Good to be back!

Friends, how I have missed you!  If I would have kept up with my blogging in the past few months this is what I would have said...

In May I would have told you about how my brother graduated from the Air Force Academy and how wonderful it was to share the end of the chapter with him.  He has grown so much as man in these past few years and I felt overwhelmed with pride as he crossed the stage shaking the President's hand.  
Lesson learned:  family is forever.

A Lady and her brother, the Officer!

In June I would have bragged about my schedule and went on and on about how having my husband home during the day was a dream.  I picked up a few extra summer hobbies and took naps everyday.  Yes, everyday.  My beloved and I celebrated 2 years of marriage.  Times flies when you're... working hard. :)  Times also flies when you're having fun.  As I reflected on marriage I saw the good times and bad realizing this union takes work and no marriage is a good marriage without investment of time and intentional grace. 
Lesson learned:  Good marriages are lifetime investments and we can't ever give less than what we want out of it.

My beloved and I on our 2nd anniversary!

Here I am in July, 100 degrees and soaking in my last few weeks of this super easy summer schedule.  My newest adventure is photography.  No, I am not trying to become a photographer like everyone else in this world.  No offense, photographers! :)  I'm not that gifted.  I just want to be able to take good quality pictures to capture my memories.  I myself have a terrible memory so I told myself before I have kids I will learn the technique of a DSLR camera.  And good news, I have had a break through!!  I am shooting with a Nikon D3000 and I have made it to shooting in manual.  This is big, people!!  DSLR's can be awesome but if you don't really know the in's and out's what's the point of the fancy with all those iphone app's these days?!?!
Here are a few shots I got this weekend.  Sooooo much better than I have ever done before. 
P.S. You may be wondering why I get the credit when I was in the pictures and couldn't have shot them....I at least figured out the setting in MANUAL before giving it to the shooter.  That gives me cred, right?!
Lesson learned:  Never give up!  You can always learn new tricks!

Good to be back!
  Nicole

Lesson learned:  It's okay to take breaks every once in a while. :)