My New Camera

So as I mentioned earlier this week, Jake got me the Canon Rebel T2i I've been drooling over for months now. He got a package deal that came with 2 lenses, a camera bag and an 8 GB SD memory card.

I haven't had much time to play around with it, but after having it for a week now and trying to go through some tutorials online, I've realized an intro to DSLR class is a must for me. 

So yesterday I signed up for a class for next Saturday that I'm excited to take with my friend Holly! I'm hoping to learn some basics and to feel a little more comfortable using the camera. I have learned a little from this tutorial, but I think a class will help a lot. 

I also ordered this cute strap cover from this etsy shop.

And here are a couple of my favorite pictures that I've taken with my new camera this week. ☺

I hope you're all having a wonderful weekend!

99 Things

This list has been going around the blog world and I thought I would play along. It's a list of 99 things and I've underlined the things I've done.  

1. Started your own blog 

 2. Slept under the stars 

3. Played in a band 

4. Visited Hawaii
 

5. Watched a meteor shower


6. Given more than you can afford to charity

 7. Been to Disneyland
-I've never been to Disneyland, but I've been to Disney World, does that count?

8. Climbed a mountain
 

9. Held a praying mantis
 

10. Sang a solo
 - At church

11. Bungee jumped
 

12. Visited Paris
 

13. Watched a lightning storm
 

14. Taught yourself an art from scratch


15. Adopted a child


16. Had food poisoning

17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty


18. Grown your own vegetables


19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France


 20. Slept on an overnight train


21. Had a pillow fight
 

22. Hitch hiked

23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill


24. Built a snow fort
 

25. Held a lamb


26. Gone skinny dipping
 

27. Run a Marathon
 

28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice


29. Seen a total eclipse
 

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset


31. Hit a home run
 

32. Been on a cruise


 33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
 

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
 

35. Seen an Amish community
 

36. Taught yourself a new language

37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied


38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
 

39. Gone rock climbing 


 40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
 

41. Sung karaoke
 

42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
 

43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
 

 44. Visited Africa
 

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
 

46. Been transported in an ambulance


47. Had your portrait painted
- does a caricature count? 

48. Gone deep sea fishing 
 

49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
 

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
 

51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
 

52. Kissed in the rain
 

53. Played in the mud
 

54. Gone to a drive-in theater
 

55. Been in a movie 
 

56. Visited the Great Wall of China
 

57. Started a business
 

58. Taken a martial arts class
 - It was only 2 classes though. LOL.

59. Visited Russia
 

60. Served at a soup kitchen
 

61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
 

62. Gone whale watching


63. Got flowers for no reason

64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
 

65. Gone sky diving
 

66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp 

67. Bounced a check - I wish I could say no, but unfortunately I have.


68. Flown in a helicopter
- Yes 3 times! Twice here in St. Louis and once in Hawaii.

69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
 

70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial 
 

71. Eaten Caviar
 

72. Pieced a quilt
 

73. Stood in Times Square
 

74. Toured the Everglades


 75. Been fired from a job

76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
 

77. Broken a bone
 

78. Been a passenger on a motorcycle
 

79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
 

80. Published a book

81. Visited the Vatican
 

82. Bought a brand new car
 

83. Walked in Jerusalem
 

84. Had your picture in the newspaper

85. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year’s Eve
 

86. Visited the White House
 

87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating


88. Had chickenpox


 89. Saved someone’s life
 

90. Sat on a jury


 91. Met someone famous
- Justin Timberlake and  Jonathan Taylor Thomas to name a couple. 

92. Joined a book club
 

93. Got a tattoo
 - I have 3

94. Had a baby


 95. Seen the Alamo in person


 96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
 

97. Been involved in a law suit

98. Owned a cell phone
 

99. Been stung by a bee  

I have done 35, what about you??

Embrace The Camera

 I'm linking up with Emily at The Anderson Crew for Embrace the Camera.

Embrace the Camera is where you'll take a picture of YOU with your kids, spouse, friends, etc. The point of embrace the camera is to get in front of the camera and to document a bit of yourself.

Here are a few pictures I took a couple weeks ago with Jackson. None of them turned out that great, but we tried. :-)

What I'm Loving Wednesday!

Linking up with WILW today!

♥ I'm loving my super awesome new camera!

♥ I'm loving this picture of Jackson playing on the floor with Libby. She's such a good dog.

♥ I'm loving the absolutely beautiful weather we've been having lately. Its been sunny and in the 70's and 80's. Perfection!

As you can see, not a cloud in the sky!

♥ I'm loving these Fuse drinks. Especially this flavor.

♥ I'm loving that this sweet couple, (close friends of ours from church) found out today that they are having a baby boy, due in October! A friend for Jackson to grow up with. ☺

♥ I'm loving these few pictures I took of Jackson in his whale jammies the other night! I just love these jammies. They are so cute!

 ♥ And as always I'm loving my wonderful family.

Pinterest Mother's Day Project

I wanted to do something special for my Mom for Mother's Day from Jackson, so where else could I turn but Pinterest of course!

I had pinned several gift ideas for the Grandmas so I knew I probably had something pinned that I could make.

It was a toss up between these few pins.

I ended up getting my sister to help me and we made the second pin. Her oldest held a sign saying "WE", her youngest held a sign saying "LOVE" and then Jackson held a sign saying "MAW MAW". I think it turned out really cute and my Mom loved it, of course. :-)

I ended up buying a frame from Wal-Mart for $9.99, basically just like the one that was used in the picture above, and just added the three pictures. We just used white computer paper and a black marker. Landon did great, but it was a bit harder to do with the babies. As you can see in the pictures, Mason is trying to eat the paper, and this was one of the only pictures I got of Jackson where the paper isn't all crumbled up in his hands, Ha! 

But all in all this was a pretty easy (if you have older kids that is) little project and it turned out super cute!

Jackson is 29 Weeks Old!

Jackson turned 29 weeks old this past Thursday. These weekly photos are getting harder and harder to take. As soon as I lay him down on the fabric, he rolls right over onto his belly. Its almost impossible to keep him on his back. Ha! I have a feeling its not going to get any easier any time soon.

Jackson has mastered sitting up now and is crawling all around (army crawling that is). He still hasn't figured out how to crawl on his hands and knees, but he's so close. 

He also has just figured out how to go from laying down/crawling to sitting up all by himself! I noticed him doing it on Sunday, but Jake tells me he noticed him do it later last week. 

Last night he pulled up onto the rail in his crib. First it was the knees and we were pretty surprised about that, then just a few seconds later he was up on his feet and so proud! I ran to get my phone to take a picture, but by the time I got back he was back to sitting. :-( Hopefully I can catch it next time. He hasn't pulled up on anything else yet, but I have a feeling that he'll be pulling up on everything very soon.

His little tooth on the bottom has come through even more. I've tried several times to get a picture of it, but he's a stinker about it. He either sticks his tongue out or won't open his mouth. I keep checking for more teeth, but so far he just has the one.

He's been sleeping really well in his crib! Which makes me very happy. He had gone through a phase where he wasn't sleeping so well, but he's doing really well again, only waking up about once to eat and then he goes right back to sleep!

My First Mother's Day

My first Mother's Day was GREAT!!

I get the wonderful privilege of being this little guys mommy and there is no greater gift!

He is such a blessing and I feel amazingly grateful to have this sweet boy in my life.

The weekend went like this...

Friday night I came home to find Jackson sitting on the floor with a box. I thought Jake had brought a box home for Jackson to play with (Jake works for a packaging company), however, it was a box for me!! So I open it and Jake and Jackson had gotten me the DSLR camera I have been wanting! I was sooooo excited. 

Its a Canon Rebel T2i. It came with 2 lenses and a camera bag. Now I just need to take a class to figure it all out. Ha! If you have any pointers, please feel free to share. ☺

After getting to play with my camera for a few minutes, I put the battery on the charger and Jake, Jackson and I went a did a little shopping for Jake some new clothes. He needed them desperately!

Jackson's such a good little shopper. ☺

Then Saturday morning we got up early to be at my Nephew Landon's first T-ball game at 9 a.m. It was so cute to see all the little 4 and 5 year olds playing T-ball. This was also the first time I got to use my new camera. ☺

Then, we did a little more shopping after the T-ball game and I got to get some new tennis shoes and a new outfit for Mother's Day. Yay!

We also went to a birthday party that day at a park. A friend of mine has a son who was celebrating his 5th birthday! 

That evening we had dinner at my sister's house and the guys cooked pork tenderloin! YUM!

Sunday morning we went to church. On our way out the door, there was a vase of white roses sitting on the front porch with a little card that said Happy Mother's Day Jackson's Mom. The handwriting was so pretty that I knew it wasn't from Jake. So I opened the card to find out it was my sweet neighbor. What a thoughtful gift. It really made my day!

 After church we took a few pictures with my new camera. ☺

My sister and I

Jake and I

My Dad holding Jackson

My Aunt Karla with her two boys.

Me kissing my sweet boy's cheek. ♥

My mom with my sister and her boys and me with Jackson.

My mom and I kissing Jackson's cheeks.

My Family ♥

Jake and I kissing Jackson's cheeks. Jackson's cheeks are just so kissable!

My sister with her family.

My brother-in-law tossing my nephew Mason up in the air.

My cousin Travis and his sweet girlfriend Nadine. So cute!

Then we went and visited my Grammy's grave. Mother's Day just isn't the same without her here. 

We had lunch with my family at the Pasta House after that.

My mom and I

The three amigos in their matching shirts. ♥

After lunch, we went back home and took a little nap. That evening we had dinner at my MIL's house and watched the season finale of Survivor!  Yay for Kim winning this season!

It was a wonderful first Mother's Day. One I'll never forget! I feel so blessed and loved!
I hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day as well!