Timber.......

Our Thanksgiving was perfect. (Well, except when the glass fell out of the cabinet and broke in the bowl where I was mixing the stuffing, but we won't talk about that. Or the fact that I had to use Stove Top stuffing. Or even that I owned a box of it. Ahem.) The meal was lovely, and it was just our sweet little family of 4. So wonderful.

On Friday, we made the trek to the Christmas tree farm. The weather was a little cooler than usual this year (meaning it was BELOW 70 degrees), so the kids actually got to wear some "seasonal" duds, and actually looked the part!

The tree farm has so many fun things to do. These old fashioned water pumps with little rubber ducks are always a favorite.

We had an amazing time searching for the perfect tree.

BJ found a tree he deemed PERFECT! All 10 and a half feet of it. And yes, that's the one we bought!

We did some maybe-this-will-be-THE-Christmas-card-photo shots. They didn't really work out, but the outtakes are priceless!

It was a perfect day.

Saturday we decorated our beautiful tree. It looked amazing.

This morning, as I was snuggled up in my bed relishing the thought of sleeping in, Brian came in the room and mumbled something. Or maybe it just sounded like he was mumbling because I had the pillow on my head? What I finally heard, after he yanked the pillow off my head and shouted, was that our perfectly decorated 10 and a half foot tree had fallen over. As in on the floor. More precisely on the ottoman. And it just happened to land smack dab on top of my Mac.

There were lots of broken ornaments.

Oy.

As you can see, my Mac is still working, but OMG if it wasn't, I think I would have joined a convent and taken a vow of silence.

Okay, that's a lie. I would have cussed. A whole lot.

You Capture - Food

I haven't participated in You Capture in awhile. That makes me sad, but it's because I've so, so busy.

Busy baking cakes for 2 year old little princesses, among other things.

Head on over to Beth's for more food porn. I think I"ll probably gain 10 pounds just looking at them.

I heart faces - sun flare

So, I've never participated in an I heart faces challenge, but I saw someone tweet about it tonight and I knew I had the perfect shot for sun flare. I am totally and completely in love with this shot of my daughter. I took it on Halloween this year!

You Capture - Autumn

One morning last week, after I dropped BJ off for school carpool, I decided it was a perfect morning for a photoventure! The temperature was in the lower 40s and the sun was shining so perfectly. Autumn is absolutely my favorite time of year, for so many reasons. One of the main reasons is the wild flowers. These yellow beauties are EVERYWHERE!

And this tree? It's a cedar tree and I really want to hug it all day long. So lovely with all of it's yellow friends surrounding it in the early morning light.

And this amazing view? I get to see it everyday on my run. So peaceful.

Because it was so chilly that morning, the river was giving off some nice steam. In the morning light, it was so beautiful.

Finally, this spot is very special to me. I love to slow down as I pass by and take in the beauty of the view. Often times, I'll pull over and jump out with my camera just to snap a shot because, no matter what time of year, it's always so breathtaking.

Thank you Beth for choosing Autumn and encouraging us to take in it's beauty.

For more amazing Autumn Captures, head over to Beth's blog, I Should Be Folding Laundry. She's the bomb, I promise.

Pumpkin Patch

This weekend was beautiful. Cool in the mornings, warming up to the lower 70s in the afternoon, and so sunny. Typical fall weather in Texas. We took advantage of the beautiful weather on Saturday and headed to the pumpkin patch, and I just KNEW I was going to get that shot. You know, the one for the Christmas cards this year. Only I didn't. The sun was too bright, shadows too harsh, and I couldn't get either one of the kids to look at me at the same time, much less smile without squinting, to save my life!

We still had a wonderful time, and I did get some great shots, even if I didn't get "the one"!




This was the typical shot of them together.

BJ and a baby turkey chick.



Getting ready to toss some hay.

The obligatory Texas Longhorn shot.



Mia and the turkey face off. That thing was as big as she was! I loved this shot in black and white, but the color version was so nice, so I'm sharing BOTH!



I used the Pioneer Woman's free actions for Photoshop to edit these photos. They are so much FUN, and did I mention FREE?

You Capture - Macro

This morning, the smell of fall was in the air, so Mia and I headed down the hill for some playtime. A spider made his beautiful home on our swingset, and I had a great time trying to capture it as it blew in the wind. Enjoy!

I'm not really sure if this qualifies as Macro, but I think it's pretty damn cool.

For more up close captures, head on over to Beth's. You really should be participating. Really. All the cool kids are doing it.

p.s. iPhoto on my new Mac makes me want to rip my hair out. For real. When I save photos I've edited in Photoshop, I try to import them to my iPhoto library, and it says they're already there, only they aren't. Anyone use iPhoto? Does anyone use it and like it? Should I just ditch it and download Picassa?

Oh here, is a preview of the shots I got of Mia. I seriously took almost 300 shots and now I'm going to play in Photoshop and learn how to edit! See you in about 3 years.

This one is SOOC. Look at that bokeh. LOVE!

You Capture - Never Before

We are suffering from a stage 4 drought in southwestern Texas. It's hot, it's dry, everything is dead. The river is lower than I've ever seen it. Lower than many of the old timers have ever seen it. No one really remembers it ever being this bad.

Last night I sat on my front porch trying to figure out what the heck I was going to capture for You Capture. Yeah, I'm a last minute kinda girl like that. So as I sat there, I realized that I've pretty much taken a photograph of everything I can think of. Kids. Check. Hills. Check. Dog. Check. Myself. Check. Rocks. Check. Trees. Check. Well, you get the picture. I was REALLY stumped. Beth is such a stupid jerk like that sometimes!

But then I noticed, off in the distance, a rumble of thunder. A flash of lightening. And I wondered, just wondered, if my capture wasn't right in front of me. So I grabbed my camera, not knowing what the heck I was doing, and put it in manual. I set my shutter speed really low, like 1/10 and who knows what my aperture was. Like I said, NO IDEA what I'm doing trying to shoot lightening in the dark. So, about 482 shots later, and about 476 of these:


And then I got a little of this:


And some of this:

And then this! WOW! I know, it's a tad out of focus because I had to put it on Manual because there was NOTHING to focus on in the pitch black.


When it started to rain, I retreated inside and downloaded my shots. Then the power went out. For real. It was 8:30 p.m. and it didn't come back on until after midnight. It rained all night long, and it's still raining, with no sign of letting up. So exciting!!!!

Thank you Beth for this challenge. I totally take back that stupid jerk comment. You're my sugarlips and you know it!

For more wonderful Never Before Seen captures, get your butts over to Beth's right now. I'm sure you won't be disappointed!

You Capture - Peace

This is my peace. My front porch. A comfy chair. The view of hills and big puffy white clouds. Silence. Gentle breezes. A slowly meandering deer looking for something to eat in my yard. Peace. Quiet. Heaven.

For more peace, head over to Beth's.

p.s. These are SOOC. Can you see the spots? There are spots on my photos. They are not on my monitor. What's causing them? HALP!

real life adventures - Atlanta, Georgia style, part 2

Remember a couple weeks ago when I was in Atlanta? Well, this post has turned into Atlanta, part 2!

Before we left for Tennessee, we still had half a day to kick around in Atlanta, so the kids and I headed downtown. We parked and walked through the Olympic park, which is so beautiful. A huge green space with playgrounds, nice cozy nooks for sitting and relaxing, and beautiful reflection pools. There was also a splash pad that was crazy-busy, and my kids were disappointed that we didn't get to try it out!







After we walked around the park, I asked BJ was he most wanted to do, and he chose visiting Georgia's state capitol building. It's hard to miss the beautiful golden dome in the Atlanta skyline, and with his thirst for knowledge and love for history, it was sure to be an adventure!

We headed off on foot for the capitol building, and saw some sites along the way.

I loved these red doors so much. If there hadn't been construction on the sidewalk in front of them, I would have gotten closer and taken lots more shots of them.




Looking up at the inside of the dome

We learned that the dome is covered in gold leaf and it has to be replaced every 30-35 years. If you were to take all the gold off and wad it up, it would be the size of a soccer ball and weigh 900 ounces. BJ wanted to know how much it would be worth, and the guide told him about 35,000 bucks!

The architecture was amazing!


At the end of the tour, we were taken inside the General Assembly Room for some Q&A. Of course, BJ peppered our guide with questions about the architecture, the chandelier, and whether or not the legislators ate lunch at their wooden desks. Oh, and he also asked if they used the 2 fireplaces in the room (which they don't anymore).

After the tour, we grabbed lunch at Ted's (Turner) Montana Grill and it was fabulous! An awesome restaurant with a wonderful twist on Eco-Friendliness. Think drinking straws made out of recycled materials! As a matter of fact, the restaurant is 99% plastic free! All this, plus they had amazingly huge picture windows and great natural lighting.

After lunch, we walked back to our rental car and headed to the airport to pick up daddy. He was flying in to meet up with us for the Tennesee leg of our trip.

Click here to read Part 1 of our Atlanta trip!

Stay tuned for more from our trip. We did alot of really fun, family friendly things in Tennessee!

You can see the complete set of photos from the trip here!