Thursday, September 10, 2009

You Capture:Something New

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This week's You Capture is about photographing something that you have never photographed before. I immediately thought of this past weekend because I went to the NHRA drag races here in Indianpolis for the first time. My dad goes every year and I have never been, but was able to go this year. Those cars are amazing! They go at least 300mph!!! I was very excited to take some shots at the race, but not sure how they would turn out. These are my favorite....they are taken just after Tony Schumacher took off on his winning run! I was thrilled to capture these! For more you capture's, head over HERE!







Friday, September 4, 2009

Da' Bears!


Oh how I looooooove football season!!! My husband is the biggest sports nut I know...seriously, like he is crazy about stats and stuff and can tell you who won the world series or super bowl in like 1956. Some call it geeky...I call it smart. Ha! So needless to say, Jake is happy when football rolls around, because I love to watch it and we root for the same team...the Chicago Bears!!!!! It doesn't matter that we moved to Indiana three years ago, our hearts will always be in Chicago. Never will we be Colts fans...no offense to any Colts fans who may be reading this. :)One thing we are certainly VERY excited about this year is one certain player and his name is Mr. Jay Cutler....

I have high hopes for him and so does Jake. We are so excited to see what he can bring to the table as the Bears new quarterback! Not to be left out, Connor is rooting right along side with us! We are raising our little man right, to root on the best team in the NFL! (in our eyes at least) GO BEARS!!!

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Comfort





Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.


~John 14:27


Monday, August 31, 2009

Future Baller

So pretty much the only thing Connor talks about from sun up to sun down is basketball and football! Basketball trumps football though lately, even though we are constantly telling him to say, "Go Bears!" We will be doing his 2nd bday theme in basketball because honestly, I have never seen a kid so hung up on something. He shoots the ball all day long! He loves it! We took him to the park yesterday and I got some shots of him doing his thing!!! :) What can I say? My kid is a natural! ;)




Thursday, July 23, 2009

You Capture: Black&White

I have been a follower of http://www.ishouldbefoldinglaundry.com/ for some time now and I have never participated in a "You Capture" and I have NO idea why! I love to take pictures, it's pretty much all I do, and I love any excuse to take more! I am blaming it on the fact that my computer was gone for so long. :) Anyway, I have decided to slack no longer. This week's theme is black and white...perfect. I am a huge fan of black and white photos, so I thought it would be a great place to start!

Since there was no limit to how many we could use, I picked my most recent three favorites! The first two are of one of a friend of the family's little girls. We celebrated 4th of July with them, and I just love photographing her, she doesn't take a bad picture. (Her sister doesn't either, for that matter) In the top one, she was relaxing drinking her "sprout" (sprite) before we started the fireworks, and in the second one she was off on her own with the sparkler. I fell in LOVE with the sparkler picture even though it has a lot of imperfections (a bit noisy, blurry, etc.) All in all, I think it kind of adds to the character of it and it has come to be an absolute favorite.

The last picture is of my son at the zoo last week. He was just taking everything in while riding on the train. I just love how pretty his eyes look! :) I am a little biased obviously.







I had so much fun doing this and hope to participate in future "You Capture's!"



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To see other great black and white photo's, or to participate yourself, click on the above link! :)

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

When I say, "I'm A Christian"


I know this has gone around several time and most people have probably heard it, but I really think it such an awesome read and it is something I think is soooo true. There are people in our lives that say to us that "we go to church, so we know what is right". Well, sure, of course we know what is right. We strive to do what is right and follow God's will daily. Does that always happen? No. Does that mean we are perfect? No. Do we slip up? Of course, more often than I would like to admit. BUT thanks to His all sufficient grace, we are forgiven when we slip up. I feel less than worthy most times, and I don't always understand why He continues to forgive me, but there are a lot of things I may never understand, and that's perfectly o.k. This is where Faith steps in. (Hebrews 11:1; Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.) We must be certain in Him...if nothing else, His love is what stays the same day in and day out, through all our mistakes, all our bad days, all our moments where we feel like he will never take us back. He does though, he always takes us back. I am so eternally grateful for Him being my one true constant.

When I say..." I am a Christian"
I'm not shouting "I am saved"
I'm whispering "I get lost"
"That is why I chose this way"

When I say..."I am a Christian"
I don't speak of this with pride
I'm confessing that I stumble
and need someone to be my guide

When I say..."I am a Christian"
I'm not trying to be strong
I'm professing that I'm weak
and pray for strength to carry on

When I say..."I am a Christian"
I'm not bragging of success
I'm admitting I have failed
and cannot ever pay the debt

When I say..."I am a Christian"
I'm not claiming to be perfect,
my flaws are all too visible
but God believes I'm worth it

When I say..."I am a Christian"
I still feel the sting of pain
I have my share of heartaches
which is why I seek His name

When I say..."I am a Christian"
I do not wish to judge
I have no authority
I only know I'm loved.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Kids Commons

Jake has been able to take several Friday's off this summer because of some extra time he had to burn so one Friday we decided to head up to Kids Commons. It is a children's museum in Columbus about 20 min from where we live. I had heard that it would be perfect for Connor because it was geared a little more to younger kids. We LOVE the Indianapolis Children's Museum, but it can be a little crazy sometimes so we figured Kids Commons would be perfect. The nice thing was that there were not a lot of people there since it was a weekday. The museum is three levels and it is all very open and accomadating to little feet running from place to place. They even have a climbing wall, (which obviously Connor was not big enough for yet). They have a bubble room, a house that has a large toilet that you can actually get into a (a personal favorite of mine and Jake's) and several blocks and art projects. We stayed most of the day and Connor had a blast. It is for sure a place that I know we will be revisiting!









Summer Nights

These photos were taken one night last month across the street from where we live. We live right across from a elementary school that is pretty big and they have about three different playgrounds so we are able to go over there when school is out and play. Connor loves it there and it is so close and convenient for us. We love summer...Connor wants to do nothing other than be outside all. the. time. so having nice weather makes it so much easier for all of us. This night was just one of those nights that I was LOVING every second of my little family...the beautiful night, my sweet boy, my amazing husband, and a gorgeous sunset. It was one of those summer nights that I never wanted to end, and made me realize even more that it's the little things in life that really matter.




Playing Catch Up

Wow! I cannot believe it's been over a month since I last blogged. I know I am usually pretty all over the place with it, but a whole month?! I am sure my HUGE audience out there has really missed me! :) I really hate to get this behind because I do this blog mainly for family and friends, and for us. I plan to print out all of my posts and make them into a book. I like to have all of the stuff that we do recorded. It's a good way to look back and see all we have done, and also pictures included as well!
I think I just may be back in business. They are still in the process of fixing my laptop, but the good part is that it looks like my pictures will be saved. For now, I am using an older desktop...but hey, it works! :) Now, where do I even begin to catch up??? Yikes, a month seems so long...but we really haven't done anything too super exciting so maybe it won't be that difficult! Ha!
I don't have a lot of my pictures on this computer yet, but I do have pictures from Jake's family reunion that we recently attended. It had been quite awhile since we had been back in Milford. It was nice to go back and see everyone. Jake's cousin Dexter has a little boy Cohen who is almost exactly one year younger than Connor and it was so good to see him! He is growing up to be such a handsome little man. It was a nice day at the park and afterwards we got to visit with some friends of Jake (and mine) Adam and Karen, and their three girls. We never get to visit with them long enough, but seeing them at all was nice. We really need to plan something to get together soon. Well, here are some pictures from the reunion. I am going to try to get caught up in the next couple of days, so stick with me please! :)


The delicious cheesecake filled strawberries I made for the reunion

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Pretty much what he did all day long


Sweet baby Cohen!


Daddy and Connor


Cousins Jake and Dexter and their boys


Cousins Jason, Jake, and Dexter


Connor trying to dig into all the deserts!

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

"Blue Screen of Death"

So my computer is done....it had what the IT guy called "the blue screen of death". I knew at that moment ot couldn't be good. To be honest, I'm devastated. I can go without the internet....but my pictures....not my pictures. My new found love of editing, I miss it already. They are working on saving my pictures, oh how I hope and pray it can be done. I can't tell you how many pics of my little guy are on there. I should have had an external hard drive but never got arpund to it. Buying a new computer certainly is not in our budget right now so, I don't know how often I can blog. It's kinda rough typing on this Iphone! Oh my dear laptop, how I miss you so! I'm so sorry that you met your demise from an awful blue screen! Until next time....hopefully sooner than later!

Monday, May 25, 2009

Indy 500 Race Weekend



Memorial weekend is always a big weekend in our family because it means that it's RACE weekend! When I say my family, I mean my dad and I. :) And by race, I mean the Indianapolis 500. My mom is not a fan of the race by any means, but I have become a fan because of my dad. I actually got my dad tickets about 6 or 7 years ago to his first race, when we lived in Illinois. He was always a fan, but had never been. The frenzy started then...my dad and I took a trip to Indy race weekend and had the best time! I fell in love and I have loved going ever since, and it's funny that we now live here in Indy and to see how the race craziness actually starts on May 1st!

My husband was never a race fan, but my dad is still working on him. He went to his first race two years ago, but he got lucky b/c we had suite tickets and we got a police escort into the race. We sat in a AC filled suite, with all the food and drinks one could want. It was AWESOME! Of course Jake enjoyed that! Ha! This year, Jake really experienced the race...the hot sun, the loooooooooong walks, the crowds, the crazines....just how it should be. My dad doesn't look forward to much, he doesn't ask for much, but this weekend means the world to him. He truly, truly enjoys it. I am soooo happy that Jake and I were able to go with him. We had a great time and I am even saying that as I sit here wincing in pain from my sunburn. It was well worth it! ;) There's nothing like hearing those cars start up and get up to 220mph as they fly by...it's pretty awesome.

We started off on Saturday by going downtown to the race parade, which I look forward to every year as well. I'm a kid at heart, I love parades! Connor was too little last year to really enjoy it, but he really enjoyed it this year! He was such a trooper! We saw a lot of celebrities and just had a great time. We relaxed the rest of the day knowing we had a big day ahead of us and got up bright and early on Sunday ready for the race. We got to the track by 9 am and found a really good parking spot....we then walked around for a bit and the highlight of my day was running into all the celebrities. I talked with Jan and Meredith from The Office, Mark, Giles, and Derek from DWTS, and saw a few other people. When I said talked to, I mean I said hello and they smiled and said hello back...so you know, we had a nice long conversation. Ha! OH and Mario Lopez...oh wow...can I just say...SO good looking!!! Yikes! Jake and my dad were laughing at me because I was going picture crazy, but can you blame me? I was inches away from Slater himself!!!! Not to mention, hottie McHottie from DWTS and Sex and The City movie! I mean, really...who wouldn't have??

I will just let the pictures speak for themselves...and trust me there are a lot of them...so hang in there, but I just gotta share! Hope everyone has enjoyed their long Memorial Day weekend. God bless all the men and women who have given their lives and are currently serving this country so that myself and my family can be free!!! You are the real celebrities and the reason we celebrate today!


Parade Pics



Ready for the parade!


Mario Lopez...so cute!


WAGS!!!


Melora Hardin, Jan from "The Office"


Kate Flannery, Meredith from "The Office"


Josh Duhamel, the pace car driver


Dick Vitale


Danica Patrick. I, myself, am not a fan, but she DID run a great race coming in 3rd and it is a good picture.


The OH SO gorgeous Giles Marini!! I had to hold back from posting all the awesome pictures I took of him! ha!


The one who took it home for the third time, Helio Castroneves!

Jake, Connor, and I after the parade



Race Pics



My dad's shirt, "Old Guys Rule...A Checkered Past." Ha!


Derek Hough from DWTS

Giles and Mario at the race

I know, I know...but those dimples...I just had to put it up!

Meredith at the race. Seriously, don't celebrities sweat? I was like sweating buckets at this point. It was SO hot! They all looked flawless!

"Jan" again...she is sooo pretty!


The pagoda...Celebrating 100 years


Not too easy to take pictures of cars going 220mph, but I did get some good ones!


The pit crew working on a car


Helio's winning lap!!

Jake and I in the stands


Congrats Helio!


Dad and Jake at the race, dad is going to make a fan out of him yet!