Yes, I Do Exist!

I mean did any of you doubt that seeing as gow I've been MIA for a few weeks? You can calk that up to Greaduate school! I have NEVER do so much writing! This is my first mobile post:) I just got a new phone today. Verizon sent me an early upgrade offer and I jumped on it. I made the. Leap from blackberry to a droid platform. I do not want to bash Blackberry because it served me well. I kept the old phone as a backup. So far, I am so pleased. I can browse so many more sites tham before! I could check and read blogs, but no posting or commenting. Now I can do it all!

Afternoon at Home...

It is almost like I can feel summer ending. I have to admit, I am more than ready for some aspects of fall {particularly mums, the evening sun, football, and slightly lower temps.} But others, particularly the increase of the pace with the start of school, I am not so ready to welcome.

We spent a wonderful afternoon/evening at home. It was lovely. I had a full supper planned, but Justin convinced me {okay, okay he did not have to twist my arm} to change to chicken fingers and fruit for the kids and a la carte for the two of us. This allowed me more time to sit outside and enjoy the view, the animals, and the family!

I got an email yesterday asking if we still had chickens.

Well, YES!

And, turkeys! I enjoyed just setting on the ground and watching the chickens {and turkeys} peck the ground. Aside from my kids, shooting nature {both wild and domesticated} is my favorite!

After our river trip the other day, Justin's truck needed washing. The kids were very excited to help...

Brother got soap...

Brother washed...

Sister rinsed.

Sister rinsed Brother, and thought is was SO funny!

Sister can dish it out, but it is another story when Daddy turns the water on her!

And, just so that you know we are not child-slave drivers, here is Daddy washing the truck.

Not Me Monday

I decided to join in on all the fun over at one of my favorite blogs MckMama.
This will be all about the things I did "not" {aka did do}.

For example, I did not just return from spoiling my kids to their third beach trip this summer. No, not me!

I did not forget to place my memory card in my camera on the day we were at the beach and miss ALL the memories from that day. I would never do something that crazy :(

I have not taken so many pictures of my children that it is almost impossible for them to ignore the camera and just act natural. I mean, I have not ruined them at all!

As soon as we got home from the beach, we did not almost immediately head to our local body of water, the Cahaba River. No, not us. We were totally tired of water.And I certainly did not allow my kids to ride in the back of the truck once we left the highway. No responsible parent would ever do that!

And finally, I have not totally turned my blog into a photo journal. No, I always have great commentary on life that I blog about. I would never just post pictures for everyone's viewing pleasure!

It is Official...

We are...

Professional travelers ,

Ready to sleep in strange beds,

Swimming pool critics,

And...

Exceptional

Beach

Bums!

And lovin'

Every minute of it!

At Last...

I have been so busy, I have been putting this post together for several days. I have been up to all hours of the night working on graduate schoolwork. I am doing well, but boy! I have learned they don't call them detailed lesson plans for nothing!

Anywho, it seems that I must post these pictures from our recent beach trip today because we are leaving tomorrow to go again! No, we have not won the lottery or anything like that. It is sort of an accident that we are going, but hey I don't really believe in accidents!

First, just let me say that if you ever book a room using online services such as Hotwire.com be aware that you cannot {under any circumstances} cancel or change the date of your reservation. My brother made a reservation for this Friday and Saturday night in Destin, FL. Something came up that he cannot cancel, so we agreed to take the rooms for him. {Aren't I just be BEST sister?!?} Justin is setting this one out, and my mom and I are taking the kids down. We are headed out in the morning.

Second, I have had NO time to edit the pictures. I can see a thousand tiny things that would make them awesome. But I want y'all to see them and I am sure there will be more where these came from!

Sawyer has gotten really comfortable in the water as you can see. He will swim under to you now. He is so strong that I knew he would do well once we got that face in!

And of course, here is our resident fish!

Here is a shot from our balcony of the little swimmers!

And this hunk of a man is my darling husband!

I cannot take credit for this shot. Justin took this. We are, as all families with small children, all about some Toy Story. This is also a tribute as we lost Woody's hat in the sand:(

Can you spot Justin? We stayed in the Phoenix All Suite Hotel. It was really just a mini condo. We really enjoyed it for this quick trip. It is right on the public beach. The room was nice, but it would be noisy during a busy time as it it right beside the Hangout.

The overcast days made for some beautiful shots. Aside from my kids, nature is my favorite thing to shoot. You can't look at this and not see GOD!

We had a bit of a surprise awaiting us when we got to our room. We were expecting the kids would sleep on the sleeper-sofa, but there were bunks in the hallway and they were so pumped about them!

Okay, there is nothing particulary amazing about this photo; but there is a super funny story that goes with it. See the pelican? Well about two minutes after that pelican left, we decided to have a family sit-down and watch the boats in the bay. When I got up, I had the strangest feeling that something wet was on the seat of my pants. Let's just say the pelican left its "mark" on my pants. It was soooooo groooooooss.

This is what I have to resort to if y'all want to see a picture of me!

Next time we are out here, I am going to be prepared for a full out photo shoot! There were some awesome shots to be made. When we went "riding" this afternoon, I {for some crazy reason!!!} did not take my camera, so these are all with Justin's point-and-shoot. Man, It is so hard to frame a shot and get everything balanced without an eye-piece to look through!

By the way, the reason there are so many of Carys and not of Sawyer is because the boys left us to go exploring. I can't shoot them if they are not there!

Please pray for safe travels and good weather for our journey to FL this weekend!

Vote for ME!

Hey everyone! I have entered my first photo contest. Most of you know that I use the site Shutterfly.com to store and print a lot of my photos. They had this summertime contest and I entered two entries. Click below to vote for each.

The main reason I entered was for the 20 FREE prints they offered. Anyone can enter, so if you have some shots piled up on your card that you need to print, head on over and enter the contest!

Contest details

Contest details