It's been awhile....

I have missed blogging so much!! I can't believe it's been 4 months. It was such a crazy, busy Summer. And an unforgettable one at that. Quite possibly the most memorable, fun, exciting, eventful and overall amazing Summers I've had to date. So many great things took place. But unfortunately, I used my iPhone more to document these things than I did my Nikon. :( So for that, I am slightly disappointed in myself & sorry I don't have more images to share. BUT! I did capture a few things that I am going to post here. Mostly of the horrific fire(s) we had which, one specifically, (the Pine Creek Fire) was only 15 miles from where we live. It was really sad and scary but made for some interesting photographs & especially sunsets.

I will be blogging a lot more often now as well since things are slowing down a bit & I just recently upgraded my camera body. :) Yay. I am pretty excited about that. The fall color is quickly approaching so I will hopefully have some pretty Autumn photography to share very soon! I love Fall.

Ok, but for now, some Summer outtakes.... Let's start with the fires.... I have never experienced anything quite like this in the ten years I have lived here in Montana. Intense smoke and even flames were visible at night from our house. It was awful.


Interesting wave-like smoke clouds


Smokey hills


Sunrise one morning this summer from all the smoke


I went to Yellowstone with Tom Murphy. That was awesome as usual. Tons of baby Bison calves & we saw a Grizzly but too far away to photograph.


We did a TON of river floating. And one overnight camp trip with one of my good friends, Nicole. It was a blast.


I bought a macro lens and did a bunch of macro photography... Mostly of flowers in my yard. Really beautiful lens.

This is a chive


My crazy cat Leo caught a Magpie!! It was quite exciting for him and myself. Ha.


Lovely skies the last couple weeks...


I baked an apple crumble pie last week. It was amazing.


And I'm just gonna throw these two of the Paradise Valley Grill shoot in that I did last week because I like them. :)

See you all soon for a fun Fall post!!

Fly Fishing

It was a brisk & windy May day when myself, my husband and his good friend & pro fisherman Zach, went for a little fly fishing jaunt up at the Upper Story Lake in Paradise Valley. It's a beautiful private lake which Zach takes clients from all over the country to fish. These photos are going to be used on his guiding website & also for other various stock assignments. The guys caught a total of 6 Rainbow Trout. They were all super healthy with beautiful color and pretty good sized. The largest fish measuring in at 19 inches! Here is some of the documentation I captured of this relaxing & artful outdoor sport... :) The view of the lake as we were leaving that evening. It was beautiful.

A Wintery First Day of Spring

We had a major dumping of heavy, wet snow all day yesterday. And now today, marking the "first day of spring", we have wind & very chilly 30 degree temps. Ha. So much for that! I feel like Montana needs a special calendar for these markings of season intro's..... And they'd all be like a month or two later. Except for winter, of course. ;)

Anyway, last night the clouds finally cleared & we had the most beautiful sunset and light that only lasted like 15/20 minutes. So naturally, I ran outside and shot as many photos as I could while this lovely-ness lasted. It was like everywhere I turned, something gorgeous was gleaming with light & color....

San Francisco

I left my heart (and lots of money) in San Francisco.

It was an absolutely incredible trip filled with fun & laughter with my bff from childhood (Michelle), lots of exploring, shopping and AMAZING food. Oh, the food. From Chinese cuisine in Chinatown, to some seriously authentic Mexican food in a supposed "sketchy" part of town, according to our cabbie.... "Just don't go any further up that street. Stay on this side and you'll be ok". ??? Whaaa? Ok then. The pork tacos were totally worth the scare. Ha! We also had some awesome award winning pizza in the Italian District. One of which was featured on the Food Network! So cool. Anyway, if you couldn't tell, other than hanging out & catching up with my best friend, the food was the highlight of this trip.

Time for some photos! Here are some things I liked the looks of while touring this wonderfully crazy city.... Oh, and THANK YOU so much, Michelle for being the best tour guide a person could ask for!!! I love you!!





Chinatown














Beach Chalet/ North Beach. Delicious Dungeness Crab Benedict. Mmmmm....











The Painted Ladies & opening credits scene from Michelle & I's favorite TV show as kids, Full House :)



The GGB







Fisherman's Wharf. Where lots of random, weird performances & such were taking place. Quite entertaining.



We had a really awesome spicy fried fish sandwich on the wharf.













Fresh baked bread from Boudin Bakery



Union Square



Just some Cityscapes....







Awesome Italian din on our last night in the city







Bye, bye SF. Until next time..... :)