Dale Chihuly Blown Glass @ Franklin Park Conservatory

I recently had the pleasure of visiting Franklin Park Conservatory, where they purchased a large collection of Dale Chihuly blown glass. There were many exhibits, all far beyond beautiful, but there were a few that stood out and inspired absolute awe. Can you believe these are all made of glass? Amazing. 

Visit the artist at: http://www.chihuly.com/

or "like" him on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/chihuly

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

Ahhh, it's that time of year again, time for Snow! And in our household, that means, time for fun!! (And for Mommy, that means an endless array of beautiful things to take pictures of!) Snow makes everything beautiful! Turns a twiggy bush into a gorgeous black, white, and popping red beauty! I love it!

♫Balloons & Tunes♫

What an amazing experience this was! We met up with friends for a breathtaking evening at the Hot Air Balloon Festival. We even got to take a tethered ride in one! It was awesome! The whole event was just a gorgeous sight, I can't imagine what it would be like to see the larger festivals-the International Balloon festival in Albuquerque, NM hails 750 balloons in the sky! How spectacular would that be!? We are putting it on our wishlist of places/things to see and take pictures of...(We're not going to discuss the length of that list...) I hope you enjoy these pictures as much as I enjoyed taking them-I was one excited photographer! (And you are officially warned-this is a pic heavy post!-although is nothing in comparison to the 467 pictures I snapped...ahh the joys of continuous shooting, have I mentioned lately how much I love my camera?)

How exciting!?

(Sure, it was tied to some ropes, but I'm cool with that! Actually, I think I prefer it that way!!)

Watching, waiting our turn...

Going up.... :D

Natalie wasn't so sure at first-but she warmed up to it by the end of the ride and wanted to do it again! haha

Haylie, on the other hand, LOVED it...

She is getting so big! And has mysteriously grown some funny ears on top of her head...

Amazing.

“Love of beauty is Taste. The creation of beauty is Art.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Busy, busy, busy!

August has been one busy month! Birthdays, festivals, fairs, trips to the Zoo, visits with friends, you name it, I think we covered it this month! One of my favorite highlights-our littlest bug turned 3! That's right, in her words, she's now "a big girl like her sister!" We did a whole lot of celebrating last weekend because along with our youngest, my sister turned 16, so I had 2 cakes to make! :) I wanted my sister's to be really special because it was her sweet 16, so I did my best to make it nice-I'm still learning-but I think it came out pretty awesome for a beginner!!

                          Headin' out to my Sister's Birthday Dinner!

Fyaaahhhh!! ;)

She really liked her cake!! :) :)

Happy Sweet 16!

Helping blow out her candle!

Happy 3rd Birthday!

My hubby fueling up for the party! Love him. :) And his Charlie Brown mug!

A Day at the Fair

Here we go, here we go, BOOM BOOM!

You ask most people their favorite Holiday and the common responses are Thanksgiving or Christmas. I am not most people. Although I love those holidays, my favorite is Independence Day! Nothing like being downtown on the riverfront for Red, White, and Boom with everyone's radios tuned to the same station, every single person standing to our National anthem, Lee Greenwood singing "Proud to be an American", the National Guard fly over, kids with sparklers and pop-its, and best of all-the Fireworks! I am like a giant 5 year old during fireworks, they are so beautiful, so exciting, and so loud!! My favorite fireworks are those really loud ones that are just meant to make noise, the ones they fill the finale with that explode so loud you can feel them in your chest...those are the best! 4th of July is the greatest!