Codi

This is my oldest, Codi....or CJ as she is known by some.

She just graduated from high school and is headed off to college this fall in Hawai'i. I am hoping she does well there and loves it and has all kinds of adventures.

She is beautiful and definitely has her daddy's eyes. And smart!! She is so darn smart that it just kills me! And she has the most wonderful heart.....sometime she lets people walk all over her because of that, but her heart is always in the right place. She makes us terribly proud.

Just like any other teenage girl, she has brought much joy and even more gray hair to our lives. We wouldn't have it any other way, of course! We are going to miss her terribly when she goes to college....

My Daughter

So I finally got around to posting these. I took them about a month ago or so. I am hoping to drag my other 2 girls out and get some posted of them soon, but they both work and are pretty busy, so we will see.

This is my youngest, Sarah Faith. Gorgeous, right? Yes, you can say it....she is.

She's got her mama wrapped around her little finger, but shhhhhh....don't tell her that. What she doesn't know, she can't take advantage of.

She has a beautiful smile and a beautiful heart.

She is such a smart kid. Very opinionated, too. Thinks she knows it all, but doesn't know yet that she still has a lot to learn. She has got quite a temper on her, but doesn't show it too often, thank goodness. She loves animals, more than people I think sometimes. Animals seem to love her too. She has a stupid dog, that I cannot stand, but that dog thinks she is God and follows her everywhere.

As you can see, she shows off the attitude as well, when required.

Brittany and Codi coming soon! (Hopefully....if I can ever get them out!)

A Day at the Zoo

Really....who doesn't love the zoo? Here are just a few of the pictures I took. I will post more when I get around to it. And yes, Russ, I used my new lens for these.

Most of these were taken through that lovely zoo glass. Thankfully, I didn't get a whole lot of glare. My husbad uses the same camera I do and h used a smaller lens. He kept getting glare. Of course, I have a filter for that, but I didn't even think about it until the next day. He would have had a much easier time with that. I am still kicking myself!

I got a little bit of glare on the left eye of this big guy here, but the picture still came out pretty good. He was taking a good long look at my oldest kid.

And of course everyone goes to the zoo to take pictures of flowers!

Nothing like being stared down by a bird! This is probably the nastiest look I have ever gotten from any of God's creatures......even my own children!

And the flamingos were the brightest I have ever seen. I love the colors and their funky skinny little legs.

First Signs of Spring Are Here!!!!

So I finally got out there and took some pics of the first signs of Spring. The weather is awesome, even if it is a little chilly! I am excited that the nice weather is back!

I love those little patches of color that just appear out of the ground.....makes me smile!

Now all I need is for the tulips and the hyacinths to come up. I love them!

Renaissance Festival 2008

So, since it is a cold day and I have no desire to wander outside, I decided to poke through some old pictures and do a couple of posts.

I love the Renaissance Festival. You see some pretty colorful characters out there.

This guy to the left was talking to another person and I loved the brightly colored background he was standing in front of.

This lady to the right was difficult to capture. She kept moving around so I finally had to settle on a picture of the back half of her. I loved the details in her gown.

I wasn't quite sure just what this guy was. A traveling minstrel perhaps? Anyway, I think he was REALLY enjoying himself that day.

And this last one is one of my favorites. You cannot, I repeat, CANNOT, go to the Renaissance Festival without going to the Mud Show. So much fun. If you take your camera though, DO NOT sit up front. Sit waaaayyyyyy in the back and use a telephoto lens.

Ready for Spring

I am so ready for Spring this year! I am ready for the warm weather, flowers, green grass.....ahhhh. So to get myself ready for Spring, I poked through some of my flower pics and came up with a couple of my faves.

I am getting really tired of this cold weather....I am ready for warm weather so I can get out more! My camera is lonely and I have some awesome (I hope) ideas that I can't wait to get out there and try. That and I have some new equipment I want to get out there with as well.

Lazy

I have been seriously lazy lately and have not posted ANYTHING!

So, I am going to tell you about my new camera bag. I ordered the Canon 200 EG backpack and I love it so far! It is not as easy to get in and out of, but it fits all my stuff and still leaves me room for more stuff. It is incredibly comfortable and, as I have found out the hard way, fairly water resistant (NOT waterproof). Just a couple days after I got it, my daughter dumped a full glass of pop right down the front of it. It took so long for the pop to soak through that I was able to get everything out before any of it got wet or sticky. It rinsed out really well and dried out pretty well too.

It is definitely a bag I would suggest to others.

Swans, Ice, and Spinning Cars

So, my daughter decides to go on a walk to the park today with her friend. I said that was fine and off she went. She calls me about 30 minutes later to tell me there were some swans at the park and they were really pretty. I thought I would take Russ's advice and go shoot in the snow....what the heck! So I grab my bag and my new tripod and head to my car. To get to where my daughter saw the swans, I could either park on the street and make the long trek up some icy steps and down the bike trail or go through the cemetery and up a somewhat steep road going to the back of the cemetery. Guess which one I chose....that's right, the steep road. Idiot! My car got stuck halfway up, then started to slide backwards while I was in drive! And of course, no matter which way I turned the wheel, the car was going to slide in whatever direction it chose, which happened to be backward and right toward the guardrail. So I set there a minute trying to figure out what to do, all the while trying to go forward (not happening) backward (also not happening) and praying I didn't slide anymore. So I finally decide to try to turn the car and I put it in drive, turned the wheel really hard to the right and went spinning and sliding down the road SIDEWAYS! Let me just say, I almost peed myself and I was shaking pretty hard. Finally, I get back down the hill, park on the road, and go the way I should have gone, but I did get some really pretty pictures of the swans.....after my hands stopped shaking so bad. Live and learn!

New Year

Yay! New Year, New Year! Will this be a good one? I sure hope so. I got a new lens for Christmas and I am so excited! I cannot wait to get time to use it! I got a Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8. So pretty! I also bought myself some filters that I cannot wait to try. It is just too darn cold out to do much....sigh... However, I did take the sunset picture on here with the new lens. This is right off of my Aunt's deck at Christmas time looking out across her monstrous backyard. She always gets beautifil sunsets out there.

Hope you all have a wonderful New Year!