Where have I been?

I knew it had been a long time since I posted. but until I got on to update, I didn't realize how long. In the interim, I have photographed many a cute baby, happy families, newly engaged couples and a wedding. I took some really fun images and I will have to post some of those in an update.
    
     I also spent nearly the whole month of July out of town. The first week was work and was dedicated to photographing the fourth in a series of children's book I have been working on with friend and writer, Rebecca Long Chaney. The Chaney series is a look at agriculture through the eyes of her twin 7 year-old daughters, my goddaughters, Rianna and Sheridan.(www.rebeccalongchaney.com to see more about the books) 

     For this fourth book, we decided to leave their farm and show ranch life in Nebraska. We stayed with the Loos family who were wonderful hosts. Not only were they completely comfortable in front of the camera, they took a lot of time and effort to show us their life on a ranch.I think it's going to be a great addition to the series.
    I'm putting up this sneak peek photo of the twins, the Loos girls and my son, Brady heading in to the sunset. I need to keep the rest under wraps until book publication.


 When we were almost finished working on the books, our husbands and friends Heidi and Michael came to join us on the farm and for other parts of our Wild West adventure.Before we left Nebraska we were invited to go "tanking" down the Middle Platte River (I think) Tanking is when you take a water tank used for cattle, put in the plug, add some chairs, drinks, snacks and a good strong branch to push you off of the sandy parts, and float peacefully down the river. Thanks to Linda and Doug Hodorff for hosting our trip.

Returning from our two hour trip tanking down the river.

Cody, Wyoming

We logged many miles traveling through "old west towns, like Cody, Wyoming and Cheyenne and eventually arrived at Yellowstone National Park, which  was our major destination. You know when people say something is "breathtaking?" well, Yellowstone will literally take your breath away. The beauty, the light... it is indescribable. And the wildlife!! We were so fortunate to see all the animals that we did. Some, just for a fleeting moment, like the black wolf that crossed in front of our vehicle. And some, we saw so many of that we became spoiled and began saying, "oh, just another bison." and would drive right by.  No one really wants to look at your vacation photos, although they politely say they do. So I'm only posting a very few of our two week adventure below.

Our first animal sighting before we got into the park, Moose.

Elk.

Searching for the Grizzly Bear and cub way off in the distance.

This photo makes me laugh. In a face off, who do you think would win? This bison is about as large as the SUV.

Coyotes playing along the river.

On our way around a thermal site in the park, we were joined by a herd of bison.

This looks like a landscape from the moon rather part of this earthly thermal area.

Brady, my son, took this one. We had parked here and had dinner with a million dollar view.

A little tussle between bison.

The kids play ball with the Tetons for a backdrop.

We attended a very large PowWow in Wind River, Wyoming. I love this photo for it's joy.  These girls are laughing over the small dog they are carrying and could be teens almost anywhere in this moment. No matter different we are, we are very much the same. 

 

 And finally, with one week break in between, Becky and I traveled to Bozeman, Montana for Cowgirl Yoga Camp with Big Sky Yoga Retreats http://www.bigskyyogaretreats.com/retreats/pages/main.html.
It was an amazing week of yoga and horseback riding and doing yoga on horseback, eating great food, getting in touch with nature and our horses.
We met some amazing women and I was sad to leave at the end of the week. It was an extraordinary experience that I won't soon forget.