nephew & his wife arriving from Idaho.  

They will be here to meet the newest family member, my other nephew's new son. 

It will be nice to see the cousins all together

and enjoy having the second cousins play too!

ABC's of Me

Saw this on Kristal's blog and thought it would be a fun way for you to get to know me!

Age: 52, and am proud of it!
Bed size: KING! Love the hubs and to snuggle but love all the room :-)
Chore you dislike: Putting away clean dishes! Love to wash them tho... ODD, I know
Dogs: Chocolate labs!  We have had three and they're great pets! Do miss having a lap dog
Essential start to your day: Checking email and a nice cup of coffee; even in the summer ;-)

Favorite color: RED

Gold or silver: Black Hills Gold or gold, but have silver too

Height: 5’6

Instruments you play(ed): flute in junior

Job title: Administrative Assistant

Kids: Two

Live: Sunny California

Mom’s name: Mom silly….

Nicknames: Sweetie, Lolly, Momma Bear, Ma

Overnight hospital stays: Two childbirths

Pet Peeves: Oh gosh, don't make me throw myself under the bus!  I have plenty... Sorry!

Quote from a movie: LaChiem (to Life!) (Fiddler on the Roof) & "I Don't Know Margot" (Christmas Vacation).
Righty or Lefty: Righty, but I was born Lefty.  Parents put a sock on my left hand as a baby!!
Siblings: OLDER sister…..
Time you wake up: Usually 4:15-5:30, depending on how many miles I need to run.
Underwear: Uhm yes???
Vegetables you don’t like: Okra
What makes you run late: Trying a new hairstyle
X-Rays you’ve had: None; MRI & CT, but no X-Ray
Yummy food you make: Chocolate chip cookies!  Finally perfected :-)
Zoo animal favorite: Giraffes