Camping... Sorta

Last weekend, we went down to a friend of the family's farm in Preston. They have a ton of room and they let us come take up some of it. Mom and Dad took their 5th wheel and we set up a tent in the huge yard. It was very relaxing and a lot of fun. It was also a great chance for me to play around with my new camera. Oh, and Ty took some pictures, too.

There was this great, old barn out back of the house. The kind that makes you wanna explore. You know, if it weren't for the mice and bats and rusty nails. Nope, come to think of it, I'd still love to explore!

Isn't this a great picture of the sunset with the mist coming up off the lake? Okay, actually, upon further inspection, that wasn't mist, it was dust being kicked up by some guys on four-wheelers. And, oh yeah, it's a reservoir and it's empty right now. Still, it made for a great picture!
Jeremy came up from Hill AFB and brought my adorable nephews. Quite possibly the cutest in the whole land! Declan sure loves his grandma!
Andrew's angel face is impossible to not love. (Uh-oh, notify the Grammar Police!)
If fun can be measured by filth, He earned a 10!
Tristan is a country boy at heart.


I can't believe the detail this camera is capable of!
Ty took the older kids on a hike up the mountain. It was so pretty there with all the trees beginning to put on their fall regalia. So many reds and yellows and browns.
This last picture really should be put in front of the one with Tristan and Samantha in the trees, but it just makes such a great closing shot.

I'm So Excited!

Ty is the best husband ever! Remember a few posts ago, I started complaining about how my camera had crapped out? Well, on Saturday, after the kids' last game, Ty said out of the blue, "Hey, let's go look at cameras." Ummm... okay. He decided that we should go to Farr's, a high-end jewelry/electronics/collectibles store, to check out their cameras. We had Zach with us, so it was a little nerve-wracking for me. You know, expensive merchandise, active 5 year old, not a good mix. Anyway, Ty was talking to the guy behind the counter and I was half-listening as I also kept an eye on Zach who was hanging out on a bean bag in the television department. Behind the camera bar was two shelves with several cameras. The bottom shelf had lots of the small, point-and-shoot, credit card sized cameras with two or three of the nicer cameras. The top shelf was filled with high-end, fancy big lens cameras. To my surprise, Ty asked Mike (my new friend from Farr's) to give him the run-down on the prices on the top shelf. I absently thought it was kinda rude to get the guy's hopes up for a big sale when all Ty would really want to buy was one of the small cameras, while I run over to tell Zachary to quit jumping on the bean bag. When I came back, Ty had one of the really nice cameras in his hands and is checking out the features. Before I knew it, Ty said, "We'll take it!" Wha? Then, he decided to take the extra lens because if we bought them at the same time, we got it for half-price. Mike also threw in a 2 gig SD card and gave us a discount on a bag to hold all my nice, new stuff. I couldn't believe it! My recently tight husband just bought me a very expensive camera. The great thing about it is, it's idiot proof. Sure, there are a lot of awesome features, but they are easy to use and give great results. Here, let me give you some examples:

Indoor portrait:

Action shots:
My cute dog:
Outdoor portraits:
Can you believe how great this camera is? I LOVE it!!!