So yesterday at about 11 am we decided to come down to Montana a week early.  So we packed up out stuff and hopped in the car.  We decided to come over Logan Pass because although it doesn’t really cut down on the drive time it sure is a breathtaking trip.

Every time I come over that pass I am amazed at how beautiful it is.  We used to come down to Montana every summer when I was younger so I’ve been over that pass quite a few times.  But I just didn’t appreciate the stunning beauty of it.

Anyway, I took a few pictures on the drive down.

Here’s Isaiah, eyes glued to the TV.

I like this one – the light at the end of the tunnel:

Almost to the top:

Clouds:

A ram:

the road:

I took this one while we were waiting at a construction zone:

This one was taken just before we drove past the weeping wall with all windows and the sun roof open at which time both boys screamed and woke up Emma.

Mountains:

And John, back in the driver’s seat.  Last summer I had to drive…can’t remember why though

This week the i heart faces photo challenge was purple so I decided to take some pictures of Emma in her bedroom where the wall is purple.  If you look at the post below, you’ll see the picture I chose to enter, but there were so many cute ones I had a really hard time choosing just one!  I decided to post some of the others just for fun!

Originally this one was my favourite:

But then John convinced me that this one was better:

And then just this morning I changed my mind again and if you scroll down to the next post you can see which photo I finally chose.  And here are the others:

This week’s i heart faces challenge is purple.  I thought I could probably handle that one!

I took this picture in Emma’s room where the walls are purple.  That little chair she’s sitting on was my Dad’s and it was made for him by my Grandpa.  Since I am the oldest grandchild and I have the oldest great-grandchild I got the chair!

ETA: I didn’t edit this photo at all.  My brother (who knows way more about photography than I do) thinks this photo is too orange but when I edited it I didn’t like it as much.  I think it’s just a matter of preference – he likes his photos very cool and I like them very warm.  Also, I had a really hard time choosing my favourite photo from this “session” so here are some others I liked.

This week’s lego challenge is animals hosted by Kristin at What are we doing today Mom?

Denver made a worm (which would have been better for the bugs challenge but what can you do?)

Isaiah made up his own animal.  It’s called a snail-turtle and it’s a mix between a snail and a turtle.

The snail-turtle is very large and can knock over really big, heavy things just by running into them.  As you can see in the next picture, this snail-turtle is headed for the city and the citizens are preparing for the inevitable knocking over.

The snail-turtle is also invincible and wants to eat up the people in the city.  If you look at the next picture you can see the cowardly storm troopers hiding inside, but if what I’ve heard is true, they don’t stand a chance!

So, a few months ago I discovered Picnik.  It’s an awesome free website for simple photo editing.  (If you pay you can get more advanced options but everything I use is free!)

Every photo I post on my blog has been edited on Picnik.  I use iPhoto for storing and organizing my photos on my computer and it does have some editing features, but I actually like what Picnik does better.  You can go to the website and if you create an account (free) you can upload 5 pictures at a time.  If you don’t want to create an account you can still use the site but you have to upload your pictures one at a time.  If you have a paid account (which really isn’t all that expensive) you can upload 100 at once.

Once you upload your pictures, you can play with the exposure, the colour, the contrast, you can fix up red-eye, you can crop and you can rotate.  This are all under the Edit tab.  The one thing it doesn’t have (or at least I haven’t found it yet) is a retouch feature.  I really like the auto-fix feature.  I think it does a lot better job than iPhoto does.  (But iPhoto does have a retouch feature.)

After you’ve done that there are tons of other options under the Create tab.  There is a whole set of effects, from black and white to pixelate.  There is also a whole set of frames, stickers, and text that you can add to the photo.   This where you can really start to have some fun with your pictures.  I used Picnik to make Denver’s birthday party invitations.  I would have used Picnik to make Emma’s birth announcements if I had known about it back then!  The possibilities are endless.  But don’t take my word for it.  Here are some links to what other people have done with Picnik.

Here’s something I did with a photo I took of Denver this morning on our back deck.

All I did to this picture was auto-fix the colours and exposure and add a soften effect (and obviously add the text) and it took about 30 seconds to do.  But I can (and have) spend hours playing around with all the fun stuff there is to do.

Well, here they all are at six months.

Isaiah:

Denver:

Emma:

And one more of Emma, just because I love the look on her face in this one.

This week’s challenge at What are we doing today Mom? was knights and princesses.  Nana has some really cool lego so Nate and Isaiah decided to use her lego and submit a joint effort this week.  Here’s what they came up with:

Here’s what Isaiah has to say about the castle.  (I wonder if Nate would agree?)

“The castle has a drawbridge at the front and on the side is where they keep their weapons and at the very top is where the princess goes although she’s sleeping right now.  There are lots of rocks so that it’s hard for the bad guys to get in.  And they have gold in the green and white capsules.  And there’s a rope so they can get from one place to another faster.  And the castle is in the sea so that the bad guys can’t get in.”

I almost forgot to mention that Isaiah’s robot won the challenge last week!  He was very excited.

And here’s mine – just a standard girl in a tower with a knight in shining armour coming to the rescue:

And here’s Denver’s – a ship (I’m not really sure that fits the theme but it doesn’t look much like a ship either!)

I know, I know, three posts on one day but this video is just too good to ignore.  Maybe you’ve already seen it a million times but I just saw it this week and totally identified with it.  My favourite line is ” ‘ I don’t wanna die.’ ‘Well you should have thought of that before you broke my lamp.’ “  I also really like the last line.  I’ve had a rough couple of weeks and a reminder like this was just what I needed!

We’ve been having a fun summer so far.  On Canada Day we went out to my mom’s for our annual July 1st party.  We sat around the fire, ate Canadian treats and after dark we shot off some fireworks.  It was fun times as always.

My mom’s traditional Canada flag cake:

Sitting around the fire:

Dad and Logan

Joel

John

Getting the fire going:

Mom and me:

A Canadian flag!  Me, Jamie, Mom:

The Rawlings family – all in red!

We also checked out the new Okotoks spray park.

Emma and me – poor girl couldn’t see the whole time.  Either her hat was hanging over her eyes or the sun was shining in them!  But she was a good sport and was happy to sit with me while the boys played.

It was HOT.  We made sure to drink lots of water:

There is a big bucket that gradually fills with water.  When it gets full enough it spills the water all over the park.  Here’s Isaiah (and a whole crowd of others) waiting for the big SPLASH!

It’s been so hot that we had to find an alternate play area.  We rearranged the basement to make a nice and safe  (half the basement is under construction for Isaiah’s new bedroom) playroom.  The boys were so excited to get down there and play trains:

Look what Isaiah’s been doing a lot of this summer: (I was so proud of him for bringing his book to the breakfast table.  I always read at breakfast so he’s just following my superb example!)

And look what Emma’s been up to:  (Not crawling yet, but she’s going to be soon!  And she’s never where I leave her!  I haven’t lost her yet, but I remember finding the boys under my bed or back behind bookshelves so I’m sure it’s not far off!)

One last photo:

Isn’t a sleeping baby the most peaceful, adorable thing?

This week’s Lego Challenge hosted by Kristin at What are we doing today Mom? is robots.  Here are the robots we came up with.  (Some of the pictures aren’t very good – I’m still figuring out my new lens.)

Isaiah:

Front view:

Back view:

Denver: (which I realize looks nothing like a robot but this is what he built and he was very proud of it.)

And mine: (which I didn’t get a chance to get a good picture of before Denver chucked it in the lego bin and ruined it, saying “Haha, too bad.”   I think I’m having just as much – if not more – fun with this than the boys are!)