Courtney Elizabeth

Our Corky is getting so big! Literally! She is growing like a weed and has almost passed Tommy up in height! She now wears a lady's size 10 shoe and is just as tall of Ashley....goodness! So I thought since Easters coming, she just got a new dress, and I'd love to shoot some photos, why not take some pictures of her before she gets any taller? Hope you like them! Have a blessed Easter! ~Bethany

My favorite!

She looks SO much like Daddy in this one!

My Book Bliss Photo Contest Entries!

Miss Raquel is having a photo contest and the theme is books! So here are my two entries!

Learn more about Raquel's contest by clicking HERE!

Blessings,

Bethany

More Azalea Belle Pictures...

     This past Saturday we went to the Tyler Rose Garden and got some pictures of our dresses! (Although Ashley will not be able to be a Belle this year because of her age, we had a friend that gave us her daughters old Belle dress and it fitted Ashley perfect so we decided to add her to our pictures! :D) We really enjoyed the scenery and I think the pictures turned out really nice!

      This upcoming Friday is the opening ceremony to officially "start" the Azalea Trail and I will be working Saturday from 2-6 at a older historic home. I still haven't gotten the rest of the schedule yet, but once I do all you family members and friends from Tyler please contact us and we will let you know where I will be working and at what time so you can come by and see me.

      Enjoy the pictures! :) {To enlarge a picture just click on it}

My Azalea Belle Dress...

I have been honored to be a 2011 Azalea Belle! Every year Tyler Texas has what they call the Azalea Festival. It lasts from the end of March to the middle of April and they have many activities such as quilt shows, runs, and the Azalea and Spring Flower Trail. The Azalea and Spring Flower Trail is a trail that is a few miles long with mainly old historic homes that have many flowers in the front yards! The Azalea Belles get to wear old  style dresses and greet visitors who come to tour the old homes and take pictures, answer questions etc. On Tuesday I went for a dress fitting and will be wearing this dress for the whole trail!

Don't you just love it?! It is quite full and I wear a netted hoop underneath the skirt (it is really a two peace dress but you can't really tell the skirt and shirt are seperate). I absolutely love it and was blessed to find it as it fits perfectly! I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to find a dress that fit and that was modest but I was able to fit into this one! :)

A few people have asked me when I will be "working" (I am not paid...but that would be nice...:)). I will be working on Friday March 25th which is the ribbon cutting (it will be televised as well as covered by the local newspaper!) and then I have one shift from 11-2. From then on I will work on Saturdays and Sundays until mid April. I will have a few days were I "work" from 10-5 ( a long day to be standing up...but I'll make it... I hope :D and of couse I get 20 minute break every now and then) but most days I only work one 3-3 1/2  hour shift.

Unfortunately I will have to return the dress after the trail. But I am excited to be able to wear it for a while! I was also loaned a parasol and fan and will get a pair of satin elbow-length gloves which will be mine to keep since we paid for them. In all there will be 34 belles (including me)! I am very excited to be a belle this year since a few of my friends will be also!

I will keep posting pictures and details about the trail once it starts. I will aslo have a profesional photographer taking pictures , so hopefully I can get some good pictures to show you all! (These photos were just to let you see my dress, but I wan't really dressed up or anything... sorry for the horrible backgrounds!)

Ashley also got a dress! A friend of ours has a daughter who was a  Belle a few years ago, and they bought her dress on Ebay.  When she heard that I was to be a Belle she gave us her daughters dress  so that Ashley and I could have some pictures made together! (Thank you Mrs. Hall !!!) Althought Ashley isn't old enough to be a Belle she will be soon! The age requirements are  are 9th and 10th grade.

So which picture is your favorite?

Blessings,

Bethany

{Recent Pictures And A Special Story}

Here recently, I've found some cool settings and features on our camera! (Funny how we've had this camera for going on 3 years now, and it's only been in the last 2 days that I've found out there is more than just a normal setting! :D) I decided to try them out and take a few pictures and hope that you enjoy them!
Blessings,

Bethany

P.S. At the end of this post there is the story of how I got my Bible! Be looking for it! :)

My Bible.

1st Peter 1:13

Proverbs 31:10-31.

The front of my Bible.

The side of my Bible.

This year I am memorizing 1st Peter (yes, the whole book!) I made these cards to help me in this memroizing journey.

Me and Ashley have matching Bibles! (More on that later...)

My Bible case.

I love this one!

So cool!

Since I have posted mainly pictures of my Bible I thought I'd share with you how I got my Bible!

Well, I got it last year in July. I had been wanting a new Bible because my old one, I had been using for about 3 years. I often found myself going to my parents study Bibles to look up special meanings on a verse I was using in an article or if I just wanted to see the study notes on a memory verse. I decided that I wanted one like it since I kept using theirs of often. :) I started looking around and found a bubble gum pink/chocolate brown one that I really liked. It was exactly like my parents Bible's (made by the same company, looked the same on the inside, etc.) so I thought that "this was the one". But there was one problem...I didn't have but about $5 in savings. :) The Bible was around $50! So I started saving, and slowly but surely I had almost half the amount needed! Ashley and I had been working in a MOPS (Mothers Of Preschoolers) nursery with the little ones voluntarily. At the end of the semester they surprised us volunteers with a $40 gift card (each!) to Wal-Mart! Since we buy our gas from Wal-Mart and when you use a gift card you get a discount I was able to give my Dad the gift card and in return Daddy gave me $40 cash. (We both got a deal that day! :D) When I added this to the money I had been saving for the past 4 months it was almost enough! So finally I went with my Gram to the Scroll Christian bookstore and to my surprise they had the exact Bible I wanted...on sale for $45.00! Not only did I have enough to get the Bible, but I was also able to have my name printed on it! (A long time dream of mine! :D) Isn't it great how the Lord works?!

And then, once I got it home Ashley really liked it, and she happened to have enough money to get one while they were still on sale, so she got one as well! It's so fun to have matching Bibles! :)

Well I hope that you enjoyed the story, maybe you can share your story on how you got your Bible! I'd love to hear it!

Blessings,

Bethany