orange...

...makes me happy! I think it's my new favorite color.

bok tower gardens

David's parents were visiting us over the weekend. We love visiting new places, so we headed to the Bok Tower Gardens. It was gorgeous!


The "singing tower" was built in 1927 and is is home to the carillon. What is that you ask? It's basically a keyboard that is mechanically attached to a set of bells. 60 of them to be exact.


Here is the size of the largest bell.


And here are the keys.


The tower is built on Iron Mountain, Florida. I got a chuckle out of this. The "mountain" (290 ft.) is the tallest point in Florida, and overlooks beautiful orange groves. We enjoyed listening to carillon concert from this spot. We also spent quite a bit of time sitting at the summit reading books and relaxing.






This place was very kid friendly. At the visitor's center, we checked out a little book bag of kids' nature books with a little picnic blanket. We also got some "magic paper."


There were 8 posts located throughout the gardens. Each of the posts depicted a different creature.


Here's the magic: upon rubbing the white stick on the shiny side of the paper, voila! The creature appeared. The girls eventually got tired of this, but they finished 6 out of the 8 posts.




I had to get in at least one shot.






Grandad and Abuela.

sweet, sweet family

Here's the last of my favorites from this sweet family shoot. It was so fun capturing their interactions. I just love babies! :)

the V family

It was such a treat to photograph my friends and new parents, Marc and Evangeline. I can remember so clearly those first surreal months of parenthood. So many wonderful and terrifying moments all wrapped up and handed to you in one sweet little bundle. It was fun to capture this new threesome. I've got lots more to share! Here's my first dent in processing. Come back for some more sneak peeks. :)

be mine!

Happy Valentine's Day! How do you celebrate? We don't really have any family Valentine's traditions to speak of, but I'd like to start some. My friend, Cindy, had a great idea that she shared with me yesterday. Ever heard of the book The 5 Love Languages? According to the author, everyone receives love and shows love in one or more of five ways: encouraging words, gifts, lots of hugs, acts of service and quality time.

My friend's idea focuses on loving our family on Valentine's Day in such a way that they really feel loved. First we'll have to explain the concept to our kids and see if they get it. Then, we'll have to help them think of ways to show love to one another. I think this is a great idea to make Valentine's Day about loving those around you in a special way. (And, it means I'm in for lots of presents :)

I think we'll start small today by explaining the concept of love languages to our girls. I'd love to hear any traditions you have!

barbara manatee...

you are the one for me,
sent from up above,
you are the one I love!
-a Veggie Tales Silly song
Major, major photo overload in this post!

While Kendra was visiting, we went to visit the manatee at Blue Springs Park. November 1st-March 1st is peak season to see them. Everyone else thought it was a good day to see them too! Our first two attempts to enter the park failed, as it was at capacity. Luckily there was a park with a really cool playground just down the street, so we hung out there for a few hours.


This is one of the coolest playground toys I've ever seen! We got quite a workout on this one.






Sweet baby A awoke from her nap.


On the third attempt, we finally got into the park, but only by two cars. This was one popular place! I recommend going early in the morning or later in the afternoon.


Currently this area is closed, but in the summer it's open for swimming. Doesn't it look so inviting?


There they are. A big "plump" of manatee as A called them.


Here's one coming up for a breath. After seeing lots of "plumps" my girls were unimpressed. They wanted to go back to the playground. We got a tip from another tourist that a calf had just swum near the dock in the swimming area, so we headed down for a closer peek. That was more interesting!


There were also cool trees to climb...


and little seashells to collect. Overall, it was well worth the visit. I would definitely go again.

baby love

Here are my last favorites of baby A. She's just so sweet! I'm sure I went overboard posting so many photos, but I really do love babies (just not the lifestyle that they come with.)


I had some fun with this one and added some texture to the background. What do you think?













I couldn't leave this one alone. After I posted it the first time (see below), I decided that it needed some more "oomph," so I played a bit more, and added just the slightest bit of texture to the background. Can you see the difference? I think it's an improvement.

Next post: our manatee visit.

oh baby!

I couldn't get enough of sweet baby A's eyes and milky skin. Isn't she just gorgeous?! She had such a classic "Who Me?" flirtatiousness about her. I've still got a few more to share from our multiple mini-sessions.