The Lighthouses of North Carolina

Today we got up early and made our way to the outer banks of North Carolina. It was a long drive and the weather was iffy, but it was fun.We saw two of the lighthouses we hadn't seen before and also took some family pics. As the day wore on, the weather got worse and our photo opportunities were slim to none. But here's what we got.

Gregg loves his truck, so I took a photo of it parked off the side of the road. It looks quite clean here, but believe me, it isn't.

First we visited Bodie Lighthouse. It is 165 feet tall and was completed in 1872.

We took a few pictures around this area. This was taken behind the Bodie Lighthouse info center.

It was SO windy, I thought we were going to blow away. This one was taken beside the Bodie Lighthouse info center. I like the natural look of this photo.

This was the only photo that I got where Payton was smiling. She wasn't loving the experience today.

And here is one of the family photos we took. We had trouble getting everyone to look good at the same time. This is the best we got out of something like 40 tries. I really don't like using the self timer, the pictures never come out as good in my opinion.

On our way further south, we saw this boat being moved. Gregg thought it was pretty neat and took a photo.

This is the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. It is 210 feet tall and was completed in 1870. It was raining pretty hard when we made it to this spot, so I took the photo from inside the truck.

After taking the photos in front of the lighthouse, we drove out onto the beach and took a few from there. The lighthouse was quite far off, so the photos didn't turn out real well, but you get the idea.

Pictures Of The Weirdos

After the kids got off the bus today, I dragged them outside to take a few photos. They were tired and somewhat ragged looking from a whole day at school. But here is what turned out. Not too bad for my first time I don't think.

Payton rather enjoys having her picture taken.

Austin is a different story. He complained through the whole 7 or so minutes we were out there and even cried at the end. You can see how unhappy about this whole situation he was in this photo.

Payton was coming up with her own poses the entire time, she's quite the ham.

This is the best photo I could get of Austin. This was right at the beginning in the front of the house. He thought we were finished when we went back inside. Little did he know that we were just transitioning to the back yard at that point.

I hope you all enjoyed the photos. I have a lot of reading to do about this new camera, hopefully my knowledge on the subject gets quite a bit better over time.

Just Some Photos...

So today I didn't have classes, but the kids were in school. I decided it would be nice to take my new camera out and take some photos around the neighborhood. Here is what I came up with. These weren't taken on the higher quality, IIRC it was on the lowest quality setting.

This is the inlet/pond just down the street in the neighborhood. I couldn't help but post this photo because it came out so pretty. It is bitter cold here, but it doesn't look so bad in the photo.

In the inlet there were some ducks, so I took a few photos, this one turned out the best in my opinion. I just love how the sun was reflecting off the water.

And finally when I got home, I attacked my favorite furry subject while wandering around in the back yard.

Maybe in the next few days I'll get the kids out in nature and snap a few of them.

OOOOH! An Early Christmas Present!!

Check out what Gregg brought home for me Friday when he came home from work!!

The Canon EOS 40D I have been begging for ever since we went to Philly!! I'm SOOO excited! Yes, I know how cheesy that sounds, to be so excited about a camera. I can't wait to put it to good use.

Isn't it beautiful? It's my new baby. He also brought me home 3 batteries, a memory card, and a remote - so we can take our Christmas card photo together.

We had checked out the Rebel XSi and it wasn't satisfying after having used the 40D. The zoom on this sucker is really amazing. I think I'll take a photography class at the University of Nebraska (since I've already enrolled in classes for next semester here).

So many buttons and I have no idea how to use them yet. Gregg did happen to bring me home an extra book with a full explanation of everything this camera offers. He's just the best husband in the world!

Obviously these photos weren't taken with the camera, they were taken with our Nikon we got before our Paris trip so it would fit in our pocket. It's an OK camera, but this sucker is awesome.

Below are some photos I took with the new camera when I got it on Friday. Make sure you open each of these up to check out the detail.

Here I am trying out the aperture priority. See how the walnut is in focus but everything else isn't? This is what I love about this camera, the options and how you can change the photos artistically.

I also love the detail it gives. Here is Andrè, up close and personal, isn't he handsome?

The kids weren't even slightly interested in my taking their photo after school. So I tortured the cats with the flash. Check out Jolie's tongue, that's some fast shutter speed. She kept moving so the focus isn't quite right. I hope to get better with time.

It's about time for the SOONER game.... Go Sooners - beat the snot out of TX Tech!!!

Flashback Friday - Photos of Turkeyday Past

So after searching through almost all of our computer files, I have found just a handful of photos from Thanksgiving or around that time. Enjoy!

This photo was taken exactly 4 years ago. Payton wouldn't be wearing those shorts while raking today, it's actually snowing this morning. Not a single flake is sticking, but we'll take what we can get snow wise.

This was taken right around Thanksgiving in 2006. Most of us are ready for bed in this photo, but Teresa popped by my dad's house to visit the kids. Gregg and I had just returned from vacation. We had left the kids with my dad while we went to England and France for a week, I can tell because we look all fat and happy. It must have been all the bread, wine and cheese we consumed while there. That was the best trip ever.

This was also 2006. In this picture, the hick in us is showing. Gregg is teaching Payton how to hold, aim and fire a gun in Mooreland while still visiting in Oklahoma. If I have done my math correctly this morning, she was 8 in this photo. I love this photo, it reminds me very much of my childhood. My father was HUGE into trapshooting, so I learned about guns from birth & I was an awesome shot.

This was Thanksgiving 2007. It was just us, here in Virginia, but we had a feast. This year we will be having the same. Hopefully we'll still be reeling from beating the living daylights out of Texas Tech tomorrow.

Toothless Wonder

Austin is really strange when it comes to pulling teeth. You never hear about how it's loose or any thing like that, you'll just hear randomly that he pulled his tooth out, upstairs in his room by himself. Oh, and he'll be covered in blood.

Last night he pulled out his other top front tooth. This photo was taken after the quick wipe-up job, getting the blood off his face and hands.


Gregg tickled him to get him to smile normally. I really don't think this tooth was loose even slightly. I think he just likes to pull them out.

Anyway, since tomorrow is flashback Friday, I am gathering up some old photos from Thanksgivings past. Until then...

Flashback Friday

It's been such a crazy week around here. I've got a pile of work that I need to do that is ever-growing. I did enroll in classes for next semester, which means this one is drawing to a close and finals are creeping up on me. I am very much looking forward to this winter break.

We have also been looking at houses (and schools) in Nebraska for next fall. Looks like the University of Nebraska is in my future since it's so close to where we think we'll be living. I am not looking forward to the moving part, but the change will be a nice one I think.

I was hoping to have some lovely fall in Virginia photos sometime this week, but it has been raining for almost 2 weeks straight now - so no luck yet, hopefully soon. So I leave you with this weeks Flashback Friday...

Here is Payton in June of 2001 while we were living in Norman, Oklahoma.

Someone Needs A New Phone

Today we went ice skating. I failed to take a camera, or even my cell phone, so we are stuck with the photos Gregg took with his phone. Please tell him he needs a new one, these photos are just horrible.


This was Austin's first time on the ice. He did pretty well but didn't enjoy it at all.

This was Payton's second time on the ice and after about an hour, she really got the hang of it.

This was also my second time on the ice. I wish we had these around locally when I was a child. There are so many positives about growing up in Woodward, but we really missed out on a lot too.

Obviously Gregg was taking the photos, so there are none for me to post of him. I am kicking myself for not taking my phone at the very least because photos of Gregg on the ice for the first time would have been priceless. He, like Austin, did not enjoy the experience. Gregg actually did pretty well on the ice, I think it must have been all the rollerblading in the 90's. I will not fail to take a camera the next time we go, you can be sure of that.

Flashback (TGI) Friday

I am so happy it's Friday, I cannot begin to explain how much so.

I thought everyone could use a little giggle, so I'm posing some silly photos of Payton at a playground in the DC area from back in early 2001. She was still 2 in these.

If there was a line to stand in for another little one just like her, I'd stand in that line for all eternity, just to have another 5 or 10 minutes of her love and joy as a small child.

I hope everyone has a nice weekend.

November Is Here

I cannot believe it is November already. The weather is still all over the place here. This past weekend the weather was beautiful! We had a nice and relaxing weekend with not much that had to be done. With Halloween hubbub on Friday, Saturday we went and did some shopping and had a really nice time. Later, Gregg and I had an evening out. We hit up our favorite Irish pub for a pint or two and some really tasty grub and then went to see "RocknRolla" - which was really entertaining if you like euro style films.

The OU vs. Nebraska game DVRd while we were out and we watched it when we returned home. It was great to see OU beat the living daylights out of Nebraska. It still doesn't make sense to me that we dropped in the BCS rankings, but anyone with half a brain knows that the BCS is crap & we really need a playoff system.

Sunday, we slept in and just hung out around the house all day. Payton played with a neighbor and Gregg threw the ball around with Austin for a bit. The kids school is closed today and tomorrow for a staff day and election day respectfully, so it's more of the same around here until Wednesday.

Here are a few photos from our slow weekend.

Austin is a lefty, but can throw the football pretty well.

See that, not too bad for little hands.

Here are Brooklynn and Payton relaxing on the trampoline.

Gregg was supposed to get orders this month, but that has been put off until February 2009. I guess we won't know anything until then. I would like a little more notice than 9 months to prepare for a huge move and selling the house and such, but the Navy runs things, so I guess I'd better go with the flow. I was hoping for news now; been looking forward to it for months. Just three more months to go I guess.

Trick or Treat - 2008

We had a wonderful Halloween yesterday. Everything went smoothly and the kids loaded up with candy. Here are a few photos from the evening.

I painted the pumpkins to make it easier for them to know where to carve. The red sections were to come out and the black was to stay. Here Payton is beginning on the house pumpkin.

Gregg picked the bat pumpkin. He decided to use a dremel tool to get the orange skin off the pumpkin for the moon background, hoping that it would glow a little. It made quite the mess doing this, check out his arm and shirt.

Austin isn't very good with sharp tools, so his job was to clean off all the pumpkin seeds for roasting later.

Here is the finished product with flash...

And the finished product without.

Austin wanted to dress as Frankenstein and Payton was a bumble bee again.

I decided to be silly and dress up to hand out candy. I was a cat, you can't see my long tail though. We didn't have many trick or treaters, so we have about half of our treats left. I made a ton of snacks for the evening that were all Halloween themed, but I failed to take photos. We had witch finger cookies, cocktail mummies & some other items, they were so cute. Later that night we stayed up and watched "The Strangers" - it was scary!