Nathan has a funny story about the craigslist ads we placed, several stories actually. He should blog them… But to sum it up, we got a bunch of headaches and hate mail resulting from the ad and we also found many talented and passionate candidates.

We found a winner with Pretty Please Photography out of Flagstaff, Arizona because she has a great candid approach to photos which is key because at your wedding it’s all a total blur! Seriously, the day after the wedding when people asked how I felt about it, I couldn’t answer because I hadn’t seen the photos yet. I personally like the “in the moment shots” the best anyway since I often look like a fool in staged shots, so lucky for us we found TaNee’ of Pretty Please Photography.

The photos from TaNee’ are now unveiled and they look great! She got so many intimate captures and many special moments from the wedding, plus some truly beautiful formal photos that I never knew I’d be capable of appearing in (without looking “a fool”, LOL).

Here is a glimpse of what the she captured…

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Anyway I had the pleasure of meeting and performing with a ton of people who have gone on to do great things with their musical talent.

At one of the many choir concerts the MacIntyre family, 4 of the many musical lovers that came through my life, had the opportunity to perform one of their pieces in a concert. Here is a video of the song I remember them doing at a concert:

They were all amazingly talented musicians and were all so genuine and kind to everyone. They took care of each other and loved making friends, best of all they had a huge passion for music. You see the tallest guy there second from the left? That is Scott MacIntyre. He is blind but his musical talent has sort of taken the place of his eyesight with reagards to his senses if that makes sense. Whenever I heard him sing or play the piano I was lost in the magic of it. It is hard to explain.

His sister Katelyn is first from the left, his mother Carole is to the right and Todd is on the far right. They are all super talented huh?

Well Scott MacIntyre just advanced in the American Idol audition yesterday. Now before you run screaming because you despise the show or whatever I want you to hear me out. I am not an Idol fan, I watched the first season briefly but got bored. Anyway, the show is significant now because someone I know is advancing and because his story is so heartwarming. Here it is: Wait Fox news is having every single video of American Idol removed (even the ones people shot with their own cameras of the TV set playing the footage) so the video wont play. However, if you follow this link you can read about him. I’ve also got some images of the footage to share:

I cried when I saw the video from his audition (that I still think you can see here) and I am so stoked for him. He is seriously amazing guys, the video does not do him justice! Thanks to my mother in law for informing us of this info (we don’t watch the show and wouldn’t have known it was indeed him unless she had asked up about it.) Yay Scott! You rock and will blow everyone away.

Now go back to my previous post Better late than never- Delurking Day 2009, delurk and read about my 6 unimportant facts okay?

Oh and if you have noticed my site timing out now and then be advised I know about it and am very ticked off with my hosting provider. I have contacted them about it and am waiting for a resolution. Sorry about the inconvenience dudes.

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Other than the prenatal visit and the face of nasty we did have the pleasure of sightseeing throughout Nashville and neighboring areas of Tennessee. We stayed at a cheap Red Roof Inn Saturday night and had linner at Whole Foods that day (linner is a combo of lunch and dinner. A un-word N uses for fun).

We were both really beat by about 5pm-6pm that day. After all we did wake up at 5am to make the trip out to Summerfield. So we checked in to our hotel after our linner and then we laied down for a nap after the prenatal appointment. I got to put a hot compress on my spider bite before napping and we also got some natural cortizone type cream for the bite at Whole Foods.

We have no Whole Foods in Evansville (or any decent natural food store for that matter) so hanging out at the Whole Foods in Tennessee was a treat for us. We also stocked up on my favorite breakfast item, Strawberry Hemp Granola! 2 pounds wont last long but it sure is a great treat!

Sunday morning after a good nights sleep we awoke and headed out to sight see. We took a guided tour of the Carnton Plantation in Franklin, TN and had a blast. For some reason we enjoy guided tours of old historic places. While in Flagstaff, we attended a tour of the Riordan Mansion in Flagstaff, AZ that we also really enjoyed.

Anyway the Carnton Plantation is not only cool because it is an old plantation house with tons of history. It is also noteworthy because it was a civil war field hospital during The Battle of Franklin and is now a final resting place for 1,481 men who were killed during the Battle of Franklin.

Carrie McGavock, wife of John McGavock who resided at Carnton Plantation was in the midst of The Battle of Franklin on November 30th 1864 when the Army of Tennessee passed around her home headed toward battle. Carrie took in hundreds of wounded and dying Confederate soildiers during battle and the day following battle. The florrs of the home are still stained with the blood of those who were treated there.

It was a very educational and historic place for us to visit and we had a great time learning and reflecting upon the history of our country. We even kind of like the outlying areas of Nashville and would consider living there.

It was an amazing place for us to visit because as natives of the west coast we never really got to visit and take in all of the sights and locations that played such a huge role in civil war history. Sure we are well aware of the way Native Americans, Cowboys and Hispanics have shaped the west coast’s history but we’ve never been face to face with civil war history so we really enjoyed the day.

Oh and I got the stress cracks on my MacBook fixed up at the Nashville Apple Store. We didn’t have an appointment with the genus bar because no appointments were available during the time we were going to be there, so we talked with a concierge about the cracks and explained we were from out of town. They were nice enough to out us on a waiting list, in case someone was late for or failed to show up for their scheduled appointment.

We waited about an hour in the store but they managed to squeeze us in and they even fixed my cracked MacBook at no cost, right there in the store. It only took them 15 minutes! We figured I would have to send my Mac out for repair and that they couldn’t fix it in store. Amazingly they did and were super friendly about it too!

So all in all the trip was lots of fun and also a great success. We found a place to have our natural birth, got to have some fun while learning about civil war hisstory, got the MacBook fixed and we may have even found the place we want to live after N’s 3 year contract is up here in Evansville. Productive don’t you think?

The post Some insect ate my face and we had fun sightseeing in Tennessee! appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.

If you are interested in seeing the coverage channel 2 did on their own shutdown you can follow this link to view the report. Don’t expect to read about it in the local newspaper, they are slow to the punch.

Northern Arizona will still have a minimal news presence as KPNX Channel 12 plans to broadcast on Channel 2 from Phoenix with some Northern Arizona related news. Locals will still get to see weather and possibly a local story on the Channel 12 news but it just wont be the same as having an operating station and several news personalities residing within the area.

Unfortunately this has been coming for a long time now, in my opinion. Ever since they announced the station was being put up for sale back in November 2005 we knew something bad was coming we just didn’t know what or when. We all figured the station would sell and continue operating under a new owner like it has in years past.

After 3 years of the unknown it seems the fate of 2News has been decided. The station did not sell and the staff is simply being taken off the air. The loss is a big one for the the community, Channel 2 has been around since the 70’s.

“Channel 2 was the first television station in Flagstaff, Arizona. The station made its debut on May 2, 1970, and was originally owned by Wendell Elliot.

Channel 2 is an NBC affiliate. It was originally located in downtown Flagstaff and moved to its current location in 1984. The original call letters were KOAI-TV, and were changed to KNAZ after the sale of the station to Capital Broadcasting in 1981.

In 1988, the station was sold to Grand Canyon Television Company, Inc. On May 23, 1997, Gannett Broadcasting purchased KNAZ-TV.”

(from: http://www.azcentral.com/2news/about2news/articles/knazhistory-CR.html)

Gannett Broadcasting owned and operated KNAZ-TV/ Channel 2 for 11 years. After a 9 years they tried putting the station up for sale back in 2005. Today, 3 years later the doors to the station are being closed permanently.

The announcement to take Channel 2 off the air came 10 days before the actual turn off date which isn’t much notice for employees. However, employees were offered severance packages and other positions within the company during the meeting on August 6th 2008, they were given 48 hours to decide their futures.

Regardless of what staff members decide the lights will permanently go out at KNAZ-TV/ Channel 2 August 16, 2008 after the 10 pm newscast. For more discussion on the situation you can check here, over here and also here.

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N and I looked at a Winnebago Saturday afternoon that was another great option for us! It was in great condition and was at a reasonable price! We are strongly considering it as our “winner” but are planning to have it inspected by a certified mechanic first.

We spent the afternoon trying to get stuff done for the yard sale and the move. N painted up some of our older gardening furniture and planters for the yard sale.

I thought it would be a good idea to sell the gardening bench and plant holders with some of our smaller plants and some cuttings included. It will make us some extra money and will help us have less to move!

So he was a painting machine and I spent time transplanting herbs, taking mint cuttings and planting stuff to sell. We could really manage to get rid of some plants, especially the ones that aren’t bulbs since those are going to be the heaviest to move!

Here is just a glimpse of the plants we have on the porch, as you can see there are too many!

I guess there was a major helicopter crash in town today at the hospital… Here is the footage from today.

Also, a major fire started today south of us and just north of my parents, out near crown king. N might be heading out that direction tomorrow. It is so sad when awful things happen like this, they seem to come in waves too. Both the crash and fire happen today and I just hope tomorrow is calmer. Hopefully the breaking news will calm down soon!

N needs to get some time off at the end of the week, he has been sick all week long and his sister is visiting us for the 4th of July.

Oh and Blogger hates me today! I am trying to make the blog rounds and am attempting to comment but I keep getting this silly error:

Here are the comments I was going to leave:

@ louceel: “What a lovely description of the relationship you have with Francis and a touching story.
I am sorry you are losing a friend, it is always a difficult thing.”

@ pipper: “I totally had the same type of situation happen to me. I wrote my opinion about something that happened at my old high school, someone didn’t agree with my opinion so they tried to get everyone all fired up about what I wrote, just to cause problems. Some people are just not strong enough or open enough to be able to hear/ read someone else’s opinion and accept that it is their own right to share it.

My blog is like my “this is how I want to be all the time” reminder. I try to write positive stuff and I reflect upon the hard times to see how it all got me to where I am now. I generally have a tendency to be negative if I am not careful how I view things. I do have a separate blog for my ranting and bitching, everyone needs to be able to get that stuff out too! ;-)”

@ hyphenmama: “This is a superb blogging topic and I am absolutely LOVING the photos and the little pee pee star! This is greatly educational for me, when I finally have kids I’ll have all the potty training answers!”

@ over-thinker: “Nice blow up doll, now did you have to suck harder with the penis straws? Those photos of your sight seeing are amazing! I have never been to any of those places. Maybe during our week long journey to Indiana we can see some interesting stuff.. You have inspired me now.”

@ xbox4napyrash: “Awesome sauce, ha, ha… Love it! Keep us posted on the outcome after your 2 week wait. I am crossing my fingers and toes for ya.”

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