A Weekend To Remember

We certainly made some fond memories over the weekend.  I'm hoping we might have even started a new tradition or two.  Friday night, Yaya and Bird attended their first Father/Daughter dance sponsored by a local church.  They served Tri Tip for dinner and the decorations were so pretty.  There were balloons and sparkling lights everywhere.  As they walked in a D.J. was already playing some fun music.  Yaya wanted to boogie right away but first they had a professional father/daughter photo taken.  It was too cute. According to Bird, after dinner there was lots and lots of dancing. Yaya even stopped a few times to dance with him. LOL  He said the dance floor was full of little girls all having the time of their lives while their fathers by no fault of their own sat on the sidelines watching and waiting for a chance to dance with their special princess. 

While my family was "getting down" my mom and I enjoyed a mother/daughter night at the movies.  We saw Joyful Noise and cried like babies.  Happy tears mind you but tears no less.  Both of us enjoyed the music from movie so much we felt they should have sold the soundtrack as you walked out of the theater.  We would have bought it on the spot.

Saturday morning, Bird, Yaya, my mom and dad headed to the hills to enjoy some time in the snow.  They had a blast sledding and playing together in the snow.  I wanted to go too but I had previously made other arrangements to attend a baby shower.  Thankfully, my mom took pictures of my dad pulling Yaya and her little friend. 

  Last but certainly not least I am excited to talk about Sunday.  A few weeks ago, Groupon offered a fabulous deal.  They offered a 5 hour photography class with Master Photographers David and Ally McKay.  Some of you may remember my New Year's resolution was to live life to the fullest and have no regrets.  Signing up for and more important showing up for this class was a big step for me in living life to the fullest. 

If you aren't familiar with them please be sure to click on the highlighted words/link above.  Once you're on their website be sure to scour their site for their amazing photography and the link "About the Artists".  I am BLOWN AWAY by them and their passion for capturing life!  In addition to attending this class, I signed up for their intermediate class and joined their on-line photography club/resource called Vision Culture.  They created Vision Culture to educate people like me and you on photography skills while also giving to the those in poverty.  David and Ally also share great discounts, photography tips and advice on where to go for your photography needs.  I received my first assignment through Vision Culture today and had fun using the tips they provided to practice using my camera to the max and hopefully one day make my photography dreams come true.  

Below is my first assignment.  We were to practice completely freezing motion while capturing the feeling of the movement. 

This next photo was part two of lesson one.  The goal was to again capture movement while also allowing some of the motion to be seen through blurring at various points of the shot. I think I did this because Yaya's ponytail and feet are slightly blurred.  I also love the fact that I caught her floating on air.  I only wish I had been able to keep Bird in focus too. 

Can you tell I am in HOG HEAVEN just like Yaya and Bird were at the dance Friday night and again Saturday afternoon?

I hope you'll join the Suzanne in the fun over at her weekly post, Monday Moments.