Botany dos.

I was also debating titling this post "Flora and Fauna."  Did you know that fauna is actually "animals of a given region."  This might not be smart to admit, but I was thinking fauna was along the same lines as flora...here's to a college education, eh!?

But this really is a post about flora AND fauna.  There were some really awesome creatures hanging out at Duke Gardens the other day.  We have an AMAZING God.  I love admiring his handiwork.

It almost looks like he has on a suit.

Cardinals have to be the prettiest birds out there.

So in the process of taking pictures at Duke Gardens I not only learned more about photography, I also picked up some handy knowledge on correct science terms...go figure ;)

a bit of botany.

Yesterday Tera and I got to experiment some with our cameras.  We headed out to Duke Gardens to catch up on our botany photography (that just sounds smart, right?)

I have been trying to figure out the manual setting on my camera for some time now, and have decided I am just going to spend the summer trying to teach myself about digital photography.  I did get a few shots that I was particularly fond of.

I fell in love with this unique flower.

Love the color.

Duke Chapel.

Flowers make for nice subjects, huh? :)

Just one.

I have been wanting to post this photo for a while, simply because it makes me smile.

This is in Haiti.  We were all riding on the back of a tap tap and Emmanuel drove up on his motorcycle.  Jason decided to jump off the tap tap and join him for a ride back to the compound.  I love how excited Jas is and how Che Gevara decided to tag along for the ride...ha!

Just one for the day :)

Weekend Visit

This weekend Jas and I went to Hickory (or Hky as it's known to the locals...cool, yes, I know) to visit with my family.  While there we celebrated my mom's birthday.

Mom and I at Red Lobster.

This was a DELICIOUS Boston Cream cake. Soooo good.  (lighting is a little off in this photo...ya know, still working on manual ;)

Up close and personal shot of the cake and candles. 

And a caramel torte my mom made.  She's a very good dessert-maker (did I just make up a word?)

I just noticed there was a lot of dessert pictures in this post.  Hope you aren't too hungry now because if you have a sweet tooth like mine, you should be! 

Happy Birthday to a great mom!  (on Wednesday) Love you and I'm thankful for you!

Tie-Dye Stars!

Have you ever seen stars that are tie-dyed?  Well, because I love color, and I love cookies, and I love the youth in our youth group...I decided to make tie-dyed/swirly star cookies for youth last week.

I just took regular ole sugar cookie dough and added some food coloring (not enough to saturate the dough, just to streak it).  I then took my trusty star cookie cutter and cut out the shapes.  They turned out colorful and yummy--just the way I like food!

I know, I know, it's a complicated recipe.  And I really SHOULD open a bakery with my mad baking skills ;)