best friends in southampton

we went to southampton with our friends this summer, 

and like last year it was just us girls!

(see photos from 2011 - here and here)

~

in 2 days...

 we went for ice cream, 

hiked around fairy lake, 

fed the turtles and fish,

enjoyed the hot tub,

had a campfire with s'mores,

performed songs and dances,

watched the olympics,

pretended to be in the olympics,

made our way down to the beach three times!

i do hope this new tradition will continue for years to come!
so fun for the girls, and their mom's...

can you canoe?

we took the girls canoeing.

it was the smiley family (and more) who ventured out 

to the saugeen river on an overcast sunday morning.

 it was a great way to spend the day! 

 emery loved learning to paddle and watch for rocks, as it was quite shallow in parts.

 selah loved hearing daddy's 'river rat' story, eating snacks and napping...

i think it's safe to say that canoeing is not at the top of her fun list, 

but she wins for being in my favourite photo of the day.

hopefully she'll grow to love canoeing as much as we do.

have you ever canoed?

the beach

many great memories already this summer.

i'm having trouble finding time to share my photos...

here's a couple from the beach.

where is your favourite place to be in the summer?

hope you've made it there once or twice already!!

selah in southampton

we spent the first part of this week in southampton. 

family time.

it was a fantastic start to our summer!

we went to the beach, played at the parks, fed the animals at fairy lake, enjoyed some ice cream...

we do these things every time we go there.

~

i haven't had a chance to upload my photos from this week, 

but here are two from our may long weekend visit:

 you may remember this photo from last summer in southampton.

love my messy girl - and definitely seeing some improvement with the ice cream cones!

practice makes perfect, right?!

~

after a challenging day or two with selah, 

it is so nice to focus on this photo:

my sweet girl who seems to embrace the camera these days...

happy weekend everyone!

hoping to be back with more photos tomorrow...

favourite things friday

my favourite thing today is spending time with my family in southampton:

it's so great to here this weekend to celebrate my mom's birthday.

she's amazing...

~

some other 'favourite things' i've come across this week:

• some inspiring ideas for displaying photos in your home
• incredible timelapse photography in yosemite
• a good story with a great reminder 
• hoping to get this course in before a good friend has number 2!

...and because i feel like i'm on holidays and i want to play some more, that's all!

top pick

well, i've spent hours going through my photos from 2011 

and have finally started to create my photobook for the year.

three cheers!

i will definitely be more organized for 2012 with my photos 

and spend a couple hours monthly to choose favs for our 'yearbook'.

there a many photos that i love, 

but i think this is my favourite of the girls:

it was captured in southampton area on the beautiful thanksgiving weekend we had...

this is one for the wall!

going through a year's worth of photos has also confirmed 

how much i've learned this past year about photography.

i'm excited to see how the journey continues in 2012...

sunsets and giveaway

so, i don't usually edit my photos too much, but today i did 

and the result is kind of fun!

perfect photo for my two girls:

emery loves pink, 

and selah loves purple!

(might have to print this for their room)

this one was taken the following night at southampton beach.  

amazing!

now, onto other news...

i have been blogging for one year now.

woot, woot!

some of you have been joining me since the beginning,

some have just started checking in recently.

i want to thank you all for taking the time to stop by.

your clicks and comments are so greatly appreciated!

blogging has been such a joyful journey for me.

sharing my photos and reflecting on life as the days go by,

it's good for my soul!

so in honour of my first year,

i thought it might be fun to have a lil giveaway!

i wanted to come up with something that could work for any reader 

from ontario to australia...

so here it is:

{one custom photo card design}

i think this is perfect with christmas right around the corner...

but it could also be a birthday photo or birth announcement design.

to see a few of my designs click here, here and here.

to enter

• please join this site with gfc (google friend connect on the right) or follow my page on facebook (and if you already do follow then you're good to)
• leave a comment below telling me what kind of design you are hoping for.

one winner will be chosen randomly next monday,

so that leaves lots of time to spread the word.

if you share this giveaway with friends via facebook or twitter (etc),
you can have one more entry
(leave a second comment to tell me how you shared it)

i hope you'll join the fun!

can't wait to design something special 

for the winner!!

if you win:

 you send me a few photo options to work with 

and i'll send you a custom design in jpeg format 

that you can have printed wherever you like.

if you don't win, but you're interested in a custom design
you can contact me for my prices.

happy blog birthday to me!
see you back here next monday
with something to smile about!

linking up here today:


the creative exchange

girls with curls

just wanted to share a couple photos of two beautiful girls 

who ventured with us to southampton in august...

katie & ainsley

katie on the beach - don't you love her hair?

ainsley with her perfectly 'groomed' cone, selah in the back (not so clean...)

treats & tricycles before a sleepover with our friends

so thankful that these girls are in our lives!  

since emmy was 2, and beanie was 6 months,

they've had best friends...

i think that's pretty special.

(linking up here today)

fairy lake

in southampton there is a lovely little lake...

it is the perfect size for an evening 'hike' with my girls & friends.

on our hike, we saw two turtles and some very large fish

(selah, emery, ainsley and katie) 

ducks (anyone know what kind the black and white one is?)

a swan, and a muskrat.

though we forgot our quarters 

(to buy food for the animals),

we had an amazing time running around the lake, meeting some very kind locals,

and scavenging for treats for the turtles and swan.

upon return to grandma and grandad's house, 

a neighbour stopped by so he could show the girls this baby rabbit.

fell into a window well - freed after our visit

such a fun & memorable evening, 

enjoying life in small town ontario!

linking up with:

at the beach

there once was a dad who loved his girls very much.

one day he took them to the beach.

he let them run & play.

he let them live & laugh.

he let them get wet & dirty.

they had so much fun.

they always do with their dad!

he's a great dad,

who takes beautiful pictures!

happy father's day jude.

love you...