Love That Shot!

Ok..so this is my first time entering on Love that shot. This weeks judges are Angie and Amy from i heart faces (another site I absolutely love). I love entering photography contests! I love to look at everyone's work! It really gets me inspired to try new things! So my photo entry is of my niece. She is such a sweetie pie! And I fell in love with this photo as soon as I took it! I just love the vintage look to it! This photo took lots of fruit snacks..haha..but it was well worth it. When I am taking portraits..I try to have lots of fun with the kids! Take a couple pictures and then let them play for a while. Then take a few more..It has seemed to work very well for me. :)

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and see some more great shots!

I Heart Faces: Photojournalism

This weeks theme at i heart faces is Photojournalism! You can either submit one photo telling a story or you can submit a collage of 5 photos telling a story! I have chosen to do a collage because they are so much fun to put together! And I always like looking at more photos! :) So here is my entry! This summer all our son loved to do was play in the water! He would play all day in the water if I would let him. I mean what kid wouldn't?!

Head on over to www.iheartfaces.com and check out more photojournalism entries! Everyone have a fun and safe Labor Day weekend!!!

Beach Fun!!

Well I haven't participated in an I Heart Faces challenge in a long time..Been so busy lately! So this weeks challenge is Beach fun! Oh how I love the beach! I love searching for shells and anything else I can find. Last time we were at the beach we found lots of jellyfish washed ashore and also a sea horse. It was pretty cool! Wish I could go there again soon. :)

My entry is of my son while we were in Sarasota, Florida. My parents have a condo on Siesta Beach..we were down there February of this year and it wasn't very warm..So if you can't tell by the picture, Tristan is a little cold..Seriously after we were done playing in the sand he was shivering b/c it was so cold..felt so bad for him. We were maybe on the beach for only 10 minutes. Couldn't believe how cold it was. The rest of the days that we were on the beach, we were dressed in pants and sweatshirts. Brrr....!

Head on over to (http://www.iheartfaces.com/) and see everyone's fun at the beach photos!

I Heart Faces: All about babies!

The theme for I heart faces is "all about babies". Now it doesn't just have to be any baby..but it can also be baby animals! :) I love baby animals! So much fun to capture them when they are young! So I am going to introduce the newest member of our family. Well we have had him for about 1 month and a half now, but I just have to share him with everyone b/c he is so darn cute! Everyone- Meet Gus! He's a long haired dapple dachshund! As of now he is about 3 months old!





Now head on over to http://www.iheartfaces.com/ and see some more babies!

I Heart Faces: Play!

Haven't posted on I heart faces for a while now..been so busy this summer! Anyways...this weeks theme is Play! Of course I have a ton of those pictures! :) There isn't a minute I don't have my camera out when my son is playing! This past weekend we had my son's 2nd birthday party! He had a blast as you can see by the picture! This was pry one of his favorite parts of the day, running through water with his 2 aunts! Enjoy! Head on over to I heart faces(www.iheartfaces.com) and check out everyone's entry!

Just an idea...

I know I haven't posted in a while..I didn't even post any pictures of when we moved into our new house! Ok..I'll share some photos with you. But I this wasn't the idea of my post today. :)

We had this truck plus my dad's trailor, and the rest of our cars filled with boxes. It was nuts!

Our house!

Some of our help! :)

Tristan and Addison played really good together!

Me and Tristan hanging out in our new backyard! He loves hearing and watching the birds!

My little sweety pie!

I also realized that I have tea growing in my backyard! Yay! I love garden tea!

Ok..so maybe I'll show you our entire house tomorrow! How does that sound?! :)

Have a great week everyone!!!

I Heart Desserts!

This week's challenge at I Heart Faces is "Desserts"! And I absolutely LOVE desserts! I don't eat them too often b/c my husbands never lets me order them, but I still love them! Here is my entry- This, I believe, is a chocolate mousse cake. While my mom and me were vacationing in Florida, we went to this French cafe. They had so many desserts that looked good but this is what I picked out. And let me tell you, it was delicious! Not too rich but just right! :)
To see some more delicious desserts head on over to www.iheartfaces.com
Have a great week!!

My Story in Photos: Dessert Recipe

This weeks challenge for I Heart Faces is "My Story in Photos: Dessert Recipe". We are to pick our favorite dessert and tell a story on how it is made! :) I love desserts..I have a very BIG sweet tooth! For Easter this year..I searched the Pillsbury website for a yummy recipe and found this: Easter Nest Cookies! I thought it would be a cute idea and also a yummy cookie recipe to try! So first..

Ingredients:
1 pkg. (16oz) Pillsbury Ready to bake sugar cookies
1 container (12oz) Fluffy white frosting
1 cup flaked coconut
food coloring
jelly beans (I used speckled M&Ms)

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake cookies as directed on pkg. Cool completely.

2. Frost cookies. Add coconut to a resealable plastic baggie. Add 2 to 3 drops of your favorite food color, shake bag to blend color. Sprinkle about 1 tsp. coconut on each cookie.

3. Top with speckled candy (in my case M&Ms)

I used neon food coloring to get spring colors for the coconut

Head on over to and see some more yummy desserts!!

Have a great week everyone!!

Another beautiful day outside!

Today has been another beautiful day to play outside with Tristan..I tried to do bubbles with him but it was just a little windy for that, so instead he ran around our yard chasing after our dog, Dewey. He had so much fun! Here are a few pictures from today!

He was picking all the loose pieces of our table off..

Then he would organize them on our chair..

Then pick some more off..

Cheesy face..

Giving Dewey a hug..

Love this picture!

And on a side note: I entered a contest a couple weeks ago to win a newborn sling for newborn photography from Keri Meyers!! And I won!!!! Yay!! I'm so excited!!!! I've always wanted to get one, but they were just a little too expensive for me to get.

Visit her website to see what I won! :) I picked out the dark chocolate sling!

http://newbornslingsbykerimeyersphotography.bigcartel.com/

Have a good rest of the week everyone!!

Dramatic B&W Photo Challenge: {I Heart Faces}

This weeks challenge at I Heart Faces is "Dramatic black and white photo"! I love black and white photos. I'm a real sucker for them. :) As soon as I saw this challenge I knew what photo I wanted to use, though my entry is several years old, I still wanted to enter it! My entry is at my brother's wedding. My brother and his wife are cutting their cake in this photo! :) I just love their expression! He is being so careful when cutting the cake and she just looks like she's ready to dig in! Ha! Enjoy!

Be sure to head on over to and see some more dramatic B&Ws!

Have a great week everyone!!

I heart faces: Focusing on Angles!

I love taking pictures with angles! I try to do it as much as I can. That is the challenge this week at I heart faces, Angles! I took this photo the other day when we had beautiful weather outside. We took Tristan to the park b/c we figured he would want to play on the playground. But instead of playing we enjoyed watching all the other kids play. So that is why he's not really paying attention to me in the photo. He was watching the kids! Would've been a better picture if he was actually looking at me, but I still love this photo!

Head on over to and see some more angles!
Enjoy your week everyone!!

Update on our lives!

Happy St. Patricks Day!!!! Hope everyone wore green today!

Haven't really posted much about our lives lately. So here goes...

1. We sold our house!!!!!!!!!! Yay! only bad thing is our closing date is April 16. great..we did go look at about 9 different houses last weekend. And now we have a top 3!

2. Yesterday was a B-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l day!! We took Tristan to the park..he loved it!! He really didn't want to do anything but watch all the kids..he did however walk around the whole park. And that's a long way for him. :) good exercise though! Here are a few pictures from yesterday.

3. Still working at JCPenney photography studio. I love it..but don't work as much as I want to.

4. The other day Tristan wasn't watching where he was going and ran right into a door..Stupid door didn't move. So that left a big bump on his forehead..now it's just bruised..but it looked awful. Can you see his nice bump?

5. And we are just enjoying life! Here are a few pictures I have taken recently. Enjoy and have a good rest of the week!

Giveaway!!

One of my friends is doing a giveaway for CSN stores!! They are giving away a dry erase/chalk board easel for two by 2Step!

If you would like to enter just go to
http://theblissfullyhappyhousewife.blogspot.com/2010/03/giveaway-time.html to enter!

Good luck! And thank you Jamie for posting this giveaway!!

Have a great weekend everyone!!!!

I Heart Faces: Jump for Joy!

This weeks challenge at i heart faces is "jump for joy!". This weeks challenge also allows you to have up to five photos! So...I was looking through my photos..and I remember taking this picture last year of my niece while she was jumping on the trampoline.

Head on over to and see more people jumping for joy!

I Heart Faces: Hands

This weeks challenge for i heart faces is "Hands". What a great subject to focus on. I was going to get a picture of my son's hands in the sand when we were in Florida, but it was so cold while we were there we didn't even get to play on the beach. We did get to play once but the sand was cold and wet.

So I had to go back through my photos and find a decent picture of some hands. And this is what I found! I took this a while ago. I used to be a landscaper at my dad's business. And every so often we would come across baby kill deer. So cute! But very annoying when they are adults. So here are 3 babies that we found. Aren't they cute?! I love animals, so I would always have my camera with me at work just in case we found something interesting. :)



Head on over to and see some more beautiful hands! :) Have a great week everyone!

My Story in Photos: Places I Love

This week's theme at i heart faces is "My Story in Photos: Places I Love". I have a ton of photos that I am going to share with you. I don't have photos of some places that I really love because at that time, I had a film camera! :) So those photos are in albums! But I will tell you about each place that I love. My all time favorite place is Italy, especially Venice and Naples! What beautiful places to visit..I wish I had some photos on my computer to share with you. If you ever get a chance to visit Italy definitely go to Venice and Naples! I have also got to visit Rome & Florence, Italy; Barcelona, Spain; Ireland; France; Hawaii; Australia; Tasmania; and New Zealand. I feel really lucky to have visited those places! Thanks Mom and Dad for taking me with you!! Love you!

Anyways back to the challenge, my first 2 pictures are from Australia. The first photo is of a kangaroo. The 2nd photo is of a pastry shop. Yum! I love their pastries...and I also love turkish delight. Just thought I would share it with everyone! :)If anyone has a good recipe to make turkish delight please share! Thanks!

My husband and I got married in a castle up in Charlevoix, MI. Let me tell you this place is pretty romantic! :) I'm so glad we found this place!

The ceremony

The next place that I love was on our honeymoon in Little Palm Island, FL. If anyone wants to go somewhere where kids aren't allowed, this is the place to go! :) I believe their are only 12 huts on the island, there's a spa (try the milk and honey massage) what an amazing massage- they actually wrap you with milk & honey, an enormous chess set to play, no cell phone service, no TVs, snorkeling, canoeing, key deer inhabit the island, beautiful sunsets and they also have great food! Little Palm Island is truly a romantic destination to go to! I had to include a picture of the dessert, it is so delicious! I think we had it every night we were there!

The next place that I love is northern Michigan. These pictures are taken at my parents lake house in Petoskey. But I love Mackinac Island! When we were little, our whole family would visit every year! If you haven't ever been to Mackinac Island- you need to go!

So these next 3 photos are of a beaver dam near my parents lake house. Such a beautiful creation!

These were also taken up in Michigan, but I love a place where I can go and capture beautiful wildlife and plants! Michigan is surely a place where you can do that!

My last favorite place is Colorado. My husband and I took a road trip to Colorado, July '09. We went to a few different spots. We actually really didn't know where we were going until we got there! We were going to be spontaneous! But we had lots of fun!

Have any of you seen "Yes Man"-then you might recognize this place! If you haven't ever seen it- this telephone museum, in Lincoln, Nebraska, was visited by Jim Carrey and Zooey Deschanel. We just saw Lincoln, NB as we were driving home from Colorado and thought we should stop by! We actually didn't get to go in it, b/c it was only open on Sundays.

There are more stories to be heard over at