Time...marching on.

2003

 Danish Cowboy started this tradition years ago and didn't really realize that it was a tradition until just recently.  I have married a man who believes greatly in the karma of tradition and here goes his philosophy:  since we started taking pictures of us in the winter wheat fields just prior to them turning to those amber waves of grain that everyone likes to talk about, hail has stayed away.  For the most part.  So we carry on...

 2005

 2005

While we're out there, we also inspect the wheat to see if it is filling and how many grain rows it has.  There's this idea that the number of rows/kernels per head on average is a good indication of the potential yield of the crop.  It's called counting your chickens before they hatch and it's pretty hard to resist doing.

 2007

The fun part of taking winter wheat pictures is the thrill of walking in to often times waist to chest high wheat where rattle snakes might lurk.  Note the pitchfork he carried to kill any wayward snakes this year.  We lecture repeatedly to ourselves and our kids:  "don't walk in the tall grass!"  So what do we do?  Walk in to the tall grass.

2007

 For added fun in this particular year, we sent the uber-pregnant lady in with the pitchfork. 

2008

 The year after the babes were born, we somehow forgot picture taking in the winter wheat field prior to it ripening.  I can't imagine why.  It's not like we were delirous from lack of sleep.

 2009

Ah yes, 2009.  My favorite year by far.  The kids were almost two and their heads were only a foot below the wheat.  I had the fantastic idea to abandon them in the field to get cute pictures.  You can imagine how that turned out.  You tell your kids who are just beginning to explore their world to not go in the tall grass because of snakes and then you abandon them in tall grass.  True, we were only a few feet away, but it didn't really matter to them.  Brilliant parenting.

2010

 We've learned the power of bribing, however, and pictures are gradually getting better. 

 2011

Self-timers on cameras are excellent features.  The hail has stayed away for now although several neighbors a few miles to the south lost a significant portion of their crops.  Harvest is two to three weeks in the future and we'll keep watching the western sky, hoping that the karma of our tradition keeps those clouds friendly.

 Just a curious sidenote:  how can it be that two children of the same age and origin can be so very different?  She hams it up at every opportunity.

And him?  Well, can you just the see the agony in his face as he musters up the energy to say "cheese?"  It's tough being a kid, sometimes.