Featured Photobook on Shutterfly

I made this book for Samantha on shutterfly and posted it to the public gallery.  It is now a featured album! Very exciting.

Click here to view this photo book.

Pictures of Me... and a Little of Me Messing Around With My Camera.

Well, I got a lot of work done today that I have been wanting to do.  Then I took a shower and got myself cleaned up and dressed. Put my game face on. The kids were at grandma's today.  I was getting ready to pick up my keys and walk out the door.  Well.....  My camera was sitting on the chair beside the door and I picked it up.  I decided I'm always taking pictures of everyone and everything else and I wanted to take some pictures of myself. I was the only one home, so I put up a mirror on the balcony of our house and messed around with my camera. 






I look a little pissed in some of them.  Ha Ha!  It is kindof hard taking pictures of yourself, LOL!  It was fun though.  I took a gazillion of them.  Then I tried doing a little color splash on photobucket, I could sit for hours and mess with pictures.



Later I went to eat pizza at grandma and grandpa's with the kids.  James just had to spend the night.  So, Sam and I left and went for a drive in the country close by our house.  I of course had my camera with me and took some pics.
This is one of my fav's, I guess because of the coloring in it. I color splashed this one too. It was taken at an abandon farm house. I know, I know. It's just an old rusty tank, but there was just something about it that caught my eye.

The sun was setting and this beautiful barn caught my eye too!

I drive by this old building all of the time and always think to myself, "I wish I had my camera." I had my camera this time!


I love this time of year.  Everything is just sooo beautiful.  I drive by these places all of the time.  Until I had my camera and started paying attention, I never realized exactly how beautiful it really was.  I LOVE living in the country.  I knew we lived in beautiful country, but WOW!

Forces of Nature.

Besides my kids and my husband, I would have to say that nature is one of my favorite things to relish in life.  The beauty of it draws me in like an addiction.  I can't get enough. 

The contrasting palette of color outside my front door just pulls me in.  It doesn't matter what I am doing, I will stop and take it all in.  We often sit on the front porch swing and enjoy the view and sounds of nature.  The deep deciduous and evergreen trees mixed with the contrasting tones of earth and the beauty of foliage and blooms as though an artist swirled his canvas with an array of colors. On this canvas called Earth, the artist's name as many believe is God.  That beauty brings such a peace and warmth to my soul. At times, I feel as though I can see beauty in things that others don't see.




The path to my Heaven on Earth......

This path leads to an organic masterpiece spaced out just to our liking.  It leads to the vegetation awaiting to be harvested and enjoyed.  We planted it as a family and the kids learned that the plants need sunshine and water to grow.  It was a great teaching experience.  So here are some products of our labor......






Knowing that I can grow these remarkable beauties from the earth just blows me away at times.  It is just amazing how God planned that out.  For me to get to teach my kids something new makes me feel like I am doing what I am suppose to in life and creating memories for them. While doing that I get to enjoy the many loves in my life.

Birthday Bash!

So, I decided to take my camera to my nieces birthday party.  Riley turned 4 today.  Her party was at the park on Saturday this past weekend, so the kids had a blast.


Everyone enjoyed the Thomas Cake!

James enjoyed strawberry pie and playing with Emma. Samantha and Emma played with Daisy.






James just had to help Riley open her presents and help her play with them too!  Riley wanted a Spiderman bicycle.



Feeding the ducks was a huge highlight of the party!


Here come Daddy and Sammy to join in on the feeding frenzy!  I love this picture!


Wow! Huge step! Sammy usually cries and avoids Uncle Steve.


The crowd dwindled during the feeding of the ducks.  After the feeding frenzy, we visited for a few more minutes and everyone packed up and went home.  It was a good time.  It's all about the kids!  If the kids have a good time, so does everyone else. 

Memorial Day!

So we didn't go anywhere special to celebrate Memorial Day.  We enjoyed it from our own back yard.  We didn't have anyone over or anything, it was just us.  Sometimes I like it like that.  I haven't gotten to spend an entire day with Jamie in a long while.  We just did what we wanted to do.  We did drop the kids off at my parents for a few hours earlier in the day. My parents love it when the kids come over and play. Jamie and I went and got lunch and went to the mall, just the 2 of us.  We spent lots of money which is always fun, right?  I bought new curtains for my living room with beautiful earth tones to match our rustic house. Then we went by the store and got ribeye steaks and potatoes. 

James wanted to spend the night with maw-maw and paw-paw.  So we went and picked up Sam and went back home and began marinating our feast.  I love the feeling of "cooking out".  It is just a relaxing atmosphere. There is absolutely nothing like enjoying food and your favorite beverage.   I also enjoyed my new brightly colored cushions I bought too!

Need I say more!

Summertime Fun. The Joys of Life (cont'd)

Even though it is not quite Summer yet, we are getting started early.  It felt like summer yesterday when we were making these. There is nothing like trying new things.  My mom gave me these popsicle trays.  You can put whatever liquid you want to in them to make popsicles.  It is pretty neat.  We used Welch's Peach Medley and Cherry Juice.  They tasted really yummy.  I love coming up with things that the kids really enjoy. That always makes my day.  Just another memory added to the book of memories I have enjoyed thus far.

James absolutely enjoyed pouring the juice into the molds.  If I wouldn't have let him do it, it would've been a battle.  You know, the battle of the toddler who has his mind set on something and doesn't give up until he has his way.  No harm done.  Put down some paper towels and go for it.  It's nothing a little soap and water can't fix anyways.

The Joys of Life

So I've been thinking a lot about life and decided i am going to start using this wonderful camera my husband bought me for Christmas last year. It has been a bit confusing learning to edit and pull up certain kinds of files and such. I think I have gotten a long way since i started really taking pictures in the past couple weeks.

We went for a walk. We were enjoying the sweet smell of honeysuckle and watching the horses.


I've decided to try to capture our everyday lives while we enjoy things that we love to do as a family and also to capture the beauty of nature. While I am not a creative writer at heart, I am now an aspiring photographer and creative writer. I'm a little anxious to see how that turns out, especially the creative writing part. I try to be true to myself and try not worry what people think because as we all know people have opinions whether they are good or bad.  So bare with me while I try to discover these new found enjoyments in my life.

These are the wildflowers in our pasture behind our house.  I took the kids out back and took some pics.  I will get those posted soon...

During all of this capturing, learning, and deep aspiring thought process, I have come up with some things that I look forward to and make me want to wake up every morning and enjoy every moment and make memories with the lives I cherish so much.

So here we go with that...
I look forward to waking up every morning to the barefoot run down the steps, across the hardwood floor, and a blond head bobbing around my bed. As i peek through my sleepy eyes I find a handsome, gray eyed, baby toothed grin boy staring me in the face close enough to smell his sweet breath and get a morning kiss and an I love you. After I take all of that in I get myself out of bed and go into the next room to find either the soft even breaths of a 1 year old sleeping, or blond wispy hair and wide grin peeking over the crib rail at me with outreached arms. Oh, how I love that feeling everyday. I look forward to the company of my front yard and porch swing as I grasp a warm cup of coffee watching the sun rise over the green canopy of trees around our house. I look forward to listening to those tiny giggles chiming in with the morning song of the birds surrounding us from the porch surrounded not by houses, but by the deep deciduous and evergreen palate and partially sufficed landscaping that is a job that is never done.  I sit there and think about life, what can i plant next in a particular flower garden, doing the dishes, washing clothes, straightening up the kids' rooms, picking up the living room.  Oh, you know the thoughts of a mother that never go away. But that's what I love about my front porch, I can just think and not do. I look forward to those Carolina showers that rumble in and rumble out.  I look forward to those hot summer days where you get out the sprinkler just to dampen your skin to get cool as you watch the kids laugh, scream, and dart through it.  I look forward to watching my soul mate wake up everyday and step outside and take it all in of what is on his agenda for the day and thinking it all over.  Life is good and I can't wait to see what happens next.......

That was a preview my new hobbies.  More to come soon.........