Happy Birthday Kileigh Lynn

4 years ago today, our family was blessed by a beautiful little girl joining our family. Kileigh has been such a bright spot in our lives. She is sweet, energetic, full of life and beautiful inside and out. I cant remember my life before her, nor can I imagine it now without her in it. You are such a fun little sweetheart Kileigh. I love your silly faces, our sleepovers and little games like Miss Spider, Miss Dragon and all the games we play on the kindle at night when you are here. Never change, stay innocent and please don't grow up too quickly! HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOVE!!

Scavenger Hunt Sunday 1-29-12

Hi and welcome! I cant believe it is Sunday already, and time for another Scavenger Hunt. The prompts for the hunt this week are:
1. Smile
2. Stand Alone
3. Rusty or Something Old
4. Artificial
5. Repeating Pattern
I needed some new pictures for some of the prompts, so I went out Thursday alone for some picture time. I then went out on Friday with Kim for yet more photo time. We went on a road trip Friday and also to a local park for a Nature walk. We had such a good time and got some really nice photos too. We even made it to a bar for lunch and had a nice greasy bar-burger instead of our usual healthier soup and sandwich meal. A girl just has to live dangerously once in awhile. Have a wonderful week, and thank you for looking.

SMILE

It was meant to be that I would see this billboard while on my way home.

STAND ALONE

Lonely Goose in a cornfield all by itself. My favorite shot of the week.

RUSTY OR SOMETHING OLD

Old water pump/drinking fountain

ARTIFICIAL

Artificial Berries at the coffee shop

REPEATING PATTERN

Cool top of a fence we found while on our road trip. I have a thing for fences and railings.

Please dont tell anyone.....haha!

I Heart Macro 1-29-12

I have to say, the weeks are just flying by! Seems like it was just Sunday and here we are it's Sunday again! Even though it was a little snowy and chilly, I still made some time for some macro shooting. Kim and I went for a nature walk Friday at a local park out in the country that is on the river and has an attached wooded area too. We found a lot of deer tracks and some other unidentified tracks as well. Saw some woodpeckers, geese and some other birds. It was quite peaceful and relaxing and it's always a good time when I spend it with Kim. Enjoy my pictures! See you next week.

 Snowy Grass

 No idea what this is!

 Almost looks like a mirror image

 Moss

 Underside of fungus

Natures Barbed Wire

 Leaf

More Grass

P52 Photo Challenge 1-27-12 "Self Portrait"

So when I saw this week's P52 Photo Challenge topic, I let out an audible groan. Are you kidding me? A self-portrait?? I absolutely HATE pictures of myself. I would much rather be behind the camera than in front of it. One of my New Years Resolutions was to be completely committed to the Photo Challenges I take place in each week, so I knew I had to bite the bullet and just take a darn picture of myself. I am so critical of every photo I take, that I find all kinds of excuses not to post them. I am who I am, and I need to just accept that! I will never be thin enough, pretty enough, photogenic enough, my hair and make-up will never be perfect, but people love me anyway for who I am. Like my Sister-in-law Kim told me last week, "You need to learn to love yourself". I know she is right, but wait, let me go check my hair and make-up, haha! In all their glory, here are the 2 of 30 pictures I took that are "ok". Don't laugh too hard.

 Yes, I am a Canon girl!

Maddux and I

Scavenger Hunt Sunday 1-22-12

What a week! This one absolutely flew by! We finally got dumped on by Mother Nature, something I knew was bound to happen sooner or later! Kim, Jess, Ethan and I all met for Tea/Breakfast/Lunch on Friday at our favorite hangout Mocha Moment. It snowed the whole time we were there, but we didn't let the weather intimidate us. All-in-all I think we ended up with around 6 inches of snow. It sure is pretty and makes the cold worthwhile with the pretty scenery. These conditions do not make for great photo opportunities, however! I took a few of some birds in the snow, but wasn't able to get much for macro shots. Anyway, here are the photo prompts for this weeks Scavenger Hunt Sunday:
1. Sunset
2. Black and White
3. A Day in my Life
4. Four
5. Colorful

I was excited about some of these prompts! Off I went in my truck to snap some new pictures to fullfill these prompts. Here are my picture, sit back and I hope you enjoy the hunt with me!

SUNSET

Sunsets in the winter just arent as stunning as in the Fall.

BLACK AND WHITE

My absolute hands down favorite shot of the week, heck, maybe even the year so far! This one is going on canvas. I love how you can hardly tell where the ground ends and the sky begins.

A DAY IN MY LIFE

A good cup of tea, and a good book make up a slice of "A day in my Life" I usually begin and end each day with both!

FOUR

4 Beautiful Horses we found on our travels

COLORFUL

My quilting needles in Macro :)

I Heart Macro 1-22-12

I have to say, it is getting more and more challenging to find Macro subjects to photograph! I am finding it harder each week. Especially this week when we got around 6 inches of ice and snow! It seems like everything I do find is a shade of gray. Well, personally, I like gray! Here are my photos for this weeks "I Heart Macro" challenge. I hope you have a wonderful week. I hope the weather is nicer wherever you are too!

 Buds?!

 Japanese Lantern

 Cocoon

 Icy Leaves

 Jack Frost visited my truck

Wild  Lavender

 Tiny leaves

Woodpecker holes

I Dreamed A Dream P52

It is week 3 of the 52 week photo challenge named "P52". This weeks theme was in honor of Martin Luther King day, and was aptly titled "I Dreamed a Dream". I didnt have any photos of myself (surprise, surprise) so I decided to use a picture of Grandbaby Kileigh (3) I took this week. She is so deep in thought a lot of times. I wonder what she daydreams about, where her thoughts take her, what her hopes and dreams for the future are. I wish I knew. It could be she is thinking about her Mommy when I watch her, or her toys, her favorite cartoons, or maybe its more deep like about when she grows up, what she wants to be, where she wants to go in life. Maybe she just thinks about what she wants to eat or play next. I hope that the latter is the case. Kids grow up much to quickly these days. I hope her dreams are all about happy thoughts and simple pleasures. She will have to face the rest soon enough, just be little Kileigh. Growing up isn't always what its cracked up to be. I Love you!

Scavenger Hunt Sunday 1-15-12

Another week has come and gone. The older I get, the faster time goes it seems. The weather here finally matches the season we are in. We got some snow and the highs are in the teens right now. Not the same weather we had on Wednesday when Kim and I went on a nature walk. It was 50 degrees and absolutely beautiful, especially in January in Wisconsin. We took advantage of that for a photo shoot. We are finding less and less interesting subjects to snap, but if we look deep enough and walk far enough, we can still find a couple of "gems" to snap. Sit back and enjoy my nature walk with me. I so enjoy your visit! Here are the photo prompts for this weeks hunt:
1. Stacked Up
2. Winter Wonderland
3. Sweet
4. Hole
5. Frozen
A couple of the prompts worried us a bit considering the weather, like Winter Wonderland, and Frozen. Mother Nature cooperated with us and on Thursday we had a decent snowstorm, so we could finish the Scavenger Hunt with frest photos!

Stacked Up

A stack of fungi on a downed tree.

Winter Wonderland

Delicate little Snowflake

Another one!

Sick of them yet??

Sweet

Oreo Balls, yummy and oh so rich! Made by Jess!

Hole

Perfect hole in a rock.

Frozen

Icicles on my truck

Have a wonderful week and thank you so much for visiting my blog!

I Heart Macro 1-14-12

Hi! Welcome to my "I Heart Macro" post for this week. We had wonderful weather for half of this week, so Kim and I decided to get together for tea/breakfast/lunch then take a nature walk on Wednesday while the weather was so nice. When it is January in Wisconsin, you can blink and the weather will go from 50's to 10 below zero, so if it hits the 50's, you need to take advantage of it as soon as possible. thats exactly what we did. Here are some of the many photos I took that day. Thanks for stopping by!

Birds nest in a birdhouse

Grass

Little leaf only about 1/2" tall

Branch with a sun spot.

Leaves and berries

Maddux's fur makes a great snowflake catcher! This is a new one, much better than the older one I posted!