A Very Merry Christmas!!

What's a better way than to spend Christmas with your best friend?? That's exactly what I did. :) I love you Karen more than you'll ever know.

My Dream

I have had many dreams in my nineteen years. I've wanted to be so many different things. Every day or so my dreams would change. Well, my latest dream seems extra bizarre.

I wanna see HIM^ up close. I want to rescue mistreated elephants. After much research on different types of Elephantidia, I have fallen in love. There's the African Elephant...

A Few Facts:

1. They are the heaviest land animal in the Animal Kingdom

2. They can reach up to 14 feet tall and weigh in at 6-7 tons

3. Their trunks are usually about 5 feet long and can pick up as much as 600 pounds. The tip has two finger-like tips.

4. Their tusks can grow up to 8 feet long, and weight over a 130 pounds

5. Besides their tusks they have four molars in their mouths, two on top, two on the bottom. They are replaced seven times during an elephant's life time

6. They can consume 220-660 pounds of food a day, and 50 gallons of water

7. Their skin is about 2 1/2 inches thick

8. Babies average 3 feet tall and about 250 pounds at birth 

9. Elephants gather in herds of 200-1,000
10. Life span is usually up to 50 years

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------


And then we have the Asian Elephant...

Asian Elephants are similar to the African ones. They are a bit smaller and their ears are...well, quite noticeably smaller. Only the males have visible tusks, and their trunks have only one finger-like tip.

See? Aren't they neat animals! And I've only told you the basic facts. There's so much more to these amazing creatures. They are sweet. Wait... what? Elephants sweet? YES!! "Elephants are like humans; if you love them, they will love you back." -An Elephant Whisperer. 

The other day I saw a video about these elephant whisperers who care for orphaned baby elephants. It was just so precious...I just loved it to pieces!!!! :p Haha! I have so much more to say about them but I think it will have to wait until a Part 2 post, ok? Stay tuned!! 

Sunday...

Here's just some random photos I took Sunday afternoon. Hangin' with the kids as they ran around the church grounds, getting out all that extra energy before second service. :) Sorry for the bad picture quality. I took these with my iPod.

My beautiful nieces, Gabriella and Autumn

                         L-R: Gabriella, Myself, Ellie, Stephanie

Lizzy and Gabby

Gunther

Isaac, I LOVE this little man!!

Soooo handsome!!

And below we have Carolyne showing y'all her pinecone, while her sister Ellie gives her bunny ears from behind. Carolyne and Ellie are Isaac's big sisters. There's another big sister, Montana. And well since I'm showing pictures - I'm just gonna take this time to tell you guys... I LOVE THESE KIDS!! They are so much fun and so well mannered. Such a joy to be around. :)

Ellie and Steph walked around hand in hand most of the afternoon. Just talking about what little girls talk about. I got them to pose for a second....

But - who's hands are those popping out in the back?

Those hands belong to no other than....

DAVY!!

Another adorable little boy, and my best friend's brother. :)

And one last picture of Levi and Jonny

The Myakka Adventure

A day out at Myakka Park - the REAL Florida! Home to the American alligator, white tailed deer, wild hogs, occasional turkeys, plus a slough of other feathered and furry critters!

My dad and nephew, posing by the lake

The usual Florida scenery

I went off trail, walked through a spiderweb and teetered on the edge of a small swamp... Just to get this shot. So worth it!!

All the pictures below were taken by my dad. :)

Just another gator... :p

My niece Gabriella and our friend Jonny Mike 

Walking off a trail...

Bro. Joel Seay, Jonny Mike's dad

The Beautiful Natanya Beach and Myself

My brother-in-law Mike and his son Isaac (my nephew)

Another gator...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMY!!

We spent the first part of the day out at the mall, and then headed over to the Philipi Creek Mansion to look around take some pictures!! At the mall, dad bought us our birthday presents!! Mom a beautiful new purse...

And I got new boots!! So now I'm ready to go up to see my loves!! :D (I miss you guys, BTW)

So at the Mansion, we just walked around snapped a few shots. Here's a few for y'all. :)

Girl's Night Out

Sometime last week, my wonderful friend Karen and I did a last minute trip to Saint Armands Circle. I had an amazing time with her. (as always) We tried to shoot several self photo's of ourselves but only one came out. Haha! Here's a few shots. It was dark out and not a very good time to be taking pictures. :)

We went inside this delicious smelling chocolate shop and there my dad snapped this one before we walked on.

And just cause we are random, we posed with this guy. :)

Now here's the one "self portraits" that turned out well enough to post.

And that's all for this post. :)

It's Official!!

If your sound is on, I'm sure you noticed the music playing right? Well, if you're wondering why on earth I'm playing Christmas Music so early... let's just say I've been listening to it since November 1st but I told myself I wouldn't put it on the blog til AFTER Thanksgiving.

So!! I'm just explaining. :) HAPPY AFTER THANKSGIVING DAYS!

Coming Soon!

Haven't posted in a while but I'm working on it. Here's what to expect:

The Joys of Florida

Thanksgiving is next week! Fall has arrived!! What happens now? We sit by the fire and sip hot chocolate, bake cookies! We dress up in cute wintery outfits and go outside into the crisp cool air. The trees are so beautiful, shimmering the brilliant colors of gold, red, and orange. Ahh, ya gotta love it...

This evening my family and I went on a little outing. So I grabbed Dad's camera and got a few shots. All you northerners can see how it looks in Florida in the fall...



Sandy...        

                    Warm...
                             
                                    and WHAT??


Yup. We went to the beach in short sleeves and flip flops!! Let's just say we don't get a "autumn" down here. Haha!

Well, that's all of the good ones. 

What Happened?!!

What happened, you ask? Well, you see I tend to be rather...ditsy at times and so I forgot the password to my first blog!! *sigh* Of which I am very sad. I spent hours editing those pictures and posting them. Erg. Oh well! I've included a link here:

laynasphotojournal.blogspot.com

Copy and paste and it should take you to my old blogspot. :)

And for now this is all I feel led to post. Sorry this is so short and...plain. :p Next time I will make it long and interesting with pictures!! I promise. ;)