12 Step Program for rembering to post....

Well here it is again 1 month gone and no new post from me. Life and posting just didn't mesh all the well lately. I belong to 3 other sites, have 2 other blogs going and trying to remember or think of relevant things to post on each was draining me. When I had any creative thoughts, they weren't on any of these topics. They mostly went to my writing blog (it's hidden under and another name...and no you don't get to know it.) as that is a bettter suited place for deeper and slightly "off" thoughts and wonderings. Since I have taken to calling (more then I used too) family I saw no reason to post on here. And I haven't really taken any pictures since Thanksgiving. It's a bummer that I've mostly missed the winter season pictures, but family doesn't allow all that I want.

Maybe in '07 I will be better at posting, or maybe I will just end the blogs suffereing and cut the cord. Who knows?

It's Stunning

Do you like to take pictures? Do you want to try and win a new camera (Dana and Christy)? Would you like it to be the new Nikon D80? Yes? Of course you do! Well Nikon gave a group of flickr photographers some D80's to play with and they setup and new site. www.stunningnikongallery.com and you can enter to win a D80. You sign up and "take the winning picture" in the simple little game they have. You just try and frame the picture in the lcd and if you get it right you win. You can only enter once a day, but I figured for those who are wanting a good camera but are short on funds....what's wrong with trying right? You can also browse more about the camera and see the flickr people's pictures they took with the camera...and other nikon users. I was seriously impressed.

For Lucy

Meet Lucy, the best family dog. A fierce guard dog with the heart of an eternal puppy. The Nagels adopted her a few years back and she took to the role of family pet perfectly. Gentle and playful with the kids, but always ready to protect them and all of us at any moment.



Sadly she is gone now. Her kidneys failed and she was put to sleep last night. She was truely a member of the family and will be sorely missed by all. Rest in peace dear friend, you remain forever in our hearts.

Wait...that's not entertaining me....

I have waited anxiously with Pria for this movie since I saw a trailer last year. A movie about a dancing penguin. It's original, it's cool, it's animated so my daughter will LOVE IT. But wait...it has moral points? It has a story line...I paid 32$ to see a complex and very notably environmentally minded slap in the face? Huh?! Yes, that was running through my head as Chris, Pria and I sat in IMAX for the movie. Now it was amazing to see it in IMAX. And the first little bit was totally cool. But towards the middle you realize that you are slipping into The Salem Witch Trials era....penguins praising "The Mighty Guin" for more fish...and banishing Mumble from the group as they viewed him the cause of the lost fish. Then comes the X-Files Moulder worthy moment of Mumble proclaiming "It's the aliens!" So along you go with the determined penguin to find the aliens and talk to them. He chases the fishing boats out to sea and continues to chase them until he washed up on a distant shore. He tries to talk to them...fails...then Ah! It hits him...I gotta dance! So the world (the modern actual world) takes immediate notice of him and sends him back to emperor land...to get this...teach the other penguins how to dance for the scientists who now study them. Ok. Now I'm so on board with the dancing penguins...it's a cartoon after all, make it unbelievable and fun. But why does it have to have a message? Why does it have to have an outlandish one? I mean come on...over fishing happens. It's crappy but it happens. But the penguin hierarchy is like a bunch of protestant priests? Now by the end it got better...okay fluffy ending of the weirdo outcast being the savior of their race and it taking some outlandish behavior to make us realize we were affecting them.

But it's a kids movie...why can't it be fun like Cars? The big morals there is not to be a hot shot jerk. It doesn't take much to get it...Pria got it. "He's sad...lightning wasn't nice to him." Hey lesson learned and it's fun.

And the beat goes on...

It's monday. Mondays are okay I guess...nothing great about them. This one is just blah. Tomorrow is my birthday and I'm on the umpteenth with little if any sleep. It's stressful and annoying. I have little if any patience and find myself constantly exhausted. The warm milk, soothing baths or evenings of enya humming through my ipod don't seem to quelch the insomnia. Where a day or two without sleep is do able, constantly it's not fun. I am spent mentally and remembering to shower and brush my teeth consume all available resources. I don't write at night, I don't take pictures...I don't even play any video games anymore. I'm that "done" with life. How can you force yourself to go to bed when your mind and body just don't want to go? Sleep is needed soon...because sanity is quickly leaving.

The Book

Yep I'm making a book. No, not kidding...yes I'm really making one. A small one, but it's got words, a layout and pictures actually printed on the pages. Dana inspired me to finally do it, and I'm wanting to have it done to give to Aunt Lanny for Thanksgiving. The only problem is I can't really decided on the layout...I'm wanting it to be perfect (as always) but I can't really tell if it's good or not. I've gone simple and made it black and white pictures only...so I don't have to compete with mismatched colors...but still I can't to get it all flowing great and looking good...
If you want to help me go here http://www.shutterfly.com/action/publishing/preview if it asks you for a password or login it's acnagel@hotmail.com and password is pandabear

Any suggestion?

The look of food

I love to cook. I don't generally do it though. It drives me mad to try and cook in my kitchen. Now my kitchen is adequet for making food...but just not for the way I make it. I prefer to make spreads, not just here's chicken and away we go. Which means lots of dishes...and me being scattered brained trying to be chopping, stiring, mixing and washing at the same time. And I must be on guard for the 2 food theives in my house, they sneak in and pick at everything! I like to plate things (watch food network if you don't know what that means) I like it to look nice, everything be in very cool yet simple serving dishes. Garnished slightly, and never with something you won't be eating. I want to have the deserts, drinks and side dishes that go with the meal. That's just the way I've always thought about food. Which is so odd, because I don't like to eat food like that. I prefer bagels and simple sandwiches to gourmet meals. But the look of food makes me want to do it, lemongrass simmering next to red chilies, apple cider and bacon coating the chicken, farm fresh tomatoes seared on the grill.....I know it looks good and I wish I could make it.

new look

Please be patient with the blog..I'm messing with some templets...or trying too :)

Insomnia can be fun...sometimes.

I don't sleep that well. Generally I have at least 2 nights of no sleep a week. It's not too horrible, I play games, mess with my camera, catch up on writing. Some time's I have 4 or 5 nights of no sleep in a week, those are the less fun. In my mass insomnia you'd think my house would be spotless and uber organized. Far from it. When I can't sleep I can't clean. I do things that I can do on autopilot. Playing video games, writing another chapter in my story, taking odd pictures. Those things required no active thoughts from me and I can run on zombie mode so to speak. I just slip on my ipod drown my world in music and go for it. These are some of my latest insomnia pictures.



This one was back when Ciela stayed the night and we played with water droplets and food coloring.



I love lights, and the color blue and was trying something I read about in Pop Photo.



Pria got one of those pin art things...I was amused far too much with it.



Just because I can't take a normal picture of myself ;)

They are fun moments for me...when I can be stupid and silly and no one gets to see, unless Chris wakes up in the middle of the night :D

Spookables

Figured now was a good time to post some Halloween pictures of Pria. She had a really fun time at the ward party and going trick or treating with her buddies Ryan and Jack in the rich neighborhood. It was freezing cold so her costume ended up being perfect for her.



She was really good about not being too scraed at the trunk or treat....at least for the most part.


Not sure about who this is, but Pria loved to dance with her.

FLICKRRRRRR.....

I have new pictures up on Flickr (for those of you that go there...) and hope to have some of little waterbender up tonight after our trunk or treat. www.flickr.com

Fun times with a munchkin

We go to the Zoo alot. It's right by our apartment, one stop down on the Max...and it's the perfect amusement for Pria (with some nice walking for us) We went to the Mandrill's pen the other day and the monkeys were very interactive. Pria walked up to the glass and they just started freaking out. They were lunging and stomping the ground in front of her. Then we picked her up and the big boss monkey ran over and took an interest in her. He would stomp and bow his head, so we had her bow back. Then all the other monkeys started bowing at her. They were all following whatever she did, so we had her run back and forth in front of the cage. They ran back and forth chasing her...still bowing and stomping as they ran. After a little bit, all the monkeys kept their heads down in front of her, so we had concluded that Pria is the new leader of the Madrill.

We also have Cougars at the zoo now. It took them a bit to be comfortable and actually walk around their pen. They have growled at Chris(don't blame them)and watched Pria intently we she's off by herself. But this last visit they were different. They were biting the glass. You could actually hear their teeth grinding against the the window in their den. We couldn't get Pria to touch the glass where they were biting, and she was sufficiently scared of them after that. But it was cool to see.

Old pictures

I found 3 groups of pictures I never bothered to edit or upload last night, with good reason. I seperated my shoulder and was all done with computers and cameras for a bit. But since joining Flickr I have edited them and posted them, but I realise that not all of you can or want to join Flickr so I will post one or 2 (if I can) here. Of course I have posted 100 pictures and about half of them are new or unseen so there's lots to see there.


One stationary butterfly with 3 others circling it.


Cabers on the slide of doom.


A foggy field outside of Lincoln City

new pictures

Just wanted to let you all know that I am working on getting some new pictures up on my Flickr account so look for them to be up and all ready hopfully by tomorrow :)

Oh it's a small world...

We went to the beach this weekend, for my mom's 60th birthday. Chris and I came down on Thurday, my parents showed up on Friday. As my parents finished checking in we ran in to more family. Aunt Phyllis (spelling???) and Uncle Grant. Of all the people to run in to, we run into family that I see only at weddings or funerals. It made for an interesting evening....

Small words please...I don't use intelligence before noon.

Well now that I'm home I can post an update about Chris....just a forwarning I'm gonna totally spell things wrong.

He is okay. A bit out of it, sleeps off and on all day and night. He's got a bit of a fever, with some nausea. He saw his surgeon on Friday morning and got his Lidocain drip removed. He can walk around and shower now (thank goodness). I'm still not sure what all the surgery was called, I was never quiet sure of the million *brief pause to console Pria after she dropped a table on her foot* dollar phrases doctors use. It was an orthoscopic something of the left with something and something else. Basically there are 4 holes in his left shoulder where they went in to shave off a section of a bone in his shoulder. They didn't touch the nerves, ligaments, tendons or muscles. Just ground down the bone far enough so it wouldn't rub against the other one. They took pictures while they were in there and if you are in medical school you could probably make out what it all is. I have to get on him to keep up with his ice and meds *Pria now has a nasty looking bruse on her foot so we are going to cuddle and take a bath* I guess my work is never done....

Today is the day.

Well today is Chris's surgery. He's nervous. I'm just exhausted, couldn't sleep much last night. I don't know the technical part of what's going on today. I know that they are cutting into his shoulder and shaving off a little burr or some thing. My nice neighbor Trini, is gonna watch Pria while I'm there with Chris. She has a little boy, Jordan and Pria loves to play with him.

I'll post how he's doing and what exactly went on as soon as I figure it out.

Done for now...

Well I'm having some more issuse with Blogger surrounding my pictures not posting or opening right...or at all...so until they answer some of my emails and let me know what's going on I won't be blogging any pictures. I will most likely start uploading to shutterbugs. So I will write and link to it when I do.

Oh no! Not there....

Well as life begins to find a comfortable groove a wrench is thrown in. Chris recently sent out some resumes after Intel announced layoffs. He wasn't worried about loosing his job, but figured it was good to be covered in case. Well he isn't getting laid off but a new job may be offered. A job that is not located here. In fact it's loacted in the one place I have never wanted to visit, let alone live. That's right...it's in Utah. Lehi Utah. Oh but it gets better...training is 6 months long not here, or in Utah. Training is in Virginia. Molasses or something like that. So we'd move to Virignia, stay for a bit, then pack up and move to *gulp* Utah. Chris is very optomistic about it being a new experiance and a good way to buy a house. Utah houses are dirt cheap and huge. I'm not too thrilled. I like rain, mountains, the beach....I like here. Granted I can't buy a house a here, I can't even rent one. There's just something about Utah...more so mormons in Utah...that just makes me cringe and scream "POD PEOPLE!" I should have seen it coming though...I branch out and talk to people at church and try to make some friends...and now I may be moving.

At least this time I'd get paid to move....

Starting from the begining

Well it's been 2 months since I seperated my shoulder and I was expecting to be doing much better. So yesterday I went and saw my friend's mother whose a physical therapist. Well this lady was much better then the therapist I previously saw. Firstly she had seperated her shoulder before so she had first hand experiance. Her seperation was not as bad as mine and her's took her over 2 years to recover from. That news wasn't not happy for me. So we went over everything I had been doing, stretches and such that Jon (old therapist) had given me. To my complete annoyance she told me that one of the excersises I was doing was keeping my tendons from healing. Everytime I lifted my arm above my shoulder I was reripping everything. If I hadn't been doing those moves, I would have had scar tissue form and be healed and ready to strenghten everything. So for the next 2 months I have to restart form the begining...no lifting, no overhead reaching...I'm so not happy. I can't believe I wasted 2 months of stretching and strenghtening just to be told it was all hurting me. This just reaffirms my belief that doctors/therapists do more harm then good if they haven't had first hand experiance in something. So I'm off to go do wall pushups and plan on being better by next summer....or maybe the summer after that.

There she blows...

*hehehe* oh the jokes I could say...

Moving on...

We recently went to Newport, and you can't go that south without going to Depot Bay and chancing to see the whales. We debated about going out, the weather wasn't terribly great on Thursday and wasn't expected to be much better the next day. We talked it over with Pria (as much as you can talk about something new with a 3 year old) and she was luke warm about going out on a boat. The next morning we called Dockside Charters and they said there were several whales right out in the bay and the weather couldn't be better for us. Pria was ecstatic about the boat and seeing whales. We ended up on the Samson, with about a dozen people. We let Pria get all comfy with the boat before we headed out.

She and Chris hung on on the inside for most of the time. I of course was crazy girl out on the very front of the boat. I was so glad I hadn't eaten breakfast that morning. Up and down...up and down. Got a nice shot of the Depot Bay coastline while we headed out to the first buoy to snag a whale.

Trying to take pictures on a swaying boat is....awkward. I ended up wrapping on leg over a low rail and locking it behind my other one to avoid flipping over the side while I tried to focus. We spotted out first whale a couple of minutes after heading, it's grey whale season which I don't think I've seen before...at least not close.

This was the first guy, and the only good tail shot I got. Pria and Chris could see him from the cabin and she was uber happy about seeing one. She was sort of bummed that they weren't sharks (me too) but they were cool enough for her.

This fish wanted in our boat real bad! He just popped up right next to us...it was crazy! No, no...I'm teasing...While we were floating watching the first group of whales our deck hand was fishing and actually caught somthing, so we waited while he reeled it in. I was secretly hoping for a shark, but no luck. He pulled up what I guessed what a rock fish and threw him back. I snapped this shot as he was tossed back. It's not the clearest shot, but it's an awesome fish.

We spent the time chasing the whales back and forth in front of the bay. We went North to find them, they popped up South of us. So we'd slowly go back South, hoping to catch them on the way...and they'd pop up way North of us. Aggrivating little punks.

A bit before we headed back in we found one and then he found a friend. I wished I had a longer telephoto, since they are a bit hard to make out...but if you can see them you can tell there are 2 of them.

All in all, it was a fun time. Pria didn't throw up and I managed to stay awake (last time I was on a little ocean going boat I passed out almost the entire time...something about the rocking back and forth puts me to sleep), so it was a fun way to spend part of the day.

Why men and kids shouldn't be left alone

Most women have been to Victoria's Secret. Some of them have been in that store with a man. I've been in there with Chris before, it's an event to say the least. Looks at the various *ahem* items, suggestions about others. I've learned to chuckel and snicker along with him, becuase honestly some of those things.....goodness. Well I recently went shopping there and brought Chris and Pria with me. If you thought men by themsleves are childish, wait until you give them a cutie pie that loves to repeat things. So there I am searching through the bras, trying to get in and get out without the usual jokes. I'm thinking I'm doing good when I hear a sweet little voice happily chant" Double Delicious." I shoot around and see Pria and Chris laughing....it's now her favorite funny thing to say.

30 days gone

Wow...look at me. I have managed to avoid posting for a whole 30 days! Woohoo ;)

I do have pictures and topics I'm writing on. I've just been busy with every other thing going on. I will work on them tonight and tomorrow, if I get bored enough with my story. So I will try to have a new post by Wednesday/Thursday. But ya know, it's me so who knows what will happen...or if anyone reads this :)

Beach Trip

I have finally gotten some pictures edited from our trip to the beach. They aren't stellar but they're semi clear and show we were there. The trip was fun, a bit exhausting but we had good weather the whole time. It looked liked it would rain the morning we left so we weren't too dissapointed in leaving right then.

We played on the beach lots and had a fire down there one night. This was our first night there and we missed sunset by a bit, but a sword fight on the beach was entertaining to watch. My money is on the little one...she's very sneaky.

This one is from Neah Kah Ne/Manzanita area(spelling???). We rented a house at this beach and sunsets were very cool. I liked this one because you can see the trail of the plane almost like a comets tail.


Lucy was happy to trot around in pria's sunglasses while were hung out around the house.

We went to Short Sands/Oswald West State Park one day. Pria finally loves to play in the sand and water, too bad she sat down in the water with her shorts still on.

We hung out there and played for a few hours. Pria, Kai and Luke just hung out in the little river coming down the beach. Just happily throwing rocks and getting wet. Well Kai wasn't too happy about getting wet, but little Luke was all about the water. Until he had to get washed off in it, then he was all done.

I took a couple pictures of the surfers there, trying to test out my arm a bit since it was the first time I held my camera since I messed up my shoulder. I needed a longer lense, but this one was good enough for now. There aren't very high waves there, so any "surfing" shots wouldn't have been good.

Blogger wont let me upload any more pictures into this post so the other pictures will get put up when I have some more time later this week.

Update

Hey howdy hey.

Well I' ve been away from the blog long enough, so I guess an update is due.

I'm doing well in physical therapy, get to start strength excersise next week. My therapist (Jon) thinks I am doing great, but still will have months not weeks before I can holding Pria or my camera. I'm trying hard to get to that point sooner, cause I'd like to take some good pictures before summer is up.

Chris and I celebrated our 8th anniversary with a trip to the pool. Nothing says love like "CANONBALL!"

Pria is getting somewhat excited for her birthday. We are trying to figure out what to plan for it now. I can't believe she's going to be 3...man I'm getting old.

Our trip to the beach with the whole Nagel clan was good. We had some good weather, got to play at the beach plenty. Will probably go back to the beach soon, Pria know loves to play in the sand so yay!

Other then that, life is life. I will try and get some new pictures uploaded soon and post again.

Bombs bursting in air

Well this Fourth of July was very fun. We went swimming at the cool wilson pool with the Ashworths in the morning/afternoon. Then we headed to Glenn's brother's home for a neighborhood 4th get together. Pria played with sparklers for the first time and was a bit unsure of them. They men of the neighboorhood spend some serious money and got an awesome selection of fireworks to light off that night. I tried my best to take pictures, video and cuddle Pria all at the same time. My exposures were tons better this year, and hardly any shot were blurred out. Plenty were over exposed but hopefully I can work on that next year. So here are some shots of the fireworks from that night. I will get together some new shots of the family and cousins from that week and try to have them posted by the end of the week. I also have some shots taken at the pool with a toss away underwater camera, they aren't stellar but they'll make do.

AJN_0001.JPEG

*Don't ask me why I named it that....I needed a title and couldn't be more creative*


Well I figured it was time I posted some new pictures on here. It's been very warm and we have been swimming constantly. I'm so happy that the wilson high school pool is open now :) Maybe I'll go buy a throw away water camera and get some pictures of us playing at the pool, it's very cool.

I haven't taken that many pictures lately, most of our activites are in water and my camera is rather insistent that it not get wet (it's so demanding some times) but I got a couple new ones of the ashworth's while they were playing in the sprinklers. One day I will have to figured out how to get pria to like having her picture taken, but for now she's too much like me.

Just to prove that I'm alive and capable of being in a picture...but I've got to continue being different too :)

Playing with water

I went to the Ashworth's and we played with some water balloons...and I got some cool pictures. Not that many, since it was a spur of the moment first time thing and lost light really fast. So hope ya like them :)

This one is my favorite, and happily it was the first one I got to come out. I named it Fish Out Of Water, since he looks like a fish...and is made of water....yeah you get it :) Hopefully I can get some more time to play with them tomorrow.

Little helper

Pria is the constant helper, not always helping out in a good way....but she wants to be involved and tries. Our latest project is a set of bunkbeds, and she pretends to paint them. So I snapped a couple of pictures of her. Hopefully the beds will be ready for her next week...just waiting on getting the mattresses from Chris's buddy. The painting is done aside from some airbrushing we're planning, but it's all set for sleeping. So hopefully there can be some fun sleep overs with the cousins before they move.

After Pria was done "painting" she climbed up on the top bunk and shook her booty for the camera for a bit :)

More more more more

Yay I finally got some pictures of Haven smiling. If only I could post videos of her...she's sooo cute :)

Here are more

Here are some more pictures, from a few weeks ago. We were all together at the Ashworth's last Sunday for Haven's blessing. I'm going to try again to get some more pictures of Haven, since now I can make her laugh...maybe I can get a shot of her smiling....here's hoping :D

Toran and his class pet "Rocky"



Haven, it's not a smile but it was the closest I could get



Caleb and Pria had a day of chalk drawing and running and I played paparazzi. Pria was in artist mode and did not appreciate me interrupting her.



Caleb posted happily for a few sunny shots



Pria and Caleb had a race around the circle



Caleb was not happy with the decision that he cut the corner and lost the race