camping

Camping with the Browns at Inks Lake.

moonlit mountains

This is a picture from our recent trip to Colorado.
We were driving through the Rocky Mountain National Park at night.
Adam kindly pulled over, so that I could try to get a picture.  I placed the camera on the top of our van.
It was too dark for us to see anything but a faint outline of the mountains.  It was amazing to see this on the camera!
This night drive was a trip highlight for me.  More pictures to come soon.  It is hard to narrow down pictures to post.

1/4/2012 at 9:20pm
15 second exposure, f/1.8, ISO 100

pumpkin day

We enjoyed our day at the farm yesterday.  The 1st graders at our school had a field trip.  Fun with friends - for them.  A few pumpkin pictures - for me.  I'm already laughing at the pose my 3 yr. old had.  I think her new haircut and her boots made her a little more confident for the camera.

20 Roadtrip Memories :: Virginia

This post is now from the archives.  It was from a year ago, but I never published it last year.  I guess I wanted to include more photos?  Don't remember.  It is still fun to share, even if it was a long time ago now.

From 6/17/10:

This post was a beast! It has taken me 3 months to even want to attack it. I took a ton of pictures. This was our big summer vacation where we drove to see my brother-in-law graduate law school in Virginia. I had to limit the many memories to 20.  Here is our roadtrip we took from May 11th - 20th of this year.

20.  Leaving for our first trekk across the country in our Eurovan!  This car was made for a roadtrip.  On the trip it officially became our 6th family member.  I've nicknamed it "Ike," short for Ikea because it looks just like the giant blue store. :)  We also call it "Brunson Burner" in honor of Adam's old van...still miss that thing.

19.  Driving all night to get to Atlanta the next morning.  That is so much harder at 31, than the last time I did that at 27.  But if you drive all night it means you get to see an amazing sunrise on the road - and it's all worth it!

18.  Visiting my aunt Lala in Atlanta.  We grabbed a hug, stretched our legs, ate some lunch...and then headed out for a fun excursion to Georgia's Aquarium.  Awwwee-some!!  (Just like Lala would say.)

17.  Next day - back in the car and drive to Virginia.  We pulled into the Great Wolf Lodge at 11pm and woke up the girls to show them the incredibly fun place their incrediby fun parents picked for a (one-night...it's expensive!) stay.

16.  Great Wolf Lodge Williamsburg!!  Everybody loved it...almost...the baby did not know what to do with all the falling water.  We snuggled her all day (fun) and had a great day of water play!

15.  Playing in my sister's backyard.  Enjoying our stay at their Williamsburg home one last time.

14.  Breakfast out with the whole fam.  Seeing our daughter order peach pancakes that were bigger than her plate.

13.  Colonial Williamsburg

12.  We brought dress up for the girls from home.  Our oldest had her matching outfit to go with her Felicity doll that grandma GK made her.  She got stopped a lot!  People were taking her picture and asking where they could rent the costume like hers.  It was too fun.  She loved it!  Her American Girl doll, Felicity, is an historical character from Williamsburg.  So it became "Felicity day."

11.  Seeing Uncle Andrew graduate from Law School!  Yay!  They have had a great 3 years at William & Mary, but's it's time to bring them home!

10.  Having fabulous meals cooked by family and gathering around Rachel's dining table...good times.  My sis and I snuck off to the outlet malls one night.  She found me an adorable beach hat.  We helped Rachel & Andrew pack up their house onto the moving truck.  I packed her kitchen...they have a lot of cups, I seem to remember. :)

9.  On to Charlottesville, VA...eating pizza at Crozet Pizza.  The quirky place reminded us of home.

8.  loved our visit to Monticello.  We are on our relaxing drive home now.

7.  Blue Ridge Parkway!  Enjoying the drive through the beautiful Appalachian mountains.  We loved our stop to explore a rambling creek and stretch our legs.

6.  Gatlinburg, TN

5.  swimming in the indoor pools at the hotels on the way home

4.  Seeing our little one in all her many moods...and working hard to keep her happy while strapped down in a car for so long.

3. I enjoyed long talks with my man. We love that about car trips.

2.  Goofing off in the car on the way home...trying not to go crazy!

1.  Milkshakes at Health Camp & driving through crazy Texas storms on the way home.  Home is home.  We love Texas.  And now that we've seen a lot of State Lines...Texas is by far the coolest...really!

pumpkins @ sweetberry farms 10.25.10

some days need a little adventure...

I woke up on Oct. 19th with all of this on my mind:

• I wanted to get out of the house and have a little adventure.  
• I wanted to enjoy my kid and give her so much attention she was actually satisfied. :) 
• I needed to clear my head and empty it a little of life's chaos.  
• I needed to see my sister.  
• I wanted to click my shutter a bit and see beautiful things.  
• I thought it sounded fun to reminisce and enjoy memories of my years on campus.

All of this together convinced me to try something new and give myself permission to enjoy a morning downtown in the midst of a busy week.  The only set plan was meeting my sister for lunch.

The kiddo and I took the metro-rail from Leander after dropping off the girls at school.  She loved the train!  It reminded me of my summers in NYC and Atlanta.  I don't often feel like I live in a big city, but if felt like that yesterday.

We explored campus a little bit and stepped into the Texas Memorial Museum.  This wasn't planned at all but it was open at 9am and I had time to kill before the art gallery opened at 10.  My girl loved the Texas wildlife dioramas and the "pretty" rocks.  I thought of how much my older girls would enjoy it.

We crossed campus taking in everything.  I was reminded of how pretty it is.  There was a lot of construction and it was tricky having a stroller with how many steps there were.  We went to the West Mall and sat for a bit with a snack.  We were parked near the "Save the Albino Squirrel Preservation Society" table.

I wanted to walk through the Harry Ransom Center where there was a photography exhibit.  My little one appeased me, but I didn't stay long.  I'd love to go back - toddler-less.

Rachel met me at a cafe table outside of my old dorm, Littlefield.  We ate lunch and caught up a bit.  It was much too brief.  Peanut colored Dora pictures and then refused to gift them to Rachel...so sad.

We caught our express bus back to Leander.  It surprised me how nice those buses are.  They are like motor coaches.

The whole day allowed me to clear my head...believe it or not.  I had a lot of walking and sitting (with a surprisingly quiet kid).  I think she was just so happy for the 1-on-1 time.  Our parenting life occupied my thoughts a lot and how I need to trust God with it.  Ministry at the church was on my mind and I was reminded of how I need to trust God with it.  I thought about my relationships and how I'm falling short in many of them...and that I need to trust God with that too.  Notice a theme?

Sometimes I need to take a holiday from my stresses and while it may have not sounded like a "relaxing" day...it proved to be a day where I could listen to God and be refreshed.

old pecan street festival

Last saturday, Adam took the girls out for Daddy donut date. I had the most wonderful cup of coffee and Bible study in my silent house (amazing!). We got out for a little while and went as a family to the festival. We came home and napped. I made a big dinner and we crashed again. It was a wonderful Saturday. Those kind of days are rare for us, so I enjoyed every minute of it.

panama city beach, florida :: june 2010

My sister and I traveled to Florida with the girls last month.  We got to tag along with our youth group's beach camp trip.  Adam was there with the junior high & senior high students acting as interim youth pastor.  (We didn't see him much that week actually).

It turned out to be a great week for us.  My girls loved playing with the teenagers.  They were all really sweet playing with them in the pool and on the beach.  I loved the time with my sister.  No joke, when we got back home...I went through Rachel withdrawals for a couple of days.  It was a blast being roommates for 5 days.

Our friend, Bobby, was the retreat speaker.  I really enjoyed the series he taught entitled Thirsty.  You can listen to the series here.  It was surreal going on the trip with Bobby & Amy because we went to beach camp with them many times when their kids were as young as ours.  This summer all their kids were on the trip & in the youth group.  It was such a visual to me of how fast these parenting years go!

One of our favorite memories from the trip...

Our 2 oldest girls got to go on a late night trip to a go-cart place with the teenagers (hanging with Dad a little in there too).  Everyone had glow sticks that night.  Our oldest daughter, the little entrepreneur, charms a bunch of the youth into giving her their bracelets.  On the ride back she attempts to sell them back to their original owners - "for a penny, quarter or dollar," she says.  She made over $3 in change...we were so proud.  Ha,ha.  She may be a bit of a swindler, but we praised her entrepreneurial sense.

Here is a glimpse of our trip.  No oil in sight at that point...we were elated.

Here are slide shows of how much fun the youth group had - here and here.

U2 360 tour :: we loved this concert

Most all of my photos are of the images on the giant screen above them. (It was definitely a night where I was dreaming of an amazing telephoto zoom lens).

The set was incredibly cool. Visually, I couldn't believe how many elements there were. With all of the camera work on the band, it felt like we were watching a live movie...if that makes any sense. I had forgotten how much you feel a rock concert...it shakes your insides! Such a blast though.

Bono plucked a 14 yr. old boy out of the audience and ran around the stage with him...looked fun for that kid.

The band's exit. When you wait for a concert for 6 months, 3 hours goes really fast! We loved it.

U2 360 | Dallas, TX | new Cowboys Stadium | Monday, October 12, 2009
opening act : Muse

Our show:
Breathe
Get on Your Boots
Magnificent
Mysterious Ways
Beautiful Day
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
Stuck In A Moment
No Line on the Horizon
Elevation
Until The End of the World
Unforgettable Fire
City of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
I'll Go Crazy - Remix
Sunday Bloody Sunday
MLK
Walk On
One
Where The Streets Have No Name

Ultraviolet
With or Without You
Moment of Surrender