Happy.

Celebrating 3 wonderful years today as husband and wife...

So happy.

May Top Ten... To Be or Not To Be?

It's true, it's time for me to post a 'Top Ten' for May... BUT, I have several issues... {and I'm strictly talking 'Top Ten'-related issues here, hey! Be nice!!}.

First~ I have at least 3 sessions from May in my editing lineup that I haven't even started yet~ and lots of the photos will be good, I promise! Not to mention I still have 300+ photos from the workshop in Dallas that I have yet to touch. Since the workshop was in May, those photos are eligible for my May 'Top Ten' and somehow they'll have to emerge from the bottom of my priority pile in order to be considered (which actually isn't optional, they HAVE to be considered!!).

Second~ again, I have 300+ photos from the workshop in Dallas. No joke. Most of them may not quite make my 'Top Ten' list, but LOTS of them probably will. Waaaay more than 10, I guarantee it. So~ if and when I get to those, I'll end up wanting to choose too many, and then I also have too many photos from my other sessions in May, as well, and somehow I'm supposed to narrow it down to just ten photos, etc....

Does this make any sense?

...See? Issues!!

There really are even more pieces to this crazy puzzle, but even just those two are enough for me to break out in a sweat about May's 'Top Ten'... {but hey, I wear good deodorant, no worries!!} The truth is, I love the 'Top Ten' posts. And I totally want to do a May 'Top Ten'!!! .... I just have to figure out how... and when....

But, for now, I will post this picture I took a few weeks ago of some pretty friendly deer that totally didn't care that I was standing in the field with them taking pictures. {And yes, I know the picture is crooked~ I just can't help myself!!}

Behind.

There is not one picture on this blog that wasn't taken by me... until now! I'm breaking the rules to post this picture that one of the nice workshop attendees took with my camera of April and I in Dallas this past weekend. I also used it for my Project 365 picture for Sunday... wow, I'm totally breaking all kinds of rules!! I'm such a rebel.



But it's totally fine.

{Smile to workshop attendees who realize I'm channeling my inner Cheryl...}

The weekend in Dallas was... amazing. But, even in reading that it just doesn't sound quite right in my head. It was waaaaaay more than amazing... I definitely can't put it into words, and to be honest~ I doubt I'll even try, other than to say it was amazing, wonderful, overwhelming, completely inspiring, and one of the best memories I will ever have.

There.

I do have a lot of pictures from the weekend in Dallas that I will eventually work on and that I will absolutely post here, but I'm behind on a lot of things (including editing a session of two sweet girls from a couple of weekends ago~ thank you so much, Ann, for being patient with me during this crazy-busy time!). I also plan to post a Top Ten of April pictures sometime soon~ but, again, I'm behind on just about everything in life and there are photos from April that I still haven't edited yet, so that's going to have to wait it's turn as well.

I'm happily overwhelmed with everything, seriously. I live a blessed life and although I knew that before this past weekend, I know it even more wholeheartedly now.

More from me soon...

Sunday

Sunday we got together to celebrate my father-in-law's birthday. I definitely love being with everyone, and the kids are just so cute... of course I love to take pictures of them! Here's a little 'picture recap' of our Sunday.

This is a picture of the little girls singing "Happy Birthday to Papa"... it was so cute! It looks like they're frowning in the picture, but they're not~ they were totally happy. I think they were probably right in the middle of the "you" part of "...birthday to you."



The babies played with each other, put lots of toys in their mouths, and crawled all over the place~ it's just a matter of time until they're walking!







Landon has an incredibly sweet disposition {usually!}, and smiles almost all the time.





Peyton is super sweet too, I just don't catch his smiles on camera quite as often lately...





When I went to take this picture of Natalie, I forgot I had my external flash tilted to the side, so it ended up lighting her face from a completely different direction than I had planned, but I kind of like how it ended up! Very dramatic.



And she had on the CUTEST outfit, seriously!





Katie is such a good mom~ it's really amazing. I was glad to capture a little cuddle time on camera...





And I especially love this picture of Katie with both of her boys... they are so loved.

Bubbles

On Easter Sunday I got to watch some of the cutest kids {ever} play outside with bubbles... just an FYI~ admittedly these aren't the most amazing pictures I've ever taken. On one hand I love the sun and I'm very thankful for the nice weather, but on the other hand, bright sun is hard for shooting outdoor pictures. Sure, you can do things to try to fight harsh shadows and you can spend a lot of time making adjustments to get the correct exposure when the light conditions change all the time, but that isn't that easy to do with two- and three-year-olds~ you kind of have to fly by the seat of your pants!

So, these "are what they are"... just pictures of two sweet girls playing outside, blowing bubbles on a very sunny Easter Sunday.

The Paw...

The paw... Okay, when I first noticed it, I thought it was weird. And uncomfortable-looking.



I thought for sure he wouldn't lay like that on purpose! But then I noticed him doing it again!!



So then I thought maybe it was just something he liked to do with that one paw, but then I noticed he does it with the other paw too!!



Strange, I know. But we love him anyway...

Hanging Out with the Twins

I wanted to post a few more pictures from when the twins were at my house a few weekends ago... They're just so cute!







Landon has this funny way of laying on his side, like he's posing...



And then he says, "What Auntie? More pictures?"









Peyton has the cutest little chompers on the bottom :)



And Andy got some face time with Landon...





If only they could come play ALL the time!

78 & Counting...

78 Days in to my Project 365 and it's going strong!! I've done it everyday, just like I promised myself I would. It feels good to commit to something and follow through, even if it can sometimes be a challenge to stick with it! (Now, if I could just figure out how to do that with diet & exercise...!!!)



The project is almost always fun, it's sometimes creative, and it just makes me happy. To see more pics from my 365, click on the "My Project 365" button at the top of my blog...

Have a nice weekend!!

Guess Who Was Here?

The twins were at my house today!!





I will definitely post more pictures of them.... soon!! I have a LONG line of pictures waiting to be processed, so they'll have to wait their turn :)

{And by the way, I will never get sick of super-close close ups!!}

Deer

Our house is right by the Wissota State Park, and we see deer all the time when we're driving by it or going for walks, etc. Yesterday when I was almost home, I saw a deer cross the road, so I took the opporunity to grab my new zoom lens and I tried to get a picture before the deer ran off. The lens is really heavy and it's hard for me to hold it up and focus without shaking, so it's hard to get a steady, clear picture... I've decided I'm going to start lifting weights and try to get stronger so I can hold it better!

Still a pretty deer, though.

Grandma's Birthday

A few weeks ago, we got together at Katie's to celebrate my mother-in-law's birthday. I took some pictures of the twins, who were of course there to celebrate Grandma's birthday and wow us all with how big they're getting! When these were taken, they were just a week or two shy of being 9 months old.











And Katie posted a few more of the pictures I took on her family blog, too. Click here to check out her blog!

Just Because

Andy brought home flowers for me on Friday, "just because."







To me, there's no better reason. Love it...! Love him.

Fall Collection, Part Two

It is the middle of winter, I know... BUT, I never posted the rest of my "Fall Collection" (Remember this post in October?).

So, since it's a pretty slow time of year for pictures~ and sorry, the dirty snow, mud, and cold weather don't really "inspire" me much~ I've decided it's the perfect time to post my "Fall Collection, Part Two."



















{and PS- this last one really DOES look just like this, straight out of camera with no post-processing... it was just before dusk and what was left of the sun made everything just.... GLOW!}