It’s been a while again since I’ve posted in the blessings category. I count these two as my biggest blessings, along with the opportunities we’ve had this year to vacation as a family, spending lots of together time in new and beautiful places. We were able to get away this past weekend to Mt. Rushmore, a place that I’d never been, but always wanted to visit. We had a really wonderful Labor Day weekend, camping at an all-inclusive place where the kids were able to do a ton of activities and just be with one another and play. We also did the Alpine Slide in Keystone, which was really fun to get our speed on for the afternoon. Even little Jules enjoyed the rush of the rides, which was a bit shocking. I had no idea the Black Hills were so gorgeous and I cannot wait to go back. Here are a few highlights from our trip.

The following images were gifted to me by my children (meaning I didn’t have to beg too hard for 10 minutes with them!)  I was desperate to try out my new updated 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens that I bought to replace my stupid mistake of selling my previous version of this lens earlier this year. It wasn’t until sports season started and I needed a long lens that I realized what a mistake I had made in selling my old 70-200. It was actually a blessing in disguise though, as the updated 70-200 is much faster and sharper than it’s predecessor and I am completely loving it way more than the old lens.  So, my children threw me a bone and allowed me a few minutes to play with it in the gorgeous setting sun at our campsite. All images below were edited with the HeARTy Photoshop Actions. (Colored images mainly: Lavish, Mulberry, Autumn Sunrise, Warm Misty Haze [not yet released] and Silverscreen with the desat layer turned off.) (Black and white images processed with the free Monochrome Action.)

I forgot to post this on the blog a week ago (only on FB)…. You can read a recent interview I did for the Behind the Lens series on the Mom’s Who Click website. Hope you’ll check it out!