O.P.P. (Other People's Pictures)

I wish that I could say that I was a fantastic photographer. I do enjoy taking pictures, but when I look back through them I usually end up just going "Eh, they're OK, I guess." I rarely look at the pictures I take and go, "WOW - now THAT is an excellent photo!" But when other people send me the pictures they took, I just think to myself, "Dang - what an eye this person has." Let me make a side note here too ... this is usually in refernce to pictures of people. I can take decent pics of stationary items but when it comes to pictures of people, I am generally too slow, out of focus, or out of frame!

These two pictures happen to be two of my favorite pictures of two of my favorite people...and neither one of the pictures was taken by me!
This picture of Douglas was taken by my mom while we were having a play-date at Lake of the Woods park. I'm amazed that this picture turned out as well as it did because Douglas was running around like a madman! The fact that she was able to snap a photo of him that isn't completely blurry, has his whole body in the picture AND has him looking & kinda smiling at the camera is just grand in my book!

The picture of Allen was taken my Meg, my mom-in-law. Allen had just finished building a fantastic sand castle and was cleaning up in the Atlantic Ocean. We had spent 4 days of relaxedness in Outer Banks (North Carolina) and for some reason, this picture seems to capture the relaxed atmosphere we enjoyed. That and Allen is smiling. Actually smiling. Not that "I'm posing for a picture" smile, but an actual smile. I love this picture of him....and having the ocean in the background is pretty cool too - you can almost hear the crashing of the waves on the beach....aaaaahhhhh, I'm feeling more relaxed already!

So anyhow - the point of the post is this. You all are better photographers than I am so feel free to email me your photos so I may enjoy your talents!! (Especially YOU, Shannon...with that fancy-dancy camera of yours, you've probably been snapping photos off left & right, right? Right? RIGHT????)

A few pictures from our trip

My niece Miranda -- she just LOVED her Aunt B! :-)

Douglas just LOVED his cousin David!!!

The wooden train at Rockome Gardens. Douglas did enjoy playing on it but couldn't seem to figure out that he could walk from one "car" to the next!

Big Doug / Little Doug

My niece Ri and my sister Lisa.

Miss Bibi!!

The "closers" -- the people who came out to celebrate my 30th birthday and stuck around to close down the bar with me! We had a great time!

Douglas was trying on Grandpa's motorcycle boots!

What a week!

Well, it's been a week since Douglas & I got home from our trip to Illinois...and what a week it has been! Douglas woke up sick on Friday...I woke up sick on Saturday...Allen woke up sick on Sunday...and all we've been doing since is convalescing! Allen finally felt well enough today to go to work and although I feel lots better, I had to turn down an opportunity to pick up a few extra hours at my job tonight. I'm still fighting this nasty, nasty cold and I really don't want to share it with everyone I work with!

The trip to Illinois was fantastic. Although I did not get to see all my friends and I didn't get to spend quality time with all of my family, it was really exceptional to see the people I did. My dad even came down (on his motorcycle, what a brave man!) and spent a few days with us too! I must say that I was very sad to leave. But now that we are home and "on the mend", it's time to try to get back to some semblance of our normal lives.

Dougzilla Attacks!!!!