Des Moines Summer Vacation

So... I didn't really get a summer vacation. But Travis and I went to visit my mom in Des Moines this weekend.  I think it was in the spring, that Mom invited me down this weekend for the photographers day at Living History Farms.  Going to the farms any day is a fun time for photography, but on this day, they have professional photographers scattered around the grounds that anyone can talk to.  We got to talk photography with experts who know TONS more than us.  They gave us so many great tips, strategies, ideas, and encouragement.  I've gotten so into portraits lately, I almost forgot I really like still-life shots too.  So they may be boring, but here's some of our day at the farms!

We each took a form of the shot above (the checkerboard).  It was fun to get home and compare the angle and aperture we each took and how different they were.
The wood-shop was really cool to walk through (probably my favorite spot).

This guy was awesome(below).  We ran into him and his wife several times throughout the day.  My mom doesn't really like tattoos, but she thought his were pretty cool.  He had cameras tattooed all over his arms.  Like, his first camera he ever owned, him with a camera, his wife with a camera when she was 16, all which his wife designed.

Does it seem weird I've posted about cows twice this month?!


I thought the spider-webs in the horse barn were really neat, even though I hate spiders!!!
It was a really fun weekend.  We went to Granite City (Travis' favorite restaurant).  I always struggle with what to get there because everything sounds soo delicious.  We left absolutely STUFFED, and headed home for a bedtime of 10:00 (i think it was)?  I CAN'T HELP THAT I LOVE SLEEP!  

Saturday was a packed day with our photography at Living History Farms.  Of course we had to run home and upload our pictures and spent about 2 hours looking at them.  We hit up Felix and Oscars, my favorite pizza place.  Travis had never been, and I was so excited for him to try it.  Then we went to the horse-races, where I had never been.  I was really surprised at how nice the facility was, so clean, and well kept.  The races were fun to watch too :)  I think my mom will post more on the race SHE WON here:    

This morning we woke up, and watched 27 dresses, LOVE IT!  Dale wanted to show Travis geocaching.  So we spent maybe an hour and tried that out this morning.  It was pretty fun:)  So that's our weekend wrapped up in a couple of paragraphs.  I'm so exhausted I think i'll spend the week trying to catch up on rest!