Christmas

The year is drawing to a close, and I have much to be grateful for:  the love from my family and friends;  people who believe in me and encourage me; God, who showers me daily with His abundant blessings.  I am in need of nothing.

Wishing each of you a Happy Christmas!

~Kristen

Thanks, Julie, for snappin' our mugs!

CNN iReport

My husband sent our snowflake pictures in to CNN, and they were published with a very nice producer note.  You can see the iReport here.  (Sometimes I get the producer note to appear; sometimes not.  Not sure why.)  The comments underneath slay me!  Some I really appreciate, too.  If you need to waste some time being amused, check them out.

At any rate, this was fun to share, and to see the images published.

Snowflakes and God

A light snowfall dusted our place on Sunday.  Below-freezing temperatures have guaranteed no snow melt.  Yesterday, my husband came in, exclaiming about the snowflakes that still clung to his car's windshield.  Excitedly, he grabbed the camera.  He spent the next half-hour shooting snowflakes, running back inside to thaw his trigger finger, and running back out to shoot some more.  As we reviewed the photos together back inside, our son proclaimed with astonishment, "I didn't know they really look like that!"

God left nothing out when He created our world!  Down to the tiniest snowflake full of the most intricate detail, He thought of it all!  And what a happy surprise to the human eye to see something like this!  

Lollipop

What fun was this!!!

A Walk in the Clouds

For months now, I have wished to drag myself out of bed at first light, grab my camera, and catch some photos in the early morning fog.  But because I love my bed so much in the early morning, and now, because I am liking the warmth of my house as the weather is turning cool, I have avoided this crazy desire.  Foggy mornings are not uncommon in my woods on the mountain, so I've worked hard to avoid this ethereal scene.

But one morning recently, I shook off that avoidance behavior.  And, happily, I dragged my family in on the "fun" by proclaiming we were going to take a walk in the clouds!  With screams of delight, my kids fell for this plan.  And my husband was extremely good-natured, which earns him major brownie points because I know this was the last thing in the world he really wanted to do.

Donning our warm dress coats, and boots for the kids, we trekked up the hill, truly in the midst of a foggy cloud. It was quite magical.  Despite my still-puffy eyes and all of our tousled bed-heads, I determined that this was worth a repeat.  The family isn't quite so sure, though, so I may take the next cloud-walk by myself.

Couldn't decide which of the following two I liked best.  This first one makes me think vintage, which I love:

Cameron

My family has moved around a lot in life due to career choices of my father and my husband.  Seldom have I lived in one place long enough to develop much of a relationship with my neighbors.  But having lived here over four years now, I have been beyond blessed with the time for this to finally happen.  And we are surrounded by some wonderful neighbors!  One of them takes care of her grandson during the week days, and she called on me to get some pictures of him.  I was thrilled to do so!

Cameron is a man on the move!  Fortunately his grandmother has mastered the art of distraction, so I was able to run circles around him and continually get my camera in his way for a few shots while she directed his attention here and there.  What a busy guy he is!

Cameron wore this adorable coat and hat.  We went over to the university (again  --  I love this place!), and I trailed this mini scholar around the campus.

Thank you for such a fun time together!  

Family Session: Craig, Chloe, Chad and Carlee

A family very near and dear to my heart:  Craig, Chloe, Carlee, and Chad

And a few extras of Carlee for her birthday: