Stepping up

It seems as if I might be the last person to care about good pictures or even want a dSLR camera.  The way I saw it was, I don't have to learn how to take good pictures because I have a built in photographer (a.k.a. my sister) and I also don't have to carry around a huge camera.  Well, recently my point of view has changed and I was sparked by wanting some decent pictures to put on the blog.  The camera phone was just not cutting it, duh!   

It just so happens that today is my birthday and last week I mentioned to Josh that I might like to have a nice camera.  Of course he teased me all week that he wasn't getting me one and then lo and behold, yesterday brought one home for me.  He researched all week, talk to the Best Buy guy forever, and decided on the perfect camera for me.  It is AWESOME!!!!   Josh's mom came over yesterday to celebrate and bought me some 'how to' books for using my camera, which will help ALOT. My sister has been onto me about needing a good camera, and almost two years later, it got through my thick skull and I couldn't be more excited.  There is so much to learn, but as of today, I'm so glad I have the 'auto' button to rely on while I learn.


Now, it will be picture happy around here, so brace yourself and try not to get annoyed with my 1001 pictures while I'm learning.

Josh being cool, while he makes me a cake :)

Getting a little annoyed that I'm taking his picture while baking (which he has never done before)

Ok, really annoyed...LOL!

Possibly regretting his purchase :)

Enjoying the awesome cake Josh made me.

Hadley wasn't feeling 100% yesterday and slept most of the day, but I managed to get a couple pics of her

Sitting still is really not an option these days

 It turns out that not only am I learning about the camera, Josh has really gotten into it too.  We weren't able to take HG to church today, so we stayed home and practiced playing with the camera and its settings.  Way fun!!

I have about 75 more pics to upload, but I also have a yummy cake that is calling my name, so those will have to wait until tomorrow :)  

Rock Climbing

While Josh was away on Denali, sitting in his tent (freezing), he thought of an idea for the two of us, camping and rock climbing.  He said to me after he got back how odd it was for him to want to go camping after being in a tent for a month, but he thought it would be something we could do together and enjoy with HG when she gets a little bigger.   I have never ever been a fan of camping, but oddly enough the idea of doing it as a family has a lot of appeal.  Rock climbing on the other hand sounded awesome.  

So, Josh and I planned on a day to go climbing at Horseshoe Canyon Ranch in AR for the day.  My friend Sarah graciously took Hadley so we could go.  It is about a two hour drive south so we headed out early.   Once we finally got there and found our parking spot, it started raining.  We decided to wait it out for a bit while we ate lunch, but got tired of waiting it out and went hiking in the rain to see where we wanted to climb.  Now, I should probably mention, neither one of us have rock climbed.  Josh has ice climbed, but never sport climbed.  Josh is good with knowing how to rope off and keep us safe, but as far as climbing we were both very new.  Anyways, we finally found a good spot to start and by the time we headed back to the car for the gear the rain had stopped.  We hiked back with all our gear super excited to try it out.

Entering Horseshoe Canyon Ranch

We found our spot

Easy enough, right?

I am strapped to a tree incase he falls, I won't go flying in the air :)

Josh was the only one brave enough to stop and take pics :)  I don't look down.

My turn:)

Loading up to go home

Our first trip was a success

We both can stop talking about how much fun it was and how we can't wait to go back.   It is so fun to have a sport that we can share, start on the same level and get better together.  I sure hope HG will like it as much as we do :)
                        

Catch up

I have been wanting to blog, but just haven't gotten around to it. So, here is a quick re-cap in pictures.

First up...Easter.









Sadly, this is all I got from Easter. We were having too much fun!


Next up, surprises from dad while he was gone. He sent me flowers;)


And sent HG a veggie bus.


She carried it everywhere, even shopping.





Finally, ice cream! We went to Fruity Land ALOT!

Josh is home...hooray!

The past three weeks have been good, but it feels so GREAT having Josh home and all of us together. He came home on Saturday, and as you can imagine, there are lots of stories to tell about his trip, so I'll just let you hear it from him first hand on the NRGX Blog..

Daddy brought HG a moose from AK, and to say she liked it would be a major understatement. She was even more excited that daddy was home.
She just hugged Josh so tight she wouldn't let go for 5 min;)








We are so thankful for God's provision in keeping Josh safe and HG and I haven't let him out of our sight since he got home;).