memorial day 2011

it was so nice to spend memorial day with rocky and the kids!!

so...monday morning rocky set off to do a bit of work on the beach, leaving very early to actually get a parking spot...he got all set up with his work things needed to do some work (for back home) and realized that he could pick us up and still be back to the spot before people started to pack onto the beach.

so...he came home for us and off we went..the beach is much more fun with the whole family, right?? yes.

we had a great time kite flying, snorkeling, swimming, wave jumping (i learned that a bikini may not be the best attire for really strong wave jumping...i'll just say that this is NOT a nude beach..must get a more sturdy swim suit). 

we also had fun relaxing beneath the umbrella, playing in the sand, going for walks, and enjoying spending time together.

but....today we look strangely related to the lobster. OUCH! sunburn is no fun! i do love the color red, but would rather our skin not be a lovely shade of it...it just hurts.

so...we have been getting pretty cozy with extra virgin olive oil (it's good for sunburns...google it) ;-)

i may or may not post more on my thoughts on natural sunscreen vs. chemical sunscreens on a later post on my health blog sometime soon, we will see. (you can google that too..chemical vs. barrier sunscreens)... but, i will say that even with multiple applications with the natural one we have been using , we have been getting more red than we should be...so, (gasp) i may be thinking about exploring chemical ones...(did i really just say that?). though...i really only apply the sunscreen if needed like long beach days, etc. (we love vitamin d around here and love being able to get it from the sun).

so.....back to memorial day happenings...

my sexy snorkel man ;-)

operation: cover daddy with sand

starting from the feet up...

just so you know...i think it is pretty clear which pictures are taken with my cell phone and those taken on my nikon..i love the toy camera effect on my cell phone, in case you couldn't already tell. ;-)

i pray you all had a wonderful weekend and got to spend it with the ones you love!

love,
kelly

week in review..

scenes from this past week via cell phone photos...

 lounging around the pool..

mid tongue stick out. ;-)

after much trying, he finally caught a lizard.

his dream came true!

so...this week has seen lots of lizard hunts, pool play, and overall lots of time outside..we are so thankful for the pool here, in fact...i would love to have a pool at our home someday...the kids love being in the water {and so do we}.

i pray everyone is having a very blessed holiday weekend!

oh, be sure to stop by my other blog, 'kisses from a coconut'...i almost never post there, but decided that i ought to stop in,say hello, publish the review i did on a product, and of course offer a giveaway, too!! who doesn't like giveaways?? ;-)
so...go check it out here and enter the giveaway if you would like.

the contest runs until sunday, june 5th at 12:00 a.m. CST.

love, kelly

Easter...part II

more scenes from Easter {beach time}...

seagull chasing

trying to outrun the waves..

 waiting in anticipation for the wave to crash {on them}

a random little girl...but, just too adorable not to photograph

father-daughter sand castle making

lily looking like she may be responsible for something... ;-)

well, that pretty much sums up Easter day for us..

what a blessed day, it was!

~kelly~

home video: david & goliath

hi!

rocky got the great idea a few weeks ago to video the kids reenacting a scene from the Bible. {yes, i finally figured out how to embed a vimeo video into the blog- yay} ;-)

rocky is such a smart man! seriously..i've got to brag here. what an amazing way for Bible stories to come alive for the kids!

thank you, rocky, for this idea and for putting together this little video. it really means so much to me! just look at our cute little "actors", who did a super job, btw..i look forward to many more. ;-)

so on to the video...

Easter 2011...part I

yes, yes...Easter was a while ago, but at least i'm posting these in 2011 so, that counts for something, right?:-)

more photo catch ups...

this was when jeremy and "patch" were in town the weekend of Easter...

so..Easter sunday we went to an egg hunt (i say "we" and mean that, as there was even an egg hunt for the adults, too).

on a mission..

view from where the adult egg hunt was. (people literally drop from the sky here)

patch looking all adorable..

sometimes what you are looking for is right under (or above) your nose..

random to some, but not to me...these were cute little birdhouses  (they were used as egg hiding spots, too)

jeremy being silly

really getting into it..

lily being quite thankful daddy was there to help..

rocky and "the colonel", the sweet man who invited us to the yearly egg hunt at his home. (the colonel is the grounds keeper at the airport rocky works at)

checking out the loot

we are very thankful for the generosity of the colonel and his family. they truly make Easter a very special time of the year for their family, and we are very thankful that we were able to be a part of their fun this year.

seriously...the colonel planned the whole event beautifully and thoughtfully (his wife said that he was even at the store at 5 a.m getting all the goodies and baskets for the kids). how sweet is that??

anywho..part 2 (the beach on easter) coming up next post...stay tuned. ;-)

have a blessed day!

~kelly~

beach play date..part two

hello!

just so you know... i do not usually post two times in one day, but if we are getting technical..i actually posted the battle at f-stop ridge video yesterday for today (actually thinking i wouldn't get these photos up today, but being today is my last day with my photoshop trial and i am uncertain if my dear, sweet hubby will give the go ahead for the official purchase of photoshop, i had to get some more editing done...call it priorities.)

the first part of this post was the one with photos of tiffany and her baby...these are some more pictures from the beach play date...

a moment of thought and observation

the kids at play

looks like a race to me...

little miss 'r' just being adorable..

lovely laura

lily being somewhat protective of her mama's camera bag? um, slightly. ;-)

it was a beautiful day at the beach with groovy company. ;-)

love,
kelly

oh..and be sure to enter the shabby apple dress giveaway over at a beautiful journey blog!! click here to enter...

linking up with life made lovely monday

battle at f-stop ridge

okay...this was just too funny not to share...
oh, and it was filmed with my dream camera, the canon 5d mark II, in case you are curious.

yes, photography is a serious thing. ;-)

little "o"

these were taken during a recent trip back to tn.

some friends {we happily claim them as family, too} were in town visiting from canada...so naturally i had to take pictures...

little "o" {one of their four kids) was just too adorable not to photograph. all dressed up in a pretty spring/summer dress...

she seemed to really enjoy being in front of the camera...clearly a natural.

precious little lady, indeed.

isn't she a doll??

more to come from that visit...i just wanted to share a few right now...
{you see, my photoshop trial run will be ending soon so i am trying to edit while i can) yes, slightly paranoid about not having good photo editing software? you could say that. ;-)
...i truly have grown to love photoshop and if all goes as planned i will be able to try out lightroom next (that is if our computer can handle it...it's kind of old).
either way...photoshop is a must for me. i will be a mess without it. ;-)

i hope you all have a wonderfully sunshiny day!
~kelly~

tiffany & her sweet baby

i had the privilege of snapping a few photos of an adorable mama, tiffany and her equally adorable 7 week old daughter.

i must admit that i was bitten by the "baby bug" while taking these pictures. oh man...seems like just yesterday my little wildflowers were this teeny tiny. {yes, i could be persuaded to sprout more little people}.
i even asked rocky last night..."can we have one more?" he replied with, "one more what?" i said, "another human." he then replied back with..."ten more." hmmm..... ;-)

i just met tiffany for the first time yesterday while at the beach for a play date (aka: moms chat and kids play and vice versa).

i could see so much love from tiffany for her daughter..it truly melted my heart.

now..on to some cuteness...

i took many more photos, but these are the best of the bunch {as i was having some issues with shadows being cast from the umbrellas}...but overall i think you get the idea of how much love i witnessed. 

happy, blessed day to you!!

memories of mud...

these were taken a couple years ago {9-11-09} to be specific.

i was reflecting back over past pictures and noticing how much the kids have grown... {tear}

i came across these.

i remember the day (and the mud) like it was yesterday.

i am amazed how much they have grown and blossomed.

so...is this something you would let your child do? ;-)

i know...i should have stripped the kids down to just the essentials before such an event, but clearly...this wasn't planned.

so...we just went with the flow {and grabbed the camera}.

but, clearly...fun was also had (in addition to mud in the ears) so unplanned, messy, muddy fun was totally worth it.

oh...and just so you know....the area that is behind the kids in the pictures looks quite different now-a-days...{a tornado ripping through will do that} our house, orchard, and vineyard are still in tact {we are very thankful} but now we have an amazing view of the mountains which we knew were there, but we couldn't see them before..now we can.

have a blessed weekend, all!
~kelly~