Merry Christmas

It's over...phew! And I hate saying that, I used to loooove Christmas time. And it's not that I don't still love it, because I do! I don't know, it's just more stressful now. And it's always been different ever since my dad died. We even already took our tree down. CHRISTMAS NIGHT! Can you believe that? What scrooges. lol. The tree just seemed more of a pain in the butt then anything else, pine needles anywhere, ornaments getting broken. Just one more thing to have to keep up with, and I feel like I have enough on my plate already. So down it came.

I just remember Christmas always being so "magical". I can remember the excitement, giggling in bed listening for Santa, and swearing I heard bells outside. Not being able to sleep because we just couldn't wait until morning! I miss that feeling. And I want that so badly for my girls. I know it will come in time, as they get older. They are still just learning what Christmas is all about. And this year was harder for us, well for me, being away from my family. I miss them all so much. And Christmas has always been such a family thing for us. But the girls had a blast. Maddie's still too young to really care or know the difference, but Bekah was excited and wanted to know if Santa was coming again the following morning. God I miss being a kid.

Here are a few pictures I snapped in the maddness of the day. I hope your families had a blessed and Merry Christmas as well. = )













And the picture we got of the girls in front of the tree this year....HAHA


That just about sums it up!

Jack Frost

Jack Frost came to visit us yesterday, EVERYTHING was covered in ice. It was so beautiful. Even though I'm definitely a sunshine and beach kind of girl, there is just something so beautiful about winter, ice and snow. Maybe it's just because I've not grown up seeing much of it, I don't know. But I'm enjoying it, sitting inside my warm house. lol. Russel's been able to work from home, since the roads are so yucky. So that's been nice too. An extra special treat having Daddy around so much.

Rebekah loves this weather, she is constantly going out to play in it. Yesterday, while Maddie was napping, we went out to check it out and I got some really pretty pictures of some of the ice in our yard. I got to play with my new lens I got this past birthday, that I've only used a couple times. I forgot how much I love it! And I love how all these pictures came out.

Doesn't she look like a lil' eskimo? haha










There's only 3 more days until Christmas, I can't believe it's already here. I braved the ice and snow to get wrapping paper and a couple last minute gifts yesterday, so we are ready. Bekah's so excited, this year is going to be so much fun. I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and I will post again after Santa comes = )

...still snowing...

Yes, it's still snowing. Well, it took a couple day break, but the snow did not melt, it stayed on the ground and the roads turned to ice skating rinks. HA! Well hopefully not that bad, I guess everyone broke out the salt and the chains (which we totally obviously need on our cars) so they could get around. Funny story..the other day I was shooting a small shot gun wedding for a girl I had met a few weeks ago's brother in law..anyways. I had to get out in the ice and snow, bleck. By the time I got home it had gotten worse and I go to pull in our driveway, which is on an incline, and I got nothing but a lot of spinning tires. It wasn't happening. I tried to park the jeep as far up in the driveway as i could get it, but when I put the car in park and put the emergency break on it started sliding backwards down the driveway, into the road. ((shocked face)) After a little bit of car shuffle Russel eventually got the jeep into the garage and pulled his car back into the driveway. About 30 minutes later I was looking out the kitchen window and I said "um...Russel...is your car supposed to be sitting in the middle of the road! HAHA! oops. Thank God no one was driving down the street. Maybe not such a funny story after all, it was funny to us though!

It started snowing again today, and it's calling for snow every single day until (and including) Christmas. Looks like we might have our first "white Christmas" EVER!! That's exciting. The news, which I don't really watch, but by passed quickly while looking for Rebekah's cartoons, are calling it an Arctic Blast. Apparently it doesn't snow like this in Oregon, ever. And Salem is getting the worst of it. I just don't want to be stuck in my house until Christmas because i haven't gotten any shopping done yet and..we need groceries. EEEEK! Russel is stopping for a few things on his way home from work tonight, but man oh man. I guess we're gonna be building a lot of snow "women" for the next week or so. haha. Is it summer time yet????

Snow day...part 2

Wow! Two days in a row, we are getting spoiled here. Again, we played, we laughed, we took pictures like the extreme dorks we are. And...we built a snowman! So much fun.
And it's still snowing now, there's got to be like 3 inches on the ground. If it keeps it up overnight then we might be snowed in. UH OH!



Gotta make snow angels, right?










Oh no...poor Frostina. She was such a part of the family =(

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

We woke up this morning to SNOW on the ground!!! We were so excited. As soon as the sun came up we headed outside to play in it. I'm sure, to most people, this is not much snow at all. But to us southerner's it's good enough!! haha. Bekah could've stayed outside all day long if we let her. And we didn't get to build a snow man this time ::pouts::, but it's supposed to snow tomorrow too, so there's still hope!












Russel plowed me in the head with a snowball... jerk. ::cough cough:: Then Bekah and Daddy had a fun snowball fight. Maddie even got plowed, she didn't even know what hit her! We had so much fun, YAY FOR SNOW!!!! Merry almost Christmas everyone!

Busy, busy December...

It's been a busy month so far. Russel was gone for the first week of it for more training in San Diego, California. We FINALLY got our tree up, YAY! so it feels like Christmas in our house. We had to baby gate it though, so our poor crimmus tree is stuck in prison.



Everything in our house is baby gated though, it's like Ft. Knox. But trust me, it makes my days so much easier. Rebekah likes to get into EVERYTHING, and since Maddie is walking now I'm sure she'll be fast on her heels! Plus, here is a great example of why we put the gate up. She wants that tree realll bad. haha



OH YA! Maddie is walking. It's so cute! She's everywhere now, little miss hot stuff.
Here she goes down the hallway. Back and forth, back and forth. She's such a pro now!



And that's about it, all the news at the Beaty household. I took some pictures of the girls out in the yard the other day, so I'll share those with you guys too.









If I don't blog before I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and I'm sure I'll blog before the new year!!! xoxo

Breaking out of my shell

Ok. I am a closet photographer. There, I said it. Phew.
I have a secret love for photography. Well its not so secret to the ones that know me the best. But i've been "dabling" in it for the past few years, ever since Rebekah was about a year old, and I've decided to try and do something about it. Well actually, that's not true either. I was very content hiding in my shell for all of eternity, forever only taking pictures of my children and begging my friends to let me take pictures of them and theirs! haha. But Russel made me do something about it. Gotta love him for believing in me.

So, there it is...i'm putting myself out there. Which is a really hard thing for me to do. I guess i'm afraid of rejection, or criticism, I don't know. But hey, you only live once right. So here it is. What I have so far of my blog. I don't have much of a portfolio, since I've only ever really photographed a few people and my girlies. Check it out!

http://kristenbeatyphotography.blogspot.com/

I actually posted a few ads online promoting my business and I got quite a few interests and have already booked 2 appointments! EEEK! So if you want to keep tabs on how it's going (or if it's going-ha) save the link to blog and check back in! I'll be working on a webpage too.

= )

I will update with pics of the girls soon. LOVE!