These are the days...

These are the days you'll remember.

{You and I}

Never before and never since, I promise, will the whole world be warm as this.

And as you feel it, you'll know it's true that you are blessed and lucky.

It's true that you are touched by something that will grow and bloom in you.

{These are the days - 10,000 Maniacs}

{KK waterfront7_magic}

These are the days, I hope you remember.

I know I will.

Even all its up and downs, I hope these experiences fill your heart.

They do mine.

Things may not always be easy,

you may not feel lucky . . . 

but I hope you know that you are blessed

to still have the opportunity to do what you love,

even when it doesn't play out the way it should.

Yes these are the days I hope you will remember

not for the things that didn't go right,

but for all the little miracles you've been part of.

I love you . . . (the one between 24 and 76)

Mom, and your biggest fan! XO

I'm over at Focusing on Life today, stitching together moments to tell a visual story and would love if you would join me!! :)

Sharing with Texture Tuesday, Sweet Shot Tuesday, Song-ography

Photo Art Friday . . . Embrace

"Our task, must be to free ourselves . . . 

by widening our circle of compassion to embrace

all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty."

-Albert Einstein 

Bonnie gave us the word embrace as our challenge this month and oh the many

ways I could interpret this word . . . but I limited it to two photos.

When I hear the word embrace, my first thought . . . is life.

Wrapping your arms around it, taking it all in with your eyes, your whole being.

Life happens everyday all around us. This we know, yet we still miss so much of it.

  

And the older I get, well,  the more I want to know,

the more I want to see . . .  the more I want to find.

I want to notice everything . . . and embrace it all!

That's why I love my camera. Not just because it helps me to "see", 

but because it allows me to record these embraced moments.

One of my Queen butterflies embracing its new life.

This next photo I chose is one from a recent varsity football game. Before every game our players make

their way to the end of the field and they all take a knee and bow their heads. No matter how many times

I photograph a scene like this I'm drawn to it over and over again. This never gets old.

He was the last one to get up . . . he was completely embracing the moment.

And, so was I.

Take a moment to embrace all the other art work hung in Bonnie's art gallery here.

Embrace your day,

Love, Kim

Join me -----> here for my Friday Random Five

Random five Friday . . .

. . . on Thursday.

1. It's homecoming week, ( which is really early this year ), which means I helped stuff almost 270 bags of candy for the football lockers....there may not be any candy left for trick-or-treaters, just sayin'. And then there is the carnival on Friday and I'll be helping the football booster again this year, serving up BBQ sandwiches in our booth...being loud, and doing football chants...fun times!

2. I took the above photo this week to decorate his football locker....oh there isn't enough Fabreze to cover that smell!

(Did I mention how I love to photograph football?!)

3. When I was in school we had a real parade, you know, down main street and the whole town came. We decorated real floats (one for each grade), and painted all the shop windows (and maybe each other) and the homecoming court all rode in their own convertibles while following the Pom Pom squad and the marching band. But that was back in a small old town with one high school. Our city is newer and there just really isn't a downtown per se and we have three high schools in our city. Which is why you have to adapt and overcome and start your own traditions. The parade has no floats, but, we have decorated grocery carts (I know your jealous)  and just goes down the road in front of the school.

4. This brings me to another tradition and this is a big Texas homecoming tradition. Mums. Nope, not a real one (although that is how the original tradition started), but an artificial mum or two or three with the addition of ribbons, more ribbons, trinkets, teddy bears, boas, you name it, it has probably been in one. The tradition of the mum involves an exchange where the boy gives the girl he asks to homecoming a mum that she wears attached to a cord or ribbon around here neck and the girl gives the boy a smaller mum attached to a garter that he wears on one of his upper arms. They wear it to school on game day and to the football game. As you can imagine, these become a "whose is bigger and better and shinier and noisier", and they can get pretty pricey. Maybe it's because I didn't grow up here, but after living in Texas for over twenty years, I still don't get it? (I added the chain and some baubles to this one I had made so it would be a little different)

5. And, last but best of all....It's Homecoming....which means my girl is coming home for the weekend! Whoo Hoo!! It feels like she has been gone forever...it's been a total of three weeks, haha. And because she will be home, I see some kind of cake or cookies or something in our future. If you follow me on instagram you'll know she likes to make cakes.

Have a fantasitic weekend friends!!

Love, Kim

linking with Little Things Thursday, Thursday Favorite Things, Friday Photo Journal, Five on Friday

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

Scavenger Hunt Sunday, I have missed you....

October has been an especially busy month at my house, between football,

being sick, and a one parent household for much of the month.

But I have to warn you, I'm really stre---t---chi-----ing the prompts this week!

Last week, I was given a challenge and loaned a 300mm f2.8 D II Nikkor lens by a photographer

who photographs all of the sports at my kids high school. I met him last year, and this year we have

gotten to know each other standing on the sidelines at the varsity football games. He was going to be

out of town and wanted me to fill in for him.....I was a little nervous as I had never shot with a lens with

this kind of reach before (or price tag). On my crop sensor camera the 300mm (in 35 mm terms) is 450mm!

I literally had to stand in the end zone of the opposite side of the plays!

I have fallen in love with this lens.

Going back to my 70-300 4.5-5.6 is just never going to be the same.

So, here are my prompt interpretations:

{ patterns }

At half time, the band and color guard perform while walking in patterns on the field.

{ machine }

This one I took the day before at my son's freshman game, being a tackling machine.

{ signs or logos }

This is the sign you get from #28 after he sacks the quarterback!

{ rocks or stones }

No, no rocks or stones, just a fumbled football . . . however when you get the little recycled tire pellets from the astroturf in your shoes, they sure feel like rocks!

{ sparkle }

And what would a football game be without the lovely drill team in all their sparkles?

And that's my story and I'm stickin' to it . . .

Have a great weekend y'all!

Love, Kim

XO

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

Hello Sunday, and scavenger hunt . . .

Yes, it's highly likely that you will see from time to time during the football season, like last year,

football themed scavenger hunts on my end. With booster club Mondays and football Thursday and Friday

it doesn't always leave extra time for anything else. The only difference from this year to last is that I have a sideline pass! (swoon)  But when the sun goes down, my very basic 70-300 is just not fast enough glass without having to blow up my ISO to 4000. I am amazed at how fairly well the D7000 can handle the noise though. I pretty much had to stretch the prompts to fit this week . . .

{ kiss }

It was quite an exciting game on Friday with a win of 32-8, and 3 of those touchdowns were in the first few minutes of the game, one being a kick off return of 103 yards! Let's just say after having lost our first two games, there were a lot of kisses and hugs from some very happy kiddos to some very happy coach dads. 

{ askew }...in a crooked position

These girls do some amazing flips, and I guess you could say that before they are right side up again,
they might get a little askew, especially if you freeze frame it!

{ fragrant }

Ummm....yeah.....I tried, I really did, to see if I could find anything remotely fragrant . . .

Just. Not. Going. To. Happen - at a football game. And there should definitely be a disclaimer

on the field to make sure you stand on the back end- and not down wind from the players. Just sayin'! ; )

{ simple }

Not complicated, a simple design  . . . yep another stretch.

{ plant }

(v). implant, put or fix firmly

After the game, win or lose, every player, coach and trainer firmly plants a hand upon another, as they

reflect on a few thoughts from the coach.

Whew, one more week down or should I say survived! For anyone with more than two kids in high school, God bless you!! 'Cause even though we are having fun, I'm just tired!

And I can say with much certainty that today will be pajama Sunday!!

Love, Kim

XO

Quotography - Your favorite photo of the month

One favorite photo? Only one?

Who am I kidding, there is no way to pick one favorite out of the merely hundreds
and hundreds of photos I take on a monthly basis.

But I'll try . . . okay that was too hard so I decided you use a random number
generator. Yes, I'm kidding!! ; )

I chose this one because it was one that I thought of almost immediately, and because
it's full of emotion and just makes me feel good. If you missed the post my daughter
and I did on her high school football team you can go here if you would like to read it.

This is one of the photos from that post. These players chose to wear pink in honor of
breast cancer awareness and are kneeling in the end zone as they do before the start
of every game.

This is the image I see before the start of every game and every time it tugs at my heart.

Just in case you passed on the link above, at the start of our pre-district season these
boys were knocked to their knees not once, not twice, but three times! Every time
they came back and they finished the rest of the season with seven straight wins to become
District Champions.

"The real glory is being knocked to your knees and then coming back.
That's the real glory. That's the essence of it."  - Vince Lombardi

(Camera: Nikon D7000, 1/400s, f4.5, ISO 3200)

This just happens to be a football picture with a quote from a football coach,
but it's really about life.

Wish us luck as they go into their first playoff game this weekend!!

Love Kim,
XO

Also linked with The Creative Exchange

Friday Night Lights . . .

My daughter thought it would be fun to do a football post of her high school team, the Clear Springs
Chargers. It was only fitting that I asked her if she would do the honors of giving you the introduction.

So,  here I give to you
the biggest fan of Charger football, Chloe Stevens:

 It all started in the fall of 2009, the third school year of Clear Springs High School. It was the 2nd varsity year for the football team, and the first year they had seniors. Going into the season, there were low expectations for success. But then, they started to win. They ended the regular season as 8-2 District Champions and ended up going 4 rounds deep in playoffs, ending their season in the Quarterfinals. With their taste of success, the drive to be State Champions began. The next season started with high hopes and expectations of a long playoff run and (hopefully) making it to the state championship game. The fourth game in the season, the first game of district play, was against Pearland High School. It was a back and forth battle, but the Oilers came out on top, scoring in the last seconds to make it 40-38. It was both thrilling and heartbreaking, to have come so close. That game determined the District champions, with us falling into 2nd place. Pearland went on to become 5A Division I State Champions, and we went on to lose in the first playoff game. It was shocking and heartbreaking - no one had expected us to fall in the first round. Both the players and the fans were heartbroken. But soon enough, we again looked to the next season.

With very few returning starters, this season has been a real rebuilding year - or as Coach Hartman likes to say, "reloading." We started the season with hope that we would pull it together. But by the end of that first game, some lost faith in them. They went on to lose their next two games as well, but not without showing tremendous improvement from each game to the next. Finally, the first district game - again against Pearland - came. If there was any time to redeem ourselves, this was it. They fought through the game, which was tied for most of it. Fans were wild, all standing and all chanting. The students stood at the rails, jumping up and down as we defied the odds and came up from below to win 31-24, beating Pearland at their home stadium for the first time since 2006 (their stands fell silent). The joy wasn't just in the eyes of the team and the coaches, but in the eyes of all of Charger Nation. We all joined together - one school, one team, one people, one nation. We hugged strangers and shook the hands of the players over the railing. Brotherhood, redemption and pride pumped through the veins of us all. We now stand at 3-3, with a fate ahead of us that will hopefully be decided in the middle of December.

Thank you Chloe! And by the middle of December she means hopefully at the state Championship!!

The "Silverados", our drill team . . . about to welcome our boys to the playing field.

Our fabulous mascot!

Our boys don't storm the field as most teams do, but come out of the tunnel arm in arm in unity!

And then they make their way to the end zone for prayer and reflection, and they are the

only team so far to show their support for breast cancer awareness  . . . tough guys really do wear pink!

 

INAM on the helmets - It's Not About Me

And as coach Hartman says, "Let's play ball"!

Going into half time we were behind by 7 points.

But, he found holes, broke tackles and ran 75 yards on the kickoff return to tie the game!

And then later Pearland punted the ball to the one yard line and our offense drove the ball an incredible

99 yards, scoring the one yard touchdown to take the lead with 30 seconds to go in the game.

The crowd and players roared with excitement . . .

Once again they show their unity as a team as we prepare for the kick off return to Pearland.

Every player arm in arm down the sidelines. . . and less than 30 seconds remain in the game.

Victory is ours!

The fans lined up to get a high five from the players.

 

And the spirit award goes to . . . .

Yes, we have the greatest fans of all! People from our community, young and old, those with children and those with empty nests come to watch our Chargers. Every week we pack our stands, and gather to give support to a team with character, and with incredible spirit of sportsmanship. This team had a rough start to this season but it's in their failures that they found their strength. It's their hard work, perseverance and dedication to each other that brings unity, that makes them a team. We also see this in our Charger community and although going into this game we were pre-district 0-3 we packed our stands anyway because the Charger Nation doesn't leave its wing man!!

Yes, we Chargers have spirit yes we do, we have spirit how 'bout you?

Have a fabulous Monday!

Love, Kim

XO