my kids...

i call them my kids, because they act like kids. or i just wish they were kids, i'm not really sure. but they are as close to kids as i have, so that is just what they get called. sometimes i call them my boys. sometimes i call them bad names, but only when they are naughty.

we got them when they were just a little puppy and little kitty, on the same day. they have had to learn to deal with the fact that they are different (one gets to sleep on the bed and one doesn't) and they think they are the same. they love each other and i think people don't always believe me. they like to snuggle when we aren't home, in our bed of course. and they both travel better and behave better when they are together.

but people have trouble believing that a boxer and a cat can be so in love.

here's proof.
awww....they are just that cute, aren't they.

blue eyes....baby blues...

there are so many songs out there about blue eyes....

and you can see why....these eyes are amazing. i love this photo, which i snapped on my birthday with my new flash (thanks baby!) hans isn't smiling, which usually makes me dislike the photo, but those eyes!! mama mia! sorry ladies, he's taken! anyways, i think his blue eyes are gorgeous!

so one day i was talking to hans about his beautiful blue eyes and he just happened to ask, "did you ever even date anyone without blue eyes?" and then i had to think.....and i kept thinking....and, well, i just don't think so. i did have a big crush on a mexican, his eyes weren't blue, but we didn't really date. flirted, but no dating...and there are a couple guys that i'm not sure if i remember what color their eyes were...but the ones that i remember were blue. which is kind of freaky, isn't it? and i didn't think i had a 'type' of guy....

now back to the photo...i love his eyes so much and i think this photo really captures their beauty....

so why do i love this photo so much? he's not smiling and you can't see his eyes at all....

i love it so much, i kept playing with it in photoshop, because the more i played with it, the more i loved it...

doesn't it just evoke some weird emotion? i'm not sure what it is....


but i couldn't decide how i liked the photo the most....

maybe this one is my fav.....it seems kind of romantic.....

but this one is so rugged....hans' beard looks really dark here, but sometimes it does look that dark...and he looks all tough and 'rancher-y' (can't say cowboy, cuz he's not a cowboy, he's very specific about that) but at the same time, he looks all soft...or like he's deep in thought...either way, i love this photo.

the stock show from my point of view or more things that make me happy....

the stock show didn't offer a lot of time to take pics. in fact, i think i only got my camera out a couple times. (gasp!) but i still ended up with some photos that just make me happy. perhaps they aren't great photos, they certainly won't win any awards, but i still like them and somedays that is all that matters. right?

here are the cows, all fluffed and shined. of course this isn't the traditional angle you would normally see of show/sale cattle, but i love the sun through the cute ear hair. i even like the sun flare at the bottom of the pic. i even like the natural bokeh in the background. (bokeh is the out of focus light shapes.) people try to get bokeh all the time and it just happened by a happy accident. people even use photoshop to make bokeh in their photos. (i hope i just made a link for all you guys to check out what wikipedia says about bokeh!)

so here's the cutest part of the cows. well, the second cutest part. (their chins are the first, but hard to photograph....in fact, i think all animal chins are the cutest part...just check out the closest animal...see? the chin is the cutest!!) oh yeah, back to the nose... their cute slimey noses are such a close second. and yeah, she's all drooly because she was trained to eat treats and when i'd talk sweet to her, she would beg and since i only wanted a pic of her sweet lil nose and didn't have treats, she was a lil drooly....but still wicked cute! (i'm sure all the mom's out there have pics of their babies with drool and/or snot on their faces!)

here is the sky one evening....well, this pic really doesn't need any explaination...

and this is my first attempt at trying to capture the beauty of all the old buildings in and around the stock show. there are so many beautiful buildings around denver and when i lived there i never was brave enough to take a pic. well, this isn't one of the neatest buildings, but i liked all the neon signs in the windows, with the sunset-y clouds. and i also photoshopped a bunch of ugly things out of this pic, mainly powerlines. i was going to show you the before and after, but i thought, that this is things that i love and not a show and tell post, so sorry people, you just don't get to see that today!

workin' hard at the stock show!

a pic is worth a thousand words, right?

here's hans, working on making the heifer dry or fluffing the hair and making her pretty, i can't remember, we did a whole lot of both! the thing that looks like a vacuum isn't, it blows instead of sucks....

and when i say that we spent a whole lot of time washing, drying, fluffing and shining the girls, i mean it! they were washed or rinsed everyday, then they had to be dried, because as you can see, it was slightly chilly there...then after you wash or rinse them, of course there is all the grooming to be done! holy moly, I'VE never even had that much grooming. but they did look really good when it was all done. and our 3 girls were just in the sale. the show cattle usually have 4 to 5 people working on them at a time, all day long!

here's hans drying the heifer with a sham wow. yup, i'm totally serious! we spent more time trying to dry off the heifers than anything, so after watching the demo of the sham wow "up on the hill" at the trade show, we bought some and put them to really good use! they saved us a lot time, which was good because that morning that we used them it was cold and foggy.

check out hans' soaked rain gear. because there was limited space to wash cows and everyone washes their cows, you end up getting completely soaked. there was just no way to stay dry. you should have seen the people that weren't prepared with the proper outer wear!

this is my lil bro jake....or jakey, as i like to call him. (yes, i'm aware of the terribly composed photo as he has a pole sticking out of his head, but he's got such a cute smile!) he's giving one of the ladies some love . they are just that sweet....i kind of miss them. right now we're calving on the ranch (yes, i'll definitely have to post pics of that!) and the mom's aren't nearly this gentle. they would much rather you be a whole lot farther away! but the girls that we took to the show, mrs. t, paris, and purdy dirty, were so sweet and nice to be around. well, purdy had a bad day where she decided she liked to kick the boys....hehe. but paris was always such a love. she's the one that i miss the most. she liked to cuddle and snuggle and be scratched and eat cow treats.

and finally, here's me. it was my job to make them pretty and because i was working, i didn't have a whole lot of time to take pics. but hans grabbed my camera and snapped this one. i had just got done blowing her all off and she was ready to be spritzed and shined.

i have more pics from the show, but i'll be posting them later. :)

for the love of corn and comments

i don't love corn in the "traditional love" of a food item. corn is something that usually is my last choice of 'veggie' and i really, really dislike creamed corn, blech! its like someone chewed up some corn for you, gross! (and i've recently eliminated corn completely from my diet, which is a whole different story.) my love of corn comes from traveling through nebraska this last november and seeing these HUGE piles of corn everywhere. it was rainy and yucky weather, but the corn was just so beautiful. it was also about the only thing to look at driving through nebraska. i tried to take some photos as we were driving through, but eventually hans just had to stop so that i could get a shot.

see? the COLOR of the corn is just amazing. the pic just doesn't translate it very well because the weather was so grey. but if you can imagine driving through this flat, grey state, then come across these giant piles of beautiful yellow corn.....

anyways, when we were stopped at one point to take pics of the corn, we saw this:

this was a truck dumping corn. it was cool. i'd never see corn being poured out of a truck before....

the other notable thing that we found in nebraska was the little bitty corn filled town of chapman.

what?? chapman, nebraska!!! we just had to take a pic for our uncle scott and aunt janet.

now, for the love of comments.....i love, love all your guys comments!!!!!! and i'm so new to this blogging thing i just didn't know how to deal with the comments, so i decided i'm just going to respond to all your comments, in the comments. that way you guys know i love you and your comments and i don't have to spend a lot of time emailing people about comments, which seems silly, at least to me. so, if you've left a comment, you can go back and i'll have responded (hopefully i can figure it out!)

sorry i wasn't able to post while we were at the stock show. the silly hotel we stayed at had internet but you had to pay for it! so frustrating!!

right place, right time...

sometimes great/interesting photos are just a result of pure luck. it has nothing to do with the camera you own, the lens you just cleaned (or didn't clean) and it doesn't have anything to do with lighting. it just happens. don't believe me? check out wildlife photos sometime, most of them are PURE luck. (like a hawk landing on fence post near enough for you to get a shot of it with a mouse in its talons) sure, some of those people are out in the wilderness 24/7 waiting for that stroke of luck, but it is still luck. oh and they probably have a giant zoom lens. lucky bastards.

as i am not known for my luck, i don't have anything recent to show you. but this summer, we were up at our 'other' ranch and i came across this:

and i thought, holy crap! that looks like a nose growing out of a tree!

doesn't it? i mean, it is seriously cool but slightly creepy....(and you people eat fungus!!! ewww!!)

so i gave him a face....because it is nice to smell, it might be nice to see whats around him too....

he watched the ditch (that we just cleaned) fill with water....

and we left him, chilling in the forest, next to the babbling ditch....

i like to think that someone else came along and saw him and thought, whoa, how cool is that....

rare photos...

it isn't very often that the photographer gets photographed. only on very rare occasions, like birthdays, when they reluctantly had over their camera to someone else, so that the moment can be recorded. then the photographer reluctantly posts them on the blog, so that people can see that they actually had a birthday. (that and i had a specific request, scott...) i did decide not to post the photo of the oh-so-cheesy grin as they were singing happy birthday to me. sorry to disappoint...

but hans did take some photos that i will share.


here's the cake...blue, sparkly and the inside was chocolate....mmmm.....hans did a good job picking it out. he has made me a cake before, they aren't always store bought.

me, blowing out the candles....once again, hans did a good job by not putting 29 candles on the cake...he's so nice about birthdays...

it wasn't a huge bash, but it was fun. my father-in-law (steve, in the jeans) and his wife (linda, you can see her leg), along with my step-uncle-in-law (my father-in-law's wife's brother) (scott, in the white shirt)and his wife (janet, in the red shirt) all came for cake and ice cream. in this photo, you can see the new floor (no more carpet!!) and the really nice view that we have. you can't really see all the guests, but its the only photo that hans took of everyone. also, check out the table that i designed and hans built, pretty sweet, huh? you can even see the John Deere Green house in town! well, just barely, look close!

after cake and ice cream, steve and linda headed back to the ranch, because the cows don't really care if anyone is having a birthday. but scott and janet stayed. we talked a lot (even about avon and janet made her first purchase!! she'll be hooked in no time!!) then we headed to the local pizza place for a birthday dinner. what?? you're confused that we had dessert first? well, on my birthday that is the way things go! sorry mom, you weren't here, so we did it my way! it works out really well too. because you aren't too full to eat cake and all that sugar leaves you hungry after a while, then after dinner no one is too full for cake or too tired. you really must try dessert first....at least on your birthday.

it was a great day. and just so no one has any misunderstanding about my birthday, is after my birthday, i just decide to celebrate my birthmonth. it pretty much works out like this every year. hans is very understanding about birthmonths. and if you've never had a birthmonth, i highly recommend it, like dessert first....

birthday, birthday!! and official grand opening of my blog!!

it is official! welcome to my blog! i hope you like it!

today is also my 29th birthday. if you love me, you should thank my mom and dad today, they are pretty good parents. especially my mom. her labor was short, but i was born at 3:30 am, so she didn't get much sleep that night and i'm sure for the next few months too. i cried a lot as a baby (sorry mom!) so she spent the next year holding me almost constantly. i don't cry as much now, although i do like being held still....hey, blame my mom, she spoiled me early!

i was trying to think of a good picture to post today and its kind of hard to decide...for my birthday hans' dad is giving me an online photo class, which i am very excited to sign up for. and hans gave me a speedlight (woot!) i guess he really wants me to take those inside pictures at the bull sale! i have no idea how to use it, yet, but i'm excited and i've already played around with it. so there should be many, many more photos posted on here!

so my christmas cacti bloomed right at christmas this year (like magic!) i really like these photos and i played around in photoshop a little bit....

here's the sooc (straight out of camera) i like it, my camera just shoots a little on the cool side.

so i warmed it up a bit...so bright and beautiful...

then i did this...not as bright, but i think it is a neat...

here's the next on sooc, i like this one a lot, just the way it is.

but i played with it too, just for fun.

so, there's a few more things on here for everyone to check out. i really hope you like it and please come back often! leave comments!! (i love comments!!)

things i love....

i love, love, love tracks. especially tracks in the snow. i like tracks in the sand, mud, dirt...where ever. i even like the little kitty tracks you get when a cat walks all over your car. i also really, really like to take pictures of tracks. and bird or duck tracks are just the best!!

so, on christmas day, hans and i decided that we should go out and feed the cows, give chuck a break, since it was christmas and all. so, i brought my camera and guess what i found?

all these cute tracks!! they were all around the hay. so i took pictures. they were so darn cute!

see how cute and tiny! mouse tracks! (or some other crazy small thing, like a mouse!) oh, and check out my "fittens". i made them! knitting fingerless gloves is way to hard and way too much time, so i knit fingerless mittens, hence, fittens! they work great for helping keep your hands warm while you are outside taking pictures. and they knit up pretty quick too. i should also mention that mine are a few years old. that is why they look a little ragged. they are holding up well, lasting through a few calving seasons. i wear them under my gloves all the time!

*****************UPDATE**********************

there has been some debate on what animal has actually made these tracks. so if you have absolute proof or just want to guess, please do. i still say mouse or some rodent. my mom says a bunny.... what do you think??

200+ photos....

yesterday i took well over 200 photos, in the freezing cold. i froze my fingers off! anyways, i know all of you are thinking, 'that's awesome diana, 200+ photos! great job, i bet you got lots of good ones!' and now i'm going to tell you that ALL the photos are of the bulls, for the catalog. none of them are 'artsy' or cute, none are the way i would have done a picture of a cow, er, bull.

these are some cows in the field, a picture i took last march, but just to show you how i like to take photos of cows. i like this photo, i think its great.

i'm sure there will be lots more photos of cows on this blog, so i hope you all like looking at cows!

technically....

....i'm not 29 just yet...

my birthday is on the 7th, but since i'm making this a great year, i'm getting a head start on my blog.

i'm hoping to use this blog to post my photos, show people a little bit of my life and keep in touch with those out of town.

oh and yes, i took the flower photo under the title....

see? pretty, huh?