We had an amazing time in Nashville, we learned a ton!!!  When we got back we ordered lighting equipment and we’ve been playing with it every chance we get, and can’t wait to take it to Mexico with us. Yes, Mexico, I will get to that in a minute.

First I want to show you a cool photo Ryan took with our new strobe:

No one was home, so he used the tractor for a model.  He is adorable!

So, like I said we are going to Mexico. . .

It is a much, much needed break!

I can’t wait to be sitting on the beach enjoying this weather:

And a cold beer, of course!  ;-)

We will have limited internet access during our trip. We were hoping to prepare some posts ahead of time to and have them publish automatically, but time got away from us.

You want to see what else we’ve been up to??  We haven’t done anything with our Nashville photos yet, but we do have a couple other events up if you want to see!

Brace For Impact Show:

Tina’s Bridal Shower:

Tina’s Bachelorette Party:

I’m not going to waste you’re time listing every little piece of equipment we own but I will tell you what we mainly use.

We both use:
Canon 7D bodies
Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM
Canon 100mm f/2.8 macro
Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L USM
Canon EF 2x extender
Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 wide angle
Canon Speedlite 580EX II flashes

For backup: (We used our XSi to take these photos.)
Canon XSi body
Canon 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS

Accessories:

Think Tank Carry-On Bag

Lowepro bags

Manfrotto tripod

I’ll post later about some of the neat gadgets and other gear we like.

Feel free to comment on what you like to use,we’d love to hear from you!

All of the following photographs were taken of the exact same scene, outside of my door at work, months apart.

This one was taken on a sunny day:

You never know when you may be able to catch a good sunrise or sun set!

This photo was taken just before sunrise, with snow on the hill:

This is good black and white scene. The hill had snow on it and the clouds were fabulous.

Since I already had some great color photos, I made this one black and white:

The next one is straight out of the camera,

and its not black and white, that’s just how it looked.

This is one of my favorites:

Always take your camera!  You never know. I have learned the hard way more times than I care to admit.

Hazel P. Mongold

Hazel Pauline Rittenour Mongold, 84, of Timberville, died March 13, 2010, at Life Care Center of New Market.

Mrs. Mongold was born June 7, 1925, in Mathias W.Va., and was the daughter of the late Oliver and Bliss Snyder Rittenour.

She had worked for WLR in Timberville.

On April 5, 1947, she married Russell Ward Mongold, who died June 16, 2000.

Surviving are three sons, Donald Mongold, of Coles Point, Va., John Mongold, of New Market, and Tony Mongold, of Baltimore Md.; five daughters, Juanita Swartz, of Dayton Va., Joyce Jackameit, of Staunton Va., Mary Wilson and Bonnie Moore, both of Timberville, and Donna Fadely, of Mount Jackson; one sister, Della Miller, of Mathias; one brother, Will Rittenour, of Sacramento Calif.; 13 grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren.

The Rev. Dean Williams will conduct a funeral service 1 p.m. Wednesday, March 17, 2010, at the Mathias Mennonite Church near Mathias, W.Va. Burial will be in the Cullers Run Cemetery.

The family will receive friends Tuesday from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Grandle Funeral Home in Broadway, Va.

Memorial contributions can be made to the Broadway Rescue Squad, P.O. 666, Broadway VA 22815.

Online condolences may be sent to www.grandlefuneralhome.com.

My Grandma was an amazing woman, who truly loved her family.

7 of her 8 Children:

10 of her Grandchildren:

8 of her Great-Grandchildren:

We arrived Saturday at noon, just in time for Ryan to join my Dad and about 3000 other men for the Knotts Island Hunters Feast.  The Hunters Feast is an annual charity event that supports the  Hope Haven Children’s Home in Virginia Beach.   The Feast, for men only, includes all of the wild game you can eat and all the beer you can drink, and all of the proceeds (usually about $100,000 per year) go to Hope Haven.  Ryan had a great time and was blessed with the opportunity to try mountain oysters, otherwise known as hog testicles, for the first time.  In case you are curious, he said they weren’t bad, and tasted a lot like fried oysters.  :o

After dropping Ryan off, I headed over to the mainland to attend Danielle’s baby shower, which was awesome!  I was so glad to be able to see Danielle before the birth of her little baby boy.  I was also really excited to see another one of our good friends from high school, Sara, and her beautiful baby girl.   We had fun and baby Finn got LOTS of presents!

After all of the festivities on Saturday, we went over to Carova on Sunday to check out the progress of the Beach House.  It is really coming along!

The decks are done, the new windows are installed, they’ve begun to install the new siding,

the ground floor room has been built, bath roughed in and the siding has been put on. . .

it looks like they’ve only got a couple months of work left!!

New Siding, Windows & Heat Pumps:

Decks & Ground Floor Room:

Close up on Southside Decks:

The built in benches:

Daddy and his girls, Ginger and Mollie:

After checking out the house, we went for a ride down the beach, and saw a bunch of Banker Horses. . . I will post photos of them tomorrow!

It has been two months since my Pawpaw’s funeral, as a reminder of him, I have posted the video we played at his funeral.

I think it is beautiful.

We will always miss you Pawpaw.

Year after year, we select a cabin that Mountain Rentals of Gatlinburg has available, staying in a different one for each visit, and have never been disappointed. . .

But this year we were amazed by the value we got for the price.

It was a great house, I think we will stay there again.

Mountain Bear Lodge

Here are some of the photos that we took of the house:

]]> http://dumbyoungins.com/2010/02/25/gatlinburg-cabin-rental/feed/ 1 http://dumbyoungins.com/2010/02/24/blizzard-2010-shoveling-the-roof/ http://dumbyoungins.com/2010/02/24/blizzard-2010-shoveling-the-roof/#comments Wed, 24 Feb 2010 13:48:47 +0000 Ashley http://dumbyoungins.com/?p=3006 I prefaced this post with a photo of the day.

So, two weeks ago. . .

yes, TWO WEEKS ago. . .

I know, I know. . .

I am very behind.

Anyway, we were shoveling snow, the snow which, thankfully is beginning to melt.

We had very little trouble with drifting snow at our house, but we have a rental house not far from where we live that had severe drifting on the roof.

We had to shovel.

A lot.

Ryan began shoveling from a ladder, hesitant to get on the roof.

But quickly realized that was the only option.

We shoveled and shoveled,

Well, to tell you the truth, I shoveled very little snow from the roof. I was on the roof, with a shovel, and I was scared to death. . . but at least I tried.

Ryan and “J”, who lives in the house, did the majority of the shoveling.

And thankfully no one got hurt, and the roof survived the storm!

And  when we were done, my crazy husband jumped into the pile of snow!

And sunk up to his arm pits!

Now here are the boys:

(These photos were taken on Sunday January 31st, we have since gotten about 2 feet more snow!

I will begin posting new snow pictures tomorrow! )

______________________________________________________________________

Blake was after me:

Uh oh! Blake hold on!

Ryan caught him!

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Ryan was next:

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Ryan and Bobby went at the same time:

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You may also be interested in

Fun in the Snow – Part I

Fun in the Snow- Part II

Fun in the Snow – Part III

All of our Snow posts

]]> http://dumbyoungins.com/2010/02/08/fun-in-the-snow-part-iv-the-end/feed/ 0 http://dumbyoungins.com/2010/02/05/sassys-new-friend/ http://dumbyoungins.com/2010/02/05/sassys-new-friend/#comments Fri, 05 Feb 2010 18:10:11 +0000 Ashley http://dumbyoungins.com/?p=2961 We have told you before about our strange animals.

Sport, our strange dog, took Sassy (the cat) in, as if she were his baby, when she showed up at our house.

He carried her around like a puppy,  allowed her to paw him as if she were nursing, and to curl up next to him and sleep in his bed.

This is a photo of them cuddling, that I took with my cellphone in January:

Well. . .

Now Sassy has taken in a baby of her own.

Yep, that’s a mouse. . .

And he and Sassy have  bonded.

When Sassy showed up at our house this summer, and we decided to keep her, everyone kept telling us that Calico cats were good “mousers.”

Good “mouser” . . .

Yeah, she’s a really good “mouser.”

So this is what happened:

Sassy wanted to sleep in the bathroom on Wednesday night,

after wanting to be in the bathroom all day on Wednesday,

even though I was home all day and she could have stayed out.

(We keep in her in the bathroom when we aren’t home- that’s where her litter box  and bed are.)

So anyway, we woke up Thursday morning and she was making a big racket in the bathroom,

like she often does in the middle of the night. . .

But, this time when we went in,

she was playing with her little friend.

After getting over the initial shock, and the realization that Sassy was not trying to hurt the mouse AT ALL;

we were running late, so we left them in the bathroom and went to work.

When we got home 14 HOURS LATER, they were STILL PLAYING. . .

So, now, the next day, the Cat and Mouse are still in the bathroom together, the mouse is still unharmed,

and since we are snowed in, we have been sneaking in there and watching them play for entertainment.

There is NOTHING in this world more BIZARRE to watch, than a CAT & MOUSE PLAYING NICE. . .

IN YOUR BATHROOM

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