Happy Easter

Easter is upon us!

We started a Craig tradition at our house last year. We watch "The Passion" on the Thursday night before Good Friday. It really wasn't my idea since I can't take too much of that movie. For me, it's too graphic and just too sad. But by watching it, it does put you in the right mind set as we celebrate Good Friday and helps me remember all the suffering that Christ endured on this day. I must admit that sometimes it is easy for me to fall into the trap of "marketing" Easter with candy, baskets and bunnies. But there is nothing pretty about this day. This day sure wasn't a happy one over 2,000 years ago. A sinless man took on the sins of the world and suffered an excruciating death on a cross. Nothing happy about that. But praise the Lord the story doesn't end on Friday!

I hope that you and your family will be celebrating Easter somewhere this weekend. I hope that you'll be at a church with other believers celebrating what God has done for us by "giving us his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life". John 3:16

My prayer for you is that Easter will become "real" this weekend. That you & I will realize what was done on our behalf and that we'll accept that gift. The gift of life through Jesus Christ.

Our home church has 6 services this weekend and we're anticipating large crowds. If you're in the Raleigh area and need a church, we'd love to have you at Hope Community. Todd will be in the parking directing traffic and I'll be in our children's ministry so you'll see some familiar faces.

Because no blog is complete without a picture. This is who I will be loving on this Easter Sunday- these sweet little faces.

From Picasa

Happy Easter!
Candice

Read more...

Girls Weekend

While Raleigh was dodging tornadoes this weekend (God love em), I was in the mountains with my sister-in-law Lisa for a girls weekend.

This is Lisa. She is "purdey" and so so sweet. She's one of those people who are prettier on the inside than on the outside. She is gorgeous outwardly and has such a sweet spirit inside. I tend to not like those people because they make me look bad. But I LOVE Lisa! You can't help but love her.

From Asheville_Lisa

Lisa has a 1 1/2 year old and is pregnant with her 2nd child. She has never spent a weekend away from Kinley so she was in desperate need of a girls trip. We decided to meet in Asheville, NC since its half way for the both of us now that she lives in Atlanta.

We started our day at what I call "Heaven on Earth"- a.k.a. Grove Park Inn. We had a massage and then had all day access to their spa area which includes these beautiful pools, hot tubs and saunas. They wouldn't let me bring my camera in the spa so this is the only picture you get (which doesn't do it justice). The resort is beautiful, we had such a relaxing time at the spa and we're planning our next trip back!

From Asheville_Lisa

After 6 hours at the spa we headed to our hotel and had a mini baby shower. I had gotten together a few things for the baby and Lisa loved everything! She called this a baby shower in a basket.

From Asheville_Lisa

She was so excited & moving around so much that it was hard to get her on camera.

From Asheville_Lisa

After our mini shower, we got dressed up and went out to dinner. One of the funnest (is that a word) things about girls trips is getting ready together. I love doing hair so I did Lisa's and it turned out great. She looks beautiful. Notice the Texas poof? Not bad if I say so myself. (I promise I'm wearing clothes. The way I cropped this thing it looks like I'm naked. I promise it wasn't that type of weekend)

From Asheville_Lisa

We had a great view from our hotel

From Asheville_Lisa

Saturday was all about shopping and relaxing. We had the best time getting deals at Old Navy. I often shop alone and forget how fun it is to have someone with you so they can see what you try on and encourage you to purchase!

Saturday night I took her to my favorite Asheville restaurant- Tupelo Honey Cafe! Like always, it was delish. We stuffed our faces and talked for hours.

From Asheville_Lisa

Our stomachs must have expanded because we were still hungry the next morning so we went to the famous Moose Cafe. (Note to self: When they call a pancake a "Moose" cake, assume that it will be large!)

From Asheville_Lisa

No trip to the Moose Cafe is complete until you get a picture with the Moose.

From Asheville_Lisa

We had the best time together. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful sister-in-law. Being married to Todd Craig is wonderful enough but having Lisa Craig as a sister is definitely an added perk!!!!

I had a great time Lisa! Thanks for coming up to NC. Can't wait for our next trip!!!
Lots of love,
Candice

Read more...

Boys will be boys

This past weekend, I took my macro lens over to my neighbors & wanted to get some shots of Tylan. I captured him doing the most interesting thing- eating pinecones. I just had to chronicle here on the blog. Here's my interuptation of what Tylan was thinking while trying to eat his first pinecone.

From Macro

"Hmmmm. What is this?" Tylan says.

From Macro

"This looks like something I could put in my mouth"

From Macro

"Oh my gosh! That's nasty. This taste worse than Gerber baby squash!"

From Macro

"Here's another one. Maybe this one will taste better"

From Macro

"This one is kinda prickly"

From Macro

"This one kinda hurts"

From Macro

"I'm going for it anyways"

From Macro

"Not so bad"

From Macro

"All that pinecone eating has got me thirsty"

From Macro

"I see my dog Murphy drink from this bowl all the time"

From Macro

"I think I'll have a drink myself"

Boys!

What do you think? Think I could write a children's book???

I got some good ones of Tylan & his dad too!

From Macro

From Macro

He's getting so big now that he'll be walking soon.

From Macro

And he's getting lots of teeth for all that pinecone eating!

From Macro

I'm headed to the mountains this weekend to hang out with my sister in law Lisa. Looking forward to some girl time and wishing it wasn't going to rain.

Kim Frazier's wedding pictures are out & blogged. Check it out. They are absolutely beautiful.

Hope everyone has a good weekend!
Love,
Candice

Read more...

Macro

This weekend I rented a MACRO lens. I joined the Triangle Photography Club and we had a meetup on Sunday afternoon at Duke Gardens. The gardens are full of beautiful flowers right now and I thought it would be awesome to rent a macro. A macro lens does just what it sounds like it does- it gets really close up. I wanted to rent the lens before I spent major bucks on it and I confirmed that I WANT IT! I love it. Now just have to convince myself (and my husband) that its worth the money. The shots you get with it are so cool.

I took a ton of pictures and if you're bored and have some time to kill, you can see them all here. Shooting flowers is so much different than shooting kids. I had to be a little creative.

Here are a few of my favorites.
1.

From Macro

2.

From Macro

3.

From Macro

4.

From Macro

5.

From Macro

6.

From Macro

7.This was is my personal favorite!

From Macro

8.

From Macro

9.

From Macro

10.

From Macro

11.

From Macro

12.

From Macro

13.

From Macro

Wanna do me a favor? I need to submit 3 pictures to the Triangle Photography club. Drop me a comment & let me know what 3 pictures you liked the most!
Thank you!
Love you!
Candice

Read more...

8 years & still a bit homesick

8 years ago today I started my career with the USDA in our Albany, NY field office. It's a much different environment today than it was 8 years ago. Tomorrow our government will decide if they will shutdown or not. I never thought I'd ever get furloughed in this nice, stable government job but times are tough. I'm not worried about it. It just means an unpaid vacation for me. As busy as I've been at work for the last few months, I could use a break from doing 3 people's jobs!

It wasn't necessarily my idea or decision to move across the country as a 23 year old right out of college. I've given my mother a lot of grief over the last 8 years for that "not so gentle" love tap out of the nest but now I can sit back and see all the things I wouldn't have in my life today if she hadn't have done that. I would have never met my wonderful friends in NY. My life started when I moved to NY. I absolutely loved. I probably wouldn't have moved to NC if I hadn't started with the USDA and we all know what I would have missed out on if I wasn't here in Raleigh!

As many good things that have come into my life since that decision 8 years ago, there are some things that I still miss back home. To be honest, I didn't realize how homesick I was until I went home this past weekend. 2.5 days just wasn't enough. I needed more time. Even though I absolutely LOVE living in Raleigh there are some things that we don't have here that I miss terribly.

Luby's

From Kim Frazier Wedding

Nobody in my family understands my fascination with Luby's. It is literally the BEST cafeteria food on the planet. I freakin love it and almost had a heart attack when I realized that I hadn't asked Frazier if we could go when I flew in. She was sweet enough to grant my wish and I got some fried fish, mashed potatoes, macaroni & cheese, roll and sweet tea. Don't worry- there were no meltdowns on my part this time. They had the mashed potatoes!


Schexnider Family Dinners

From Kim Frazier Wedding

We had more people at our small Schexnider family dinner on Saturday night than Kim Frazier had at her wedding. My mom sent out an email to the fam saying I was coming in town and 30 people showed up. Not a bad reception!

Crawfish

From Kim Frazier Wedding

Its crawfish season in Southeast Texas! I haven't been home for crawfish season in years. I made a request for some boiled crawfish on Saturday night while I was home. It was so yummy but it did make me & my mom have really bad/weird dreams. I'm pretty sure my dream involved a divorce and PF Changs. Don't ask me why. I don't know.

My Mother Therese

From Kim Frazier Wedding

I cannot believe that I didn't get a good picture with my mother this weekend. I was busy being a wedding slave at the wedding & didn't get a good shot of us a dinner. So here's an old trusty favorite of mine. I love my mama!

Cousins

From Kim Frazier Wedding

I absolutely LOVE my cousin Jessie! We have always been close and I got to meet her brand new baby, Evie. She's so cute and little but didn't really like me holding her too much. She wanted her mama! Can't say that I blame her.

Lots of 2nd cousins & Aunts

From Kim Frazier Wedding

My mother is number 7 out of 11 children. So I have 30 first cousins and can't count all the 2nd cousins I have. Since we all lived in the same small town, my cousins were more like sisters & brothers. And my aunts all took turns taking care of me and my sister so my aunts were like 2nd moms. Its hard to live so far away from that closeness of a HUGE family unit.

Todd & I have been talking a lot about family lately. I'm terrified of having kids. I don't really know why since I grew up with a ton of kids around me. Maybe its just the fear of the unknown. Maybe I'm not ready. Or maybe its because I'm so far away from my family & they won't be able to help. Maybe its because I won't have them all around and my kids won't experience what its like to grow up with their family so close. Maybe deep down inside I hope Todd is serious about his idea of moving to Spurger, TX and becoming a hay farmer. Of course, if the government shuts down tomorrow and I'm furloughed, it might not be a bad idea!

Read more...

Wedding Pics

Got back from TX yesterday so I'm a bit pooped. It was a lot crammed in 3 days but SO worth it. I have a few pictures but didn't get many great shots since I was busy being a "wedding slave" during the BIG day.

I always like to have cute airport outfits and last week, I found the perfect shirt to wear home. I told Frazier that I was wearing a surprise for her & when she picked me up from the airport, my outfit would make her laugh.

From Kim Frazier Wedding

I saw this shirt in Forever 21 and just had to have it! She liked it and laughed but she was more interested in picking up her man from the airport- just 30 minutes after I landed.

From Kim Frazier Wedding

I did Kim's hair on the big day. To say we were a bit rushed was a understatement. We totally chilled on Saturday morning not realizing what time it was and then had to rush to get ready. But everything worked out fine & we had one beautiful bride.

From Kim Frazier Wedding

They got married at Las Brisas farm in Fayetteville, TX. Its in the middle of nowhere but such a pretty place. They have a vineyard & the bluebonnets were starting to come out.

From Kim Frazier Wedding

They exchanged vows outside, underneath the trees.

From Kim Frazier Wedding

Brandon actually spoke during the wedding. He talked about how long they had waited to be married. Both of them will be turning 37 this year. He thanked family & friends that were there for praying for the both of them. And then he talked about Matt 6:33 which says "Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and THEN these things will be given to you as well". He talked about what that verse meant to them & how even though they doubted, they both still sought God first. And because of that, it was being added to them. And that verse is now engraved on their wedding rings as a reminder of God's faithfulness. I was proud of Brandon! It was very touching and so sweet. I was so proud that he got through it because he had everybody crying (including Kim)!

From Kim Frazier Wedding

The rings were exchanged, vows said and then they became husband & wife!

From Kim Frazier Wedding

And then I busted in between them like any good wedding slave would do!

From Kim Frazier Wedding

Kim's new family.... The Ray's. I loved hanging out & getting to know the Ray's. They are all such sweet people. I feel better now that I have met the family that will be taking care of my BF!

From Kim Frazier Wedding

And Kim with her family.

From Kim Frazier Wedding

Love this picture of Kim & her mom.

From Kim Frazier Wedding

And finally, the only reason I go to weddings..... CAKE! Like Kim would say, it was "delish"! I was glad her friend was cutting BIG slices because I ate all mine and then some.

From Kim Frazier Wedding

She was such a happy bride. You could just see it in her eyes.

From Kim Frazier Wedding

My BF! A bride. A wife.

From Kim Frazier Wedding

And then it was time to say goodbye.

From Kim Frazier Wedding

And they drove off, happily ever after.

From Kim Frazier Wedding

And then we were boyfriend substitutes no more because we now both have husbands! HALLEJUAH! Praise Jesus!

Love ya BF!
Hope you enjoy your honeymoon!

"Be strong & take heart, all you who HOPE in the Lord"
Psalms 31:24

Read more...