Grade 10

Wow, can't believe she is in grade 10 and will be turning 16 this year!

Catching up with some cousins

A few of my cousins came into town so a number of us met up and went for lunch.  It was so great to see them again, we don't get to see them very often.  

My twin cousins, their older sister and myself.

The impromptu lunch brought out a few more cousins, my aunt and my mom.

This is a photo of all of the cousins that made it to the lunch today.  A mini reunion - although my dad being the youngest of 12 and many of his siblings had large families so I have a lot more cousins out there, some I am not sure I have ever met.

Garden Hydrangeas... and a kitty

Trying to take photos has proven to be a little more difficult with a curious kitten in the house.  I wanted a photo of my garden hydrangeas.  They are special to me because they are a clipping from one of my grandmas plants many years ago.  I finally got a photo I am happy with but it did take awhile...

I had a little help 

'New Chair'

I had this old wooden chair from a garage sale years ago (I think I paid $2) for it.  I first painted it dark brown and it has been like that for several years.  Today I added the blue and distressed it a bit - LOVE it now.  I have it now sitting by my front door rather than in storage and only to pull out when we need extra chairs.

Just Danica

I am not very good with Photoshop so I am working hard at taking better photos so that I don't have to use my Photoshop.  Luckily, Danica is a willing participant most of the time.  I am happy with how this turned out.  These are straight out of the camera no edits.

Moments

My favorite photos at events are just the candid ones when moments are like this one are captured.

She is kind of cute...

Where did that come from?

Danica got her room all organized the new lockers in her closet all organized and I wanted to see.  I went up to look and out from under her bed runs a kitten....what???  Where did that come from? Danica a little hesitant told me it was hers (now remember a few months back when she bought herself a turtle without asking...).  Apparently her boyfriend gave it to her for their 1 year anniversary... he knew she loved animals and kittens - sweet yes - but do we really need another animal?  When we first got Chloe (our current white cat) we had a calico named Cleo.  Cleo got very jealous and we think ran away so I have not wanted Danica to get another kitten, not sure how Chloe would take it.  So here we are, this new little addition, who by the way has been living in our trailer for the past three days - no litter box (Danica has been taking it outside to go the bathroom), no kitty food (she has been given the regular cat food) with Danica visiting as much as she could because she was afraid to tell me - thought I would be mad.  So last night at 10:30 I sent Jaimee up to Wal-Mart to get some litter and food...heck I love animals but not sure how Chloe would take it.  Time will tell, hopefully all goes well.  Of course now I'm thinking... do I really want to camp with a dog and TWO cats?!  Look at this though - so cute!

Cookie Monster

Danica was busy in the kitchen this afternoon.  

Love the personality that each one has.

Sprinkler time...

A sure sign of summer around our house is the sprinkler going.  I have a lot of flower beds to keep watered so I put the sprinkler to work.

Fruit

The photo prompt is fruit.  We have lived in our house for 10 years and our tree has never produced cherries before.  This year we have a good crop growing, yay.  My favorite fruit.

Zip Lining today

Today we took Danica and a friend to Nanaimo so they could do some zip lining.  They had fun!

Craft Room

In between errands and painting railings, I have spent the last couple of days purging/organizing my craft room (again, hehehe).  Feels good to be done.  Today's photo is a series of photos to show where I spend my time - the photo prompt is: Happiness is:

Beautiful Sunset

The great thing about being an early riser is you get to see sunrises and sunsets.  We had a beautiful sunset tonight.

Grad and some Bouquets

Well the day has finally come and gone.  Jaimee graduated last night (and today is off to Taylor Swift in Vancouver - lucky girl).  We are very proud of her!

Now between her grad/birthday and my end of year teacher gifts, we have several beautiful bouquets scattered around the house and I love it!

Using my Coupon

It has been awhile since I posted here but today I captured Jaimee making good on a Mother's Day Gift Certificate she gave me - car wash and detail.  Love it

Butterfly World

Photo prompt B is for...

I decided B is for buds and blooms

Prom Dress photos

We lucked out on the weather today.  It was sort of raining all week and today was iffy.  Well the weather turned out perfect for our Prom Dress photos.  I had a professional photographer come to take photos of my daughter and her friends.  I went along to watch, learn and to take some of my own photos.  I wanted some behind the scene shots and to be able to practice my own skills as I am constantly trying to better my photography skills and stay away from the auto setting.

I am so happy that I went along.  I know the photographer got some unreal shots and I can't wait to see them.  However, I am very happy at what I captured from the day as well.

I love detail shots

Those teens are never to far from their phones

Fun shots

The girls looked liked little girls tromping through the field lifting up their dresses... love the boots on on girl!

And of course some casual portraits that I captured as well.  What I am most happy about I did very little photoshopping and on most of them NONE!  Which of course means that I am starting to grasp this photography thing.  Now, that being said, I am sure once I see the professional ones, I will see where I need to improve, but for now, I love what I captured today.

Just a side note, it is a total coincidence that the girls have 'matching' dresses but it sure worked well today!

Mom's new puppy

On Tuesday when asked if she wanted a puppy, my mom said no, she didn't want another dog.  This is what arrived at her house on Tuesday - guess her 'no doesn't always mean no' - wish I would have known that when I was a kid ;)

Wet

The photo prompt for today is wet.  Well the rain has begun again so that was an easy one to get.  Looks like we are in for a rainy week.  Good thing I got my gardening done.

Gardening Day

I spent a good three hours in the flower gardens again - weeding, rearranging, planting.  I can't wait until more of the items are filled out and blooming.