Fall Trails

one of the items on our agenda for this weekend was a trip to mammoth cave's hiking trails. i was very excited about this trip! i couldn't wait to finally get out and attempt to capture some of the beautiful colors of fall.......









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and paige being goofy....




heading home.

Happy Mornings

i'll admit i can be somewhat obsessed with hot drinks. a cup of hot coffee, chocolate, tea or apple cider leaves me feeling warm and cozy and happy all over. so, i guess you can imagine how much i love starbucks! :0)

as i was walking over to grab my cup of coffee i noticed the steam along with the gorgeous morning light shining through the window and decided to *try* and grab a shot of it. i didn't quite get the steam but still enjoyed my capture. the cup is very sentimental to me....it's one of my great grandmother's tea cups. i use them quite often so that i can enjoy them.

and...that is a hint of marigolds and lavender from my garden in the background.

happy mornings!

Pumpkin Carving Festivities 2010

i guarantee no one else has taken this many pictures during the family pumpkin carving festivities.

i think i went a little overboard. :0)

thankfully kent and paige are good sports when i'm hanging around with the camera.

it's pretty obvious from the photos that kent did most of the carving (and gutting).

i made the comment "i wonder how many pumpkin carving accidents are seen at the ER during this time of year".......

i'll just say it's a a good thing kent was in control of the knife or we may have been paying a visit to the ER ourselves.

i guess paige was mostly the supervisor this year.

a little gutting was on her job description....but that was about it for manual labor.

and, of course, my job was the official photographer.

i think i did a pretty good job with the photo-journalistic approach....... :0)

happy pumpkin carving!!!

A Sneak Peek of Brooklyn

brooklyn is one!! gosh...it's so hard to believe. here is a little peak into our session. many more to come soon. i had to share two images that make me smile from ear to ear. isn't she just precious?!!!

also, yummy evening lighting right now makes me a very happy girl. :0)

My Heart Is Happy

the two images below make my heart happy. very, very happy.

i love when an idea comes together more than i could have ever imagined.

"Sometimes being a brother is even better than being a superhero." ~Marc Brown

Friday!

i want to get a jump start and wish everyone a fabulous friday!!!!

i plan for my smile to be this big tomorrow.........

Marigold

it's been a wonderful day......any day devoted to sweets and visiting with a good friend is a good day.

speaking of friends, my wonderful hubby showed up in my "office" with flower in vase. below is the marigold he picked for me out of our flower garden. (my marigolds have done GREAT this year. i should take a picture and share.) the flower in vase has been sitting by my computer for days now and i've noticed what looks to be roots growing from it. this seems a bit odd to me. i've heard of starting flowers/plants from a cut piece in water allowing it to grow roots....but should a marigold do this?

A Dose of Nature

i guess i could say that my favorite color is green. i probably wouldn't say it with confidence but when it comes down to it....it's always the color i'm drawn to.

a little bit of green from our trip last month to the smokies.

(wind chimes)

during our trip we were heading to an off the beaten path hiking trail and came across very friendly butterflies just hanging out. there were lots of beautiful colors to pick from. i particularly liked the black, blue and red ones.









i hope every one's week is going great, so far!

"in nature, nothing is perfect and everything is perfect. trees can be contorted, bent in weird ways, and they're still beautiful." ~ Alice Walker

Sippin' Hot Chocolate

it's inevitable it seems that every fall i'll post about hot chocolate. i haven't gone back to check and see if i really do post every fall...but my guess is that I'll find that I do.

what i call homemade hot chocolate is special to me. it's nothing fancy. cocoa, sugar, water and milk........what is special about it is that it reminds me of my childhood and my grandmother making it for me.

this evening, paige is sitting quietly reading a book. while enjoying this time, i made sure she had some of this special hot chocolate within reach. hopefully, when she is older, she'll have very fond memories of sippin' hot chocolate.

Your Smile

start each day knowing.....

"your smile brightens the lives of all who see it". ~ dale carnegie