100 days project is still going strong. More than halfway there!

Some of these pictures are repeats from the vacation post. 🙂

Day 49: 

Day 50: HALFWAY THERE!

Love these two so much. 

Day 51: 

Animals are hard, because they are never completely still. Getting better, but could have focused a little differently. 

Day 52: 

Getting better at movement shots! Love that I can see some of the individual drops of water. 

Day 53: 

Day 54: 

Love the motion in this pic. And, still trying some different perspectives. 

Day 55:

Again, working on different perspectives. Needed a little better focus in this one. 

Day 56: 

Gotta have a sunset picture at the lake! Love the colors. 

Day 57: 

This makes me want a new lens that I can get closer with. 🙂

Day 58: 

Day 59: 

Nothing like seeing your own bed when you’ve been away. Working on different perspectives still. 

Day 60: 

Day 61:

I love all the colors in this picture, and all the sweet smiles. 

Day 62: 

I had a really hard time choosing just ONE picture for this day, because I took Jo’s 8 year old pics, and ended up with so many that I loved. 

Day 63: 

Again, working on different perspectives. 

Only 37 days left!

This week I finally got around to taking Josie’s 8 year old pictures. I let her have a lot of say in this photo shoot, because she is definitely not as gung-ho to take pictures as she used to be. She wanted to shoot at the square in Springfield. I picked one outfit (the dress), she picked the other. She wanted me to curl her hair by letting her sleep in braids, so I said why not? 🙂 Jack also decided he wanted to join in on the picture fun, and I definitely said yes, because it is not every day that your 5 year old son voluntarily asks to take pictures! Anyways, I think I got some keepers….and these two kiddos- I love how much these two love each other. 🙂

This is what I got when I asked them to look “serious.” 

Legs for days…

Embracing the “little” in my girl for as long as I can. 

Her idea….she loved these wheels on the wall. 

We just returned yesterday from a glorious 2 week vacation to our home away from home, Dale Hollow Lake. It was a great trip, full of swimming, relaxing, reading, biking, walking, ice-cream, riding in the boat, kayaking, and movie-watching. Almost the whole family was there at various points of the trip (Justin didn’t get to come up this time, though). I couldn’t possibly tell everything we did, so I will just give some highlights and photo bomb. 🙂

Some highlights: 

-Josie got up on skis! She wasn’t the biggest fan, but she can officially say she has skied. 

-Jake and I took a long kayaking trip one morning to Holly Creek and back. It was great. We still have a goal some day to kayak from Sunset Dock to the Dam. 

– Jack rode a million miles on his bike. 

– Wyatt and Katie Ann spent the night in our camper one night- they all had such a blast! 

– Our sweet friends from church got to come up for a couple of days, and stayed the night in our camper. We were so glad they got to come! It’s always fun to share your favorite place with your friends. 

And now for the photo bomb….

Eating at Taco Bell on the way up…

First glimpse of the water after getting there….

Jack rode his bike a million miles…and always like a crazy person.

Hanging out with Everett in our camper

Everett with his Ta

Lots of playground playing….

Our crazy kids who love to match whenever they can…

Jack loved playing with his new “ahmote ah-troll” (remote controlled) boat that Casey got him for his birthday! 

Love these two. 🙂

The girl skied!!!

Sweet Everett with his Mama

Jack loves helping Jake drive the boat

These kids were kayaking machines! Josie figured out how to use hers as a paddle board, and that is mainly the only way she used it after that. 🙂 She is definitely  a girl after my own heart. 

Getting ice cream at the dock with Grammy and Pappy….because why not? 🙂

I thought this picture was cool- walking back from the dock after getting ice cream- Pappy, Jack, Josie, Grammy, me, and Jake. 🙂

Making card houses with the cousins

Having lots of fun with our sweet friends from church! 

We took them to see the waterfall at Sulfur Creek….

The kids were always WORN out by the end of the day…I loved this picture- Jack fell asleep “reading” one night, with the book fully propped up. 

One day we all rode to East Port to get lunch (and ice-cream, of course)….

Feeding pizza to the fish….

Happy Birthday Alec- he turned 14!

Sleepover at our camper! 🙂

That smile….

One day Jake and I took the kids over to this rock island that my mom and dad used to take us to so that they could jump off. They LOVED it! We even went back another day. 

These kids were jumping machines this year. I couldn’t keep sunscreen on their faces, because they were always under the water! 

This was Jack’s version of a dive. 🙂

Mr. Rick and Ricky were there, and brought their instruments, so one night we went over so Jake could play with them. I loved it! I remember doing this so many nights when I was growing up. 

We spent lots of time on “Coon Island” ….

Beau is one smiley kid 🙂

These kayaks got LOTS of use!

With that smile again…

Sleepy Kinley…

Beth is ALWAYS in a mask…

Josie loves her Grammy…

We went to Sunset one night for dinner…

This was a HARD sought after picture. This was probably the best one out of about 20 :). It is no easy time getting a picture of 5 kids, 3 of whom are under the age of 3. 

Isn’t my Nana beautiful?

Sunset at Sunset….

Chad brought his tube out one day. He and Kinley rode….

And then the munchkins rode with Shshr….

They got brave! 

On our last day we went back to the waterfall with the family….

This was such a wonderful trip. We are so blessed to be able to get to do something like this every year. I hope my kids grow up having as good of memories as I do of going to the lake every year. 

My 100 days project is still going strong, even if I have been slow to post about it these last two weeks! 

Day 36: 

Cool bird at the zoo

Day 37:

It’s the time of year to shuck corn! 

Day 38:

Fireworks over the lake! I’m really learning my camera more, because previously I didn’t know how to make shots like these turn out well. 

Day 39:

Two cuties at the Fourth of July parade

Day 40: 

Working on some different angles, different areas of focus. 

Day 41: 

Cucumbers coming out our ears…

Day 42:

Blackberries coming out our ears, too. Playing with black and white. 

Day 43:

Fun times with friends…love the capitol building in the background. 

Day 44: 

One of my favorite shots from a photo shoot I had that day…..I forgot to get my camera out at home after the photo shoot! 

Day 45: 

More corn- leftovers from getting it ready to freeze…I love this bucket in photos. 

Day 46:

My Jack-man riding his bike-working on different perspectives again…this time my camera is completely on the ground as he rides toward me. 

Day 47: 

My beautiful girl who is in that awkward stage of life….

Day 48: 

My cousin with his look-alike little boy. 🙂

I have been a slow blogger as of late, but the was too fun not to blog about. Last Friday the kids and I met some sweet church friends to go ice skating! We all had so much fun, and the kids did great ice skating! Even Jack was skating completely solo by the end. 

Love all these sweet kiddos!

I love all these ladies! What great people to get to do life with! 

After we ice skated, we headed over to the Bicentennial Mall to picnic and play in the fountains- it really was a day of extremes- first ice, then sun! 

So blessed to have such an awesome church family.