help me pick.....

I will be the first to admit I can't take a good landscape/architectural shot to same my life, I just don't have the eye for it, but what is worst is that I never know how to edit them.
My mom requested I take a photo of this old barn, it is neat, but I just can't seem to do it justice. So here are a few of my attempts at editing it, help me pick and if you have any suggestions please let me know!

SOOC-it's a little dark, all I did was resize/sharpen for the web

color pop

wash

warm

B&W

snapshot randomness.....

I am finally getting to some of the random shots I have taken of the boys over the last few months....where has the time gone?

yes, we are teaching him good manners!

He was so excited when he learned how to do back flips off the trapeze bar he called me at work to tell me!!!

you think this sucker is big enough???????

T wanted to play with the worms so bad, but he was just to scared of them, he is so funny!!

****disclaimer**** these are quick resize/sharpen for the web and uploaded small for time, sorry they look so funky.......

baby bump.....

check out my sneak peeks blog.....
http://justlivinsneakpeeks.blogspot.com/

down on the farm.....

I am so far behind on editing or even uploading my photos it seems like I will never get through them.
We went to the farm with my BIL & SIL several weeks ago and I am just now getting around to the pictures. this was the best trip we have had in a long time because T is getting bigger and not so dependent. I think he actually had the most fun having so much room to just run around. He got to ride on his 4-wheeler and the big 4-wheeler, not sure which he liked better!
K was in heaven because he could be outside all day, throwing the football, eating watermelon, playing in the sprinkler and of course riding on the 4-wheeler! he gets to drive the big 4-wheeler with daddy on it, he thinks he is just to big for his britches! we did have to start taking precaution when turning off the 4-wheelers, leaving them in gear because he was caught starting it and putting it in gear with no one on it with him. his Aunt S caught him driving off, it scared her and I am pretty sure she scared the poo out of him:)!!!! That was definitely an eye opener to NEVER take your eyes off the kiddos!
K and T got to pick fresh veggies out of the garden, they thought it was pretty cool to be able to eat the corn right there! I don't think I have ever tasted corn so good, and it wasn't even cooked yet. That was the best meal that night, fresh picked corn, fresh picked black-eyed peas and chickens BBQ by my SIL's dad. YUMMY! The boys were sad to leave the wide open-ness of the farm, but hopefully we will have something close one day in Kerrville......

vacation.....

i am on vacation this week. a much needed vacation. Me and the boys just got back form Kerrville after 4 days. other than it being SO.FREAKING.HOT. we had a wonderful time, but we are glad to be back in the comforts of our own home and not a stuffy motel room. two little boys can get pretty wild when couped up for to long in an unfamiliar place!
Unfortunately we left S there, he started his job on Monday, I think other than missing us(and being uncomfortable staying with near strangers) he likes the job. I did not want to leave my friends I have there, we had such a nice time visiting, I just can't wait to move up there so we can all spend more time hanging out in such a beautiful place.

our house had been on the market now for a little over a week and had shown a handful of times, I just keep praying any time I get a chance that we will be blessed with a fast sell. I want to get up there with S so bad, I know if the house doesn't sell quick, he won't last long at that job and that makes me very nervous. he is willing to sacrifice a little, but not for months on end, besides I don't think we will be able to afford the gas for him to come home every weekend! I do already miss him!!! I guess absents really does make the heart grow fonder.....

it is still so wierd to see the sign in the front yard and the lock box on the door.....
">



isn't this the best substitute for curtains you have ever seen? this is our bathroom, that is in front of the fence, so we had to have something until S had a chance to hang the new blinds! at least it was on the side of the house the old, nosey hag lives:)(did I just say that????)

slip n slidin'.....

we got this modified slip n slide for the boys so T could swim at the bottom and K could slide. It is funny that it worked out that exact way, T hates to slide down it and K LOVES it!! The unfortunate thing is, is that it takes FOREVER to blow up!!!








the poor kids look white as ghosts because they were freezing cold!! this was about 2 months ago when it was just warm enough to even think about playing in the water!!

a new adventure.....

anyone that knows Scott and I, knows how much we have always wanted to live in the hill country, preferably Kerrville. The country side there is SOOO beautiful, there is so much to do outside and of course there is the perk of great hunting for Scott. I have a few really good friends that live in Kerrville that I meet in college and they have been begging us for years to move. It really has never been an option because of the work Scott is in, so we never gave it more that 'I wish' response. I do, however have a standing place of employment at anytime just waiting for me. About a year ago Scott had a job lead he never followed up on because, unfortunately I was to scared to make the decision to leave.

A few weeks ago one of my friends there gave birth to her 4 child, so we loaded up on a Sunday morning and drove 4 hours to see her and the baby. The baby is so beautiful, btw! During a conversation with one of my other Friends there, Scott mentioned the possible job from a year ago, so Shelby got on the phone and Scott had an impromptu job interview the very next morning. The guy basically told Scott he could have the job as soon as we could sell our house. I was reeling.....just a quick trip to see a baby has possibly changed our lives!!!

So, now we are in the process of fixing up our poorly taken care of house to get it on the market in the next week....WOW. We have broken the news to our parents and my boss, which, both were very hard to do. The decision was not easy, we will be leaving basically the only place we have known and ALL of our family, not to mention my awesome job. I think the trade off will be such a wonderful change that we need, something fresh and completely different to give our lives the little added juice to get out of a rut, which has caused us a pretty rough year. All of the decision making and excitement of moving to our dream place does not compare to the excitement that I feel because I am doing this with Scott(and of course the kids). I love him so much and can't imagine taking this adventure with anyone else, we will be in our dream place together......

I have the boys signed up for school, which was also a hard choice to make seeing they have never been with anyone other than my sister, but again, I think it will be so good for them. WOW!! like I said before, anyone that knows us, knows what an awesome opportunity this is! I am praying everything works out and it is in the plans for us to be in our dream place now, if anyone wants to send positive thoughts and/or prayers that it all works we would greatly appreciate it!!!!



This is a few photos of the boys at the local park in Kerrville....we were suppose to stop quickly, let them dip their toes in the water, leave and go eat. well that did not happen......

out to the ball game.....

this past Sunday S brought K to his very first Astro's game. K was super excited when we told him daddy was bringing just him to the game, he made sure he could bring his baseball glove. it is a cheesy cloth glove, but his non-the-less and it was all his idea to bring it, that kinda shocked me! I think S was a little embarrassed to have his son carrying a play glove, so he bought him a real leather glove at the stadium, along with a small souvenir bat for K and T. K hung in there longer than I thought, all the way to the 7th inning. He had reason, all the ladies around him were giving him candy and peanuts....I guess that is not a smart lesson to teach him......i will just chalk it up to him already being a flirt...ugh






these were taken with a very old P&S.

hand-me-downs.....

**************taken******************************************************************

I have 9 bags of boys clothes, ranging from preemie to 18 months. If anyone that lives close needs them or knows someone that needs them, come and get 'em! I will keep them for a week, then after that they are going to the woman's shelter drop off box. Please e-mail if you know it or leave me a comment.

Galveston.....

partly out of curiosity, but mostly because i love to go to the coast, we went on a very last minute trip to Galveston on mothers day. I was pleasantly surprised at the progress the residents have made since hurricane Ike. from what I could tell over half of the shops were open on the strand, tons of houses were already done or in the process of remodel and lots of shops and restaurants were open on the seawall.
I think if you had never heard of the hurricane, you would probably not notice anything out of the ordinary at first glance. the beaches off the seawall needed quite a bit of work, but we did not see real signs of destruction until we went across the ferry to Bolivar. It was encouraging to see that as much damage we saw, there were signs of that much rebuilding.
We had a great time on the beach, the boys had a much better time than I had anticipated, and now K begs us practically everyday to go back to the beach. hopefully we can get back soon!

as soon as we passed over the bridge to the island we started to look for signs of how high the water got, this was marked on a building on the strand.

when i saw this, I knew I had to pull over a get a picture, probably one of my favorites. it was in a field with piles and piles of debris from the storm on Bolivar

this totally made me grin!

snakes on a .....bike

okay, so that was lame and it was only only one snake but K had a snake stuck in the chain guard of his bike the other day. We were all getting ready to go for a bike ride when I heard Scott tell K to get off of his bike, I wondered why, but did not get concerned until I heard S tell him again in a pretty stern voice to get off again. That got my attention so I looked over at K as he was riding his bike down the sidewalk and saw a snake dangling from the chain guard.
I was totally freaked out, but not freaked out enough to miss the photo op!! Of course K wanted to play with it, but as you can imagine it was darn pissed off because the chain caused some pretty bad damage to the poor thing. S pulled it out with K's robot hand and we continued on our bike ride...we check everything in the garage extra careful now.....