Kim Frazier's WEDDING

Tomorrow I will be flying to TX for my BF's wedding!!! Cannot believe that this day is here!

This is my BF! Her name is Kim Frazier (I will probably always call her Kim Frazier even after she becomes Kimberly Ray on Saturday).

From BF

BF usually stands for best friend and in this case it does but it also means something else. Kim & I use to say we were each other's Boy Friend Substitues. We never really had boyfriends and so we were each other's boyfriends. We would go on dates, go to movies, go to dinner and just talk about the day when God would bring us husbands.

From BF

Kim has been a childhood friend. She grew up with the Schexnider crew in Bridge City, TX. We all went to the same church and lived in the same town. She's always been apart of our BIG family for as long as I can remember.

This was back in the day with a handful of my 30 first cousins. We were all close. More like sisters than cousins.

From BF

When I was a sophomore in high school, my mom married my wonderful step father Rodney and we moved to the next town over. I didn't see Kim Frazier too much after that until September 15, 1999 at the "See you at the Pole" prayer meeting. We reconnected that day and have been close ever since.

From BF

We had a TON of fun my freshman & sophomore year in college. There's nobody who makes me laugh like my BF (besides my comedian husband)! We laugh at the dumbest/silliest things when we're together and the next picture is an inside joke that made us laugh for YEARS!

From BF

When I was a junior, I got accepted to Texas A&M and I moved to College Station. Kim had graduated from the "other" school (Texas University) but somehow we still remained close (even though she'd never visit College Station). Its really unheard of for an Aggie to love a Texas Graduate but thank God that His love is bigger than our Texas rival!

From BF

Kim has visited me in every state that I've lived in. Back in 2003, we took a trip to Maine. Packed up my blue skittle (just typing blue skittle makes me laugh out loud. Almost miss that car) and drove from Albany, NY to Portland, Maine. Had the time of our lives yelling at toll booths and opening up windows when it was -10 outside because I'm always hot. Kim swears I'm a fat girl trapped in a little girl's body!

From BF

Every trip I made back home, I made sure I saw Kim.

From BF

She was excited when I moved to North Carolina because that meant roadtrips to the Biltmore & the Outerbanks!

From BF

From BF

This past July, we took a 2nd trip to the Outerbanks together. But this time we were stupid and went to Ocracoke Island! Note to self: Save yourself the time, money and frustration and don't ever go to Ocracoke. She's gonna kill me for sharing this picture but its just too funny. We spent HOURS trying to get to Ocracoke, wanting to see the lighthouse and this was it. I think Kim's face says it all "Thumbs Down". We laughed & laughed. But the laughing ended real quick when we thought we missed the last ferry off the island and thought we were going to be stuck on that god forsaken island overnight. Sorry Ocracoke fans- but we think your island and your lighthouse suck!

From BF

This past Thanksgiving Kim came to our family farm with a BOYFRIEND! It was the first boyfriend that I have ever met. Kim met Brandon Ray through a miracle of a broken fax machine and now she's getting married this Saturday and will be moving across the country to the state of Washington. She is VERY happy and it does my heart good to see her this happy. She has a blog (The Sunshine Rays) now and I know it will be a great way to stay in touch with whats going on in her new life out on the west coast. Its gonna be hard getting use to not seeing her when I go home. I'll have to adjust to that and make more trips to the west coast to see my BF.

From BF

Kim & I have been friends for years. She knows every chapter of my life (some chapters prettier than others). She knows me inside and out and yet she still loves me. We have cried together and prayed together for mates for each other for as long as I can remember. Thats why it was such a joy last year when she was able to witness our prayers come true when I married Todd. And now this weekend, it will be her turn. I'll be able to be the one to witness the miracle. I'll be the one to help her get ready and be her "wedding slave". I'll be the one praising Jesus, thanking Him for sending Kim a godly mate. I get to watch all my years of prayers being fulfilled as she walks down that aisle this Saturday April 2, 2011.

From BF

This is my BF. I love her! She gets MARRIED on Saturday! She deserves this more than anybody I've ever known. She has waited SO long but God has been SO faithful. And like anything in life, the GOOD THINGS ARE WORTH WAITING FOR!

From BF

Can't wait to see you tomorrow BF!
There will be lots of pictures to share when I get back.
Hope everyone has a good weekend,
Candice

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John 15:5

Last weekend while we were at Apex Community Park, I saw this very interesting tree.

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I was intrigued by it and just couldn't get over it. I stared at it for awhile before I took a picture of it. While I was watching the sun set and watching Todd fish, it hit me why it intrigued me so much. It reminded me of John 15:5 that says “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."

Isn't that the truth? Christ is the vine of life. We are His branches.

I've thought a lot about that tree this weekend. Am I REALLY abiding in Christ? Yes, I spend time in God's word everyday. Yes, Todd & I have a great routine where we pray together every morning before I go to work. Yes, I go to church and serve on a regular basis. But am I really abiding in Christ? And if I am, then can people notice? I wonder how my neighbors would answer that question? I wonder how my co-workers would answer that question. Ouch! The answers may really hurt.

As we start a new week, I challenge myself and I challenge you to ABIDE in Christ. Let Him be our strong root. The thing that we wrap ourselves around.

My prayer for me and my prayer for you this week is: that when we abide in Him, we will bear fruit & others will notice. That our lives will be changed, others lives will be changed and only God will get the glory for it.

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I hope you have a good week! I'll be praying for you!
Love,
Candice

John 15
The Vine and the Branches1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

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James Lindeen- 4 months

I had my first little photoshoot this past Sunday. I went over to my friends Heather & Aaron's house and photographed their 4 month old baby boy, James. I wanted to test out my new lens and Heather was gracious enough to let me jack with her baby for an hour.

This is James.

From James_4mo

I had brought over these cool stickers for him but his mama had already purchased the "Sticky Bellies". They're really neat stickers where you can put them on the baby to document each month during their 1st year.

From James_4mo

Here is James playing with his mama. So sweet

From James_4mo

Sunday was a great day to try out the new equipment. I loved his little hands but I really couldn't get as close as I wanted to with that lens. I think that I will probably be purchasing a macro lens sooner than later (once I convince my husband that its worth the investment).

From James_4mo

I stole this "tie" idea from a picture I saw on flikr. Mine really didn't come out quite the same but it was worth trying.

From James_4mo

We got James doing a little tummy time. Both Heather & I really like this one. However, it may have been a little too much movement for him because he kept spitting up. Sorry buddy!

From James_4mo

Here are the Lindeen boys!

From James_4mo

And here is the entire Lindeen family!

From James_4mo

Thanks guys for letting me come over & practice. I definitely need all the practice I can get!

Love,
Candice

p.s. Todd got to hold James a bit. When I asked Todd how it felt to hold a baby in his arms, this was the response I got.

From James_4mo

God help us if we ever have kids!

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Bella & Fishing

This past weekend Todd & I dogsat for our friends Kaleena & Robbie- a.k.a. "KaRobbie". They were in Virginia beach for the Shamrock marathon and their doggy sitter had to cancel so they called us. I'm never really excited when dogs are around but this weekend I didn't mind. I'm going to tell you a secret here but promise not to tell my husband! Here it is-I kinda enjoyed our weekend with Bella. Shhhh. Don't tell anybody or I'll deny I ever said that! She is a good, sweet dog and we had fun with her.

This is Bella.

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She's mut. They think she might be a mix of German Shepherd & Beagal. She's a middle sized dog and very cute.

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On Friday night, we took her to Apex Community Park. Todd brought his fishing pole because they have a lake and I took Bella on a walk. She really enjoyed watching Todd fish.

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Todd caught a few.

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My husband LOVES to fish!

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We went over to our friend Heather & Aaron's on Sunday night and he and Aaron looked up fishing ponds on google Earth. He still is trying to convince me that we need to Texas and live off the land. I can't tell if thats because he really does want to be a "hay" farmer or if thats just an excuse to get closer to my parent's pond. Guess you can't blame him when the sunsets look like this. Very peaceful.

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My 3 new favorite things!

It has been a long, stressful, crazy two weeks. I am SO glad the last 2 weeks are over. To celebrate I did a little shopping this week and I want to share with you my new 3 favorite things!

1. New Camera Lens
I finally purchased a new lens! A 50 mm, 1.8 Prime Lens! I just tried it out for the 1st time yesterday. I'm loving it even though it takes some adjusting to get use to it. Its a fixed lens which means that you can't zoom in & out like you can on a regular or zoom lens. I'm so use to zooming that its weird not to zoom and I catch myself trying to mess with the lens to zoom it.

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From Picasa

This is the cheapest Canon lens for the quality. I'm excited to see what it will do. I'm holding off on the big purchase of a nice zoom lens until I know what I really want. But this will work for awhile.

This is our neighbor Tylan. This is straight out of the camera (SOOC) with no editing with my new lens. Pretty clear!

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2. Spring Shoes
I "accidentally" went to Belk on Wednesday night and picked up these fancy shoes. If you know me, you know that I usually don't purchase anything thats NOT on sale. But I made a splurge this week and just love these.

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The brand is BORN and they are my new favorite shoes. They are so freakin comfortable. I hope they go on sale soon because I want every color! I just loved this color. They scream "Spring Is Here!"

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3. CRAIG Sign
My last favorite thing is not something I purchased for myself. Instead it is an anniversary gift from my friend Geraldean. G has got to be one of the BEST gift givers on the planet. Her gifts are always SO thoughtful & they are always something that you wouldn't necessarily purchase for yourself but they are always something that you couldn't imagine not having. For our wedding gift last year she bought us a romantic dinner on the beach in the Turks & Caicos. She literally called down to the Turks, found the nicest restaurant & we had dinner like rockstars on the beach as the sun went down. It was simply incredible and she's done it again this year.

She had a sign made for us! Don't you love it??? I freakin adore it. I love the "Established in 2010" on top. Definitely something that we can pass on to our children one day.

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I just had Todd hang it on the front of the house. It looks so cool. I originally thought we'd hang it inside but it really looks nice by the front door. Can't say thank you enough G!!! We love it and we LOVE YOU!!!!!

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I hope everyone is enjoying the warmer weather this weekend!
Love,
Candice

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24

Just warning ya- this post is a bit long. I had my last photography class last week. Can't believe that 8 weeks have flown by. I have learned SO much in the last two months. I seriously didn't know ANYTHING. I have taken pictures for years but have never gotten off the "AUTO" mode. I know how to shoot in MANUAL now. I know the 3 things that make up a picture- aperature, shutter speed & ISO. I know that there is SO much more to learn that it sometimes frustrates me and makes me wish that I would have kept it on AUTO. (Ignorance is bliss) But I'm glad I took the class because it was a beginning and it has definitely sparked my interest in photography.

On our last night of class, we had to bring 24 prints to show everybody. I've been working on getting 24 shots that were worthy of being printed and to be honest, it was hard. I took some old ones and edited them a bit but the majority I've taken since I've been in the class. I'll post them in chronilogical order and hope that you'll see some improvement as you go through each of them.

1. Hops- This picture was taken at the Carolina Brewing Co. during our FIRST EVER ANNUAL BREW-A-QUE this past 4th of July. I love how sharp the picture is and wonder how much better it could have been if I had a macro lense.

From 24 Pics

2.G- This is a picture of my girlfriend Geraldean with one of her twin girls (I think its Augusteen???). I did quite a bit of editing on this one since it was taken with my point & shoot camera. But I just love it because it really captures a mother who truly enjoys and loves her children. Geraldean has got to be one of the BEST mothers on earth! I have NEVER heard Geraldean complain ONCE about having a baby let alone having TWO of them. She wanted children so badly that she says that she never wants to complain about any stage that the girls are in because she wanted them so much. G is definitely someone I admire and I will strive to have that same attitude when it comes my turn one day.

From 24 Pics

3.Kinley- This is my niece Kinley. Its one of the first pictures that I took with my new camera. I love the lighting on it and love those beautiful blue eyes. Mark my words- she's gonna be a heartbreaker in a few years.

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4. Kinley & Houston- Love this picture of Houston loving up on Kinley. I love her reaction- she's like what the freak is this kid doing to me?

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5. Destin Sunset- I took this picture INSIDE of a moving car while we were in Destin for Christmas. Ain't bad for a moving car right? I think its just beautiful.

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6.Sunset- I don't know if the composure is right on this but I like it anyway. I stopped on the side of the road near a shopping complex in Apex to get this one.

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7. 710- My friend Meredith & I went to Boylan Street Pub to get some cool shots of downtown Raleigh a few weeks ago. I didn't end up with a cool pic of downtown but thought this was cool. Its a new apartment complex and I thought the doors were gorgeous. Just wish it didn't have the shawdow on it.

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8 & 9. I took these a few weeks ago in downtown close to where I work. I'm SO excited that spring is here. Its been a cold winter in Raleigh this year and I'm thankful for a change.

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From 24 Pics

10 & 11. More sunsets- The sunsets in the winter here are amazing.This first one I literally took outside my office window. It amazed me how clear it was because our windows NEVER get cleaned. I wish the 2nd shot was a bit better (and had less telephone poles in it) but I just love the "beaming" rays. Reminds me that Jesus is coming back for me one day!

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12 - 20. You've seen these shots recently. They're all from our trip to Utah.

Historic Main Street in downtown Park City. Looks like a postcard to me.

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An old garage that they turned into a bar.

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Icicles! It was chilly.

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Old wood fireplace that was located in the No Name Saloon. I don't know why I love this picture but I just do. Reminds me of something on a movie set not something that you'd see in a local bar.

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Heaven on Earth- the Montage Resort!!! No need to say more.

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The Lodges Ski Resort. Love the black & white.

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Wish I would have taken a pair home!

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Probably my favorite picture in the 24. I just love this. Makes me hungry.

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An okay picture but a GREAT reminder how we spent our last night in Park City.

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21 & 22. You just saw this in the last post. Came from my trip to Yates Mill Pond.

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23 & 24. You've seen these too.

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From 24 Pics

Hopefully you've seen some improvement. I know I've learned a lot. I just got my birthday present this week- a new prime lense. 50mm 1.8. I'm very excited to try it out this weekend.

It's been a crazy week here. Hope yours is going well!
Love,
Candice

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