As I walked through this field of wildflowers at the Trona Pinnacles, Troy shouted at me from the road, “Watch out for snakes!”

That seems like good advice to end this run of 7 Days. Thanks as always to Sarah & Lauren, and to all my fellow 7 Dayers for their touching, inspiring, and hilarious self-portraits; for sharing their lives with us for a week; and for all the comment love!

This is a 7 Days reject. I thought it was cool because it looks like I’m up really high. I actually set the camera on a low rock, ran over to this boulder and climbed up to the top. Where I’m sitting is probably only about 7 or 8 feet above the ground, and the slope made it easy to climb up. Getting down was a bit trickier.

Anna was at the top of that little rise, afraid to come down by herself. Annalie went up and helped her down.

Another 7 Days reject. It’s amazing how many photos I take during a 7 Days week, trying to get seven good shots. It’s one of the things I really like about participating in this project, it gets me taking photos. Not only taking photos, but thinking about how to compose them and original ways to shoot my subject. Even when the week of taking self-portraits is done, I feel like I’m a better photographer when it comes to all the photos I take.

See the little cave up there? The kids saw that and made a beeline for it.

It turned out to be nothing more than shallow indentation in the rock. But it was a great place to take a picture!

I lagged behind a lot, taking pictures of myself and the scenery. It was nice that Troy was there to chase Annalie.

It’s just nice when Troy is traveling with us, period.

The desert has really bloomed like crazy this spring as a result of all the rain and snow in the mountains last winter. Everywhere we looked, flowers and more flowers! I really love desert flowers because they tend to be delicate and subtle. I don’t have anything against showier flowers—you know I love bougainvillea and daffodils—but desert flowers just cheer me up with their persistence and hopefulness.

We climbed a lot more this time than on our last visit to the Pinnacles. The kids enjoyed that a lot. So did I, to be honest. I had on better shoes this time.

Last time, it was three kids, me in not-great shoes, a pregnant lady, and a grandma. Dads are better for climbing up and down rocks and gravelly slopes. I’m glad we got to go back.

For Annalie’s last self-portrait, she set up the camera on a rock, set the timer, hit the shutter, and ran down the path. She almost ran completely out of the shot! Troy and I hollered at her to stop before she did, and she turned around and posed just as the shutter clicked.