sunshine, sea, & smiles

this past weekend we had some fabulous visitors...they came to see us from back home in tn. they even offered to bring someone else with them since they had an extra seat on their plane. Rocky's mom was going to make it, but at last minute couldn't so...Rocky's dad hopped on the plane.  

we love having visitors while we are here on the gulf coast! plus, i love having people stay with us. the more people, the better. love the company!

so, though we knew and appreciated they were here to see us, we also knew that the beach was also bringing them here. works for us! off to the beach we went!!

leafy was totally diggin' his splash!

the swimsuit lily was wearing made me giggle..it was a hand-me-down (first time she wore it) and it kept riding up and coming down..she had to re-adjust after just about every move she made. ;-) good thing she has other swimsuit choices. 

The two lovely people in the above picture are the friends who came to visit us..they are super sweet people with such a sweet daughter. we are thrilled they chose to spend their weekend with us.

hey, check out their camera...they own the same camera as us...the nikon d90. love this camera, btw. what is even more of a coincidence is that it turns out we both bought ours about two years ago and we use the same 18-105mm lens for most shooting. the difference: they own something we have been wanting to get for a while now and just haven't yet. they own the fabulous nikon speedlight SB-600 AF.

so..needless to say, rocky and i had to test it out and explore the world of extra fill light. ooh la la!! loved it!!

i am thankful we had the opportunity to experiment with with the fabulous flash! now, i am sold and intend to save the pennies to possibly get one someday. gotta love fill light!

she really is happy, really.  i had her see if a flash came out of the speedlight..she was looking for a flash. {testing testing}

more pictures to come from the weekend..i'd say these shots give a good idea of how fun the beach was this weekend.

God is so good. what blessed, fun times with lovely people!

blessings to you,
<3, kelly

what do you know...i caught one!

i caught a wildflower...and a wiggly one, at that!! ;-)

catching wildflowers, especially cute little wiggly ones, like my sweet offspring, can be challenging at times...but i caught one!

i was hoping the "catch" would be leafy, as i owe him a post. (coming up soon, i promise). ;-) little man is super fast and rarely slows down for a "kodak moment", especially when he is chasing and being chased on the playground with friends..love that boy and all that energy. i guess you could also say i didn't quite have the energy to try to catch such a wiggly wildflower at that moment...

anywho..yesterday we decided we would go to the kid's park before the library and this worked out great...we normally go to library story time first, then park second..i like the new order of events..

 i, unfortunately did not have the lovely nikon with me on this day (i feel as if we are joined at the hip most times..okay, cameras do not have hips but you know what i mean). you can usually find me hiding behind the nikon...it's safe there. it's where i like to be.

oh...a random thought is coming. if you know me..you know i love to name things. not just people, but things,too.  in this case i think since i talk about miss nikon so fondly she deserves a name...i will call her, nelly. nelly nikon. ;-)

so...being that the miss nelly nikon was doing what she rarely does (sleeping at home) i snapped a few shots of little lady on the swing with the camera phone..i am determined to take a decent swing shot...it will happen one day with all the practice i get at it, i am certain!

well...one turned out fairly decent...so, it is the picture of the day. ;-)

gotta love all the bruises on little lady's legs (poor sweet girl)...she is as rough and tough as her big brother. nothing holds her back from climbing (and sadly, sometimes falling) like her big brother. ;-)

she is an interesting mix of girlie princess and "indestructible" tomboy. ;-)

so here's the little picture..of the little lady...

i love her happiness captured in this photo!