I heart face and I heart water!

This weeks photo challenge theme is water and challenge it is indeed!  We spend SO much time in water!  We have a pool, my in-laws have a pool and we frequent Lake Michigan as well.  As a result I have a ton of pictures captured in water.  The challenge this week is picking just one. :)  

So the image I chose isn't one of those postcard moments with the perfect sunset on the beach or water droplets falling like magic in beautiful sunlight.  I picked this one just because I still get a kick out of what we can do with a camera.  We can literally freeze a moment.  We can stop water!  I mean really, does it get any cooler than that?  Not an award winning photo but a fun one for sure! :D  Make sure you check out all of the other awesome entries at iheartfaces!

I Heart Pet Week!

I love our pets.  We have two cat's, some fish and our dog Sophie.  She is such a great dog and I love her with all my heart which is a lot because I am not a dog person at all!  However this time instead of posting a picture of her I am going to put a picture of her brother who is my mom's pet.  He is suuuuch a funny dog!  He gets right in your face and growls like he is about to attack you and then licks you to death.  He also has other talking voices as well.  When he is sad he has this little tiny baby puppy whimper he can do.  It's the most pitiful thing you have ever heard!  He is a boxer and he has these lip flaps that hang down and he can lay them down and spread them out to make himself look so adorable.  He is a total goof!  We were so luck to end up with Rocco and Sophie.  They have made our lives so much fun!  Check out more great pets at I Heart Faces!

It's Fix it Friday....and it's hot!

The picture we get to play with this week is beautiful!

Here is the original.......

and here is my take.....

I cropped it, warmed it, added some texture, softened her skin and sharpened her lips because they are gorgeous, I also sharpened his eyes, added some contrast....and some more stuff. lol!  I got carried away! ha!

Head over to iheartfaces to see lots of other fabulous takes on this fabulous photo! 

I Heart Pets!

This week is all about our furry friends. We have three furry friends in our house. Sophie our boxer, Tuffy our three legged kitty and Miss Kitty our sassy kitty. I can't imagine our house without animals in it. They are so loyal and just plain make you smile with their antics.  Although Sophie may look like a dog she is most definitely not a dog!  We call her part human and part cat.  We are pretty sure she thinks she is a cat but she is also such a part of our family.  We have 4 boys so I figured we just needed a dog.  I am not a huge dog person myself (okay, I am scared to death of most dogs. lol!) but it just seemed right.  Sophie came along and has just completely won me over.  She sleeps as much as the cats, she looooves to sneak the cat's food. She even loves to lay in the window sill in the sun like a cat!  Whenever I talk to her about her favorite things she tilts her head waaay over like in this photo and makes me chuckle every time.  She sleeps with me every night.  She's my girl. :)

Please head on over to Iheartfaces to see many more great pets!

Iheartfaces is all about orange this week!

This week the photo challenge is all about the color orange!  I love orange.  One of my favorite colors in fact!  Pumpkins are orange which remind me of fall fun.  Swimmies are orange which brings up lots of beach memories.  I looked through all of my photos and orange comes up a lot!  However I kept coming back to this photo of my husband and I on the beach and I am wearing my orange shirt.  It's not an award winning photo and we are not super models but it's us.  My husband and I.  We have something so special, so wonderful.  We have now been married for 10 years and have created 4 beautiful boys together and somehow we have stayed 100% happy through it all.  I am so grateful to have found my true soul mate.  He gets me.  When I am in a bad mood, he just lays low.  When I am emotional he holds me.  When I am happy it makes everything in his world happy.  He protects me and takes care of me.  When he looks at me and tells me I look beautiful I really do feel like I am beautiful in his eyes even though I hate what I see in the mirror.  I love him so much.  He is my better half. :)

Sometimes when you play with a toy enough, it starts to look like you. :)

      My boys LOVE legos.  I can't even tell you how many hours they have spent together building and imaging.  They like when I build with them but I can only make a rectangle and then when I touch anything made of lego's it seems to explode into 1,000 pieces, sigh.......
      The good news is that I am pretty good at taking pics of their projects they make and they love that!  My son Toby made this version of my son Avery one day and it was so funny! His imagination is priceless! Enjoy my collage and when you are done don't forget to go to I heart faces to see some more fun photo stories!

Is it a lake or is it love?

I absolutely adore Lake Michigan.  I feel so lucky that I live so near such a treasure!  Walking on the beach makes everything in my world okay for the time that I am there.  We bring our 4 boys there quite frequently and the words "I'm bored" has never even crossed their lips once.  We swim, make sand castles and sculptures, dig holes and soak up the sun.  A warm breeze is usually kissing our faces.  It's a different lake each time we go.  One day it will have big waves that we ride on like a wave pool and the next it will be calm and clear revealing all of the colorful rocks and fossils that we treasure hunt for.  Going to the beach is our way of unplugging from the world.  No t.v's, no movies and more important NO XBOX!  I feel so relaxed riding home at the end of the day at the beach.....I ♥ Lake Michigan. :)

Oh and by the way, the beach is an amazingly gorgeous place to take lots and lots of pictures! Here is one of my four boys. Enjoy!  ;)

Grab a boat and cruise on over to Iheartfaces to check out some more great beach photos!