Electric Safari

This year we went to the electric safari again, but we went a couple of days after Christmas and we had decided to make it our new tradition to go after because there were hardly any people there.  We could wander around and not worry about being separated (because we always come in a big group).  We also were able to stop and enjoy the warm fire pits without having to fight for a spot of warmth.

We even got to see the new Elephant area..it is awesome and we can't wait until it is finished!

This is our normal crew we go out with....we have fun!

Ty getting a ride from Grampa

The girls with the pretty flowers

We always have to stop and take a pic with the bear and as usual Ty is not in the picture because he is afraid of the bear!

A few more pics from December

My dad's birthday!

The big 6-0!!

Me and my baby at Devin's winter band concert!

Devin is the cool kid in the back playing the big drum!

Christmas Day 2012

We had a beautiful white Christmas!  It was a great day to celebrate Jesus' birth with our family.  After a pretty relaxed morning, we headed to Church, came back home, and then the boys' cousins came over to have a little celebration!  We opened presents and played on of our new boardgames!  Our family LOVES boardgames and I think between all of us we got 7 new games.  Our new favorite is called Dicecapades.  If you love games, this is a must have.  (We have already played it 4 or 5 times)  So FUN!!  The rest of the night we just relaxed...a very good Christmas!

The boys after Church...they were so excited for freshly fallen snow on Christmas!

It's a lot easier to get a group picture of all the kids when you have presents to bribe them with!!!

Me and my handsome boys!

Christmas Morning 2012

Santa is an awesome man and thanks to him we had a pretty awesome Christmas morning!  The highlights of the morning were definitely the bikes for the big boys and Packer's Jerseys for all the boys. (If you can't tell we love us some Packer Football!)

Christmas Eve 2012

Christmas Eve was a lot of fun.  We opened a few presents and then had a cookie decorating contest! We had so much help decorating cookies I only got to decorate one cookie...so I made a solid blue Christmas tree. 

 

Trey putting out some oats for the reindeer.

The boys and I about to read Twas the Night Before Christmas.

Christmas Eve Day

We were lucky enough to spend Christmas with some of my extended family!  We haven't had anyone from up north spend Christmas with us for quite awhile now and we had a blast.  During the day we went to my nephew's indoor soccer game (where his team won!) then headed to one of my favorite places here in town!  Even though we all have been here numerous time it was still so much fun exploring.  I don't think I will ever get over the natural beauty of this place.

Do you see the kissing camels???

Ty totally snuck into Trey's picture

All the cousins!

Christmas Prep!

We were a little bit late getting out tree up this year, but it we did it and had a great time doing it.  Now if only I could get motivated to wrap some of the presents so there is something under there!

Trey had the honor of putting the angel on top of the tree this year.

Ty is such a goof ball!

Santa's lil' helpers!

SLEDDING!!!!!

We have had a very mild winter and it finally snowed enough for us to go sledding!  We went with all of our Colorado family and we had a blast!  It was freezing cold, but walking back up the hill kept us pretty warm.  Ty wasn't scared to go down as long as he rode with someone, but one Trey flipped them at the bottom he wasn't too happy anymore.  We can't wait for it to snow again so we can go again!

Reina and Ty going down!

Trey falling as he's coming back up the hill...It was hard work!

Tucker going down!

Most of the group at the top of the hill.

Trey and Ty going down...it was great until Trey flipped them over and Ty got a face full of snow!

Trey had a blast!!

Ty was not happy after his face full of snow...but I had to get the picture!

Trying and actually succeeding...a little bit anyways :)

I have had my camera for quite a while now....however I still use it as a glorified point and shoot camera.  Sure I have gotten some pretty awesome pictures, but that was just the camera and not really me doing it on purpose. 

I have to give credit from all of true photographers out there because it is not easy, even when you have good camera helpping out the process.  Anyways....

A while back I found this awesome website(I'll post the link at the end of the post) that tells me exactly what it do in a way I actually understand.  And so far I've been pretty successful!

This was the first shot I took of Trey, my goal to get the Christmas lights in the background to look like little pretty bubbles of light....Not perfect yet, but I'm proud I am actually doing something I set out to create in a picture. 

In this one of my youngest nephew I wanted to capture the light in his eyes..this one took me about a million tries to get it but, I finally did.  I love this little guy, especially because he still lets me do these photo shoots with no complaints!

Hopefully with some more help from iheartfaces and cooperative boys I will finally use my camera the way it is ment to be used!