30 Day Photo Challenge {Days 25-30}

Well...I've reached the end! I had such a fantastic time with this challenge and am a little sad that its over. It was great coming up with my own interpretations of the daily tasks.

Day 25:
Something Pink

When Milaya was 2 1/2, all she wanted for Christmas was this pink guitar she saw at Target...guess what she got??? Of course! Now I know for sure that Target is her favorite store! Oh man, I have a shopaholic on my hands already and she is only 4!

Day 26:
Close-Up

This meal was so ABSOLUTELY delicious I just had to take a picture of it...steak tips, sweet onions, green and red peppers and mushrooms marinated in carribean jerk marinde, then grilled to perfection outside on our grill...Doesn't get much better than that. I have been craving it everyday since then too!

Day 27:
From a Distance

I love this picture...Not only does it show the distance between them physically, but in age as well. Pierson is a little slower and a little bit smaller. Puts a smile on my face to watch them play and to see Pierson think that he is a big kid.

Day 28:
Flowers

I completely and totally am in love with flowers. It is the first sign of warmer weather ahead after the L O N G, cold winter months. Being late August, and most of my flowers dwindling away, I debated using a picture I took earlier when my flowers looked AMAZING...but I thought that would have been cheating. So, this is one of the few I have left.

Day 29:
Black and White

So, as you've probably come to realize, if you don't know me or my family that well, music is a huge part of our lives. It's hard for my brain to move away from that for my pictures. What better subject matter than a piano for black and white.

Day 30:
Self Portrait

I feel as though there were WAY too many pictures that I had to take of myself. I HATE taking pics of myself, but last but not least...here it is.

I just wanted to say Thank you to my family for the great models for my project and for putting up with me this month while most of my focus was on this challenge. Also to all of you who were curious enough to look through my pictures. I had such a great time that I feel inspired to do another sort of challenge...not sure what, but either way, I'll be thinking!

30 Day Photo Challenge {Days21-24}

WOW! Three posts in a week, I am on a roll...and having so much fun. I am sad that I only have 6 more days left of this challlenge. Hope you enjoy my next set of pictures!

Day 21:
Faceless Self Portrait

I love to dance and I thought it only fitting to do a dancers pose for this one. It turned out great! I guess even if you see the side of my face it is considered faceless. I also figured out that the self timer on the camera works GREAT! I don't know how many times I re-took this picture! Must have looked pretty funny watching me run back and forth literally about 50 times!

Day 22:
Hands

My relationship with my kids and the love that I have for them is priceless and unconditional. This picture signifies that they complete me. Turned out great with the heart shadow on the ground.

Day 23:
Sunflare

I love learning new techniques to manipulate a photo to do what you want no matter what the conditions are. I would have never learned this without this challenge. I love that a jet flew by in a few minutes before.

Day 24:
Animal

Of course Drake had to make an entrance into my photo challenge somehow! This image captures EVERYTHING we love about him. He is goofy, playful, and such a lover! He's really made himself part of our family and adapted fantastic to having kids around. He really is the BEST family pet!

This isn't the end yet, so stay tuned... I'll post in a few more days now that I am "officially" caught up now!

30 Day Photo Challenge {Days 17-20}

This should pretty much catch me up as far as posting goes. SO, here they are!

Day 17:
Technology

With SO many things in the technology world, you would think it would be easy to find a good subject to take a picture of. I just happened to be playing around with my camera taking pictures out of my slider and came up with this. I thought it was pretty fitting.

Day 18:
Shoes

I LOVE these shoes! They dress up anything I wear just the right amount...AND to top it off, I wore these shoes in one of my best friends wedding about 5 years ago! Friends since first grade...LOVE her!

Day 19:
Something Orange

I love Pierson in his athletic outfits. He looked like he was going to go shoot hoops this day. I just had to used them for my something orange.

Day 20:
Bokeh

From what I gathered, Bokeh is sortof an out of focus, soft edged picture which makes the light source have a bubble affect. So, this is what I came up with.

So that should catch me up until the next batch of pictures are ready for posting. Thanks for sharing with me!

30 Photo Challenge {Days 13-16}

I'm a little behind on posting pictures but here is the next set!

Day 13:
Yourself with 13 Things

I had a hard time thinking of what to do for this,then I realized that we have A LOT of CD's in our house, so what better than that!

Day 14:
Eyes

Pierson has the MOST gorgeous eyes! He has enormously long eyelashes and the most beautiful blue color...There was no question that his were the eyes I would be taking a picture of.

Day 15:
Silhouette

I love taking silhouette pictures. This one turned out to be my favorite. I have all three of my loves in one picture!

Day 16:
Long Exposure

This was one of my favorite pictures! I was SO nervous that this wouldn't turn out, but after messing with my camera for a few tries I figured it out. I just kept wanting to take more and more just to see how they would turn out. AWESOME!

Hopefully I will get close to catching up on posting soon! Thanks for sharing with my challenge so far!

30 Day Photo Challenge {Days 9-12}

Next batch ready for viewing!

Day 9:
Someone You Love

This picture was SO hard to choose...I have SO many people in my life that I love. Milaya won out mainly because Pierson was taking a nap when I did the picture, but mostly because she was the one who truly changed my life forever being my first born and transforming me into a "Mommy" for the first time.


Day 10:
A Childhood Memory

This was SUCH a fun picture to take! As a child I grew up with railroad track in my backyard. We used to tape pennies to the tracks so the train could flatten them. I took the kids to my old stomping grounds and shared a little portion of my childhood with them. What a good time!

Day 11:
Sunset

I got a LOT of good sunset pictures, but this one I liked the best. There just happened to be sailboats out on the water when I went to the beach for this. I didn't realize that I captured all of the birds flying around the boat until I got home to look at the pictures. AMAZING and BEAUTIFUL!

Day 12:
Something Blue

I had such a hard time figuring out what to do for this one. I ended up coming accross two blue suckers in our drawer, and well...the picture says it all. Milaya and Pierson had a ton of fun sticking their tongues out for the camera and at eachother!

Hope you are enjoying these so far! I know I am having a blast with these...I'll keep ya posted!

30 Day Photo Challenge {Days 5-8}

Are you ready for more???? Here is the next few days in my photo challenge series!

Day 5:
From a Low Angle

We've had this ladder sitting on our deck for a while now and I thought it fit perfect with this challenge. Justin thinks it looks a little like a roller coaster.

Day 6:
From a High Angle

I got a little behind due to vacation, so I took 3 pics in one day to catch up. I got locked out of my house so I took the kids to the playground and had lots of great opportunities for this picture. I liked this one the best.

Day 7:
Fruit

We went peach picking last week and had these sweet succulent peaches just waiting to be eaten in our house. Perfect for a picture!

Day 8:
A Bad Habit

I guess it's easier to look at others for their bad habits than your own, but I knew right away that I wanted to take a picture of Justin biting his nails for this one. I have been after him for years about this habit. It's definitely gotten better!

Thanks for checking these out...we still have a ways to go so I'll keep posting as I keep taking pictures!

30 day photo challenge {Days 1-4}

For the month of August I have decided to do a photo challenge that lasts 30 days. Each day is a different topic with no rules or limitations, just the basic guideline of the catergory. Your imagination can run free. Amanda and my mom are doing it to, so I can't wait to see what their pictures turn out like. I hope you enjoy looking at these pictures as much as I enjoyed taking them.

Day 1: Self Portrait
For this picture I wanted something different than just the "look at me and how pretty I am" so I went for the "fresh out of the shower" look.

Day 2: Something you wore today
Not only did I wear my jewelry this day, but I wear it just about everyday, so what better subject matter.

Day 3: Clouds
The morning I took this picture it was all overcast and I was a little disappointed that I wouldn't be able to take a good picture. I did a lot of driving during the day and was getting excited to see ALL of the fluffy clouds in the sky. Of course, when I got home it was a beautiful clear blue sky. So, we got creative.

Day 4: Something Green
Did you really expect anything else besides green tea from me? Hahaha, it's practically all I drink!

Please stay tuned for more to come! I am having SO much fun with this project!

My little Graduate

So I am a little behind, but toward the end of May Milaya graduated her first year of school! I still can't believe that she was even old enough to go to school! Time sure does fly, and we are trying to enjoy every second of it.

The kids looked absolutely adorable in their caps and gowns. The teachers walked them out in a line and sat them down to watch a DVD they made from all of the fun things they did throughout the school year.

Pierson and Tanner had fun watching, probably thinking they can't wait to do it themselves. Pierson really made hiself at home everytime I dropped Milaya off at school. He'll do fine I think when it comes time for him to go to school.

After the DVD we watched, all of the kids moved to their carpet squares and sang us a couple of songs. It was pretty cute! I can tell Milaya really learned a lot in preschool, and she gets to go back next year for a 3 day a week class. She's not quite old enough for Kindergarten so she gets to see some of her same friends again next year! She LOVED Mrs. Susan so much, I hope she loves her teacher next year as much. Although I don't think any teacher could compare, Mrs. Susan and Mrs. Steenwyk made a really good team and you could tell by the way they were with all of the kids.

Spring!

Spring has now "officially" arrived. I don't mean by the date, but by the temperature! I almost gave up and had to rely solely on Summer to do the trick. It was nice to be able to celebrate Easter outside and not have to wear coats and hats. We had so much fun on our Egg Hunt!

It was so cute watching the kids look for their specific color eggs.

Reminds me when I was a kid.

Of course Justin had to get in on all the action too! All of the kids had fun running around and just being able to ACTUALLY play outside!

Also, so far this Spring we made a trip to Timbertown with Heidi and Bryce, and Trisha and Mason. Those kids have SO much fun together!

We showed up first so we decided to feed the ducks while we waited. Milaya and Pierson thought they were pretty neat. Especially when the ducks dunked their heads in the water. They laughed SO hard!

When everyove arrived we started with our picnic so that everyone was energized and ready to play. Everyone had a blast and was just what we needed to brighten our day!

I'd say Bryce had it pretty made out there in the swing!

Pierson thought he was pretty big stuff getting up there playing on the "big kid" toys.Even when the "big kids" got on with him he just held on tight and never let go. I think he enjoyed it.

We are all still kids at heart...even Heidi took a turn on the toys.

Milaya and Mason had a blast together and so far since then have been inseperable when they are together. It is ADORABLE! I think they have a little crush going on ♥

You can tell they thoroughly enjoy eachother's company ♥ We definitely need to get together and do this again!