I fell off the wagon. Hard.

It's been a super duper uber busy couple of weeks.  

I fell off the August Break wagon, HARD, but I am still smiling.

Getting to spend some time with my beautiful niece and sweet nephews who live out of state is worth it.

Here are some lovely wild flower photos to make up for it.  Yeah I said my own photos were lovely.  

That's allowed right?  Sometimes artists get a lil stoked off our own work, and that's ok.

We are wrapping up summer.  Summer is busy but I love it.  

I am sad to see it ending but I'm off now to make the most of what is left of it.  I hope you are doing the same!

A New Coast

After a week away with my party of 5 I am easing myself back into the daily grind.  We had a great trip up north to explore the Oregon Coast.  Such a gorgeous place full of lush forests and miles of sandy beaches. The little's couldn't get enough of the ice cold waves but we spent our evenings in a sweet yellow cozy beach house that warmed up their frozen fingers.  As is the case with most summer family vacations it's never long enough.  At least I have the hundreds of photos I took to browse through and re-live some of my favorite pieces of the trip.  I'm still picking through them to select which ones to share, here is the first round with more to come!

More on Maui

One of the excursions I had to ensure we planned ahead was a snorkeling trip. Neither of us had ever been snorkeling and with all the rave reviews we'd heard about the trips to the crater and "turtle town" I was in. It didn't take 10 min in the water before both Devin and I were hooked on snorkeling. It's so beautiful. You really get a feeling that you are getting a chance to peek in on another world. We saw so many breathtaking colors and patterns down there. I swear if I were a fashion designer I'd do every summer line based on snorkeling trips.

We didn't rent the camera's to take underwater with us but after our trip we did hit the aquarium where they have a group of baby sea turtles. Sooo cute! I just love sea turtles. I mean seriously look at those faces!  We did get to swim close to a few at turtle town on the snorkeling trip. The visibility wasn't great and those awesome creatures are surprisingly fast!  I struggled for quite a while to finally spot one only to have it fly under me too quickly for me to catch up with.  Still... I swam close to a giant sea turtle in open sea which was basically the one thing on my list I was dying to check off.  CHECK!

I only wish the California coasts weren't so darn cold or we'd be asking for snorkeling equipment for Christmas. Oh well...next trip to Hawaii we'll be spending more hours with our booties bobbing watching the underwater life and finding hidden treasures swept off swimmers bodies. Hee hee.

Honeymoon in heaven

Well since I'm still waiting for wedding photos (as patiently as possible I swear) we'll just skip to the honeymoon.  Devin and I left the morning after our wedding for the airport and headed to Maui.  He's never been and I haven't been back to this gorgeous island since my family went when I was about 10.  First off a big, giant, huge THANK YOU goes to my generous aunt and uncle that made this trip happen by letting us use their time share points.  We were thinking we might be able to afford a trip to San Diego or Santa Cruz but when my aunt and uncle told gave us this awesome gift we went straight for tropical island.

Maui did not disappoint in any way.  From the perfect weather to the friendly people and the delicious food we soaked up every moment and cherished it.  These were all taken on day one.  I had to catch up on some sleep and Devin went exploring with out me.  I missed out on Devin spotting a sea turtle trying to catch a crab just feet away from where he stood.  Why must I require sleep? We stayed at the Aston Maui Kaanapali Villa's and loved the gorgeous beach the resort sat on.  But we didn't spend a whole lot of time there during our week.  It was a great place to relax and catch our breath but with so much beauty to see and the freedom to explore we couldn't sit still for too long.  I'll share some photos from our explorations later.  Too much for one post.  Sigh. I heart Maui.

Forrest flowers

These surprised me.

Scattered through out the pine trees were these beautiful blossoms looking like they belonged somewhere tropical. I love them. Hence the multiple photos of them.

 It's been a while since I've been on a walk in nature with my camera and these were by far the most vibrant and lovely thing I found so we spent a little time together and I am happy we did.

Lobster here...

I've returned home from our camping trip to Lake Francis so tired, so dirty, and SO SUNBURNED. Seriously I'm 35 and I still think I can spend an hour on a paddle boat with no sunscreen and not get scorched. It's official, I will never learn.

My thighs are on fire.

We had a lot of fun. Got some much needed down time. Soaked in some serious beauty.
Two thumbs up for the church camping trip! I can't wait for next year.


More photos to come. None of my sunburn.

Magical Memories

I hope my dear, sweet boy remembers this special birthday trip for years to come. I think I'll put together a scrapbook of photos and goodies for him so there is no way he will forget. You can see by his face that meeting Minnie Mouse was a total treat. Anytime I asked him "what do you want to do now?" his answer was "Go find Minnie Mouse."  hee hee.
I have so many photos of him with the favorite characters maybe a collage for his bedroom wall?

Disneyland trips are not meant for relaxing, but for every painful step and hour spent in line you are rewarded with a smile and squeal that makes it all worth while.

I've been in recovery mode from this trip for 3 days!  Between the horrible bug I caught and the lack of sleep and aching feet I needed a rest from my vacation.  Feeling better now and ready to get back into Wedding prep.  Happy 5th birthday Elijah!  Mommy loves you.