The Visual Mom

Its hard to believe that fall is just around the corner.  We've spent most of the last month travelling.  While it wasn't planned to be on vacation for 3 of the last 5 weeks, that is how it turned out.  The posts below show just a few of the favorite images from our trip across Canada to Alaska (2 weeks) and then a week spent in Montana.  It was wonderful getting to spend time with family members that we don't see to often.  My aunt and uncle live north of Libby, MT while Dave has cousins in the Kalispell/Whitefish areas.  We were thrilled to spend time with both sides of our family!  We simply don't get to see them enough. We also spent a few days in Glacier Park.  The weather was perfect.  It was cool at night and warm during the day.  On Friday, there wasn't a cloud in the sky.  It was simply perfect.  We were so lucky to get to see the beautiful sights! As with our trip to AK, this was packed with animals.  We h...

On Sunday, September 6, we flew to Kalispell, MT and spent the remainder of the week hiking around northwestern Montana. We spent 4 days with my aunt and uncle, who live outside Libby, MT. Then we headed to Glacier National Park and enjoyed breathtaking scenery and gorgeous weather! Here are a few photos from our time in Glacier. McDonald Lake Avalanche Lake Going To The Sun Highway St. Mary Lake

The Banff Springs Hotel Lake Louise Moraine Lake

inhealthnow - Market America :: Built on Product. Powered by People. Shared via AddThis

These are lyrics to one of my favorite songs. I think of this song when I think of all my friends that currently expecting children. Seeing pictures of baby Zach Peck reminds me of it as well. I hope you enjoy it. Don't know much about you Don't know who you are We've been doing fine without you But, we could only go so far Don't know why you chose us Were you watching from above Is there someone there that knows us Said we'd give you all our love Will you laugh just like your mother Will you sigh like your old man Will some things skip a generation Like I've heard they often can Are you a poet or a dancer A devil or a clown Or a strange new combination of The things we've handed down I wonder who you'll look like Will your hair fall down and curl Will you be a mama's boy Or daddy's little girl Will you be a sad reminder Of what's been lost along the way Maybe you can help me find her In the things you do and say And these things that we h...

Friends Liz, John and Zach Peck came for a visit last weekend. We had a great time hanging out with them and showing them the sites around Indy. Landry was the self appointed babysitter. She couldn't understand why Zach wouldn't throw her rope.

I just love this video. It is SO TRUE. Get out there and make things happen for yourselves!!!

I just posted some photos from the new patio furniture we were able to purchase thanks to a gift card from Sara & Austin. We were in desperate need of patio furniture, or at least in desperate need of a patio makeover. I think we successfully accomplished this! The first thing we had to do was treat the weeds that were growing up through the bricks. Brick patios are lovely, but they do require some upkeep. After doing a bit of research online, I decided to go with a natural solution of vinegar and salt instead of a chemical product like Round-up. I sprinkled plain old table salt all over the patio and hit the particularly henious weeds with cider vinegar. We got a bit of rain yesterday afternoon which helped the salt soak in and poison the weeds. It hasn't been 24 hours and they're already dieing. Yippee! Once that was taken care, I headed off to the garden center at Lowe's and picked up some new flower boxes as well as a variety of blooming annuals. I got s...

So...I'm a food junkie. I love good food. Let me go a little further and say that I love good mediterranean food. Now, most people might think of that as greek, but I tend to love food from any country along the mediterranean: Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Morroco (and other north African countries). But I really must say that Italian food -- REAL Italian food -- is probably my favorite. And it is with such love and delight that I must tell you about the perfect pesto that I made and am currently enjoying. The ingredients are simple: Fresh Basil, EVOO, pine nuts, romano cheese, and garlic. I can't begin to tell you how good these simple fresh ingredients are when mixed together. Wow. Here is the receipe I followed. Also, I used a food processor to blend mine into a finer texture, but I hear that hand chopping really allows you to taste all of the individual ingredients better. Maybe I'll do that next time. :) Perfect Pesto: - 2 cups packed fre...

The Slager family came down to visit on the fourth of July. It gave Dave a chance to pass his knowledge of explosive devices on to younger generations. :)

I'm really excited to report some big growth in my wellness business. I had a meeting with Irene Greiner today, one of my business partners. She brought along a really fun lady from Bloomington, IN who is a Life/Image Coach. She helps women improve their lives through health and nutrition, and in the process helps them realize that they are powerful, beautiful individuals! She is considering adding the Transitions program to her coaching menu. We're very excited about it! I have also been speaking with one of my senior business partners, Terri Whited, who has asked for assistance in adding new business partners here in the States. She and her husband are currently the heads of Market Australia and they live in Sydney. It looks as though two of her new business partners will be placed in my business line and I'm looking forward to helping them grow. And so that's it for now. I'm off to make dinner! :)

She was not amused.

And so here we are and its June 30, 2009. Half the year is over. Where did it go? I'm really not sure. But I figured I'd offer an update to let you all know how we're doing and what has been happening. First of all, this is the first blog post at the new blog address. It just became kind of a pain in the @$$ to log in to the old email account every time I wanted to update something. Now its no longer an issue. First off, MANY thanks to everyone who came to our party in May. The weather could not have been more perfect. We really had a fabulous time. It was great getting to visit with friends we haven't seen in quite a while. Many thanks for the memories of yard games, riding the lawn carts down the hill, giant bonfires, roasting marshmallows from 20' away (see previous memory), good homebrew, good friends, good memories. Since then, it seems we've had a really busy spring. Both my photography business and my consulting business have been busy. Photog...

Save The Date Come Celebrate With Us! Dave & Amy Latka were married in Hawaii on October 22, 2008. Because of the location, most of our friends and family were unable to celebrate with us. However, we are planning a celebration for friends and family this coming Memorial Day Weekend and we hope you can join us. Sunday, May 24, 2009 3 pm - ??

We spent most of Saturday, January 3, 2009 at Brown County State Park in southern Indiana. Brown County is one of the largest state parks in Indiana, being just under 16,000 acres. It is one of the many that offers camping and over 18 miles of trails for hikers, mountain bikers and horseback riders. The topography is very similar to the LaCrosse area of Wisconsin -- large rolling hills and ravines the continue southward all the way to the Ohio River. While ultimately, we'd love to live close to our families in Wisconsin, there are definitely some perks to living in Indiana. For starters, notice that I it is January and notice further that I have on only long sleeve shirt and a fleece vest. Outside of a Packer game, you pretty much won't find anybody outside without a parka (and probably a shovel) in Wisconsin in January. Okay, so it is unusually warm here for this time of year. We don't normally have temps in the 40s and 50s in January. However, we're significan...