Sunflowers

Grinter Farms has the most beautiful sunflowers I have ever seen. Fields and fields of sunflowers just 
looking up and smiling at you. It only lasts a few weeks, so go while you can. It is a sight not to be missed. (This year is done so don't miss it next year)

How can you look at this picture and not smile. 

It's so happy

I will not give up on the butterflies. I will
figure them out someday

Rainy day craft

We had a rainy day last week, so I got out the crafty stuff and made pipe cleaner snakes. Super easy and Kai thought it was fun. I just bent the "head" around and used a sharpie to add eyes. 30 minutes later Kai had a snake:)

June baby

She is a climber, a talker and a hugger. She give the best hugs with arms fully wrapped around you, a big squeeze, complete with finger taps. She is so full of joy and my heart is so full of her. I am so thankful for what I have in this life.

 

 Happiness

Potato and squash pasta bake

Potato and Squash Pasta bake 

10 oz frozen cubed butternut squash
10 oz frozen cubed sweet potato 
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon 
2 tbs olive oil 

Roast potatoes and squash in the oven at 400 on a cookie sheet with spices and drizzle with olive oil 20 minutes then turn and 20 more mins

Sauce
Next cook below ingredients in a big skillet,
salute the onion and garlic in butter until the onion is slightly brown then add spinach,  next add the mascarpone and milk.

one onion 
2 cloves garlic 
1/2 stick of butter 
1/2 bag of frozen spinach 
one 8 oz container of mascarpone 
1 cup milk 

Cook 1lb penne pasta

In a large bowl combine the pasta and the sauce

Next
add to casserole dish and sprinkle with diced cooked bacon  1/2 cup mozzarella and 1/4 cup parmesan  

Cook 20 minutes until the cheese is melted and warm

I topped my pasta with balsamic and it was yummy:) Enjoy

Snake friend

I don't want my kids to be afraid of snakes and so when we get an opportunity for them to see a harmless snake out in nature I am always sure to stop and let them look. We saw this tiny ring necked snake at the lake while flipping rocks over to look for worms. Kai thought he was pretty neat.

Still learning

 Does Kai's head look funny? Yep, I
switched heads with another one of the same time
and I then add different effects and it did not add
to Kai's head. Still learning

I love this shot. I may even love
it more in black and white, I should have blurred the
butterfly more

Should have blurred the butterflies
here also 

I made this one a little too dark around the edges.
I have learned pictures look different in
photoshop then they do on the blog 

This bunny is just silly 

It's too blurry 

I like this one

This is a fairy tree. 

I under exposed this picture and
had to fix it, so its grainy. 

Sky

So my new trick this week was leaning how to add a sky to pictures. I like doing this and it's pretty easy for me which is nice. You will notice on the last picture I forgot to blur the sky to match the background. I have so much to learn.

 

 

 

This is the sky I forgot to add a blur. This is
not how a camera would shoot. The back ground is blurry so the sky
would be blurry too. You can not go from focus to blur to focus
so this sky would have to be blurred. 

more pics

Journey

I have started teaching myself photoshop for a little over 2 months now and I am in love. I am a sponge and can not stop watching Phlearn videos and playing with the pictures I take of the girls. I like over exposed and light magical edits and that requires a lot of manipulation with the photos I take. I had no idea photoshop could do so much and I am having so much fun learning. I am excited to show everyone by progress of my photos and how my editing style has changed week to week. I have taken a ton of photos of the girls and I think they might be over it but what can I say, I love to snap photos. The photos below were from when I was just starting and figured out how to use and adjust actions from the Coffee Shop Mom. A great web site.  I also had to teach myself how to store and resize the photos. Sounds easy and once you figure it out it is but the learning curve is steep. I do have to say it's nice to use my brain and teach myself a new trick. 

It's a beast

This thing was a beast, I mean it was huge. It also was quite comical how long it took us to get the spider outside. It took lots of planning and equipment to get the 3 inch quick as lighting spider outside, but we did it. I hope he appreciates the gesture and eats lots of Mosquitos.