This week’s You Capture challenge is still life.

I decided to shoot my favorite things in the whole wide world.

Besides McDaddy and my boys, of course.

This is the ring that McDaddy placed on my finger when we stood in front of 200 friends and family and vowed to love each other for better or for worse, till death do us part on May 23, 1998.

And this is the ring I slipped on my finger after convincing McDaddy that our love was bigger, brighter, and stronger after deployment.

I love my wedding rings more than any other possession I have.

And here are my rings hanging out with their friends on my dresser.

I actually spent quite a bit of time playing around with the settings this week. It is really tough to focus on shiny diamonds.

But I had fun trying.

And I can’t help but think how much better these diamonds would look wrapped around this steering wheel.

 Y’all knew that was coming, didn’t ya?

Yeah, I thought so.

Happy Thursday!

We are having an unusually warm January here in West Virginia (NOT western Virginia), which is absolutely fine with me seeing as how I am not a fan of heavy coats or snow. Or cold.

I am also not a fan of being on a 55-hour “no caffeine order” yet, here I sit. I have a stress test today as a result of the bundle branch blockage and I can’t wait to ‘throw one back’ as soon as the test is done. I am prayerfully hopeful that I will hear good news today about my ticker. Ever since the bundle branch blockage (try saying that three times real fast) was discovered, it has felt like a black cloud hanging over me. That might have something to do with my decision to type “bundle branch blockage” into the Google window, because after reading that mess, I’m quite sure I’ll be needing a pacemaker before all of this is said and done.

But enough about the black cloud and the cold.

Let’s put some color in this conversation, shall we?

This week’s You Capture challenge is colorful.

I absolutely love color. Especially bright colors. If I could choose to be any crayon in the box, I’d be bright pink because that one’s my favorite. I also love orange, lime green and turquoise too!

Even though I hate snow, I adore snowmen. I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to paint one of these at The Pottery Place. [Note: Have you been to The Pottery Place? If you haven't, you should, because it is loads of fun whether you are with your girlfriends or your kids. The only difference is, one requires help with the paint and the brushes and I need more water, and can I try out that pen paint thing and mom can I paint another piece because I'm done and I'm bored, and the other, well? Just laughter and fun.]

And even though we haven’t had much snow this winter, we are expecting lots and lots of rain today, so I’ll be busting this bad boy out when the time comes to get some lunch AND AN ICE COLD DR. PEPPER thankyouverymuch.

And speaking of one of my favorite colors – aren’t these pretty?

Now y’all know I rarely ever post a You Capture post without including one of these bad boys. Obviously, this is an old picture because Saturn took its toys and went home. That makes me very sad because there are few things that excited me more than a CAR LOT PLUM FULL of Saturn Skys.

Color.

It doesn’t get much better than chili pepper red and sunburst yellow.

But don’t tell midnight blue, black onyx, or ruby red that, k?

*sigh*

Happy Thursday y’all!

West Virginia is known for its very COLD winters and very HOT summers. I guess you could say our motto around here is “Go big or go home!” I’m not a huge fan of either extreme if I’m being honest. My ideal temperature is 80 degrees in the heat of the day with little or no humidity, which happens about three days out of the year.

I sweat like a pig in the summer, and I get cold sores in the winter.

But I’m not complaining.

Let’s just kick this thing off, shall we?

Cold is not my favorite weather, but then again neither is summer.

When the temps reach high nineties plus humidity, it can be a real bummer.

Up for our morning commute last week, the temperature was just sixteen

I don’t so much mind the cold temperatures, but of snow I’m not real keen.

I hate the cold sores and dry skin, not to mention the wet snowy boots.

And when the kids get all dressed to sled, it takes them forever to put on snowsuits.

My least favorite is when McDaddy’s gone and we wake up to a few feet of snow,

Though I couldn’t care less about the white stuff IF we have no place to go.

As you might imagine, it’s not my favorite, to get out and clear this mess,

Though, if McDaddy is home he always takes care of it, I must confess.

I realize we’re talking about cold this week, but you know I can’t let a week slip by,

Or miss out on another chance to show you a hot little Saturn Sky. 

Ahhh. One of these days, folks. One of these days.

 Stay warm y’all!

My morning starts at 6:45 AM.

Which also happens to be my least favorite time of day. Mostly because I stay up way too late playing Words With Friends, but also because my bed is the most comfortable bed on the planet and I love being all snuggled down in it.

After a mandatory trip to the bathroom to relieve my bladder, I make my way into Stevie’s room and then Alex’s room to wake them. They stumble into the kitchen counter and take their respective seats.

On this particular morning, this is what they ate:

And before you go on a tangent about eating healthy, you should know that Froot Loops are made with whole grains and is a good source of fiber (it says so on the box). On a typical morning, I fix eggs and bacon, with a banana or yogurt and a glass of milk to round out the food pyramid, or pie or whatever they call it now, but some days we throw caution to the wind and go on an all out sugar rush before 7:00 AM.

In fact, MOST days we throw caution to the breakfast wind because Lord knows I barely have the wherewithall to find the kitchen at that ridiculous hour, much less wrestle with a hot stove.

I put on my makeup while enjoying my coffee,

 making my Words With Friends plays, looking at Facebook, and keeping the kids on track.

And what would a morning around here be without tooth paste all over the sink?

 A miraculous one, that’s what.

My two boys can string toothpaste from here to Texas in a hot minute. It’s an art that they have mastered. (Needless to say, the Clorox cleanup is my friend.)

After passing out vitamins, allergy medication, and locating my keys, we load up and head out.

Only we ride in a vehicle not nearly as cool as this one.

Happy Thursday, y’all!

—

This post is linked to You Capture where this week’s challenge is mornings.

This week’s You Capture challenge is a fun one. We are asked to share our Top 10 photos of 2011. I spent hours night before last adding pictures to my iPad, so I had a chance to look back at the entire year.

Now that I have a [somewhat] new fancy DSLR camera, almost every picture is a favorite one.

I’ll do my best to ONLY share my top 10. What I would really like to do is share my favorite top ten with people and my favorite top ten without people.

Off we go, in no particular order…

1. A beautiful fall weekend camping with friends near New River Gorge in [our beautiful state of] West Virginia.

 2. My sweet boy being baptized.

3. I just love this one.

4. Our last trail ride in the heap, ahem! I mean Jeep before selling it to buy the Wrangler.

5. Watch out, Michael Phelps…

6. My sweet boys at Christmas.

7. My sweet [hulky] boy and our friend Maya at Halloween.

8. Probably my absolute favorite picture of 2011.

9. On a whim, I set this picture up. I love it!

10. This is what God does when He’s showing off. [A prime example of the word splendor.]

And honorable mention goes to….

And of course, the picture you’ve all been wating for… my favorite Saturn Sky pic of 2011… I hope to be sitting in one of these suckers in 2012.

Which one of these was your favorite?

I love this time of year!

Festive. Fun. Family.

F is for fun wrapping paper.

E is for the extra special ornaments that mean so much to me.

S is for SNOWMEN, of course!

T is for our beautiful nine-foot rotating tree.

I is for I love spending time with my family.

V is for natiVity.

E is for Santa and his elves,

who will hopefully bring one of these to mama.

The Sky’s the limit!

For more merry festivities, visit I Should Be Folding Laundry.

Earlier this week, we spent a few days with McDaddy’s parents and his sister’s family at a ski resort.

It’s our annual ski extravaganza.

Except, I don’t ski.

Because I am a klutz. And because I can barely walk without tripping over my own feet, so I have no desire to clamp some three-feet long, nine-inch wide sticks to my feet and slide down a hill.

Oh no ma’am.

Instead, I stayed in our posh little room and shot some pictures for this week’s You Capture challenge.

Light.

Natural light, anyone?

I tried to get all fancy with this one because the light was actually reflecting in the metal.

And don’t you love the way the sunlight reflects off of this sucker?

Oh. Someday folks.

Someday.

Oh the weather outside is frightful,

but my dear, taco soup, is delightful,

And since we’ve got places to go,

Don’t let it snow, don’t let it snow, dont’ let it snow.

This post is linked to You Capture.

I’ve had a wonderful week. McDaddy has family visiting from New Hampshire and that means we’ve been with his family a lot this week. (My apologies to my Words With Friends Peeps.) And just to be clear, his family is not your normal family. McDaddy is the oldest of five.

That translates to lots. of. grand-babies. and pure. chaos. when we all get together. It’s a good chaos, of course, but chaos, none the less.

We celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas over the weekend which means I had a great opportunity to shoot people for this week’s You Capture challenge.

My people.

I love that Alex squints his eyes before opening gifts so he doesn’t see what it is until the paper is all the way off of it.

And this little squinty eye’d boy makes me smile.

The kids waited with great anticipation to begin their gift exchange. Love these two bright eyed boys.

I’d make that face too if I had unwrapped a 3-compartment laundry sorter… McDaddy is clearly not impressed.

Y’all.

Isn’t she a doll?

I’d love to just bring her home and prop her up on my bed like a baby doll.

And speaking of doll babies, just look at this bunch….

I’ll save you some time. There’s 15 of them.

AND. NOT. ONE. SINGLE. BABY. IS. CRYING.

A Christmas miracle, indeed.

I told you he had a big family.

And I would love to tell you that my people got me one of these for Christmas…

But alas, they did not.

Oh well, maybe next year.

Hi friends! Because of the Thanksgiving holiday, You Capture is posting a day early, so I thought I’d play along as I watch the Dancing With The Stars Finale even though my boyfriend got booted off last week.

And yes, I have been cryin’ the blues to anyone who would listen since then, because 1. Maks is hot and 2. because Maks is hot.

His hotness and my crazy would make a fun, fabulous pair. Wouldn’t you agree?

And THIS, my friends is what happens when I’m feeling fun and fabulous.

Blue has always been one of my favorite colors. That fact is evidenced by the TONS of blue in our great room. In fact, this accent chair is my all time favorite piece of furniture, mostly because of the beautiful shade of blue against the yellow.

And see the yellow door back there?

Close your eyes and count to three.

Abracadabra Alakazam.

Voila.

How cool was that?

Don’t you wish all of your painting projects were as easy as that one?

Oh, and speaking of easy….

Lame transition, I know.

How easy would it be to fall in love with this blue sucker?

The only time I’d cry the blues in this sexy ride is when it rained.

And when it was time to pick up the kids from school.

Have a great Thanksgiving y’all!