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!"

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

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.

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!