We had a white Christmas!

On Christmas Eve, it started snowing and snowing and snowing...and it didn't quit for the better part of the day!  We went to my parent's that night and the hour drive home took us almost 2 hours!  The roads were terrible!!!  Paul took Elias out on the 4 wheeler to ride in the snow a little bit.  Elias barely let me get this picture before running to the 4-wheeler.

 You can barely see Elias and Paul in the shop getting ready to get on the 4-wheeler.  This is how much the snow was falling.

I had to take some scenery pictures...it was just so pretty out there...even though I don't like the cold!  Too bad we can't have warmth and snow!

 I got Shelby & Dakota to bundle up and take some pics.  It was hard to get some b/c right when I snapped the picture, a snowflake would be in front of their eye or nose and the pic would turn out funny, but I got a few good ones!

 I love Dakota's smile here....Paul wouldn't quit throwing snowballs at me and the kids when I was trying to take their pics.  I got him good though, b/c when he bent down to get a snowball, I pushed him face first into the snow...........then I took off running for the house!!!  LOL

I hope all of you had a very Merry Christmas and I wish you many blessings in the New Year!
Stephanie

Picture Effects

Good morning!  I was playing around with my Adobe Photoshop Elements and the new pics I just took to see what kind of cool effects I could put on them for display on our family room wall.  I found that my program will do some really cool things. 

This was one of my favorites that I just happened to capture without them even realizing I was taking a picture.  I cropped in the original and then changed it to black and white scenic landscape. I printed this as an 8 X 10 for the wall.

 Thanks to the suggestion of a friend of mine, Jill, I cropped in on the picture of Dakota in the tree and then changed it to black and white.  I will be making several 4 X 6 to put in a collage frame I got for Christmas several years ago and have never used.  This is the perfect time to fill it up and hang it on the wall!

 I thought this one turned out really cool.  I chose colorful center first as an effect, which makes the top and bottom a black and white scale and leaves the center colorful.  Then, I did color burn, which just darkened the natural colors of the pic.  I loved how it turned out and printed it as an 8 x 10 for the wall.

 Of course, had to use my favorite picture of Shelby for an 8 X 10 for the wall.  On this one, I chose sun faded photo as the effect and really loved the printed effect!  It is a beautiful picture!

Now...I just have to get them framed and put on the wall!  That'll probably only take me a month!  LOL

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

My first photo shoot

Paul, me and the kids headed down to the lake this afternoon to try my hand at taking our own family photos.  Today was a learning day...I learned do not go when the 3 year old needs a nap, do not go when the sun is setting, and do not go when it is windy, LOL.   But...despite all that, I did get to capture quite a few good shots.  Thanks for taking a look!

My hair was wacky crazy in the following one!  Definitely need to re-do a family pic!

 This family one would've been pretty good had I stood straight and if Elias would've kept his eyes open!

 I would love to be this skinny!

 This is my most favorite shot of Shelby!  The pose is good, the background is good, and her smile is beautiful!

 I do not like my bangs being blown back from my forehead...but I love the idea of this shot with just me and Shelby.

 Well, despite Elias' crankiness, I was able to sneak in a couple of good shots of him!

 and of course a silly one!

 This shot made me feel really good.  I had Shelby posing against the tree and Dakota just ran up on the other side to pose with her!  Usually these two can't get along for nothing, so I was thrilled to see them willing to pose together!

 Shelby refused to leave until I let her take a pic of just me!  (I'll delete it later LOL)

 Yes, of course...I made them climb a tree for the perfect shot!

 Dakota had to help Shelby up...but he was going to leave her there rather than help her down. LOL

I love this picture of the guys. 

 I like this one of me, because you can't really see me....lol

I was really thrilled with how well Shelby and Dakota got into posing!  Every time I looked at Dakota...he was striking a new pose!  I hope to get another chance to go out and take some more without all the shadows, but for my first photo shoot, I'm pretty happy!! 

Have a great day!!