Family Camping Trip

Ok, first of all I HAVE to post this photo of a TARANTULLA!!!! We saw it up in Farmington canyon-the place were we were supposed to camp...that is until we saw this dude, also the one-lane-fall-to-your-death-road up to the campground sealed the deal-no Farmington Canyon!


The next morning we went on a walk and took these photos. These are some of my favorite photos I've ever taken, I love the light coming through the trees...beautiful!



This past weekend we took our trailer out for its inaugural Stevens Family camping trip. We headed up to a beautiful campground in Big Cottonwood Canyon. It was gorgeous! We got up there Thursday night around 7-ish and TJ and I were just stunned by the colors of the leaves-it was spectacular!! After going through the campground to find the "perfect" spot, we set up camp and went on a walk around, while the boys played on their bikes.



My MIL and cute sister-in-law Janelle, along with my adorable niece Emalee, came up to spend the day with us. We started with a yummy breakfast of tasty's donuts (thanks nelle!!), eggs and O.J. Then we went up to a hike to donut falls..and NO we didn't plan on the similarity between our breakfast and our hike. It was a fun hike, it wasn't too hot and I got some fun pictures too ;)


I took these cute pics of the boys. I love their cute personalities!! They really loved the hike. Drew was pretty much always in the front and Cam was always trying to get people to hold him...he's just a little guy though and it was kind of a long hike!


That night, we had a simple dinner and then roasted marshmallows over the fire. The boys weren't to keen on the smores, but they did LOVE roasted marshallows and the cookies plain. The would NOT eat them together...so funny!
I love this photo of Drew-it's his crazy-cross-eyed-silly boy look.


While we were sitting around the fire, I snapped some photos of the boys, and am PRETTY SURE I'll be hangin' these on my walls! I LOVE these!!




I didn't bother to "photoshop" out the marshmallow and chocolate stuck to his little face, I thought it added to the picture!


Ok, you've probably noticed by now, that I've used a lot of textures and kind of fun, funky processing on these photos. I've been experimenting and really like how these all turned out!


When we put the boys to bed, I took these cute photos of TJ reading to the boys. They both love stories and are usually mesmorized by them.

Yellowstone Days 4,5 & 6

Day 4:

Wednesday was our last "real" day in the park. We went to Old Faithful, then to Mammoth hot springs. After my dad and I stole away to take some photos.

First, we went to Old Faithful, we were there early enough that we got great seats to watch the show. Afterwards, we took a 2 mile walk to see more geysers and some pools. I got some ok photos of the other geysers, but my dads are SO much better, so go and check here to see what I mean.

Here's my shot of Old Faithful:

My kids LOVED playing with their poppa. He was always willing to do whatever they asked him to do. It was so cute! We put a leash on Cam while we were on the walk because of all of the hot pots, geysers, and mud pots. It was a fun toy for them!

This was one of the photos, that I had all framed ready to shoot, and my dad told me to move to get a better photo. I really learned a lot from him on this trip, and hope I can continually learn from him.

One of the gorgeous pools on our walk.

After we went to Old Faithful, we stopped for lunch at a cute little picnic spot by a stream. The boys had fun exploring and running around. After lunch we headed to Mammoth Hot Springs. It's really sad, actually. When we used to come to Yellowstone, when I was younger, Mammoth Hot Springs had much more water coming out of it, now it's almost dry.

Here are some fun photos I took while we were at Mammoth Hot Springs.

I love these photos of TJ and Cam. They were always two peas in a pod, it melted my little heart.

After Mammoth, my Dad and I took off together to get some more photos. He took me to some of his favorite spots. I loved the patterns of the grass in this meandering stream. I like the color photo better, but decided to post both.

We drove to this valley to practice taking photos of landscape shots and my dad showed me some cool things. I have a polarizing filter, but didn't realize I'd been using it wrong until my dad showed me what it could do. The first photo of the next three is without the filter, see how the sky is to light, and doesn't have very much color? Well, the polarizer fixed that...doesn't the sky look so much better in the other two photos?

I'm likely to get a comment about the processing in this next photo. I actually really like it! I think it has a lazy days of summers kind of a look.

This photo, is one of my favorite ones of the trip. This photo was a product of my dad suggesting different vantage points.

Day 5:

Today was the day that we drove from Yellowstone down to Jackson Hole. We stopped at this waterfall before we left the park. Earlier in the trip, my dad bought Drew some disposable cameras. You can see in this photo how proud of himself and his cute little camera. I love Cam's face...huh?!?

Our lil' family.....awwww.

One of the funny things we learned about Cam on this trip is that he's kind of a squirrel. We had this big bag of trail mix throughout the whole trip, and whenever we'd give Cam a handful, he'd start wining for more. For the first few days, we just thought he was really hungry and wolfing down the trail mix as fast as he could. On the way to Jackson, I found out what he was really doing....

Awww, sweet little boy. Seriously, look at those lashes!!

That night we went to Bar J, a tradition we had as a family while growing up. The boys were not quite as enthralled as I'd hoped. TJ and I and my parents laughed our selves silly, the food was so good, and overall it was such an enjoyable night. I'm really glad we were able to go.

Day 6:

This was the last day with my family, and we had a great time taking photos, shopping in downtown Jackson, and hanging out together.

First, my dad and I woke up early, early to go take some photos. We went to Oxbow Bend, and I got THIS shot....woah. I LOVE it!! My dad has driven through the Grand Teton National Park, several times and has never seen the water this still. We really lucked out.

After taking pictures at Oxbow Bend, we drove to a place my dad usually sees moose. We hiked back for a little bit, and unfortunately didn't see any wildlife. I did see this gorgeous feather, with dew all over it, and in the morning light it looked like it was covered in teeny tiny diamonds. The best part though, was as we were driving home, my dad thought to put the feather in the still water. I WISHED we would have thought of it while we were back there, it would have been such an amazing photo...

While my Dad and I were out shooting, TJ went on a white water rafting trip. He had a great time, and I wish I could of seen him have so much fun. After we all got back from our morning activities, we went to lunch at the Merry Piglets, a fun mexican restaurant in Downtown Jackson. After lunch, we walked around and enjoyed Jackson. My dad started to feel sick and then a freak rainstorm came up, so we went back to the campground. I got some cute pictures of the boys playing at the playground. It was a great last day. I'm so glad we were able to go on this trip with my parents, it was so much fun.

Ok, I LOVE this photo-isn't that caterpillar amazin?! My dad let me borrow is macro lens. I really want this lens for my own one day!