What to do on a beautiful sunny Friday?

Head to the park with your camera in hand of course!

Picking up Haylee from school {only 1 week left}...



Starbucks has these adorable teeny tiny little doughnuts so I had to buy the girls each one. In a country with super large size of everything, I think this is the PERFECT amount for a sweet little snack. And what better place to run off all that sugar than the park....


Nugget off in doughnut land...


This series makes me happy & sad at the same time. You are thinking..this chick is a freak but let me explain why. There was a time, not too long ago that my first born child could not reach this and I had to get it for her each and every time. So that happy part is I no longer have to get it for her each.and.every.time but the sad part is that she is growing....TOO FAST!


And Nugget off playing by herself completely content to be alone. Wonder who she got that from! No comments from the Peanut Gallery...you know how you are!


Pure bliss...swinging as high as you can go!


So the day takes a turn. What on Earth could make Avyree leave her swing that she was enjoying so much? What is she looking at?


Ah yes...FRIENDS! And very special friends at that! Anne & Marie came to the park with their beautiful mom Claire. Anne is in Haylee's class and Marie is her older sister who Avyree LOVES! As you'll see in the pics, they have a special bond. So that is what made Avyree jump to her feet and concentrate with all her might to see if it was really Marie she was seeing at the park! Haylee and Anne having fun playing outside of school!


My Nugget and her BFF Marie! Marie is fun like that! Both the girls are! Good girls with good morals & values, they are so sweet and FUNNY! These are the kind of girls you want your kid hanging out with. Not to mention they are French and speak it fluently so that's an extra bonus. More childhood memories come out about my Grandma Jeannine when I hear them speaking French to each other which they do a lot. They speak it mainly to each other which I think is awesome!!!


Wait...Avyree...where are you going! Do you see what I mean about her and Little Arliss! I'm gonna wear her to a frazzle with that switch I'm fixin to get!


Anne and Haylee are good friends and always have fun with each other! This brings back memores too! My girlfriends and I did this daily in Elementary School!

See...Anne is funny too! I love this family!


She's such a spacer!


Marie showin off her MAD SKILLS. That's her mama Claire in the bokeh!


Oh to be a kid. Oh to run like a kid. To be so carefree & happy...


Then the girls hit the jack pot! More kids from Haylee's school show up to join the fun! Something about this set brings back childhood memories as well. Nothing specific but just about being a kid. Makes me think of summer break. Being outside and always finding something fun to do with friends. Youth.carefree.happy....being a kid! I hope I'm helping my girls create great childhood memories like I have. And if they don't remember, I'll just show them the pics! Ha! And what's hard to see here is that the girls are taking turns laying down while another goes over them on the zip line!


Marie pumpin up those arms for her awesome tricks on the zip line! And if Marie is doing it, so is Avyree!


See...they have a bond. They understand each other. Marie is in 6th grade going into 7th and still takes the time to play with Avyree and make her feel special! Now you know why I adore these family and these girls so much!


And a sweet calm moment of my girl!


What is it about kids & swings!! They are like kid crack! They cannot stay away no matter how much the try.


Perspective is an interesting thing. It's different for everyone. Take the time to stop and observe. You may find that life is passing you by and you are missing the little things about life that make it fun, or beautiful or whatever your perspective makes you feel!




So it was getting late and I wanted to check the time on my cell phone which I left in my truck! I go to get my keys out of my pocket to get my phone and realize I have the WRONG KEYS! I have my truck keys separate from my house keys and keep them on a hook ring. When I got out of my truck I took my house keys and threw my truck keys in the center console and locked the door! NICE! I haven't locked my keys in my vehicle since I was a teenager! UGH! Luckily Claire was there so that I could use her cell phone and that Eric was off work and near his phone. It was a nice excuse to hop on the bike and go for a short ride! My man...


Avyree hears the bike and realizes it's her daddy and is so excited she can barely contain herself. She's a daddys girl!


Since I'd left my purse in my truck as well so that I could free up my hands for my Zebra Zoom, I rolled up all my windows when I locked it. I closed the wing window behind me and meant to close the wing window on the passenger side but forgot...LUCKILY! And it just so happened that our friend Jake was at the park as well and came over to help with his very sweet girlfriend! He ran home and got that yellow thingy and between that and the metal hanger Eric brought, they set to work through that back wing window! You know you are checking out the hot muscles in my husbands calf aren't you??????




And after a lot of hard work and patience...they got it! Thanks for the help Jake! And a little PSA...if you have back wing windows and leave them open, someone CAN break in! Lol!


Nugget watching from across the parking lot and is amazed at how her big strong daddy opened mommy's truck then a second later her mood changed and she was in Naugty Nugget mode! This is what happens when she doesn't nap!


Then it was time to go home and cook dinner! :O)

My girls....

Oh how I love them...and my 35mm 1.4L! :O}

The moments are rare bu I now I have proof that they DO happen. I can show them these when they are teenagers and remind them that once they did love each other and were nice to each other! Lol!

Miss Haylee. Sometimes I forget just how big she's getting! It's bitter sweet because I miss her being a baby so much yet I'm so happy to watch her grow into herself!

Childhood memories...

We all have them and them mean something different to each of us! We are filled with the happiness, joy and love it brings to our hearts when we think of them. I have many! And recently some of those were brought to the surface. We were watching TV and came across the movie "Old Yeller"! Ahhh....GOOD childhood memories. I used to watch this movie with my dad! I loved the movie {although I hated the end and cried like a baby} and the time spent with my pop watching it! I even cried at the age of 34 just like I did when I watched it as a kid! Then I remembered another iconic movie that I watched with my dad when I was little about the relationship between owner and dog and happy and sadness, similar to Old Yeller! I don't remember nearly as much about the second movie as Old Yeller but the feeling of warm, love and happiness in my heart was just the same!

So I decided that I wanted to read the books of these two movies that fill my memories of such joy! And I'm really glad I did! What a joy to take something and a time in your life that was so special to you and see if from an older perspective but also in the written form!

Old Yeller! What a joy to read. I love the way they talked and the way they disciplined their children! Ha! And now that I am a mom I can relate my children to the boys. Not in the amount of hard slave labor they do of course {ha} but the dynamics of 2 siblings with an age gap & how different the 1st child is from the 2nd. Haylee is very similar to Travis! Honest, mature and responsible. Takes life probably too seriously and is very sensitive yet is so trust worthy. Then take Little Arliss. Be still my heart this kid and his eagerness toward life is enough to drive you mad but warm your heart and make you laugh! Always up to something, has a temper but enjoys life to the fullest every.single.day! Too cute to get too mad! This is Avyree..aka Nugget. While watching the movie I recognized the similarities but reading the book really hit home. When Travis took Little Arliss to go hunting and tried to teach him how to hunt and describes what Arliss does...I was laughing so hard I had tears in my eyes! Well I could go on and on but I won't. Of course I had to take some pics...




Old Yeller...




1956 my Pop was 2 years old...



Don't you just love the way they talked too?




;-{ So sad at the end. I get misty just thinking about it!



Where the Red Fern Grows...

I have yet to read it but I cannot wait. My memories of it are slim but I'm sure it will come back to me as I read it! I do remember tho crying at the end like a bit fat baby again. So I'm sure I'll do this when I read it as well!



1961...



Poor Old Dan & Little Ann!



Oh geeze...just reading these parts starts getting me all teary eyed!



Funny that this should come at this time too because my dad's birthday is July 2nd. Thank you for all the wonderful memories Pop! I love you!!! Happy early birthday! OXXO

Some stragglers...

I had a few pics left. I'm a storytelling photographer if you will! I usually shoot/edit/share the whole experience from start to finish in order. Which is why I would make a good event photographer and why I SUCK at sessions. For ME in a session, there is no story to tell. There is no order. No start, middle or finish. No event to capture and tell the story of that event the way I like to. Just a bunch of random shots and I struggle to understand. They have to tell a story and in order for me to feel them and to understand them. For them to speak to me. Man, I probably sound like such a freak to the non photog people reading this, but think the photogs will get what I'm saying...not well I might add! So when I shoot shots like these, I feel a little lost. There is no story, order, start to finish, event here...just snaps. So I always struggle with how to post them. Telling stories through my images comes naturally to me. It's what I do...without thinking! Start at the beginning, capture anything and everything then put it together in a way and order that hopefully makes you feel like you were there! Or at least make you feel SOMETHING or relate to the event..somehow! So...here are some stragglers that tell no story..but are still cute none the less. But of course they are cute...they are MY kids people!

Frozen Trix Yogurt. They think they are getting ice cream but with half the sugar...well almost!



And Nugget on the "puter". She recently just started playing on it and does pretty well I have to say. I would venture to say she's been on it for less than a month and can get herself around to play all the different games! And...this is also the laptop I used to edit ALL of my photos on. Until just about a month ago when I got my beautiful desktop and 25" monitor. Now that I look at this teeny tiny 15" screen I wonder how I did it for almost 2 years! I guess when you don't know any different it's fine. But now, I could never ever edit on this thing! Lol!

So that's it for now! I'm all caught up again! Hope everyone {if there is even anyone here lol} is doing well! :O)

So...I forgot these two! See what random snaps without a story and order to do me...

Imagination and creating...

Crafts are so much fun for little ones! It never matters what the craft is or how it turns out. Just as long as they get to use their imagination and create something/anything...they are happy! Too bad this doesn't carry over into adulthood more. We'd all be a lot happier and there would be less violence...if we all used our imaginations more and created something/anything for no other reason than to have fun...like we did when we were kids!

Nugget creating...











I'm most happy with my photography when I use my imagination like a kid and create for the sake of enjoying the process! Just like a kid, creating OUTSIDE of the box and letting your creation take YOU where YOU want it to go is what it's ALL ABOUT! So get OUT of the BOX, go create whatever it is that makes you happy and ENJOY the ride! :O)