camping friends

we spent the first week of the summer camping.

rather than just the four of us going - we went with another family.
connecting sites - oh yeah!

after such a great week - not sure i would camp without family or friends.  

the plans are already in the works for next year!

so meet the UWs: our camping friends!

abigail - 10

nathaniel - 6 

jesse - 4

andrew

catherine

we met the UWs through preschool 3 years ago - and i'm so glad we did.
it was exciting when we realized that we lived so close to each other!
emery and nathaniel have been in the same class since preschool.
selah and jesse just finished their year together and
we have our fingers crossed that they'll be in the same JK class!
abigail is such a great girl - thankful that emery and selah have her to look up to.
catherine and andrew - they're pretty fun too!

thanks for the memories you guys!

catherine is an excellent photographer who has recently started her own business.

woot, woot!

you can see her family blog here

(where she recently posted some camping photos)

and check out her photography website!

come back for more camping photos soon...

trophy

emery received her first trophy last night.  

she is so proud of that thing... 

i wish i could give her a trophy everyday.

 below is my favourite moment of the night:

this is emery showing selah her trophy.

selah was so excited for her big sister!

i overheard emery say

"and selah, if you do tball next year - you'll get a trophy like this one!"

i love emery's joy & thoughtfulness, and selah's reaction!

summer

and we started it off right - camping at point farms!  

such a great week with my family & good friends.

check back for some photos soon!

but before you go...

can you see the dino that selah drew?

f1.8

new lens baby!

well newish... i got it in april and i'm loving it.

it's a nikkor 35mm f1.8.  that's what i'm talking about!

some of you may be wondering what the heck f1.8 means.

that has to do with aperture and how wide open the lens is when you take a picture.

if you have a low f-stop, you're wide open,

which lets more light in and gives you greater depth of field 

(and the background 'fuzzies' that i love).

here are some photos i've captured with my new lens:

first day with new lens

jude likes the new lens too - he took this one

a lovely flower bokeh

as you can see, i had fun photographing plants & flowers this spring.

which one is your favourite?

bonus points if you can name all the flowers...

last day

yesterday was the last day of school for emery.

she's accomplished so much in and out of the classroom this year.

moving on to grade 1 and french immersion in september!

these are two of her good friends at school - olivia and ava.

i'm so thankful for the lil community that has formed amongst the kids in her class and their moms!

such nice people to see and spend a little bit of time with each day!

as soon as emery got out of class yesterday, there was something she had to show me...

she could do the wavy ("hardest") monkey bars all by herself now!  

there are a lot of monkey bars in the school yard and she's done them all.

love her proud look below as she moves on to the next challenge...

after school we headed to a friends house for a little last day party.

lollipop cupcakes (i will definitely be trying to make myself), lemonade and balloons...  

such a special way to end a great school year. 

pretty flower from their garden

here is emery - homeward bound.  

we need to attach a balloon to her bike more often - makes for fun photos!

i'm so proud of emery and excited to see where life will take her.

she is a sensitive, thoughtful and energetic girl with so much creativity and love inside.

she tells us she wants to be a jewelry maker when she grows up.  

whatever she chooses to do,

i'm sure good things will come her way

and i'll be cheering her on down every path.