The Photo School Work

So after years of talking, and nagging about it, Becky finally made it to the Rocky Mountain School of Photography. And now it’s all over, and she successfully made it through! So here are just a few photos that she took along the way! Overall there is something like 3,000 or so that she took over the course of a couple months, so these really are… just a few.

The first set was taken for her final project. The theme was to capture images that displayed sound, so that when you see the photo, you hear it as well. So here you go:

This next set is just a few that I liked.

So there you go, and there you have it. She made it. Now there can be no excuse for her not to take more and more photos… right, Rebecca?

The Leftovers

I’ve had these pictures lying around for quite some time, just waiting for the right post to put them in, but that never came along. So here are just a few random shots I liked from our summer in Montana.

I'm lookin' down at you!

Holding tightly to the D around Brookie B.

Sportin' the tie dye with Grandpa Bill in the backyard.

Runnin' in the park with Grandma and Grandpa

Poor pitiful pitbull.

Don't tell my mother.

Spinning around and around on the Missoula Carousel.

Haha! But the sun is in my eyes!

Why the sad face? It's a ride!

Holy Kazoo, Great Grandma!

So there you go, now I can trash them off my desktop, as they will live on now in cyberspace for all time... or at least until they shut this blog down!

It's Miller Time...

As most of you know, we successfully made it across the country after a weeklong drive. But before I blog about Maryland or whatever else new we may do, I thought I’d better post a few pics from the journey.

We stopped at my sister’s house in Brookfield, Missouri along the way and stayed for a day. It was great to hang out with the Miller kids and watch the action in their practically Olympic size swimming pool! Seriously, they could hold swim meets in this thing! What an awesome thing to have growing up, I’m sure. We never had anything this cool as kids… we spent most of our time in a True Value hardware store, unloading bins of screws and bolts, and putting price stickers on rakes… somehow not as cool. Anyway, check it out.

So the Millers have it pretty good I’d say. Comparing it to their former home in Stevensville, Montana… they pretty much just dropped a few thousand feet in elevation. They still have a big section of land, far away from everything, down a country road. I’m not so sure about the whole ticks and snakes thing, but everything else seemed pretty good to me. And it was great to see them a little bit this summer… we’ll make sure that two years doesn’t pass again.

Adventure in the Black Hills

What could be better than a family reunion at a camp ground in South Dakota? I have no idea. But Paul and I sure had fun representing the Florida, uh… Montana, uh… Maryland, uh… Homeless branch of the Sellers family. For the first time in history all seven of the current Sellers grandchildren were present in the same location. This sort of thing will probably be a rare occasion, unfortunately. But it was a blast while it lasted!

Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, the Black Hills… we saw it all! I thought I would beat the other Sellers/Miller bloggers to the punch and get my pictures posted first. So here they are!

Now we just have to make this an annual event! But hopefully next time it can be somewhere a little warmer at night. Maybe?

This is the place to be this time of year...

Summer will always be my favorite part of Montana. Maybe it’s because the rest of the year here is so miserably cold or rainy… or maybe it’s just a beautiful place to spend the months of June through September. It’s hot and dry, but there’s not much better than watching the sun go down over the city while sitting on Mount Sentinel or Mount Jumbo on the M or the L trails. When I think about the summers in Montana I remember delivering (and destroying) wedding cakes for Safeway, driving with the T-tops off or the windows down (when my junk cars actually ran), helping pull up cat urine soaked carpet with the sweat pouring off my head and breathing in the burning forest fires, checking out all the same cars at all the same car shows, trampolines and millions of stars in the Big Sky, folfing through thousands of mosquitoes, finding a sausage in my tater at the Western Montana Fair, paintball and golf, greasy hands and the smell of transmission fluid, ice cold Mountain Dew from the cooler, bonfires and blackened hot dogs, taking the dogs to the river, and so much much more. Definitely the best place to spend a summer.

Oh, the hay fields and barb wire fences.

Guitar pickin' with the pit bull.

Paul was lost in the Montana desert, but his horse with no name must have died.

Playing Ms. Elly a tune, and wearing a hat too small, but necessary to protect my sensitive, balding head from the burning sun.

Catchin' the big one down at the pond. Reel 'em in Paulie!!

Times they are changing, and friends and family have long since gone from this place. But hopefully there will be reasons to visit Montana in the summer for years to come. Hopefully.

Clayburns in the Summer

After not being around most of the last two summers, it’s been great to see everyone as much as we have this year. Throughout the last couple of months, Becky and Paul (and me occasionally) have been able to spend a lot of time with a little of everyone… including the Clayburns of North Idaho! Here are just a few pictures looking back over the past couple of months with Paul’s youngest female cousin… Brookie B.

Paul made one of many drives over the pass to Couer d' Alene (possibly the most difficult town name to spell in this country) to see his cousin Brookie B (as he calls her) turn one year old on July 27th! Paul helped out by blowing out the candle for her... several times before he was supposed to.

Here's Brooke with her Aunt, sporting her best patriotic dress. We had an awesome 4th of July, trying to blow up and burn down the house! We even had a few snakes and sparklers. Always the best holiday, or at least my favorite.

During one of the times Becky came to pick me up in Spokane after I flew in from SLC we all stopped down at the park by the lake for Kids Day! Fire hats, balloon animals, plinko, free frisbees and yoyos, and the Meth booth... not sure how that's part of kids day, but this is Idaho.


They even made the drive over to Missoula a few times, and became one of the subjects of Becky's photography projects... as should always be anticipated. We soaked up the heat at Caras Park.

And there they are. She'll be walking (and soon thereafter, running) very soon, so any time spent in Montana next summer should be even more entertaining... as long as Brookie B doesn't take Paulie J's "D"... because even though it's been a couple of weeks since the last time they were together, he still comments on her attempts of D thievery.

Anyway, it's been a great summer, and hopefully we'll still get to see the Clayburns throughout the year, even if we're quite a bit farther away.

Exile in Sandy

Here's just a quick look back at my time near the great Salt Lake. I cannot thank the Utah Sellers enough for letting me hang out with them all summer, and we really had some fun times... even though it flew by quickly. I'll never forget it, check it out:

Went to check out the air show earlier in the summer... Mason wasn't bothered by the low flying jets... but we can't say the same for his poor mother.

Typical.

The scavenger, searching the horizon for cheese cubes, Peanutbutter Crunch, and anything else edible left open on an unattentive eater's plate!

The T-Ball allstar!

Smores anyone? How about a fire roasted corn farmer?

Nice jacket, Weasel... and Amber in true form.

Great times in the basement! It will be missed. Maybe someday we'll have a basement Mason and Izzy can come hang out in!

Once again, thank you, thank you... to the Weaselish ping pong champion and Earl Sellers look-a-like, the oily-footed girl on the Hot Tamale Train, the boy who doesn't share his corn nor his poptarts, and the barbaric little girl with the endless apetite... for the NOT worst summer of my life.