Where I like to be

It's no secret, my kids dress themselves.

Sunday is no exception.

I can't deny I was a little surprised upon exiting the vehicle when I discovered lucy's Sunday shoe of choice...


oh yeah. We wear combats boots to church AAAAAALLLLLLLLLL the time. haha! Sometimes I think Chad gets bugged at how little I care what my kids wear. He tells me like it's a travesty and I just kinda shrug and move on with life.

It's really of no consequence.

But I should have known then that lucy was in firecracker mode.

chitter-chatter, snicker sniff laugh... getting louder and louder and LOUDER.

Finally about half way through I leaned over to Lu and first gave her the look... followed by a little hey, you can play as long as you don't make noise. You think you can do that?

to which she responded by leaning forward, pulling her arms back in tight fists, closed her eyes and wrinkled her nose up then squeezed out a smelly little blast of gas which echoed off those dang metal chairs we were cursed to sit on for an hour.

Uh gee thanks.

haha. Not gonna lie. We probably laughed for a good five minutes after that. Not super reverent if you ask me.

What's not to love????...



I rest my case.

p.s.- it's my sister's birthday. Happy birthday Lolo!!!! love you :) !!!

If I call it cane sugar you will think I'm fancy no?

Occasionally I'm just doing my thing and I accidentally invent something supremely fantastic.

And since I'm deeply devoted to you all, I share all my secrets before I even think about getting a patent on it.

haha just kidding. I don't think you patent recipes. You just don't always share ;)

Unless of course you're me, then you do. Giddy up!

Not sure where that came from. ha!

Now I'm not sayin this doesn't exist in some form out there, all I'm saying is, as far as I know it came out of my brain as of Sunday night and I personally have never experienced it in any way before... but I live in a dark closet.

That was my disclaimer incase you're all about to tell me that I did not in fact actually invent this. Fair? ok.

Behold...




Shall we talk a little about where on earth you might find a used half of a vanilla bean?

Sure.

Look in your sugar canister.

What? There's not one in there?! Thats weird. There should be!

Sometimes things are so deeply ingrained in me I forget you don't know the possibilities unless you and I are standing face to face with only a canister of sugar wielding a used vanilla bean between us.

Did you picture that? I totally did. haha!

*GOOD IDEA* (write this one down)

when ever you use a vanilla bean, toss the used pod into your sugar canister. It will turn your plain old sugar into super tasty magical vanilla sugar.

You will find a used vanilla bean in my sugar canister at any given time.

But if you don't have a used one, don't fret, you may use a new one as well with acceptable results. Just take your vanilla bean and split it down the middle lengthwise. Open the pod and scrape the innards out with the back of a spoon, or if you're a grossioso then just use your filthy fingernail. But clean it out with a potato brush first would ya! (just use a spoon people!)

I probably wouldn't put all the good stuff out of the vanilla pod into the simple syrup mixture, but I would toss it into my sugar and give it a little shake!

Try it out, let me know what you think. Or better yet drop by with a glass full and I will happily taste test it for quality assurance.

And yes the heating it up step is entirely necessary.

<3 Jill

I swear there's gold in those hills.

I sat starting at this photo for several moments last night. It's really beautiful I thought. Not just because it's my little Lucy but because there's something about it. It also brought to the foreground some things I've been needing to address with myself.

I thought I would talk a little about the circumstances by which this photograph was made and why I fail at film.

or maybe I shouldn't...

no, I should.

I am starting another film photography class tomorrow and this is something I need to work though.

So after staring at this image for quite sometime I went back into bridge to have a look at this little group of photos. There were probably about twenty or twenty-five in the group. Over and over I searched for something else to catch my eye. It wasn't there. Out of all those images there was exactly ONE that was working for me.

Miss Lucy makes my heart sing.

She just wanted a bath so she could play with her new bath toys. Daddy pulled her hair up into a silly little bun, kind of off to the side. Not particularly prim. Its a sign that bath time will be more playing than washing. The light was pretty much as horrible as it gets. Pure incandescent, coming from straight up. But oh the way shes holding her little lips. and the tilt of the head just so. the wisp of fallen hair so perfectly dangling from her sweet noggin. a downward glance at just the right moment to show off those baby lashes. rosy. posy. cheeks.

And it occurred to me... this is why I am failing at film.

I should show you my contact sheets from last semester. Ha! Each image different from the next. I gave each intended shot exactly one try. Maaaaaaaaaybe two on very rare occasions. Never did I just take the camera and do what I do. And do you know how many shots I missed? Me either! Kind of glad I don't know actually :)

All I know is if I stopped after the first shot the above image would not exist. because sometimes its the little unplanned details that make the shot fantastic. and we all know you can't plan for unplanned perfection.

I mean you can try. good luck with that. Pretty sure the earth would stand still at that very moment.

bracing myself for the sheer number of frames I plan to shoot this next semester.

and now I must say goodnight as i have class quite early tomorrow!!!!!!

g'night.

When in doubt, glitter it out!

Come Christmas time I start seeing sparkly treasure popping up all over my moms home.

really really cute stuff. Makes me envious!

Finally I got her to take me to her secret store filled with magical wonder!


It's not really secret, just so happens I've never been there before. But it really was oozing with sparkling holiday cheer.

It's up in Mesa, it's called the Orange Patch. Incase you wanted to check it out :)

love this guys stubby little arms...





Kassidy made me a new tree topper this year out of twigs and leaves from our Ash tree. It's really cute actually. We've had flying Santa topping it forever! Come to find out Santa look great where ever you put him on the tree!! Which is good because I <3 santa.


My kids LOVE these little plastic horses! Pretty sure it's all they actually cared about getting for Christmas.


What you see here ain't even half of their collection.


Kassidy cracks me up. I swear these guys are real to her. She sets them up with such care.

Lets pretend these ones have a history together, she'll say

and then goes on and on with the most amazing horse story you've ever heard.

the aftermath...



there is always an aftermath!

Hope you all had a merry Christmas!

Luckily I hate egg nog

but sadly I do like apple cider!

oh shoot. The trouble with writing a blog post on Christmas eve is well...

A. theres no one out there to read it. Because you're all out there having fun at your family christmas parties.

and B. I'm not.

because I'm sick. *wimper wimper*

let me guess...

you didn't get my Christmas card.

So few did. And the tragedy is that I usually don't do Christmas cards. This year the stars aligned perfectly! (I mean until it was time to give them out and i got deathly ill)



We finally got a family photo of sorts. We went on a little road trip and pulled off the side of the road to take these. Hooray for tripods. (please note, Natalie was a bit ill that day)

BTW... I accidentally killed my tripod on this trip. *sheds a tear* I've been awesome at killing things lately. Especially photographical type things.


anyhoo, as you can see family photos with the Ison's are kind of a joke.


We have no clue what were doing. Did I mention this is the first family photo we've had since Kassidy was 1? Do you realize she's 12 now? and a half!!!!!!!

Fail.


My real intent for this trip was to take some black and white film photos. But I am thankful for the family photos we got out of it! Though by no means perfect still quite dear to me.

here's what Came out of my lens.



You wanna hear something funny? This morning I went to the bathroom as per usual and I got all shaky an went into a fit of cold sweats and nausea and the next thing i knew i was slumped up against the wall. Did I pass out on the toilet???!!! Oh my. Thank goodness no one walked in on that horror scene. No sugar plum fairies dancing around in your head tonight! haha!

Even though I'm sad that I'm missing my family party I do hope you're all enjoying yours! Have a Splendiferous Christmas all!

and if you get my card a bit late you'll know why ;) !!

cat bowl night at the Isons!

When the food gods speak, I listen.

and what do they say?

SHARE!

Eh I don't know what's gotten into me but I am in a recipe sharing mood tonight soooo...

lemon chicken.

A much healthier lemon chicken than the one you know!!

because I know you need a delicious new recipe to get you out of your boring dinner rut. I also happen to know it needs to be easy, preferably with minimal ingredients and that is exactly why i am sharing :)

5 ingredients!

4 chicken breasts
1 C chicken broth
3 T sugar
4 T lemon juice
4 t corn starch

T = tablespoon
t = teaspoon

cube your thawed chicken. Sauté over med/high heat until the chicken is cooked through. Light brown is nice. Charred brown is welll... charred!

sauté= high heat, low oil.

in a saucepan add the chicken broth, sugar, and lemon juice.

take a little of this very mixture and stir it into the cornstarch in a separate little bowl until its soupy sans lumps.

add the cornstarch mixture to the chicken broth mixture and bring to a boil.

pour over your chicken.

voila! See that didn't take long at all!

oh you know what goes perfectly with this lemon chicken??????

My delicious fried rice recipe.

7 ingredients

3 eggs
1/2 an onion, small diced
6 cloves of garlic, minced
5-6 C cooked LEFTOVER rice. Can i just stress the importance of the rice being leftover??!! its needs to be cold thru and thru... and thru some more :)
variable amt. of soy sauce
1/2 t chili paste (optional, adds spice)
1 C frozen peas and carrots

first your gonna need to whisk the eggs pretty good. get your non-stick wok piping hot. Drizzle it with olive oil. Pour the eggs in and then pick the wok up! Yep with your hands and possibly some oven mitts. Then tip it so the eggs get swirled around the edges and it makes a thin flat circle off egg. Slide it out onto your cutting board. I usually fold it over and then slice it in thin strips. Set aside.

Then in your already hot wok :) add a little more oil. Toss in the onions. Sauté the onions for a minute or so then add the garlic for a brief minute.

Add the cold LEFTOVER rice to the pan. let it cook in there for a few minutes stirring occasionally.

In a separate bowl mix the soy sauce with the chili paste, I eye ball it but I'd guess its around 5-6 T of soy sauce??

Pour over the rice. stir it in real good.

Toss in the peas and carrots.

Woot. You're done.

The rice isn't hard but it does require thinking ahead a bit. What I do is when I make a dinner with rice I just cook twice as much rice as I need and refrigerate the rest for fried rice later in the week :)

and now for my next trick...

a photo of a bug.



that looks like a leaf.

and has nothing to do with anything.

p.s. asian style dishes taster better in bowls with cats on them. Give it a try!

it's good morning time!

That is what Lucy says to me and Chad every morning as we try to sleep through the commotion around us.

But it was Natalie that woke me this morning.

Mom, Emma didn't answer her door

I am one of those moms. You know the kind that doesn't get up and see to it that their kids are well fed and groomed with their school bags all packed up good and proper.

Morning person is definitely on my list of wants for my next life.

Natalie and I had been out till after 10 last night trying to get some Christmas shopping done. Christmas shopping wears me out on a good day, letting it drag on well into the night is brutal.

We were tired.

ok, get in the car.

I grabbed my warmest p.j. pants which happen to be like the ugliest things you ever seen plus they don't stay on very well because they're missing a button... aaaaand yesterdays shirt. Glanced in the mirror. Wow, crazy hair. fantastic.

jumped in the car, reached for the sunglasses (because we all know these babies do more that just keep the sun out of our eyes... they also block the sleep face from being clearly and completely seen) you know its true.

dang! The sun wasn't out! ok fine never mind lets make this quick!

This my friends is how the morning began.

and then something kinda wonderful happened!

THE FOG!



It was sooooo perfectly magical!


And I could feel the giddy welling up inside. isn't that the best?! I ran back home and grabbed the camera so I could share the beauty! Man it was a gorgeous morning.


then there was the shift...


I went from totally embarrassed to leave the house like this even within the confines of my vehicle, to happily prancing around the cold wet neighborhood looking like a creature of the deep. haha!!!

I don't regret a single second of it :)

Fog is a rare thing for Arizona, add sleeping late to the mix and you may never see such a sight.

So what I really want to say is

THANK YOU Emma, from the bottom of my heart for not answering your door this morning! You made my day magical :) !!!!!

<3

attacks of the dustiest kind

let me tell you what I miss.

color.

I've printed almost 225 black and white prints at school and man alive am I itching for some color.


Dad's got some new toys on the farm these days. and they're GREEEEEEEN!

(and don't you LOOOOVE how you can see that they're green?)


two of my most favorite men on the planet right here.


Lucy getting her pout on :)


I realize it's hard to tell but this is exactly what it looks like. A ten year old girl operating heavy machinery! She likes to scoop the dirt and dump it in a pile 3 feet away. Kind of like that little shovel scooper toy at the park only it's not at the park and it's most definitely not a toy.



and then sometimes black and white just works. Don't fight it. embraaaace.


See all that dust?

I was standing in that giant dust cloud.


I do unfortunate things sometimes. Like for instance how I just stood there wearing not one but TWO (yes two!) cameras amidst the bajillions of dust particles that LOVE to attack cameras and their attached lenses... instead of running for the hills.



oh I'm no dummy, I covered the lenses with my hands. oh wait, still dummy huh? yeah. I think I killed one lens for sure. which means I have exactly one lens left. ho hum.

Dear Santa Clause,

I would LOVE some new lenses for Christmas! I promise to always run for the hills hence forth :) !! Also the #1 key on my keyboard is acting wonky. I could use a new #1 key. thx!

your ever so cool bff, Jill

:)

Pilgrims vs. Indians

So serious question for you all...

When is the last time you sported a bonnet?

because for me it was like three days ago.

My mom is so cute. She LOVES Thanksgiving. This year she got it in her head we should all dress up for our Thanksgiving feast.

HAHA!!!


here we all are with our best 'back in the day' faces on. Apparently we weren't ALL participating... *ahem Lucy and Logan!


Of course we did a smiley one as well. Which apparently we weren't all participating in that one either! haha!!!! *ahem... Savannah, Brent, Kathy, Chad and Mia aaaaand well, me. I'm at least half participating :)

Lucky for the indians we're a peaceful people! Clearly the pilgrims have the upper hand here. Thanks to Lori for volunteering Jeremy and meems to be indians. and thanks to Logan for wearing meems feathers when she refused.



Lucy was in a very silly mood.


She was telling jokes to the kids while they ate. They were having the best time.


truth: she wants that pie.



It was a really beautiful day here in AZ. My dad fell asleep out by the pool. I snuck out with the film camera to snap one of him sleeping... Chad got me!


Now isn't that just the perfect end to a perfect day?

Lucy, you crack me up.

How was your turkey? not too dry I hope.

Did you dress like pilgrims and indians? if no, then do you think you might consider it for next year?

Is it because this post was sooooo inspiring?????

... thought so!

thanks mom! For making us all bonnets and what nots. and also for cooking some of the stuffing not in the bird so I could eat it this year. It was a little bit crunchy but I found that I quite like it crunchy.

Stacey, next time come eat with us ok? Now we may never know what you would look like in a bonnet.