It's like this...

This is the 12th Mother's Day without my mom. I miss her very much and as most children, I probably didn't appreciate her and the sacrifices she made for her children as much as I should have while she was here on this earth. I always treated her with respect, she knew I loved her and I cared for her in the last few months of her life. I've learned a lot about mother hood since her death. This is a picture of her holding my last baby. She held Ashley Rose before I did, because I'd had a crash c-section to save Ashley's life. I never actually saw my baby for two days. Mom never let me forget that she held her first. It's not a great picture of my mom because she'd been crying an awful lot that night, not knowing if the baby or I would survive. My mom was and is beautiful. She taught ME how to a be mom. But the baby below is the one who made me a mom for the very first time. Stephanie Ann. You were the light and the life in my worl...

This is our cat Bobo. Yes, I'm aware that Bobo means 'stupid' in Spanish. Thankfully, Bobo does not speak Spanish. This is another shot of our beloved Bobo. My dear husband is his human. Bobo sleeps with him each night, curled into the crook of his arm. When Lance goes to work. Bobo comes and sleeps ON TOP OF ME. Apparently I make a comfortable pillow. This is Tubby, or Professor Tubbington. He is fluffy and very vocal. He talks and chitters and it's adorable. He also races through the house all night, which is somewhat less adorable. Look at the fluffy!!! This is my Baby Twitch. Sadly, we lost our Titchy. We think the coyotes got him and I may be the only one in the house with a broken heart over his loss. He did not endear himself to the other members of the family because he had toileting issues---and he peed on each girls bed. So outside he went and now....he's gone. I've looked and called shelters and the only thing I can think is th...

Catchy title, eh? Yeah, ok. Not really. We spent the week in Tucson, with a day trip here. To Sedona. Magical and wonderful and oh so breathtakingly beautiful. Lance and I hiked up a few trails and I filled our new camera with desert images. It was an amazing time. The number of large cacti....oh the number! Huge and spikey and alien to those of us with webbed-feet from living in the Land of the Green and the Rain. Seattle does not prepare you for dry desert air, or the prevalence of the brown, relived only by cactus. Birds carve holes in these giants and build their nests. I'm not sure I saw one cactus that had not suffered some damage. But to me it is beautiful damage and only added to the joy. So many varieties of spikey danger. This is a beautiful specimen. I shant bore you with the entire 850 photographs we took while in Arizona. We fully intend to return. Soon.