I am back...again!

OMG, its been way too long since I have been here. Have gotten some great photos during my absence and wanted to post but I haven't. Hard to get back in the groove and get that first post up.
Thinking I am going to change things up a bit. Still wanting to get the photo a day up but want to write more. More about life. More about parenting teenagers.
I still haven't learned my camera...being the slug that I am. It is on my list...seriously, just have to find that particular list. I have really made leaps and bounds in the digi scrappin' world and had thought about starting a digi scrap blog, but I think I will just post the random layout here, now and then.
So, what was the trigger that got me back here? This photo. This is looking out my office this past Saturday on a gorgeous fall day but I was determined to back up photos on my computer but once I looked out and seen the sun had finally arrived I so wanted to get out and take some shots...even texting Elle to see if she wanted me to join her and her friends at the park for a photo shoot. Never heard back but she did call me to tell me she had lost her phone. In the woods. Not a good thing and this is not her style. She was pretty upset as was I. The cell phone was only a couple weeks old. Well, it didn't take long and she was calling me to come get her so I told her I would come out and help her look, thinking I will find it. Ha!
So, one of my best friends, Diane, and I head to a nearby park we have never been to with camera in hand. Park was surprisingly nice. Seeing Elle I could see she wasn't a good candidate for her usual model self as there was evidence of a lot of tears. Optimistic, the 3 of us head out down a paved path for a mile or so, take a short walk on a grass trail to the woods. And here we start our search. Mind you, like most teenagers, her volume is turned off even though I call in hopes of hearing a vibration. Elle gets confused in the woods as this isn't a clearly marked trail. We call the boys and they run out to help us get on the trail again (they had a fort a mile or so into the woods-don't ask). We get to the fort on our own and no phone. There are so many photo ops that I wish I would have brought my camera, but then again, my mission was a cell phone not photos. It reminded me of looking for golf balls but so much worse. Once we get back to the beginning of the trail, we call it quits as night will be upon us soon.
We get home and the tears are falling. I am frustrated because I hate losing stuff. There is talk of shutting off the text messaging and promises made.
Later on I get the idea that if we go out in the night we would see this new phone light up...there has been little wind and no rain yet so the phone would still be good to go. I tell Elle but she is concerned we could get hurt in the dark but I am no, we will have flashlights. Her Dad, out of town on a hunting trip, thinks its a great idea.
So with our flashlights, her ex, Jake, we head to the woods. We see deer on the road in the park. We walk the tar path and there is a bit of moonlight but I am saving our flashlights for when we have to navigate that trail. Its kind of fun. Kind of spooky, too. Didn't want to think to much about horror flicks. We find the grass trail easy enough and find what we believe to be the path into the woods. On goes the flashlights... and our first call to her cell and we are all thinking about light, bears, being butted by a deer, etc...and there was a flicker of light right away...thinking it was a reflection from our flashlight...Elle takes a closer look. it is one new cell phone. Unbelievable. That was just too easy. There would be no navigating of trails in the dark, no fear of getting lost in the woods or encountering a bear. Our big adventure came to an abrupt end. Who would had ever thought. We were all so incredibly happy but no one happier than Elle. Ex might have been a bit dispapointed that his time with Elle would be shortened by this stroke of good luck.
I want to go back and get those many incredible shots that I missed. I also and going to remember those promises made to keep text messaging.