Family-Filled Weekend

Bryan signed me up for a photography class as a Mother's Day gift.  We have a Nikon D5000 that we bought before Maddy was born.  We can both use the preset functions well, but sometimes you need to do just a little bit more.  The class was wonderful! I learned quite a bit about aperture, shutter speed, and exposure settings.  I'm still practicing, but I took a lot of pictures this weekend and for a rookie at these new settings, was fairly pleased.  This weekend was a good one for practicing my skills since we got to spend time with both of our families!

Bryan's parents came to visit on Friday and the kids got to spend some quality time with them in the afternoon.  They took us out to eat for supper and we went to an Italian restaurant called Mangia.  It's a teeny place, but was super delicious!  They also got to watch Jack's baseball game on Saturday morning too.

Jack wrestling with Papa and Maddy getting some reading time in with Nana!

We left after lunch on Saturday to a mini-family reunion in Carroll.  Our original family reunion was to be held near Cherokee, but due to flooding the plans changed significantly.  It was fun to spend time with some of my Mom's cousins that we don't get to see very often.  We also celebrated my Dad's 60th birthday, which is actually tomorrow!  I don't have a picture of it, but we made a card for him that listed "60 Things We Love About You."  It was a fun card to make and he really appreciated it!  

Dad with his Grandbabies during his 60th birthday celebration.

Although it was raining most of the day on Saturday, camping was still fun!  Since some of the family was staying in a cabin, we were able to have decent indoor time and keep the toddlers entertained!  This was our first camping experience with Maddy and she did pretty well.  Although she was just getting over being sick with a nasty sore throat, she slept okay in the camper with Bryan and I.  However, when we got home on Sunday, she had a holy meltdown!  Oh my goodness, I hadn't experienced a temper tantrum like that one.  (That's what I should have taken a picture of).  Then Jack started running a fever Sunday night.  Everyone is now on the mend and looking forward to more camping fun this weekend!

Here are a few of the fun pictures I took using my newfound camera skills.  The ones of Maddy and my niece were inside the camper without a flash.  Woohoo!