little miss sunshine

I met Little Miss Sunshine for the first time last week, just before she turned the BIG "1". She's my friend Mel's daughter and she is quite the flirt! Even after her long three-hour car ride to come visit me and get her photos taken, she was all smiles. I don't know about you, but I'm usually not so perky after I've been stuck in the car for three hours. But, Mel has always liked to drive around, so maybe she gets it from her mommma!

And, it's fitting that I'd be posting this little peek today, because today is Mel's birthday. Happy Birthday, friend! So good to hang out with you. We really need to do that more often. Love you both!
xoxo Kristina

what's up??

I realize that the blog has been a bit neglected lately. We've been busy....

I've been teaching lots and lots of Jazzercise....
the girls have been in Kid's Camp all summer...
and David is working like a dog...

We've had time for some fun too.
If you gotta work hard, you gotta play hard too!

Last weekend, we went on our first family hike.
1.34 miles in Lory State Park is not too shabby for little legs!











Hope you're having a good summer too!

food {as art}...and more

Miss M made these treats all by herself from measuring to mixing to pouring, frosting and decorating. I just put them in the oven. They're cupcakes baked in ice cream cones. So cute! She entered them into a "bake-off." Check out some of the other entries:


Good ole Uncle Sam. These must have taken a lot of time to put together!


The statue of liberty.


Oh, this one was delicious. Not only beautiful, but scrumptious as well.


Loved the berries on this one.


Everyone's standing around for the judging of the bake-off. Quite the crowd, huh?


We enjoyed some face painting...


...and spectating of the sack race. Here's Miss E. She's one of our neighbors this summer.


Go, A!!!


So, proud. She won the sack race for her age group. Good job, A!

July 4th bike parade

Time for our bi-annual bike parade out in Ft. Collins. Check out what David made:

It's a bird, it's a plane...it's a submarine! Most people thought it was a boat, but hey that's ok. Check out the periscope A is holding. It's really a submarine. If you're curious how he did it, don't worry, I'll post a "making of" set of photos too.




All lined up.








Cute little K. She's getting so big! You may remember her from last fall when I took her one-year pics. Love that hair!


The girls had a lot of fun, and were quite proud. They won the Grand Prize purple ribbon for the entire parade. Go, David!


And, if you really want to see more photos, here's a little slideshow for you:

ready, set, jump!

Colorado has the most gorgeous sunsets. This, of course, provides great opportunities for low-light photography.

The girls, getting ready to jump. (I never did get them both off the ground at the same time.) I love the bird flying across my shot.


Miss M, gettin' a little air.


And, our friend David, doing the Toyota jump.

For my photog friends, here's the settings on these: ISO 100, f/8, 1/200.

my favorite Colorado things...

I never knew that I'd be so glad to see dandelions. They make me happy.


So does real grass.


And, of course, the mountains.


Loving Colorado! It just feels "right."