The other morning I walked into the kitchen to find this tomato amongst the others on our windowsill. It's the little things like this that keep us happy.
This is one of my irises just after a light rain.
These are three baby birds that we fed for one evening and morning for my friend so she could go out with her husband. The birds eat every hour (but not at night thank goodness). We don't know what kind of birds they are, but their mouths are HUGE when open waiting for food (that's what that orange flower-looking thing is). I never did get a good pic of them, they kept moving and hiding under the flap of the box and the camera focused on the grass in the foreground.
Freshly washed tomatoes. This shot was difficult because I had to hold the tomatoes in one hand to get the right light while trying to hold the camera and zoom in with the other hand. 
This is a nest of bumblebees that we came across in our compost. I didn't actually use the macro on this, but zoomed in a lot! I didn't want to get too close. I have never seen a bumblebee nest and thought their large marble sized eggs were rather interesting.
I found this eastern box turtle one morning while walking. I brought him home and eventually gave him to a friend to use for a boy scout merit badge. The kids enjoyed watching him try to get out of the box.
And finally, my favorite subject to shoot...our kids. This is Amber sucking her thumb while napping. I love that I could capture every detail from her eyelashes down to the freckle on her thumb. Hmmm, what camera feature should I play with next?
I got the inspiration from a book I found at the library to photograph the girls as they were dancing. We had a lot of fun and got some good poses too.
Clarissa and Krystal are so happy when they're dancing. They've been taking dance class from Miss Hannah for this whole school year and have loved every minute of it. I was out of town during their recital and Chris forgot to bring the camera, but he took pictures of their costumes once he got home.
They did a dance from The Nutcracker Ballet. Clarissa is the sugar-plum fairy queen and Krystal is a flower.
Both girls did a wonderful job and I got to see their performance when I got home because Chris did remember to bring the video camera.
Clarissa even had a solo and she did great.
Amber wanted to get in on the action too. She loves to dress in tutus and pretend that she is going to dance class. She already knows some of the positions as well.
This pictures of the four kids is the one that Chris chose for his desktop on his computer at work. We're kinda crazy like that.
Pretzel Jell-O. We love pretzels, especially when they are coupled with something sweet like yogurt, frosting, peanut butter, or Jell-O. This Jell-O casserole has a crust of crushed pretzels and butter, topped with a layer of cream cheese and cool whip, followed by the jiggly stuff with berries in it. We like Pretzel Jell-O any time of the year, but always have it with our Christmas dinner. The layers of red and white just seem so festive. I got the recipe from my friend Kerrie in Illinois.
Cinnamon Rolls. Who doesn't love cinnamon rolls? Well, we are no different. Although we would love to eat them every day, we keep it to only two times a year. Our tradition is that every six months when we watch General Conference for church, we have this sticky treat for breakfast on Saturday. This way, we hold off the calories and keep the kids excited about watching conference.
Cheesecake. Chris loves cheescake. So on his birthday I will usually make a cheesecake from scratch. When we were first married I made my very first cheesecake and it came out just perfect. We joke that I have been trying ever since then to repeat that culinary feat and have never achieved it since. But, in reality, cheesecake it just really yummy no matter what.
Mexican fiesta food. I make Mexican food every year on Cinco de Mayo. I also make it every Monday...and any other day I feel like it so that we usually end up eating Mexican at least twice a week. Still, it is a tradition. I do change it up each time though. Sometimes it's more authentic than others, but seeming as how Cinco de Mayo is not a Mexican holiday anyway, but a Mexican/American holiday, I don't feel too bad throwing in some black olives every now and then (which are not authentic Mexican). This year's big bang was the fresh pineapple, Yum!
Pizza. Years ago Chris gave me a pizza stone for Christmas (the one on top) and I have made homemade pizza every Friday since. The first pizza fell onto the oven door before I could cook it. Many others stuck to the stone or dripped toppings onto the oven floor, but I never gave up. Now, I can make a pizza quicker than what it takes to order one and have it delivered, I have the crust recipe memorized, and I know the perfect brands to use for all the ingredients. Our tradition is pizza and a movie as a family every Friday night. One of the things I love best about pizza is the ability to make each pizza a new and different creation, like the taco pizza on top (see, I sneak Mexican in everywhere). Another thing I love is that I usually have at least one child helping to put on toppings.
