The Colorado Springs Photographer

A Day away

Friday, March 21, the first full day of Spring, our family and 2 other families, had an opportunity to get away for a day of sledding and tubing up in the mountains!

There were 20 children in the 3 families, 3 tubes, and a bunch of sleds, so the ingredients were all there for a great time. We started off at a place called Bear Trap Ranch, but the snow there was bad and very slow, plus we were attended by a couple of ranch employees. So, one of the adults among us went farther up the road and found a great place by the St. Peter's Dome trail.

It felt great to be in the mountains on a sunny, warm day. I'd like to say that I was away from the camera, but, as you can see, I had it with me and took over 330 photos.  I just can't put it down, I guess.

Thanks for reading,

-Tracy
The Colorado Springs Photographer

Time for a break

We've been pretty busy doing family portrait sessions recently, but we did have a chance to take a break recently and enjoy a hike in Waldo Canyon.

Can you believe that I'm a Colorado Springs native and I've never been hiking in Waldo Canyon before?

So, here is a show of snapshots we took on that hike. This is posted using our new YouTube integration with our slideshow software.

Thanks for reading.

-Tracy
The Colorado Springs Photographer

A little vacation time

We love to go camping.

With all the weddings and HS Seniors we've been photographing lately, we haven't had much time. But, in August, I did take a couple days off so we could go up by Lost Creek Wilderness Area. We put the Trooper in 4WD and made it to a beautiful camping spot. If not for work and my allergies (which flared up fiercely on this trip), this would have been a great place to stay for a week or so.

Enjoy the photos.

This second one is Josiah climbing down into a pit that we found next to a very old cabin foundation. This area was once mined heavily, so we believe this may have been some sort of mine cavity.

The third one was Benjamin's idea... make Josiah look like he was in grave danger of plummetting to his demise in the mine shaft.

These 2 are the boys harvesting gooseberries by the creek.

The end of another successful and happy camping trip. (It's happy and successful if you're dirty at the end of it.)

Thanks for reading.

-Tracy
The Colorado Springs Photographer

The rest of the story

Did you watch the video about Dick & Rick Hoyt in my June 1st post?

Whether you did or didn't, here's the rest of their amazing story.

Hope you enjoy this one, too.

Thanks for reading.

-Tracy
The Colorado Springs Photographer

"The Father himself loveth you."
John 16:27

What ARE we all about?

For those of you who don't know, there are 8 of us living out here in the country.

Mom, Dad, 6 children.

We homeschool.

We raise goats so we can enjoy fresh, raw milk.

We raise chickens so we can enjoy fresh eggs and meat.

My 12 year-old son, Benjamin, raises kittens which he sells. It's all part of the farm.

We live way out in the country, but we have clear air, no traffic noise, no police sirens. There is a 600-acre forested county park just a few minutes away with a few miles of hiking/biking/horse trails. We have seen elk, deer, porcupine, golden eagles, skunks, foxes, coyotes, and dozens of bird species just a few minutes from home. We love it out here.

It's a long drive for me to get to Colorado Springs for my appointments, but, it's one of the sacrifices we make to enjoy living where we live.

We also have what I call a Micro-farm. Perhaps some of you read about that on my other blog (which I have now merged into this one). Our goal is to build our goat herd up to a size where we can begin sharing the milk with others. And, we now have a very large flock of chicks which, Lord willing, will soon be producing way more eggs than we can eat ourselves, so some of the kids can have that as their money-making enterprise.

In future posts, I plan to introduce you to more of our family and our family life. Our customers become our friends, so you are welcome to stop on by. If you have kids who have never been to the country, ours is a safe and friendly place to bring them to visit farm animals. We'd love to have you over!

Thanks for reading.

-Tracy
The Colorado Springs Photographer

"Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he (Jesus Christ) laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren."
     1 John 3:16