Omaha Trip! Part 1

This was such a wonderful trip back home, even if it was too short! Seeing family and them seeing Zoey (now with personality!) was and always is the best thing. :o) This first image just touches my heart. She would not sleep for me, my mom, or my aunt but my stepfather took hold of her and they slept (he said it was the best sleep he's had in a LONG time!).

Tender moments like this is why I love photography. I love capturing the moments and then processing them with my artistic vision. And I learned a lot this trip with my photography. I read somewhere auto ISO is my friend, well when you don't put a cap on it and you have a camera that can get a bit grainy, no, auto ISO is not your friend :oP

Photography is a never ending learning experience, and you can ask my hard drive, but I am working very hard to get A LOT of practice in. I'm reading online and practicing new tricks (like with the auto ISO). And more importantly I'm getting to know my instrument very well because as we all know kids are quick and if you aren't ready to capture that moment, it's over. A few images of my mom and Zoey with a harp are so sweet to me, but she will only stay still for so long until she wants to discover for herself. So in that moment I wish I had manually set the ISO and then played with shutter speed and aperture on my own but I was able to capture that moment and I love the result :o)

Her Aunt Jean and Uncle Terry searched Omaha for the perfect gift for little Zoey. Needless to say it was perfect! She still is walking around hugging her little doll and still giving her kisses (upper right picture she is kissing the doll's pacifier)! <3

You know, those eyes are another reason I take some many pictures! Awk! :oP

This was most definitely not intentional, but my sister opened the mustard bottle and the pressure from her holding it to open it must have been enough to cream poor Zoey. Later that day she had a dreadfully chocolately face, again from her auntie :oP

We reintroduced Zoey to the swing. LOVED IT! The lower right picture though was her 'okay I'm done' face. :oP

One of my favorite images of my girl and I! My mom took this!

Sliding with Oma gone wrong :oP haha this still makes me laugh (no child was harmed in the making of these pictures even though she looks pretty contorted in the last one :oP)

I love my sister, she is such a fun goofball. Always makes me laugh. So of course park time with her would be a blast :o) The lower left image was me sliding and Zoey wanting to climb after I had started my initial descent (hmm I fly too much :oP)

And my daughter, gonna be a heartbreaker. Really that upper right image was both the boys chasing her but I accidentally cropped the older boy out. But my were they sweet to her!

As always all my images are on my flickr! Will be posting all the flower pictures next I took once I get them organized into groups!