Black and White Wednesday

We had a fun time in Arizona visiting family and friends. The kids swam from breakfast until after dinner everyday.

Having 8 days was still not enough time to see everyone and have time to relax. It was still nice to have a change of daily routine and enjoy some family time together.

We got lucky and was able to have Nana and Papa take all 5 kids for one night. We took that opportunity to go out and have a late night with some great friends and enjoy catching up. I enjoyed sleeping in the next morning but hubby got up before the sun and went out and took some pictures during the sunrise!!

The Mesa and Gilbert Valley and surrounding area is changing so fast. My hubby's favorite area is the Beeline Highway. Many changes are starting to happen out there so he took some pictures before the area is changed forever.

He converted a few to B&W and I think they look perfect that way!! Enjoy and for more wonderful B&W see Lisa's blog.

Saguaro Forest along Beeline Highway

More Saguaros in bloom

Old raceway tower on Beeline Highway

Black and White Wednesday

Air Force Academy Chapel Colorado Springs, CO.

A family trip last summer.

(that is us at the bottom walking up to the chapel)

We are away this week visiting family, left last Friday. Spent last Wednesday and Thursday packing.

Enjoying the nice warm AZ heat and sitting pool side every day.

Look forward to catching up with all the photos next week. Thanks for all the comments.

For more B&W see Lisa's Blog.

Black and White Wednesday

Last November of 2009 we got the opportunity to drive to California to meet Ava's cribmate and family for the first time.

We got lucky because my hubby had free Marriott points so no cost for Hotel and we had a Disney points Visa that had points for free park passes!!

So all we needed was gas and food to get to Disney!!

We had a wonderful time getting to know the other family and spent 3 1/2 days at Disneyland together.

The girls had so much fun with each other and the older kids really hit it off too and had a blast together. We all became fast friends!!

Since then we all keep up with each other on Facebook and the girls have Skyped each other.

They are trying to make it out to where we live this summer, we made a pack that we would try and get the girls together every 6 months or so, that is one trip a year for each of us!! Lucky us that we both have family in each others states!!

Ava loved her first trip to Disneyland. She waned to find all her favorite characters and give them hugs!! It was a success and she hugged everyone she wanted to.

We had one little episode while waiting in line for Pooh. We were two people away from hugging him and they did a character break. You would have thought the world was ending, she screamed and cried, just ear piecing!! Poor baby thought Pooh was going away for ever and she was soooo close!! We had to explain that he would be back in a few minutes! Thank goodness she understood and settled down!!

Ava and Mommy enjoying the night time Holiday Parade

California Adventure

California Adventure

The beautiful Castle all decorated for Christmas

For more B&W see Lisa's blog

Black and White Wednesday

Where do the weeks go?? I tell myself every week I will just not post on Wednesday, I need to do other posts!! Grrrrrr

But here we are again Tuesday night!!

What a week!! Our dossier is finally done and on its way to China!! YAY!! I cant believe how long it took. Poor Gemma, it is probably so hard for her to understand this wait. Cant wait to have that LID!!

Speaking of China, lets do a flash back of our trip to Ava, two years ago this coming July!!

Sorry I did not get around to everyones B&Ws last week. It was the last week of school and things were so crazy!! I will visit you all this week. ;-) Thanks for all the comments!!

For more B&W's visit Lisa's blog!

Ava and the door man at the White Swan

Black and White Wednesday

A day at Huntington Beach, CA.

We spent a beautiful warm November day at the beach over Thanksgiving break. None of us wanted to leave but we had to get back in the car and continue on the Phoenix, AZ.

Black and White Wednesday

soren resting

soren and gavin

preston and keaton hiking across a rock field

The pictures above were taken during a week get-a-way last summer to Breckenridge, CO.

We had a wonderful time hiking and swimming and just enjoying relaxing at more than 10,000ft above sea level. Most of our hikes topped out at 13,000 ft above sea level. The kids all did great and loved it!!

The second picture is Gavin and Soren being dorks!! ha

They always have fun spending the afternoon in the pool after a long morning hike.

For more B&W's click here.

Black and White Wednesday

Camping on a perfectly still night in Moab, UT

To enjoy other B&W see Lisa's Blog

18 years ago I married the love of my life!!

Black and White Wednesday too!!!

Taken a few months ago

(by Jill) click on her name for her blog!

Wedding day April 25th, 1992

HAPPY 18 YEARS SWEETIE!! And 22 years of knowing each other!!

Black and White Wednesday

Taken 4 years ago this month on the North side of Maui, Hawaii. My husband earned a family trip with his work and we all headed to Hawaii for 3 weeks!!

It was a vacation of a life time and our boys still talk about it to this day, even my little man that was 2 1/2 at the time!!

This was late afternoon and the clouds were looking pretty crazy.

Our kids ask if we will ever go back again as a family?? Well if we ever win the lottery which would mean we would have to play the lottery! ha

Maybe if the economy picks back up and business is good again sometime in the future??

It was the most amazing time and I can see why the boys still talk about it like it was yesterday.

For more B&W's see Lisa's Blog.

Black and White Wednesday

This is a picture of a rock climber we came across while hiking last summer. My hubby took the picture and I think it came out great as a B&W photo!!

For more B&W go to Lisa's blog!!

Also see my jewelry post below!! Im making jewelry to raise funds for our travel expenses!! Thanks.

Black and White Wednesday

In honor of Old Man Winter still being here, I thought I would share this picture

of my son Soren hanging out of a snow cave he made.

Yes, we have a snow day today, which means NO SCHOOL!!! I had a ton on my

plate and now all 6 kiddos are home!!

Tomorrow is suppose to be back up to 70 degrees!!

I really hope this is Old Man Winter on his way out for good!!

For more B&W go too Lisa's blog.

Ava's Adoption Video & B&W Wednesday!!

Seeing Ava for the first time on Gotcha Day!!!

Finally after 18 months home my hubby and I spent a few late nights putting together our Journey to Ava on video!

It ended up being much longer so we shorten it quite a bit to be under 10 minutes for YouTube.

I cant believe we are coming up on two years home this summer. Our original LID was April 10th 2006 and they just matched that day a few weeks ago!! We switched to special needs in Dec. 2007 and saw Ava's face for the first time April 15th, 2008.

I still cant believe we would have just received our referral!?

I pray and think about all those families still waiting to see their child's face for the first time. Believe me every bit of this long wait is so worth it!!

It must be because we are doing it again!! ha

Enjoy the link for our journey to China, July 2008!!

Click here to see Ava's video!!

For more B&W see Lisa's blog!

Black and White Wednesday

Boy Scout summer camp a few years back. Nothing special just like the way it turned out!

Too see more B&W's go to Lisa's Blog!

Black and White Wednesday

Here's a little photo of what looks like a lonely desert road. Truth is, I had to dodge traffic to get this shot. This road parallels the Colorado River on the way to Moab, UT. The background is Castle Valley. These buttes are actually a couple hundred miles north of Monument Valley, but they are scattered all over Eastern Utah. This area to me is Heaven on Earth. Endless recreation opportunities! In fact, it was due to another motorcycle trip that we were here.

Then there's this one. I thought the layers in the scene were fabulous and had to dismount to shoot it. LaSalle Mountains in the distance, Canyonlands in the foreground.

This one was of some smaller buttes long the White Rim trail in Canyonlands, near Moab.

Standing next to a precipice about 2,000 ft deep. Got my chest pouch on for my SLR - invaluable as long as you don't wreck or drop an expensive lens out the back of your tailbag. (yep, I did that once)

For more B&W's visits Lisa's page, The Long Road to China.

Black and White Wednesday

Thought I'd continue the tradition for April since she's traveling today. This is a building in an old mining camp called Animas Forks located in southwest Colorado. Animas Forks, Est. 1875, is at an elevation of 11,180 ft, and surrounded by dozens of peaks in the 12-13,000 ft range. It's located along a recreational trail called The Alpine Loop. A buddy and I rode this trail on motorcycles the year before last and managed to get this photo on a brilliant sunny day. The area is called "The Alps of the U.S.", so named for its beautiful scenery, and is generally located near Silverton, CO. This home was owned by Thomas Walsh. Also along this trail is an immaculate log cabin that was owned by the author/poet/naturalist Henry David Thoreau. There's your history lesson for the day. :-)

Black and White Wednesday

Sean here, covering for April on this post while she's away. Here's something a little different for B&W Wednesday. I took this shot of an indie band that a friend of mine is in. I managed to capture a severe contrast from the bright lights of the stage to the darkness of the backdrop, while producing some dramatic highlights in the process. In any case, I always enjoyed it for those reasons and hopefully you can too. Cheers!

Black and White Wednesday

O how I love the deck that wraps around our home, especially in the summer. We have some of the most wicked thunder storms every summer. We have the second highest lightning strikes in the US with Florida being the highest.

Pretty much every day around 2:00pm the thunder storms roll in over the mountain range. As the summer goes on the thunder storms get later in the the day and usually finish up around 7:00pm.

One of our favorite summer activities is the sit on the deck and watch the God's awesome lightning show. Until it gets too close for comfort and we head inside and watch it from a safer location!!

We have had the lightning hit a little to close and has brought us ducking for cover even in the safety of our home!! It has made our windows shake and we have lost a few TVs since we have lived here. We have learned to go around the house and unplug everything each afternoon.

My hubby loves to set up his tripod on the deck and click away. He has caught some amazing shots!!

Please stop by Lisa's blog and enjoy many more B&W's from some talented photographers!