wet 'n wild

While David's brother, Andrew was here for a visit last weekend, he treated us to a fun day at Wet 'N Wild. We had originally planned on going to Aquatica, Sea World's new water park (which is supposed to be phenomenal), but, when we arrived two hours after it had opened at 11am, it was already at capacity. The entranced was blockaded, and all the "late-comers were" turned away. Can you believe it?

We had a great time at Wet 'N Wild, though. The girls just loved the kiddie park.






The girls LOVED this zip line. It was so cool! Ok, any of you photoshop pros know how to clone this guy out of my photo? I tried, but do you see all those shadows? It was like impossible to get it natural-looking. Oh well, it kind of looks like M is going to take him out anyway :) It can be her "Sydney Bristow" moment. (Alias fans, anyone?)


I was bummed when I realized I never got a snap of Andrew and Nida :( They were enjoying the "big people" rides. Thanks for coming, you guys!

gerber daisies

We went to Home Depot yesterday to pick out some new flowers for the front porch and backyard. I really wish there was a real nursery around here. We picked out some red geraniums and little white flowers for the front. I'll snap some photos of those later. But, while we were there, I snapped these. They had been freshly watered. Perfect!




And for fun, a vintage look.

flower suit

Some friends of ours dropped off two hugmongous bags of hand-me-down clothes for the girls. They are so awesome. Most of them are in like-new condition. This suit was in the bag. Isn't it so cute?





Oh, and I tried some new vintage processing Mandy style. What do you think?

blue skies...

...also make me happy. Did you know that South Dakota and Florida have something in common? They share the same state nickname: the Sunshine state. I've always lived in bright, sunny, places, and I'm so grateful! I just love blue skies and bright sun. Another wonderful thing about life in Florida.

the sunset over the beach...

...makes me happy. I never, ever imagined myself living in Florida. Some days I wonder if this foreign land will ever feel like home with all its strange bugs and horrendous traffic. But, then, we go exploring or stay at the beach until the sun is setting, and I think, "Maybe this place isn't so bad after all!" I'm learning to try to take advantage of the things that are wonderful about life here, and that makes me happy.



Happy Memorial Day weekend!

beach party: part deux

My little tree-lover:



The kids LOVED climbing on this tree...


...apparently they weren't the only ones. Florida insects have got to be the creepiest ever! I mean, I think it's a fly, but can you imagine how nasty it would be to squish it?! Yuck! I know it's hard to see--I think he was created to blend in.


A-fishing-they-will-go



And, thanks so much for all your comments about my processing in my previous post! I've really been trying to work on it. On those photos, I made all my major adjustments in Lightroom, and then send them over to Photoshop to play a bit more. The first one below was all me, but the last three have some cross-processing with the Pioneer Woman's actions.

simple photography course

Some of you have expressed interested in the 12-week photography course that I took over at Two Peas. Here are some linky-loos for you.

12-Weeks to better photos course
General Photography articles

I think you may have to be a member in order to have access to the articles, so just sign up! It's easy. Sorry this took so long, Alyson! Enjoy.

Also, if you want an awesome book recommendation, check out the widget on the sidebar for Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson. Right after I got my digital camera last Christmas, I got his book, and learned how the three components of the exposure triangle--aperture, ISO, and shutter speed--worked together. It is a must read for any aspiring photographer. It's full of great photographic examples that illustrate the principles. It also has lots of exercises for you to try out. This is the same guy whose seminar I attended a few months ago. And, if you click on the link from my blog, I get a little kickback from Amazon. Cool, huh? After recommending this book over and over to friends, and having them go buy it, I thought I might as well profit a bit from my sales pitch.

beach party

Over the weekend, one of our little friends had her 4th birthday party. We celebrated at a great park that had awesome trees. I can't wait to go back there again and take more pictures when it's a little less crowded. Sometimes I think my girls should have been raised in the country. They are so happy climbing tress and finding fish in the lake. I mean, M has been known to literally hug trees and call them her friends. Anyway, there will be more of these photos, but for now, here are some of our little friends from the party.





Isn't she so beautiful!? Every week at ballet, I try to take her photo, and finally after several months, she's finally warmed up to me and my camera. I just love her eyes!

arte y pico award and I'm tagged

Thank you, Tera, for giving me with this Art Y Pico award (like a month ago!). I feel very honored that you would think of me as inspirational! Now I get to pass the award on. The hard part for me is choosing only 5 bloggers who inspire me. So, here goes. Oh, and around the same time, my friend Lisa tagged me, asking me to share 5 insignificant things about myself. So, I thought I'd combine these two. I'm simultaneously awarding the Art Y Pico and tagging these bloggers:

Heather--I have absolutely adored her photography from my first visit to Two Peas. I think everyone loves Heather's style--it's amazingly fresh, creative, innocent, and stunning all at the same time. And, she's a Coloradoan. I'm just biased because I went to school there, and recently moved from there.

Emily--my new friend who is an amazing scrapbooker. She was recently asked to join the design team at Prism, a card stock company. She pulls things together very well--it's really a gift because I've seen her in action, and she just does it so naturally!

Sarah--an old friend from our Greeley days. She has great taste, is incredibly crafty, and is always creating something fresh from cards to diaper holders. Her jewelry is killer-cool!

Kristen--She takes the best portraits of her own kids. I love how she dresses her baby girl. So cute! I wish my portraits looked more like hers.

Mandy--She's always coming up with incredibly amazing ideas, and has such a funky, cool style. Her quotes and photos convey such emotion and really draw me in. She's gonna be famous someday, I think!
Plus, I have the feeling I could be friends with all these gals. Oh, and of course two of them are friends IRL.

And, here are 5 insignificant things about me:

5. I'm not a morning person at all. I wake up very slowly and usually feel very grumpy until after breakfast when I've had my cup of herbal tea.

4. I'm not a night person either. I usually go to bed between 10:30-11pm, which is probably a little too late for me. I just like to sleep, and my body does best with 9 hours of sleep a night.

3. My thumbs are double jointed. They bend backwards waaay farther than is normal. I'm pretty sure my elbows are double joined as well.

2. Speaking of body parts, I have really long toes (and fingers), but long toes look a bit strange and long fingers generally look pretty. When I was little, I was so self-conscious about my toes, that I hated for anyone else to see them.

1. When I was in first grade, I broke my ankle while being mischievous. As I was throwing a snowball at my mom, I slipped on a hidden patch of ice beneath the snow. It was the middle of winter in South Dakota, and my cast didn't cover my toes, so my mom made me "toe bonnets." One day at school when my first grade teacher asked the kids to sign my cast, she removed my "toe bonnet." I was mortified because everyone could see my toes, and I was sure they were stinky and dirty.

flower pickers

Everywhere the girls go, they are looking for flowers to pick. They're really good at spotting the "pretty" weeds now, and get such pleasure from picking them for me. We went out a few nights ago to get some shots in the beautiful light. I was trying to get the girls to pose for me, but posed shots with my own girls are so challenging. The candid stuff just seems to come more naturally to me anyway.




You can really see M's goggle tan-lines here...and it's only May!


Happy Friday! Have a great weekend!

flower nets?

The girls love their butterfly nets. They're really good for lots of things. So far, they've served as seashell-holders, fishing nets, and now--flower nets. A very useful purchase.

play-dough

We pulled out the play-dough today for a bit. A loves to make plates of food for me to eat. Today it happened to be a plate of cheese. Yum!






I was feeling brave today, and widened my aperture to f/2.8. (This results in a narrow depth of field, meaning that not much of the photo is in sharp focus.) I actually think I nailed this last photo. Doesn't the focus look to be on her eyelashes? I just love how it turned out. I think it's my new favorite of A.

happy anniversary!

It's our anniversary today! Eight years. We still look like kids, but we're really not. We're thirty-somethings. And people still ask me if my mom is home--well that actually happened when I was in my late twenty's. My most recent funny age-related story happened last fall at the grocery store. We were just establishing our routine of shopping and getting A the free bakery cookie. On the third week, the grey-haired baker who had been helping us finally pulled me aside. "Hey, we've been having a debate (pointing to his baker cohort), and he thinks you're 15, but I said 22, who is right?" Twenty-two, I could see, but 15?!? Wow, that was shocking! Anyway, happy anniversary, David! We're going to look great when we're 50! I love you!

sleeping girl

I'm a little nostalgic, I think. Or maybe it's denial. But, my baby is going to be four years old in August. I really can't believe it. It makes me a little sad, ok, maybe a lot sad. And I still have three months to ponder this. Maybe it's because one of her little friends is turning four tomorrow. I'm a bit in shock. And, today, as we were walking home from the swimming pool, M asks me out of the blue how many times I can get "praagnant." WHAT? Where would she hear this? And why would she ask me this? I don't think she had a clue what she was asking, but still. I never really answered her question. So, here is A in her crib-converted-toddler-bed. Yes, we really need to buy her a big girl bed. Definitely on or before her 4th birthday.





Oh, and, yes I DID plan for the first photo in the post below to look like it was on her head. Pretty cool, huh?

hollywood studios

We went to Hollywood studios last weekend to explore. We'd never been there before, and our time started off with this wonderful expression. Now you know my girls are not always sweet. Ha!


We saw lots of kid shows including "Mickey's playhouse" with this psychedelic lighting.


In exchange for some chocolate chips, M agreed to do a mini photo shoot for me against this cool wall. It took a few shots of coercing...




Check out this scene. It's a fake backdrop where the road goes up a hill--that's all staged. I thought it was way cool.


We ended up at the "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" playground where everything was gigantic. It was really well done (of course it was! It's Disney!)


And finally a little sisterly love...or not...

the marina

We had a day of "forced fun" yesterday with our entire campus office. It was actually a lot of fun. M just LOVES little creatures of all kinds, and was thrilled to find a turtle, little clamshells, and lots of fish in the "non-salty" ocean as she called it.








This is the largest snail shell I've ever seen! I set the quarter next to it for a sense of scale. Let's just say it was really nasty when I picked it up again!


Looking for little fish.

Walking down the pier.


Here come our friends on the airboat!




And they're gone!