23rd at Night

I'm so happy that Kelly dragged me out after a long day (after many sequential long days) of work to try something new.  She showed me the ropes in dabbling in a little night photography.  Even though I was tired and hungry, I quickly was captivated by the magic of dragging the shutter out to 30 seconds.  You never know what you are going to get depending on what light sources come along, so there is a mystery behind every shot.  Nerdy fun :).  

Speaking of nerds, we looked like SUCH DORKS out on the hip 23rd Ave nightlife with our tripods (and me in work clothes ... she at least thought ahead to bring a change of clothes).

No matter what, I had fun experimenting for my first time with night photography.  I definitely want to go out again.  As I was driving home I kept seeing really cool future night shots ;-).  Kelly said she did the same.

None of these are amazing, but I learned a lot even in a short time plus I had fun.  ~ Jessica

Puerta Valliarta - Boardwalk

I can't begin to explain how much fun we had traveling to Kristin (Aunt Kiki) and Chad's wedding in Mexico.  They boys were incredible, and they are of the age where they could pretty much go with the flow which takes the stress level significantly down for mommy and daddy.

We spent 9 days at the Westin, and the hotel was wonderful.  The pools were huge, and you just stepped out of the pool and onto the beach so we pretty much never had to leave.

The best part though was having so many friends (old, new, and in-between) there with us.  Going on vacation with friends is the best.  It would have been a totally different trip without all of our fun co-travelers.  

I literally had thousands of photos to sort through, and when we came back I launched into a few weeks of extra extra overtime at work.  These shots are from the boardwalk downtown.  It was one of the only 3 times we left our hotel.  Sunday nights on the boardwalk are family nights.  As the heat of the day cooled, people were dancing to street music, attending church, and just enjoying the beautiful culture well into the evening.  I think Bethany and I could have stayed for hours taking pictures, but the boys were pretty worn out by sunset.  What a wonderful evening with the Fegles pair.

We could not keep shoes on this kid ... his feet were BLACK

The sand sculptures were incredible.

Just loved spending time with these two.  

Bethany is usually only behind the camera ;-).  It was nice for both of us this trip to actually get to be in some photos!

Kristin & Chad over on Bethany's blog

I've been working like a crazy woman and haven't had time to go over my Mexico photos, but if you want a glimpse of the INCREDIBLE wedding we got to attend, head over to Bethany's site for her wedding photos.  Ugh, I want to go back!!!!!!!!  Congrats again Kristin and Chad!!

Spring Hike with Isaac

Here are some of many un-posted photos hanging out on my hard drive.  About a month ago, we took a hike after school with neighbors Tiffany and Isaac.  It was such a fun outing.

Have I mentioned how much I love Mr. Isaac.  I could not have hand picked a better everyday playmate for Mr. T.  He's such a sweet kid.  ~ J