Shooting Colton

This is what it is like to shoot my son Colton.  It's frustrating, but in the middle of it all I usually end up with at least one decent photo and lots of funny ones.

Grand Canyon West

My husband and I got to experience our very first kid free vacation ever...yup, EVER!  It was long overdue and we went to Las Vegas.  Now, I've been to Vegas before and enjoyed my time there, but what I really wanted to do was cross off a line item on my bucket list and see the Grand Canyon! 

And it was AH-MAY-ZING!!!  We took a tour bus down to Grand Canyon West which is located on the Haulapai Indian Reservation.  Before we got there, we got to do a very quick stop off at the Hoover Dam.

They no longer let you tour inside the dam, so a quick stop satisfied me.  The thing that surprised me is just how low the water is.  Hoping for rain to relieve the drought out west. 

Once we got onto the Hualapai Reservation, we hopped onto a shuttle to take us out to Eagle Point.  Can you see why it's called Eagle Point?

Eagle Point is also the home to the incredible Skywalk Bridge.

Now, my husband and I freaked many other tourists out.  We ventured close to the edge (I took the photo above while straddling a crack in the canyon) and jumped on the Skywalk.  To the Greek lady, I'm sorry my husband made you cry and to the group of Chinese ladies, you made my husband's day.  He freaked them out, then they wanted photos with him.  I wonder what they told their friends about the crazy blonde guy? 

When you go out onto the Skywalk, you can't bring anything with you.  They have camera men there to take a bunch of photos for you that you can purchase.  They give them all to you on a thumb drive with many of the souvenir photos that they use for their postcards like the one below.

We lived it up and our camera man was having fun too.  This photo was his idea.  One of many fun and crazy ones. 

We even did push ups while looking down at the canyon bottom, because, why not!

We also got to walk through examples of different styles of Native American dwellings and even got to meet some Hualapai dancers.

After Eagle Point and the Skywalk, we took a shuttle out to Guano Point for lunch and more Canyon viewing.

That is the best view I have ever experienced while eating any meal.  It made a cafeteria style meal feel and taste so much better than what I am sure it was.  After lunch I went and sat on a small boulder at the edge of the Canyon to meditate and just breathe it all in. 

Guano point was just gorgeous.  It was surrounded on three sides by the canyon and you could even hike up to the top of the Ant Hill for a better view.  I took this panorama half way up the Ant Hill.

I even took a great photo which put into perspective just how small we really are in comparison to the Grand Canyon. 

I took the above photo from half way up the Ant Hill and my husband on the edge of the Grand Canyon.  Best Captain Morgan pose I have seen!

Wishing that this trail was open, I would have loved to have been able to walk down part of the Canyon. 

I would (in a heart beat) head back to the Grand Canyon, even though I did dream of jumping out and flying over the Canyon for many nights.  It was an amazing and freeing feeling but also completely freaked me out at the same time.  I don't think I have had dreams that vivid before.

I have two regrets while visiting the Grand Canyon: I couldn't see the sun rise or set while there and that I didn't have more time there.  Since we took the shuttle, we ended up with just over 4 hours there and it went so quickly.

If I go back, which rim do you suggest I see next?  Is it worth hiking all the way down and camping?  Have you ever rafted the canyon?  I honestly want to try it all!

Preschool Class Craft #4: Dollhouse Chair

Just like every year I try and find something innovative that I can build as the auction craft for my son's preschool class.  I wish I could take full credit for this idea, but I used this photo as a jumping off point to make my version of a dollhouse chair.

Thankfully while making this, it only took one time and I am happy with the results.  I even made a template, because my son wants me to make him one.

We didn't end up winning it in the auction, I conceded the bidding war, so I need to make another one for Colton.

To incorporate the kids into the build, I thumb printed each kid in the preschool class.

I turned their thumb prints into Christmas lights that went along the roof line.

I love how it turned out.  For the short period of time that we had it, Colton used it as a chair to watch TV, a secret hide out for his super heroes and shot pigs out of the windows with his angry birds.  I can't even imagine all the possibilities that a child could come up with to use this awesome chair for.

If you want to check out all the other auction crafts that I have done while my kids were in preschool, click on the links below. 

Preschool Class Craft #1: Garden Planter Bench
Preschool Class Craft #2: Read Me Bookcase
Preschool Class Craft #3: A Pirate's Chest

Only one year left of doing class auction crafts!

Radio Silence Interrupted

I haven't intentionally been ignoring the blog, but life happens.  Actually, a lot of life happens.  In the little over a month that I have been gone, we have had family visit, gone to visit some family, spring break, kid free Vegas vacation, death in the family, general craziness, spring sports, cub scouts, etc. 

With all that has been going on, I just haven't been into it.  I lost the groove I was operating in and now that spring has sprung here in Texas, I am starting to get back into my groove.  This means I am going to try and not neglect the blog.  I have lots of things I want to share, but need to do a lot of editing of photos. 

On my hiatus, I also evaluated why I blog.  I do it because I want to document all my creative endeavors.  I don't want to use the blog as a major source of income, however, if you want to purchase through my Amazon affiliate link, I would appreciate it.  I think I have made a whole $60 so far!  It went towards purchasing more creative stuff to fuel my habit.  I also really enjoy connecting with other people, so come follow me on Facebook and I promise I will start posting there too.

I want to share with you a peek at the best part of the kid free vacation, the west rim of the Grand Canyon.

This was standing on the Ant Hill looking out onto Guano Point. 

Don't worry, there will be a lot more photos of the Grand Canyon to come, among some photos of a few crafts and my newest creation that was auctioned off at the preschool.

Happy Valentine's Day

Today I will be hanging out with kids at Valentine's parties and am very happy to say that I managed to help pull off some penguin valentines for Maben.  

Maben is seriously obsessed with penguins and I now know more about penguins than I ever cared to know.  However, his enthusiasm and passion for penguins makes me more than happy to listen about them and figure out how to make them into a valentine, because no one makes penguin valentines.  (I checked) Colton picked Justice League ones from the grocery store. (Happy dance, cause this girl is short on time)

The penguin is compiled of just some shapes cut from my Cricut and some sticky eyes.  We also attached some penguins to the valentine, because they were left over from Maben's penguin themed summer birthday.

I had to scour the internet for a cute saying I could use on the back of the card and finally found gold.

These were printed out on 2x2 inch labels and then stamped with the penguin stamp. 

They are all packed up and ready to deliver to Maben's classmates tomorrow.  I hope his friends love them. 

I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's day today!