Carrie Friesen

Sweet Baby Girl...

2012-01-23T19:40:00.000-08:00

Sweet baby Adelyn, only 3 months old.

Sweet Dreams...

...and a Happy New Year

2011-12-29T20:18:00.000-08:00

Well, it's that time of year again...I can't believe 2011 went by so fast! Having kids sure does speed life a long :)

I am so excited to see what 2012 brings, especially when it brings our new baby!!! I am beyond excited and very nervous about this baby for some reason. We find out the gender of the baby in 7 weeks...we could pay the extra $75 to see the gender in 2 weeks...but we'll just wait until insurance will cover it in full :) Sometimes I can't believe "I" am going to have 3 children...it all sounds a little crazy. I don't really feel old enough to have that many kids, haha, I hope I never feel old enough....I'll just think of it as a long term nanny position!!

So...here's to looking at a bright future in front of us!

Happy New Year

(Don't you just love squishy, little, dimply, baby buns! I had to take a picture before she got too big!!!)

time to breathe.....

2011-12-22T18:18:00.000-08:00

Christmas....a time to celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. Doesn't sound all that difficult or stressful does it? Add in shopping for Christmas presents, worrying you don't have enough money FOR the Christmas presents, planning and cooking for Christmas parties, GOING to Christmas parties....YIKES!! I don't know about you, but I feel like I am on overload! It's time to just relax with my family, and enjoy my brother who has come to visit and spend Christmas with us....I need to just breathe. Don't get me wrong...I have had a blast at some Christmas parties this year! Aaron and I were actually able to dress up for one, which we hadn't really done since we got married (going on 8 years!) And the food that we've had has been simply amazing!! Not to even mention the awesome friends that we've been able to hang out with! All this has been wonderful, but still, my body is telling me to "take a chill pill!" (That might be the baby talking :) So, from this day on, I am going to relax and just enjoy each day as it comes. No more plans (except our super awesome fun trip to Charleston after Christmas that we do each year!) I want to take in this holiday season and enjoy every moment of it, even if that means putting down the camera a little bit (my husband will enjoy this!) Watch my sweet girls run/crawl around and just be silly with them. It's time to breathe, let the Lord take control, and stop stressing over the small stuff....

So...with that...here are some super silly photo's in some super silly outfits from our last party we went to!!

Ha!! I love my family, wouldn't trade them for anything! Hope everyone has an awesome holiday season...remember to just breathe and take it in!!

a little tea party...

2011-11-28T19:17:00.000-08:00

I had realized a few weeks ago, I hadn't taken any pictures of Aliza for quite some time. She is now 8.5 months...(she was almost 8 months when I took these pictures). I remember with Camille I had taken thousands of pictures by the time she was one! I had loved capturing every moment, like pretty much every mom I know! Life is busy with 2...I guess with Aliza, I just "take it in" when new things happen in her life. But as much as I love taking it all in, I have to remind myself that I have an awful memory and will forget what happened a week later! This is why I take pictures :) I also journal, which to my surprise, I have found myself doing quite well at. Camille and Aliza each have their own separate journals, that I keep track of everything in! One day...perhaps when they get married, I plan on giving it to them.

Anyhoo...Camille loves tea parties (just like her Gramma Friesen!) so I figured that would be any easy way to make her happy and also get some cute shots of the two of them playing. It was so extremely "buggie" out...we probably only lasted 10 minutes! But thankfully in that time, some sweet moments were captured.

Here's one of MANY tea parties to come...

Camille gave a little "sass" for the camera...which doesn't happen very often....

Have a great week!!

the Kautters....

2011-11-22T20:31:00.000-08:00

It has definitely been too long since I've blogged anything! Life has been busy busy busy...but full of fun all at the same time.

It was fun capturing this family not only because of how funny they are, but all three of these kids have either been thru The Awakening (our middle school youth group) or are presently in it! They are a wonderful family....I have just loved the time spent with them!

did I mention their dad was a firefighter!(can you tell she adores him :)

taylor, taylor, taylor...

2011-10-27T18:10:00.000-07:00

I'm excited to say I have known this beautiful young lady since she was in 6th grade....and now she's sixteen! I can't even believe how time has flown by. I met Taylor when Aaron and I started working in the youth group as volunteers. I have had some fun memories with Taylor over the past 4 years...and this photo session will definitely go in my memory bank!! I love you Taylor Marie Rolt...you are beautiful inside and out!

creepy crawlers...

2011-10-25T18:28:00.000-07:00

Whenever we're talking about any sort of bug in my house, they are often spoken of as "creepy crawlers." I am NOT a fan of an sort of creepy crawler...it's funny, whenever I get the vacuum out, Camille asks me if I'm going to get all the spiders! She knows me well, and yes, I do have my moments where I safely put the girls somewhere and go on an adventure around the house searching for spiders, sucking them up in my vacuum! I wonder how much of my craziness Camille will actually remember. Anyway, we were outside the other day and saw this amazing beautiful spider web that absolutely freaked me out! There is something spectacular and creepy at the same time when it comes to spiders....here is a picture of the spectacular side. By the way, I have never seen a spider that looks like this before....very "crab like."

a little miracle...

2011-10-22T18:57:00.000-07:00

Sometimes in life we have hardships...but even more often

(if we take the time to notice!), the Lord gives us blessing after blessing!

This precious family has a miracle on the way...he(she)

should be here in January!

Meet the Shea family...

Callie Grace...3 months old

2011-10-19T19:33:00.000-07:00

Meet Aliza Jane's best friend. Little Callie was born 4 months after Aliza, so I only imagine they will be partners in crime! Callie is such a sweet little girl...my oh my!!! At 3 months old she still sleeps like a rock (or at least she did for me!) Eventually we woke her up to capture her pretty blues, such a beautiful little girl.

Callie loved sticking her tongue out at me...I threw this one in for fun

not quite like home...

2011-10-18T07:39:00.000-07:00

so...pumpkin patches in the south are not quite like the ones I grew up with in the Pacific Northwest! Last year Camille and I stumbled across this pumpkin patch, I thought it was pretty silly that they would put pumpkins in a field and call it a pumpkin patch...but this year I was excited to go back. Not because of the layout, it was just fun and it allowed Camille to run around like crazy chasing bunnies, looking at all the animals and picking out a pumpkin! We actually had the whole place to ourselves...it was run by this sweet old couple, I think I want to live on a farm when I'm older...that life just seems so simple. Anyway, we had a great time and the weather couldn't have been more perfect! Pretty sure we'll be back again next year...

the case of the missing bee...

2011-10-12T11:54:00.000-07:00

Have you ever lost anything, then months later found it? Whether the item is big or small...important or not so important, the feeling and emotion that comes with finding the object is flat out worth loosing it! I am extremely good at loosing things, especially earrings. I have lost earrings time and time again, every now again I can't find the missing pair, but quite often I get extremely lucky! The other day I was in a bunch of bush and dirt taking some photo's, it was at the grocery store afterwards that I realized I was missing one of my earrings! I LOVED this certain pair...it was getting dark and I had a choice to make, either go home and get started on dinner for my starving family or run back to the site and look for my earring! Of course I went back and looked for my earring, haha!! I had looked for about 10 minutes, retracing my steps. And all of a sudden, there it was! Sitting right on top of a pile of dirt...relief!!! I think I may have even shed a tear..if I can get so excited and emotional over a tiny earring, think of the JOY that the Lord gets when one of His children return to Him!

Anyway...the bee. Camille is a child who loves to hide things, then find them again! (She is incredible at re-finding things...her memory is amazing!) When we go into the store, she'll often find something little, carry it around for a while then hide it when she sees a cabinet or something that opens. I'll ask her, "Camille, do you want to hide that toy or take it home with us?" She will always respond, "hide it!" and that's what we do! (and occasionally we'll put it back where we found it, haha) Camille was given this little bee when she was just an infant...it had a little bit of sentimental value to it (to me anyway) since it had been with us since the beginning. We had taken a road trip to see a friend in Florida in April, and she had hid that little bee somewhere in the house...only this time, we couldn't find it! We seriously looked for probably 30minutes before I decided it was just a bee, it's ok! I was a little sad, leaving it...but I had forgotten about it until today!!! We received a cute little package with this note and the tiny little bee..it was found! She had hid it in a coffee pot in the pantry, haha!! What a silly girl. I was thrilled to see this little bee, I can't wait to see where we can loose it again :)

well...when Camille woke from her nap, I showed her the lost bee. I think she was excited to see it because she took it, held on to it real tight and said "It'll be safe with me...."

what a day...

2011-10-08T18:32:00.000-07:00

Today I decided to document a little of our fun day! There are so many days that we stay in our PJ's and don't even leave our yard...with a new baby there comes nap and feeding schedules, I am usually one who tries to be home for naps, especially with Aliza being so young, I want to get that nap time drilled into her! Right now I've got both Camille and Aliza going down for naps in between 1-2, and sleeping until 4:30 sometimes! that means I get a little time to do what needs to be done around the house (or take a little nap myself!) But it is fun to do things out of the norm every now and then!

There was a "community" garage sale going on, so we met up with a bunch of friends to do a little treasure hunting....this meant we were up, fed, dressed and out the door before 8! (Keep in mind the girls don't even get up until 8am) There were definitely some sleepy heads riding in the car this morning :)

the gang

(we should all really be on the American Pickers show)...

young love, seriously...can they be any cuter! Camille and Jackson have been best buds since before they could crawl! They love eachother and laugh at eachother...even when no one is saying anything, they are just a hoot to watch together :)

after spending only a total of $5 (I had just spent...well...that's not important, let's just say I was on a budget), we were off to the beach!!! Just Darci and I and the kiddos went, the others decided that buying a cute little puppy would be more fun! We gobbled down a quick lunch at home, packed our beach bags and were out the door! On the way, we stopped and got a refreshing cup of lemonade from the neighbors lemonade stand...yum. Camille took a quick 20 minute nap in the car so she was re-energized and ready to run! We had no idea it was going to be sooooo windy!!! We could hardly even walk on the beach! We found a little "hiding spot" in the dunes and the kids had a BLAST doing some "pretending" and fort building in the sand!

After our 2.5 hour fun on the beach, it was time to get home! Aaron had been away for 4 days and we were happy to find him at home when we arrived! The girls were especially happy to see their dad :) THEN...the neighbor girls brought over some fun Thank You gifts for us to enjoy! We have been walking them to the bus stop every morning while their mom went to work...but our shift has ended. They are too sweet....

The evening ended with waffles for dinner and Toy Story 3...love that movie! Aliza was down at 6:30 for the night and Camille was out before I even left her room!

it was just a great day...

bugs...

2011-10-05T19:15:00.000-07:00

In my last post, I mentioned how Camille likes to find bugs...well, the other day she actually caught a lizard! As soon as she caught him, she ran to her daddy soooo excited! (You should know Aaron is a professional when it comes to catching bugs...I on the other hand stay far away from them!) It was a baby lizard, not fast enough to get away from these little hands! She was so excited, she even gave him a kiss...(with which we proceeded to wash her face.) She would have kept this little thing forever, but he eventually wiggled his way out of her tight grasp! To be honest, I was watching the little thing waiting to see if his eyes popped out! Can't wait to see what she catches next!

an end to summer...

2011-09-30T07:10:00.000-07:00

well I guess it's not really the end of summer around here, it's still in the high 80's and extremely humid! In my mind it should be fall...growing up in the pacific northwest, September always meant the weather was cooling down and the nice crisp fall air was just around the corner. Being in South Carolina, summer seems to extend all the way to October! Soon the humidity will be gone, the love-bugs will stop making love and our fall will be here! Have you ever seen love-bugs? I hadn't until I moved to the east coast...very interesting annoying little bugs...they fly around, attached, and well, make love!

Enjoy your weekend...whether it's fall or summer!

say CHEESE....

2011-09-23T07:35:00.000-07:00

so ever sense Camille was a baby I've put the camera in her face! Unfortunately that means she almost always will not look in the camera now. I've tried everything...well mostly a lot of bribing :) The other day I pulled out my fisheye film camera (a last years Christmas present from my husband!) and she loved playing with it! She actually even took a few pictures...can't wait to see what her eyes were seeing (or maybe where she accidentally

pressed the button :)

This little girl is growing up way too fast! Her personality is just hilarious! Right now she is outside in her undies coloring with her sidewalk chalk, singing the ABC song (she always forgets E,F,G! and ends the song with "now I know my ABC,D, HIJK..." so the song keeps going and going!) all while looking for bugs! This morning she even brought me a dead spider...she is definitely her fathers daughter :)

Hope you have a great weekend!

swinging...

2011-09-21T10:47:00.000-07:00

my girls love to swing! We took Aliza and Camille to the park the other day and all they wanted to do was sit in those bucket swings and watch the other kids run by. Usually Camille is out running around with the other kids, but today she just wanted to relax...and Aliza of course just wanted to watch her sister! She can't take her eyes off Camille whenever she is close by. Aliza is rolling over now...and it has been fun to watch Camille get excited with us about this milestone. She'll be right down there next to her sister and say "you did it Liza, you did it!" I can't wait to watch their

friendship grow...

what makes you smile...

2011-09-10T21:09:00.000-07:00

I recently had the privilege of going to California for a week with my inlaws...just me and Aliza Jane. Though we had many fun things planned, one event that topped it all was the Howell family reunion! This is Patty's side of the family...she has 10 brothers and sisters, so I knew it was going to be FUN! I had such a fun time being able to watch all the siblings interact with each other. The love they share for one another is just contagious...they are so full of joy and gratitude for each other. I am so thankful to have been a part of this experience...this moment in history. This is just one of many photo's of Patty and her siblings..minus one.

it's here...

2011-08-27T20:06:00.000-07:00

With the start of school comes the dreaded school pictures...why not skip out on buying the cheesy fake smile school pictures and get some pictures taken of your children that you'll love looking back at years from now!

For the month of September I am offering a

"Back to School" mini session!

This includes a 30 minute photo session,

10 edited images on a CD, 1-8x10, 2-5x7 and 8-wallets

all for only

$75

Ask for my special offer for families with more than 1 child!!

(this offer excludes senior portraits)

contact me at cfriesenphoto@gmail.com

back to school...

2011-08-25T19:06:00.000-07:00

As a child I always enjoyed going back to school, but mostly I loved what led up to that point. I remember spending all day with mom and my 4 siblings trying to find new school clothes that were "in", looked good and were cheap! We were each given about a hundred dollars for new school clothes...I didn't think it was that much at the time, but now being in a position where we don't always have a couple hundred of dollars laying around...I can understand why school shopping was full of many emotions! We would spend the morning shopping then take a lunch break at Taco Bell for a quick refuel and back out for more shopping! When we finally got home, we'd separate everyone's clothes and school supplies and end the day with a fashion show for dad! Those were fun memories...although I have pictures to prove the clothes that were selected were not always MY choice!

I can't wait to make memories like this with my own children...or then again,

yes, I can wait!

good morning thursday...

2011-08-18T07:27:00.000-07:00

I hope your Thursday started as bright as mine did!

a quick get a way...

2011-08-14T18:35:00.000-07:00

Our Seventh Anniversary

My husband and I recently celebrated our 7th Anniversary! We have actually known each other for 12 years now...I can remember the day when I first saw him. I would follow him around hoping he would notice me, I guess it worked :)

Hilton Head Island is just across the bridge from us, so we escaped and were "tourists" for a few days in a very secluded area of HHI called Harbour Town. Our weekend was filled with jet-skiing, wake boarding, swimming with the dolphins, a private boat cruise, amazing food and...a night with no kids! Miss Aliza joined us the second night :)

I love my husband to death, and am so extremely

thankful that he is the man I get to spend the rest of my life with...

just 2 weeks...

2011-08-12T12:01:00.000-07:00

Meet Callie

and away we go...

2011-08-12T11:36:00.000-07:00

As a mother of two incredibly sweet little girls, a wife of Superman and a gal who just loves to take pictures...I have a lot to share. Ever since my oldest, Camille, was born...I could not put down the camera! I would like to say, she inspired me to help others capture life and family in a photo. I have always cherished looking at photos of when I was young and I want to bring that same enjoyment to others...I want to capture them in their everyday natural beauty and give them something they can look back at years down the road and cherish it. In this blog, I plan on sharing everyday life with you...a little of my life and bit of others as well.

So...away we go!