Playing with my new camera...

I have had the same camera, my Kodak Easy Share, for almost 10 years. I love that camera. It has been to Greece, Tennessee, New York, Ohio, Las Vegas, Arizona, Texas and countless trips to Colorado with us and takes good pictures. It is starting to show its age. It doesn't hold a charge very well but everything else about it is pretty good. It is fairly compact and has a great zoom, plus it is very dummy proof. So when I thought about getting a new one it was very hard to find one that would meet these requirements. I wanted something that was just like my old one but took better quality pictures. Wow, the price that goes along with that. Well, after help from Bill I finally made my choice of a Nikon 1 J1 and then Bruce found a great deal on Ebay for a brand new one with a warranty and everything for about $100-$200 less than what I was able to find on line. So excited. It is taking some getting used to and I have just been taking snap shots around the house. The zoom is not nearly as good, but as Bill taught me, with the better quality picture then I just zoom in and crop what I want and you still have really good qulality. I will save up for some of the other lenses you can buy but they are about $250 each...maybe we will find a steal on Ebay again...

(as you may have read, I am having trouble getting pictures to load correctly, so these are not in the order I wanted them...)













Totally love this one.  I don't remember what she was doing but it is too funny!



Uploading pictures

Why can't I upload pictures from my computer onto my blog lately????  Usually when I click the picture link it takes me to a screen and gives difference options about uploading pictures and one of them used to be "from computer" but it is not giving that to me and that is where all my pictures are.  I can click HTML on the post page and  upload them then "old way" but they takes a long time.  Has anyone else had this problem?  Not sure what I am doing wrong.

Wonderful Christmas!

Sledding fun - We had such a wonderful time sledding right in the front yard of our cabin.
It was perfect for Madelynn.  I will try to load a video of her.  I can't believe how big she is getting.

This tells is all.  Beau and Bruce on Christmas morning in the matching pj's mom bought them.

Nothing like a good old gun fight for Christmas.  They were attacking Grady on the stairs.  Madelynn
got a pink gun from Aunt Whitney for Christmas so she is all set now.

Our sleigh ride at RAPP corral.  We did this 2 years ago when Madelynn was 6 mos old; the 1st Christmas
without dad.  It is such a cool tradition and I love seeing the kids' faces when Santa arrives.

We also got to spend time with the Hatch side.  Madelynn LOVED playing with her cousins.  I wish we got
to spend more time with them but I am thankful for the memories she will have.



Most of the Pace/Lodge crew.  They were so cute together and I am so thankful for the was God has blessed
us and that we all have each other.  It is really cool to see how God has provided for us and the
support that we have as a family.

















It has been such a wonderful Christmas break.  I love it when we have so much time after Christmas because we actually get to spend more time as a family.  Madelynn continues to amaze us with the things she says and how quickly she picks up on things.  We are truly blessed and lucky to be her parents. As I realize how big she is getting it is exciting and sad because that just means Dad has been gone that long which makes me sad.  We continue to talk about him all the time and share the amazing memories we have.  Madelynn now recognizes Dad in pictures and tells me that her Papa is in heaven and that she wants to see him someday.  I think she got some of her feisty personality and attention to detail from him which is really cool.   I can't wait to see the amazing ways God will bless us in the coming year.