7.02.2011

I've Been Gone too Long!

Hey my dearest blogging friends! I haven't had even the slightest amount of time to sit down and finally blog. In fact, I got behind nearly 100 photos last week and it took a WHOLE day for me to edit and upload them..-WHEW- and I don't what to let it happen again!

So yesterday my husband and I hosted a little cookout(/fish fry) at our home. It's the second one I've hosted this year. I LOVE to cook and entertain (just don't like the clean up part) but it's worth it. We had fried fish, hush puppies, homemade slaw, fries, cheeseburgers, hotdogs and a really cute red, white and blue layered cake I made. Sadly I never got to take a "good" photo of it since it was devoured almost instantly-but I found the idea on Pinterest and it came out so cute and was just as good! I love family and getting together letting the kids play in a kiddie pool and slip and slide was so great. After the food and fun we listened to some music played by my Dad, brother-in-law and step father-in-law. Then we watched fireworks we had bought last week.

Anyways, on to some photo challenges and link ups! Oh, and I wanna mention that my Parenthood entry I made into the themed challenge at Paper Heart Camera AND The Paper Mama was a favorite at both! Thanks Chelsey!

Sweet Shot Tuesday
july1-1
Of all the photos I took of fireworks, the roman candles were my favorites. I did a long exposure on them, (maybe like 5 seconds) and got the trails of the balls of light that shot out. I love this shot!
Sweet Shot Day

Shutter Love Tuesdays; Just for kids
july1-9
Kids love water, so the slip n slide shots would do well for this!


LEM & Foto Friday; Red, White & Blue
july1-18
Using a different sense of the word, this little handsome fellow has red, white AND blue on his shirt! (Not to mention the red Dodge in the background!) So I thought this would fit nicely.


The Paper Mama-Sparkle; Crazy Days of Summer-Light
IMG_3688
Looks very sparkly AND its a burst of light for sure!
The Paper Mama

Favorite Photo of the Week; Better than Best
june19-10
Always love that Pretty smile!



Now onto the Quarterly Top 5!!! This is where you link up your TOP 5 favorite photos from April-June of THIS year! Click the button below my top five favorites and link up YOUR faves of the quarter! Here they are in no particular order:
april25-2after

may18-7

may24-1

may31-3

june26-13
Naptime Momtog


Thanks for stickin' with me through all that! Have a Happy FOURTH!

14 Lovely Reader(s) Said:

Anonymous said...

WOW! They are all great Natalie. Love the ones you picked for the Top 5. So adorable! Thanks for linking up. Have a great 4th weekend.

Laurie said...

That is an adorable photo! Thanks for linking up!

Kelly said...

I love the dandelion shot. Beautiful

Kristi {at} Live and Love...Out Loud said...

Your photos are all so awesome! I love the huge firework pic. So festive.
Thanks for joining Alicia and I in the Crazy Days of Summer Photo Challenge. I'm following you now via GFC can't wait to see what you come up with for next week's theme, PATRIOTISM. Hope you're having a great weekend! :)

Amber said...

Nice firework shot. I want to try to get some this weekend, but with a 15 month old that goes to bed at 7:30 that is difficult.

Anyways, lovely Top 5. That last one is so precious. You can't just tell he is having fun!! I also really the pic of him with the fishing pool. He just looks so sweet and the bokeh the very nice.

Thanks for linking up with us!!!

Ashley Sisk said...

So glad that you're enjoying your summer but I"m also glad to see you here n the blogging world. As always, such beautiful shots.

Kim said...

Gorgeous photos. I love the slip and slide one. I love water droplets just floating in the air like that.

Unknown said...

oh, adorable photos!
via Crazy Days of Summer
Light Trigger: OUR ENTRY

Lisa said...

Love your favorite photo of the week!

Cedar said...

So many great shots! How to mention just one or two! Glad you had a great BBQ/4th! I do love the one of your son and the fishing pole--adorable!

Snapshotsofhappiness said...

Love these photos! I'm your 200th follower! Congrats :D

Michelle R said...

So, I'm only, what, a week late getting to this! (hugs)!!!

Love how you're enjoying being a hostess! And it's ok on the cake... just make another one! :) Sounds yummy and like such a great time!!

Stink, love your roman candle shots -- now I'm wishing we had some for me to try! lol! Good thing we got some fireworks stores open year round around here! (but honestly, it'll probably wait till next summer anyways!)

You can't get much better then joyful laughter while playing in the water on a hot day! :)

Your handsome fellow looks like he knows he's a handsome fella! :)

And the last cool firework shot is creally neat! I love how it's all sparkley!!

Fav photo: stink, too adorable!!

Quarterly top 5: definitely some winners in there! :)

xoxoxo
Me

Courtney said...

These are darling! I love the top 5 ones! The one of him plowing the dandelions with the bokeh is wonderful!! Such a perfect childhood activity to capture!! Thanks for linking up with us!!

Karli @ The Bonnie 5 said...

Well helllloooo friend! XOXO What's this?! Your last post was July 2nd? You sound like me! I'm just taking it easy and enjoying my summer with the kiddos. OK, who am I kidding...it's a madhouse around here...but it would be even crazier if I was blogging every day like last year.

BEAUTIFUL beautiful shots...all of them! Your sweet lil' guy is getting SO BIG! I can't remember, he's older than TT right? She was 2 at the end of March.

LOVE your pics, LOVE your processing; just lovely! XOXO

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