The Power of Photography

"What I like about photographs is that they capture a moment that's gone forever, impossible to reproduce.

-Karl Lagerfeld

 

"A great photograph is one that fully expresses what one feels, in the deepest sense, about what is being photographed."

-Ansel Adams

 

 

Ever since I got my new camera I've been outside almost everyday taking pictures of something. We have had some beautiful days that have made some great pictures. I have always loved photography but have never been able to take a picture decent enough to capture the true beauty of the moment. There are so many things and moment that I want to capture forever but never get to but with this new camera I am finally able to do that and I am truly in love and so happy. I won't ever call myself a photographer nor will I ever sell my photo's because I am just doing what I love and what makes me happy and I just want to be able to share them with everyone else and allow them a glimpse into my life!

 

 

 

 



Corn Casserole

Well I feel  like I haven't blogged in forever but it's been crazy busy the past week. I have 2 finals coming up so I will be studying for those but after next week when I'm done with those I'll try to blog more. I meant to post this earlier today but my day started off kind of hectic. We had a cow get out and I was the only one home but a neighbor and a friend of mine came to help me out :) Then I had a bunch of errands to run in town and I just got home but luckily I had this wrote up for a about a week or more! I hope you enjoy this recipe and I encourage you to give it a try!

This is probably my favorite side dish ever. It's pretty easy to make and it's very kid friendly. All you have to do is put all of the ingredients into a dish then bake it and your done. We do this a lot for school dinners or pot lucks and it's always a hit. Now this recipe doesn't have any meat but if you want you can add diced ham to it to give it another element. I hope you enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 stick of butter
1 1/2 cup diced Velveeta
1 can of cream style corn
1 can of regular corn
1 cup of elbow macaroni
1 cup shredded cheese for top of dish
1 cup diced ham (optional)
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First take the stick of butter and place it into a 9x9in pan and stick it into the microwave and melt it.

 

Next add the 2 cams of corn. DO NOT DRAIN THE JUICE! This adds more moisture to cook your macaroni.

 

 

 

Now you add in 1 cup of elbow macaroni and stir it all together.

 

 

After you add your macaroni it's time to add some cheese. At first I just dice up the Velveeta and add it in and then add the other cheddar cheese at the end on top. I dice my Velveeta into 1 inch square chunks. Then I spread them out throughout the dish.

 

 

Then you place it into a 350 degree oven and bake it for 30 min then stop, stir it, add the shredded cheese on top, and then bake it for another 15-20 min. Enjoy!

 

Des Moines PBR 2013

Saturday my dad, sister, and I went up to Des Moines to the Built Ford Tough PBR event. We went to the Saturday night performance and got to see the normal short go round as well as the 15/15 bucking battle which aired on CBS yesterday. The 15/15 has the 15 best cowboys against the 15 best bulls which is always awesome to watch. I took my new fancy camera but my battery went low before the stinking thing started so I didn't get as many pictures as I wanted but I got a few good ones. Before the event we got to meet a few bull riders including Kody Lostroh, Jory Markiss, and Brendon Clark. I had met Brendon last year at a touring pro event in Council Bluffs Iowa. We had also met Kody Losroh last year in Des Moines. We were parking our car and we pulled up next to this car and out came Kody Lostroh. So we stopped and talked with him and got a pic with him which was pretty cool. It was also neat that stock contractor Paige Stout and her bulls were at this event. She is an 18 year old girl from Texas who is hauling some pretty amazing bulls. I've had the opportunity to talk to her over FB. She is a great girl and is very strong about her faith and I am sure she is going to go very far in her stock contracting career and I hope someday I get to meet her in person. Here are some of the pictures and videos I got last night. I hope you all have a great week!

Kody Lostroh and I

Jory Markiss and I

 

The fire during the Opening

 

Paige Stout getting one of her bulls ready.

 

Bullfighter Shorty Gorham

 

Bull Roper lol I think it's Mike White because it's usually him but they never said.

 

Bullfighter Jessie Byrne

Toughest man alive Frank Newsom

 

Flint Rasmussen

 

Getting ready to buck

I'm about 90% sure that this is Silvano Alves

Douglas Duncan

The Leaderboard after round 1

 

 

Favorite Finds Friday

Here is the second half of the questions. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and I hope it warms up and the sun comes out for everyone!!



This is the original pin VIA

16. There are so many awesome people I want to meet and talk to (including several of my fellow bloggers) but since I have to pick just one that person would have to be Chase Cervi. He is a pickup man for the PRCA and he and his brother and cousin run Cervi Championship Rodeo Company. The few PRCA rodeos that I've been to have been produced by the Cervi's and Chase has been a pick up man. His skills as a horseman are just amazing to watch and are one of my favorite parts of the rodeos.  I would love to sit down and learn about his knowledge as a stock contractor and cowboy.

Photo Credit: Randi Parietti (Mile High Sports Magazine)

17. This is a very hard one because I love music and lots and lots of songs but the song that I listen to all the time over and over again would have to be "Coal Miners Daughter" by the one and only Loretta Lynn. I love that woman and her voice and that song end of period. I love a lot of other songs too but I could only pick one. I also love to sing that song (in the car by myself!!).

 VIA

18. Not much of a video gamer hear. We had a play station 1 and that was it up until Christmas of 2011 I think when we got an Xbox 360 with Kinect. With that we only had like 3 games we ever played that was Crash Bandicoot, a Rugrats (yes the kids show), and a bowling game.  The best out of those three would have to be the Crash Bandicoot. Lots of fun :)

VIA

19. I'm sure you could guess this one :) Country of course!! Preferably a huge sprawling ranch with a ranch style house or log cabin with a beautiful porch with rocking chairs somewhere out west with hundreds of head of cattle and horses. That's the dream!

VIA

20. Hmm. It would have to be Curling. I think that's quite interesting and something rather different.

VIA

21. Well I'm kind of in love with the show Nashville right now. It's pretty good. So well go with that.

VIA

22. Cinnamon Jolly Ranchers nothing really comes anywhere close! I like pretty much any thing with cinnamon flavoring though. But my late uncle use to always have them and then my grandma would always keep them at her house and I've been hooked ever since.

23. Sleep. With school and work I find many days that I go well over 24 hours without sleep and it sucks! Since I work the nigh shift I get home at 6 in the morning and if I want to do something that day I usually stay up but then I have to work that night so I go along time with out sleeping and feel like I never get enough!

24. This is hard because so many things I like I get from both. I'm more like my dad in the sense of liking the whole farm thing and rodeos ever since I've been able to walk I've been outside helping him. But my mom introduced me to cooking, books, music and so many of the great things that I enjoy as well. So I'd say I'm an equal blend of both of them :)

25. I can yodel. HA just kidding wouldn't that be cool though!!! I know some sign language like the alphabet and We Wish you a Merry Christmas (did it for a school Christmas program with a friend) and some common words and phrases. At one point in my life I wanted to be a teacher for deaf kids and I wanted to be fluent in sign language.

VIA

26. Heck no because that meant the people I stock would know I stock them :) JK I probably wouldn't really care one way or the other.

27. Well by then I will be 25 I will have hopefully graduated LPN and RN school and maybe have my BSN by then. If all that happens I would be looking for a job preferably somewhere cool like Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Alaska or as a traveling nurse. I might have me a serious man by then. A handsome cowboy of course ;) I might even own a bull or two you never know. That would be where I would like to be with my life but who knows what will happen between here and now.

28. Farmer, farrier, cowboy, history teacher, teacher for the deaf, auctioneer, weather man, chef, geologist, stock contractor, doctor, nurse, professional goat shower, veterinarian, a animal geneticist, Ag teacher, librarian, stay at home mom, truck driver, clothing designer, zoo keeper, architect, livestock show judge, and probably a million other things. I've changed my mind so many times I'm surprised nurse has stuck!


29. BOOK!! At any given point of any day I am reading at least 3 different books. No joke! I love them so much!! They have been my best friend, therapist, made me cry, made me laugh, made me forget about what's going on in my life, introduced me to parts of the world I could only dream about going to or living, made me fall in love with characters, places, and history, and have taught me so many lessons in life! There will be a room in my house full of books and a comfy chair.

VIA

30. My Laptop. Even though it craps out on me everyday sometimes. I say it over my phone because I can do everything I do on my phone on my computer except call and text but I don't really do much of either one of those things. The phone just makes it handier. But you can't type on a cell phone like you can on a computer and to me typing is very therapeutic.

My new camera!!

Well my camera came today instead of Saturday and I am sooooooooooooooooo in love with it!! It is amazing!! Of course the first thing I had to take a picture of was my dog Duke!! Then I went outside and took some pictures of the other livestock and scenery. Hopefully there will be a nicer day in the near future for some prettier pics but here are a few of my pictures I took today.

 

Duke

This isn't cropped but just a really zoomed in picture of his whiskers :) I'm having too much fun with this camera!!

Our Lowline bull.

Our little calf

Our yearling heifer trying to be funny by sticking out her tongue

Our miniature donkey Barney in his little house. He reminds me so much of Eeyore from Winie the Pooh.

While I was outside a plane few over head so I tried to shoot a pic of it and it kind of worked!!

Here is about the only bird that was out on this cold day. I'm pretty sure it's a wood pecker.

I was standing on the bridge to our creek that runs next to our property and I snapped this pic of my bee hives from a good distance away.

Our creek full of water!!