Beauty 2

Okay so here's the same picture with some editing done to it. Which is better? I think this is cool and fun, but I'm hoping to take good pictures without having to spend lots of time editing. It never hurts those to spend a few minutes, I suppose. I'll just need to find the time....

But you be the judge..

Before:

or After:

Beauty

We're headed south to visit Al's sister this weekend.
And I just wanted to leave you with a smile from me and

HAPPY WEEKEND BLOGGY FRIENDS!!

Funny Story

I overheard this conversation the other day:

Al: Come on Casey we have to take your backpack off so that we can change your shirt. It' s all messy.
Casey: No. No way, Hosea!!
Al: Chuckle. Chuckle. Casey, I'll put it back on for you.
Casey: No Way Hosea!

Me thinking maybe that wasn't such a great idea to teach him that phrase, but it sure is darn cute to hear him say it!!

A Full Weekend

FAMILY REUNION:

After sparkler battles....
Amazing fireworks...A little of," if you can do it, I can do it!!!! Hiking by the creek at Grandma's...."

Campfire popcorn...there is nothing better!Dress up "business"....Learning a few bars of Smoke on the water and surfing the net...

We need a nap on a sunny bench!!!!!!

Sharing Bloggy Love

Wow!!

I can't believe I actually got an award! Yea, yea, yea!!!! (Insert jumping up and down here)



I have been posting and trying to keep up and make my posts funny and heartfelt and to take better, more interesting pictures and so on and all the time I'm wondering if anyone, (other than my loyal commentors) enjoys, reads, or even looks at my blog! Because for me, blogging, should be interactive, let me rephrase that, I want my blogging to be interactive! I want to know what everyone thinks and how they feel. For me, if I am just journaling for me and my family, I can do that on pretty paper in a pretty journal that I can touch and keep. But then BOOM! I receive an award! So, yea! People do read and enjoy my blog! But this doesn't mean I don't want to hear from you or to see you comment! So come on! Please??!!

My Cousin Wendi at Everyday Miracles http://miraculouschaos.blogspot.com/ has given me the Artey Pico Award. I have really enjoyed getting to know my cousin Wendi better through her blog. We don't live in the same town and life is busy for both of us, but through the blog I feel we have grown closer and she has now blessed me with an award!!! Thank you Wendi! And if you all are interested in some really heartfelt and meaningful blogging go check her out!! Go check her out anyway, just because she gave me an award and I said so!

So the rules for receiving this award are as follows:

1. Pick five blogs that you consider deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also for contributing to the blogging community, no matter what language.

2. Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.

3. Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself.Award-winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of “Arte y Pico” blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award (http://arteypico.blogspot.com/)

I am going to choose to pass this award and the "bloggy love" (isn't that a fun new phrase?) on to my good friend Beth at Playin' With the Paulsens http://playinwiththepaulsens.blogspot.com/ who originally inspired me to start blogging. Beth talked me into blogging and she continues to bless me with all of her encouragement, ideas, and inspiration. She helps me to improve my layout ideas, photos, photography and Photoshop skills, etc. because she is so artistic and creative. She is a fun, optimistic, lovely friend. Thanks Beth for all the fun! Go check her out my friends, you'll get great photo ideas and instruction along with a peek into her crazy, fun filled life!

P.S. I'll pass on to more blog friends in coming posts....

4-wheelin Fun

I'm a, "Let's go for a walk and get back to nature" kind of a girl making trails of my own, naming trees, flowers, bug, birds alike. It's quiet, calm, peaceful....



Then , there's Al.

He's a "Let's race through nature at high speeds on anything with an engine" kind of a guy. We can blaze new trails, sure, but it's going to be a bumpy ride! It's loud

and

exhilirating...We spent the day, Sunday, with my uncle and parents and we went 4-wheelin. My uncle owns some land and he has spent time cutting all kinds of trails through it. It's great fun. The kids love it. This time Grandpa and Grandma came a long too.
Vrooom vroom!Vvrrrroooommm!

Casey can't wait until he can drive.

(Do you see the tree face up in the right hand corner? You don't see one of those every day. I wonder if they make different ones. Wierd to think of trees with personalities hangin around outside your door...Probably thinking, you lazy bum! Get out of bed and DO something useful! outside of my window...)


Here's Al in his new sunglasses. He likes that you can't tell what he his thinking because you can't see his eyes. I can only imagine...

Carter wanting to ride fast soooo badly, but Daddy chose to take up the rear and frequently has to stop because my Mom and Dad "stop and smell the roses" so to speak. Every. rose. And then they talk about it. So far as Carter is concerned, this is NOT the way to ride a 4-wheeler. A lot of his Daddy in that one.

Now Emily, she can be at home anywhere, kicked back and relaxed.

What the heck?

Hmmm. What's this? Look Carter it's an opening. Let's see where it goes....

Get out of the way Carter! I'm gonna go next! (I am woman, hear me roar)
Here I go.
Aiaaahhh!!!
My turn!
Me go!


Do You know what they were doing??

Isn't this Hilarious?

Isn't this hilarious? I was so laughing when I noticed this at our campground! You've all seen the movie RV with Robin Williams right? Not only did we see plenty of those RVs on our trip, but this sign!!! Oh my gosh! I asked Al if he had the steps up and had he checked for us, wife and kids??

Entertainment

Notice that look of extreme concentration. Scooby-Doo must be really trying to make a life altering decision.
Also, notice that he is holding the headphones in his ears. They are too big for him, but he insists on having headphones if his brother has them.

Em pretty much played the Farming Game on the gameboy the entire way home. She can buy and sell things, raise crops and animals and go to fairs in this game. She loves it.Carter watching Rudolph of all things!!!
Time started to pile up and the boys thought it might be cool to use the dry erase markers as body and finger paint!! We had to take a picture to show "gama"

Surprise

These beautiful waterfalls were a surprise right in the middle of the downtown of Hot Springs. We drove south to Hot Springs to visit the Mammoth site and found these. Al's got a good eye for photos don't you think?
The Mammoth site in Hot Springs is actually a working excavation site for Mammoth bones. They have left most everything as they have found it and continue to dig 3 times a year.
Outside of the Mammoth site/museum were piles of rocks with name plates and descriptions of when they were formed and how. The kids wanted to pose everywhere and I can't help but photograph my babies every chance I get.

This was the last day in the Black Hills. It was very relaxing. We didn't get going until noon and then we got back in time to play on the water slide in our campground. I think this may have been the highlight of the trip for the kids. It was super super fast! And heated. Al came away with a scraped elbow and Emily a goose egg on her head! Still it was tons of fun!

What I see

What I see when I look at this picture...

I see the sun coming up and think, "Wow I'm actually up early". This never happens; I'm really a second shift kind of a gal.

I see my camper and think I love camping and this new camper rocks.

I see the Black Hills of South Dakota and think of the smell of the pines and the azure blue of the sky and *sigh* I think peaceful happy thoughts.

I see our campsite and think of all the fun we had on the first vacation with all of our children and going out of state to boot!

I see myself getting "rounder" and think, "Boy, do I need to do some exercising." I'm not usually in photos, so it really makes me look at myself and how other people see me when I look at one.

I see a little bit of sadness because I know this picture was taken the morning that we packed up and left the Black Hills.

But, I also see a happy Stacey doing just what she wants and loves.

5 days ...

This is a view of the black hills from within Custer State Park. They are very rolling hills as far as the eye can see that appear black from a distance because they are so covered in pine trees. Isn't it beautiful?? I know with Photoshop I could add more color and more wow, but I have to find time to learn a little more on that front. For now, I am just looking at the beauty of the landscape and sighing...I can't wait to go back.
Awww...aren't they cute? They even managed to get along beautifully most all of the trip. The ride home is another story...but suffice it to say, I wasn't real excited to be in the truck at that point either.
Here is a view of Mt. Rushmore from the twisty turvy road through the park that included many scenic overlooks and tunnels! It was way cool. I remembered a lot from our trip 10 years ago and other stuff from before when I was a kid on vacation with my parents. We chose to do a few things that I hadn't remembered ever doing. (I probably did them, just don't remember. Memories can be selective like that. Or is it just mine? Either way...)
The Badlands. They are filled with color and texture and also seem to go on and on and on. Which is how the kids felt. More Badlands?? But they all look the same. How much farther to the Prairie Dog town? Oh, yeah, pretty mom. Why are you taking another picture...And so it went.
Finally, we made it to the Ranch store just outside of the Badlands National Park and Emily and Carter posed with this giant Prairie Dog (I of course did this when I was little). Casey slept. Poor guy really needed it. Sitting in between his sister and brother in the back of the truck the whole trip, he hardly had a chance to take a nap. Emily and Carter got to feed the prairie dogs some peanuts and then we headed out and back toward home. Made it to Al's Oasis in Chamberlain, SD on Lake Francis Case. The campground had a pool and full hook ups who could ask for more??

So have you ever been to the Black Hills? What are your memories? If not, where is your fav vacation destination? What does it make you feel? Let me know...I want to hear...

Begging Burros

Hey! Do you have a cracker for me or what?!
Give me, give me, give me.
Awww come on! Please?
I'll make it easy for you. I'll just poke my head in here with you and see what you have to eat.
No, no, no don't drive away yet! I'm not full!
Oh but wait. Here comes another.
Maybe they have something good to eat.
Give me, give me, give me. Please?

Out of all three of my children, Emily was the only one "brave" enough to experience the Begging Burros of Custer State Park.

Oh wait.

Al teased this poor guy and made him really work for his cracker.

Azure and Pine

Azure:
Definition:
1. deep blue: deep blue, like the color of a clear sky ( literary )

Pine:

Definition:
1. Any of various evergreen trees of the genus Pinus, having fascicles of needle-shaped leaves and producing woody, seed-bearing cones. These trees are widely cultivated for ornament and shade and for their timber and resinous sap, which yields turpentine and pine tar.
2. Any of various other coniferous trees, such as the Norfolk Island pine.
3. The wood of any of these trees.

My definition of Azure and Pine is more of a feeling and a scent. I look up into that beautiful blue blue sky and think of vacations and all the fun I had growing up and camping with my parents and hearing my mom say, "Wow! Just look at that Azure sky!"

And what I think of pine is closing my eyes and inhaling that scent that is at once peaceful to me and takes me to the Black Hills of South Dakota. The Black Hills pines just have a special scent all of their own which ties into Azure skies and vacations, time with family and great memories.

Vacation

We're on V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N!!!!

Al and the kids and I are headed for the Black Hills!!! I am soo excited! It's been 10 years since I've been to that part of the country!! We used to go all the time when I was a kid and now I get to take my kids to see it!!

This Connie Francis song is also the way we always started our vacations whatever time of the day or night we left! My mom has made me a CD to share with my family on this trip! I can't wait to hear it!! Al has to work in the morning and the kids have swimming lessons...I think I'll go crazy, I am just soo excited!!!