Sunset + birthday dinner

When I got my camera in June I used it all the time, especially when we were in Seattle. I was taking pictures everywhere and had no shame in taking my camera out and using it. When that lens broke and I had a month and a half of having no camera essentially I forgot about it and the love I had for taking pictures. When I got my new lens I had to relearn everything about manual and all the tricks I had just put into practice in Seattle. And I also forgot to take my camera out and actually use it. 

I'm determined to use my camera as much as I can and to go out of my way to use it. On December 2nd I decided to take sunset pictures in a spot I had noticed previously and I am so so happy I did. 

I always thought sunset pictures were rather cliche and I had no interest in taking photos of them until the amazing sunset up in Seattle at my cousin's wedding on the water. I realized then that sunsets are beautiful and there is something special in capturing the decent of the sun.

I took these pictures around 5 o'clock so the sun wasn't at the bottom of the horizon which meant I didn't get those awesome colors but the fall trees made up for that.

I was so concerned that this lens having a higher low aperature of 3.5 would mean I couldn't get bokeh (the circles of light in a blurry background) but it turns out I was wrong!

My camera battery was dying that night (of course) so the focus was struggling and I got this picture between shots. I used to despise photographs that are completely out of focus but since I saw this picture I realized that as long as there is still substance and shape to the picture it's perfectly alright.

I am absolute loving this sunset bokeh, more sunset trips will be happening in my future for sure.

This is one of my favorites. I love the light and the wire and the post and even the cars in the background work in this picture.

If I see tall grasses I have to get a picture of them, they remind me of Gladiator are one of the only parts of south Texas that I truly love.

The rest of the sunset was great and I wish I could've gotten it from where I was at but it was my Momma's birthday so off to dinner we went. 

Because Littie and my Dad ran the Turkey Run downtown on Thanksgiving they got buy1get1 coupons for Chipotle which was rather ironic since that's what we used for my mom's birthday last year. Except that this year my mom didn't get an awesome red and purple hat to celebrate, her loss. 

Thanksgiving 2013

Thanksgiving this year was a different one to be sure. We had 12 people that were all a part of our family which makes this the biggest Thanksgiving (or any family event) we've ever had. And having Thanksgiving a week or so earlier, on the 19th instead of the 26th, definitely increased the lack of Thanksgiving-ness the day held.

This was also the first year we had an official kids table thanks to Littie and her desires to make this year extra fun for the nieces and nephews. She stayed up and decorated the table the night before based on Pinterest finds and dragged out our 10+ year old turkey decorations from a previous Thanksgiving. 

For every birthday and event I always fold the napkins a new way and this year we had Turkey napkins using 2 napkins and a little bit of scotch tape to hold them together.

This picture was taken before I had gone to the dollar store and bought plastic wine glasses for the boys and Emma. Littie and I were determined to make their Martinelli's fancy so they didn't have to drink it out of juice glasses like last year.

Coloring on the table.

Seth and his crayon turkey.

Emma banana coloring, she took over my part of the paper too drawing her house and extremely large family.

The newest addition, baby Rosabella, and her daddy. 2 months old!

Littie had had lots of dreams of making a fire pit and completed it right before Thanksgiving so that everyone could make smores. It felt a little weird to be making and eating smores on Thanksgiving before we ate pie but it was a lot of fun. Plus Uncle Joe (who was the reason we had Thanksgiving so early) had a smore for the first time!