The kiddos

I'm in a fun photography group on Facebook with some fellow southern Utah photography-lovers. We have occasional challenges of sorts and are encouraged to post a photo of the day. It's been the perfect way for me to try a little harder to get to know my new camera. I think I'm doing ok when it comes to pictures of food, but kids are a whole other game. It's been fun to get the camera out, play with it, and then have somewhere to share the pictures besides the blog. I love the input the other ladies give. I think my biggest drawback is not owning a good version of Photoshop (7.0 just isn't cutting it). Because Photoshop makes a good photographer great :)

Here are a bunch of unedited pictures of the babies and I think they are pretty cute. Just imagine them with some editing!

Henry fighting a bad guy.

Macey dancin' her pants off. SO funny and cute.

Kitty love.

There you have it. The babies, unedited.Now who wants to buy me Photoshop?!

Family Campin'

Truth be told, I'm not a camper. But most summer's I'm conned into going and love it. I love being outside, the people, the food, and the funny things the kids say around the campfire late at night. The sleeping on the ground is what kills me though. It's always miserable. Always! I got suckered into going camping again this summer and I have to admit it was pretty fun. Thanks Sam...

Here's the instigators and their cute new baby. If they can camp with a newborn, what am I fussing about?

Thomas weaseled the kids up the rock and they loved it!

Dutch over for dinner. Mmmm.

Perfectly posed with a happy baby.

What my night looked like, but with more tears involved.

I'm glad we went, and I'm glad it's another year until I get to go again!

Kentucky Trip

In the middle of August Thomas and I drove our beat-up Chevy Malibu across the country to my parent's house in Kentucky. We were a little nervous about our car even making it, but I'm happy to report it only died once on the way out.

We left Friday afternoon around noon, stopped for dinner, breakfast the next morning, lunch, and then a short stop to change a diaper and rolled into my parents place right before dinner. We drove almost 27 hours straight with 3 young kids and only stopped 4 times. Not too shabby! The kids were super good, and we planned it so we'd drive through the night when they were sleeping. I also splurged and purchased a portable DVD player. Since my kids don't watch much TV the DVD player was a huge treat and very distracting. We also listened to books on tape, crafted in the car, and ate lots and lots of snacks.

It was so fun to see my family. We hadn't planned on going this year, but Thomas decided to attend a conference in Chicago, so instead of him just flying out we all drove.

It was so good to see my little nephew Hudson, who's just a month younger than Kimball. Here he is with my dad.

We ventured up to my old stomping ground in Indiana and ate at the restaurant I used to work at and that has the BEST food ever. I love me some Big Cheese!

We stopped at my Grandma's house and played in her backyard.

4 generations picture! One of the hardest things about living out west is not being able to see these people that I love. I also have serious sadness that my kids don't know them as well as they know Thomas' family.

We then went to my other Grandma's farm. It is the funnest place on Earth and so full of perfect childhood memories.

Grandpa is raising baby peacocks to sell. Can you spot the 2 albinos?

And he has tons of these hilarious looking turkeys. Can you guess where I get my poultry love from?!

The log cabin, complete with a little door handle for the little folks.

I've spent so many hours on these swings hearing the stories of my heritage...

My wonderful Grandma who taught me early morning Seminary.

We played the rest of the week at Mom's house and Thomas drove up to Chicago for his conference.

I had fun taking some water pictures. I used a super high shutter speed to stop the water as it fell.

Pretty fun!

Then Mom and Dad let my little brother and sister skip school to go to the Louisville Zoo with us. It was the perfect sized zoo to hit up in a day and not feel like you missed anything or were there for too long. We loved it.

And Auntie Karina showed the kids the most hilarious/annoying apps in the world.

Normally when a trip is coming to an end it's ok because I'm feeling antsy to get back to life, but that so was not the case this go around. I was so sad to leave and could have stayed a lot longer. I sure miss my family, but that impromptu trip was a blast. Thanks for hosting fam!