Dorney Park

if you have ever had a conversation with my husband, you probably gathered that he is a roller coaster nut.

literally.

and summer cannot go by without us traveling to at least a hand-full of amusement parks so he can get his yearly roller coaster fix.

you could call them his drug - and he needs his fix, bad.

so last saturday we went to Dorney Park in Allentown, PA.

[and yes, like nerds all 5 of us wore the same color - totally on accident too. i promise we did not plan it!!]

and we learned something:

the best time to go to an amusement park is the weekend a hurricane is blowing through :)

because every single line, looks like this:

we literally felt like the only people in the park [except for that totally annoying 11-year-old that we kept running across]

we had debated going into the water park, but decided to bring our bathing suits along just in case we had time, and well, let's just say: we arrived at 10am and parked in the front row. by 11:30am we had ridden every major ride in the park [in other words, all of the roller coasters & thrill rides]. so we headed out to the car to get our bathing suits, and by 2pm we had done everything in the water park [and some things over and over again].

it was insane and totally spoiling.

because who wants to wait in line ever again?

[oh by the way, i'm a fantastic photographer and would love to take your photos! i promise not to use a point-and-shoot camera and i further promise not to take self-portraits of myself & my 13inch taller husband :P]

so we had a fabulous time.

it only sprinkled a few times up until about 4:30pm, when they announced that due to the storms coming into the area that they would be closing the park at 5pm.

which was totally cool by us, we had already done everything we wanted hours ago :)

and then, as we were leaving, it down-poured.

but that was okay, because they gave us all free tickets to go back :D

I Heart Faces - White

this week's challenge on i[heart]faces is the color white :)

this is an easy one thanks to all the beautiful brides i have photographed!
but also extremely hard thanks to all the beautiful brides i have photographed!
haha - you know what i mean :)

i decided to use this photo of cassie since she is my most recent bride - and it's one of my favorites! i love the lighting, the softness of the photo, and her beautiful smile :)

be sure to head over to i[heart]faces to see more "white" photos!

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i'm the planner

i'm a planner.

i like to know - i take that back: i need to know what i'm doing.

who i'm doing it with.

what time i'm doing it.

how we're going about doing it.

what the doing involves.

if i need to bring anything to the doing.

etc.

i distinctly remember:

i was in kids choir at church, and we would sing a special something like once a month.

we would all sit in the 2nd pew so we could walk up and sing.

well, i was the one who would be whispering up to the lady in charge:

what's the order of the service?

are they going to announce us?

are we exiting the pew from the right or left side?

are we standing on the steps or on the stage?

i have to know the details.

and i have to plan it out in my head.

and i'm still like that.

my husband on the other hand?

is the fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants type.

the "i'll figure it out as i go along" type.

which drives the planner in me NUTS.

but i'm trying to learn to let him "plan" things.

kind of.

for example:

tomorrow morning we're going to dorney park.

and the only thing i know is that we're leaving around 6:30am.

and i'm sitting here with my mind reeling about things i should bring with us and snacks and cameras and batteries and extra clothes to pack and precautions about getting wet and what if its cold and what if its hot?

while he's playing a video game.

no plans, no worries, and no thoughts about tomorrow.

ugh.

i don't think i'll ever be that way :P

I Heart Faces - Pet Week

this is both my favorite and least favorite week over at i[heart]faces.
it's my favorite because i get to post a photo of our baby :)
it's my least favorite because i have to choose just one photo to post :)
which makes things challenging.

this is one of my new favorites though.
her eyes are so striking - and she looks at me like like she understands everything i ramble to her about.
her eyes are .. understanding :)

be sure to head over to i[heart]faces to see more "pet" photos!

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a thousand words

today was our church picnic and sometimes, photos should simply speak for themselves :)

A Visitor..

we had a visitor last night.

we figure he got in around midnight-ish? and we finally got up and caught him about 2:30.

a robber? no.

this thing squeaks and our hero, Derrick, went after it armed with a broom and badminton racket.

and speaking of the racket, look what it did to it!

i must admit, it was fairly comical to see my husband perched on our stairs [we had caught it in the hallway] with a broom in one hand and swinging the racket like crazy in the other.

and i'll be honest, i did consider grabbing my camera and sneaking a picture, but then thought better of it and decided to just keep that picture in my mind :P

figure out what we had yet?

i'll give you a hint, this is the 4th one this summer we've caught in our house.

the first 2 we caught in a mouse trap [go figure] and the 3rd one escaped as we were trying to catch it.

yeah - we had another bat.

sorry mom, glad he didn't sneak in while you were here - but i guess we still have a problem.

so now, we're on a mission: figure out where they're getting in and seal the hole.

because Derrick the Bat-Slayer is tired of me frantically waking him up in the middle of the night and making him kill the bats.

so any helpful hints or comments are appreciated! because we're really kind of stumped by this one.

[oh and don't forget Derrick the Bat-Slayer's trusty side-kick, Bat-Dog. she almost caught it before D did!]

2 years

dear D,

you've been amazing.

and i'm sad to admit it, but i was a tad bit skeptical.

when i knew i had to have all my wisdom teeth pulled, and that i would be out of commission for a while, i had a little twinge of worry. would you be able to take sufficient care of me & the house while i was down? i mean, let's be honest, i do a lot of stuff that you don't normally do [cooking, cleaning, laundry etc.] and i wasn't sure if you knew what you were in for.

but 2 years ago today, you got down on one knee and asked me to marry you, because you wanted to spend the rest of your life with me. that moment was incredible and i'll never forget it.

and so with being married, we vowed to love each other thru sickness & health.

and let me tell you - you totally held up your end of the deal these past 11 days.

i have never felt so loved - been so babied - and been so at ease in letting someone care for me.

you cleaned the house. washed the mountains of dishes. cooked yummy food. made sure i took my medicine on time. squirted out my mouth. kept my ice packs cold. and even held the bucket while i puked all my insides out after the surgery.

someday i'm sure i'll have my turn and i'll be able to baby you - but until then i just wanted to say, from the bottom of my still-healing-wisdom-teeth-holes:

thank you.

& i love you.

I Heart Faces - Eyes

snow anyone?

this week's challenge on i[heart]faces is eyes - and this is one of my favorite photos of eyes :)
my baby sister has such pretty eyelashes & this day it was snowing and sticking to everything - including her long eyelashes :)

be sure to head over to i[heart]faces to see more "eye" photos!

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hamsters & kangaroos

first it was hamsters.

growing up i always wanted a hamster.

i had it all planned out: i could keep him in my bedroom. i could take care of him really easy. and he could be my fuzzy friend.

and i remember planning it all out in my mind, and then picking the perfect moment to bring the topic up with my mom.

we were driving down the road - and i remember the exact spot we were when i asked.

and guess what she said?

i didn't pout or cross my arms or throw a tantrum, but i probably did on the inside.

fast forward about 14 years --

and now? it's a kangaroo.

i would really like a kangaroo :)

and i have it all planned out: i can keep him in the backyard! he'll be really easy to take care of. and he can be my fuzzy friend :)

unfortunately, that's about where this fantasy stops.

because i don't even have to open my mouth to know what D's answer would be :(

seriously though, you can't deny that they're pretty cute fuzzy little buggers!

[photos taken at the Troy Fair - what county fair has kangaroos? the Troy Fair does :)]

I Heart Faces - Friendship

let's just say:
getting all four wisdom teeth removed is not a fun process, and -- we can lay that topic to rest.

moovingg onn!!

i'm in the process of getting back to "normal" and that starts with entering this week's i[heart]faces challenge - which is friendship :)

i took this photo last christmas - it's my cousin nate playing the "hand-smacking" game with his grandpa [my uncle].
when you think "friendship"most people think of the friendship between peers, but i think it's so much more precious when a grandpa & grandson can have such a beautiful friendship :)

be sure to head over to i[heart]faces to see more "friendship" photos!

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moving day

dear wisdom teeth,

today is august 5, 2011.

you have been given verbal & written warnings and i am sad to see that we have reached this point.

but at 12pm, i will have to commence the eviction process.

i know, i know, it's tough.

we have lived together for almost 22 years.

however, you've suddenly decided to be stubborn and rebel against me, and i can not tolerate that.

so for the sake of all my other teeth, it's time for you to go. 

you've become a bad example to them, and i can't have that.

so, it's been fun, but it's time for our paths to separate, consider this goodbye.

bath time!

she's not afraid of water - really.

in fact by the end of the weekend [a few weeks ago] when we were visiting my family at the lake, she was a regular fish.

a fish .. with black fur & a long tongue :)

however: even though she loves the water, she doesn't like getting a bath.

thankfully she isn't the 'run & hide' type.

she's more of the 'stand there & give you big sad eyes & make you feel evil' type.

good thing we're big tough "parents" and we can take it :)

so now, she not only looks shiny & pretty again, but she smells good too.

and good smelling puppies are always fantastic :)

swallow falls, md

swallow falls is one of my favorite places to go.

it's so beautiful and peaceful.

and you can hike around to your hearts content.

get a little wet if it's really hot.

and take some really awesome photos :)

however, every time we go - it never fails, some knucklehead is jumping off some rocks into the water.

and every time we see it, we always say how stupid it is - because they have no idea how deep the water is. in some places its really deep sure, but in others it's really shallow.

well.

D has a hard time resisting temptation, especially when it comes to thrills, heights, and water.

he trusted some guys who were already in the water, and he jumped.

and he gave me a heart-attack.

but he survived.

and found the spot to be really deep.

so he proceeded to convince my sister to jump in with him.

and then, believe it or not, [well believe it because i have the picture to prove it :P]

he got my little brother to jump in too!

ugh.

knuckleheads.