OUR Family Pictures

A couple months ago I won a Facebook contest with Sari Underwood Photography for a free family family photo session.    After a couple reschedules because of sick kids we finally made it happen on the third try.  This is our first professional photo shoot as a family of four.  I should probably do better at that in the future.  I love the pictures.  I got to pick my 5 favorites so I went with more family shots since that's what we 'need'.  This first one will be a big canvas.  I can't wait to get it!

Embrace the Camera: July 7

I wonder how long my kids will tolerate holding my hand.

I snapped this picture of Peyton holding my hand and realized I have a very similar one of Hunter doing the same back in January.
It's something that could very easily be taken for granted, but I'll enjoy it for as long as it lasts.

Fireworks

Heath loves to buy his own fireworks to do for the Fourth instead of trekking out into the crowds to watch a fancy display.  This year half the neighborhood gathered as the dads played with fire.  I'm pretty sure they enjoy it the most.  Notice the baby gate at the end of the driveway - safety first!


Hunter got to hold a roman candle as it shot off.


We even had PVC holders for the bottle rockets and a blow torch to better light them with.



I tried my hand at some fireworks pictures this year.  I read a few tips and went out with my tripod.  It would have been much easier at a fancy show somewhere, but I was just photographing our store bought little fireworks.

Sparklers were fun!

I think this was a neighbor.

And this was the fanciest one we saw all night.

It was fun, but I'd love to try again at a show with lots of big, pretty ones.

Girls Weekend at the Lake

Once a year I get together with college friends and wives of college friends for a weekend.  This year we stayed at Kara's lake house just outside of Jacksonville.  We had a great time.  We ate, gabbed, boated, floated, and went to bed early.  We're definitely not as young as we used to be.

These were Kara's rules for the weekend:

We're missing one.  She couldn't make it due to a death in the family.  Missed you, D!

There are 5 littles houses that share the dock/boathouse.  

The houses are really old, like 1914, but so cozy and quaint.

That's the boat house/dock area

Kara drove the boat like a pro and pulled us around as we tried to ski and wakeboard.

I skied for the first time in over 10 years!

Wakeboarded, too.

V and I attempted to wakeboard together, but that didn't go so well :)

I think Sarah was giving me the eye roll when I pointed my camera in her direction, but I adore this photo of her little bump.  Baby #3 will not be left out!

Kara's dog Chi Chi joined us for the weekend.  She was as sweet as she could be.

Looking forward to next year already!

Happy 4th!

We'll be grilling out and hanging by the pool.
Have a good day!

today was a good day

I needed today.  Lately, the kids have been driving me nuts.  I'm sure I've been doing too much yelling.  I've been feeling stressed about everything that needs to be done.  I bring most of it on myself because it doesn't all have to be done RIGHT NOW. But I hate to have a list staring at me.  I want to CROSS IT OFF NOW.  So, today I took the day off.  We headed to Sea World (with friends) despite the guarantee of rain at some point.  It was totally overcast so the sun didn't beat on us all day.  That makes such a difference!  The kids behaved SO well.  The crowds were pretty light.  We saw 3 shows and rode some kiddy rides.  The rain did come, but we were under cover so we waited it out before we headed home.  The icing on the cake of a perfect day was that I returned home to a spotless house!  That'll put a girl in a good mood :)

The boys love the kiddy coasters.  They even got stuck at the top of this one the second time they rode it.  They were stuck for a good 10 minutes, but they were brave and handled it just fine.

Peyton was even big enough to ride some kiddy rides.  And she loved them!

A Silly Skill Game

Hunter was over at a friend's house last week and the kids wanted to play Operation: A Silly Skill Game. It's from Family Game Night on the Hub.  On the show, they use a big version of the Operation guy Sam. The contestants have to use thongs to get out the pieces without touching the edges or his nose buzzes. Then they run on a balance beam, jump hurdles, and go through the tissue box. Here is their version of the fun with things around the house.

Embrace the Camera: June 23

I've been slacking on Embrace the Camera Thursdays, but I'm back.

Here are a few with ME in them!

Self portraits with the point and shoot.

And a fun flip session!

SNAKE!!

As my nephew (Aaron) and his girlfriend (Sunnie) were leaving Margie's party we were chatting outside and taking some pictures.  Out of nowhere, Sunnie yells SNAKE!  Now, pretty much everyone I know would react in the following ways: a) RUN or b) KILL IT.  Not Sunnie and Aaron.  They ran AFTER it.  It was a race for who could GET it.  SHE got it.  As far as Aaron is concerned this was no surprise.  He grew up having snakes as pets.  Apparently, these two have a tally going for who can catch the most snakes.  I'm pretty sure these two are meant for each other.  If I didn't know it before I know it now.

Surprise!

My mom threw a surprise party for my sister Margie's 50th birthday.  We traveled to Jax to be there and we successfully pulled off the surprise.

My mom with her 3 girls and 1 of 2 granddaughters.

Margie with her 2 closest friends.