Family fun at the park

Thanksfully we were able to get these before it rained. Here are some favorites to share...

Leave a comment or two below!

These are long long long overdue. Back in May, we went to Dallas for Tiffany's bachelorette party and stayed at a super fun hotel called Hotel Zaza. We also took Tiffany's bridal pictures while we were there.
Here they are...
This is the one Tiff picked for her bridal portrait
I enlarged this one to a 16x24 canvas print. Oh my gosh what a difference canvas does to a picture. It makes it more alive-so cool!

Inside the elevator at Zaza

Leave a comment below!!!! These are one of my first bridal portraits I've ever done and I'd like to know what ya think.

Roaming with Cows

The Norris family lives way outside of town. I wasn't sure if I was even headed in the right direction, but when I pulled up I knew that the big beautiful house to my left was theirs. They greeted me with such sincerity and the Shelly (mom) and I clicked right away. She asked me, "Do you know anthropologie?" And my heart stopped and I answered with excited, "yeah!" She had ideas that she wanted to do for her family pictures that reminded her of my favorite clothing and home decor store, anthropologie. I knew right then that we were going to have fun.

I learned a little bit about bulls and cows while we waited for Shelly to change her clothes. The picture above is a female cow and the name "Harley" is the bull that is helping her produce more babies. His name is on many of the cows too. He sort of has lots of girlfriends I guess.

We did some last minute senior pictures of Austin before he goes off to college.

Layne was trying to grab the frog and when he did it peed a bunch. It was gross, but a cool pic of the frog. He looks a little grumpy don't ya think?
Youngest son Spencer
all the boys
mom an dad, so sweet!

Thanks Norris family for an adventures.

Remember, comments rock. Let me know you're here visiting and leave a comment for the Norris family.

Curry County Fair Aug 13-18th

Cristy Cross Photography will be having a booth this year at the Clovis County Fair.
We are going to have the coolest and most hip looking booth there is too!
I need some volunteers to help out with greeting the lovely fair goers as they pass the booth and welcome them in to look around.
If you are interested in working with the coolest photography booth in the Curry County Fair send me an email at: cristy@cristycrossphotography.com and title it "Fair."

Times:
Tuesday thru Friday 4pm-10pm
Saturday 10am-10pm

I would love for you to help out the whole time, but I understand we all have crazy schedules. So if you can only work a few hours that is totally cool with me. I'd love to have volunteers there each day, and Saturday is going to be a big day. Look at your schedules and give me a call. We are going to have so much fun!
If you work with me, the passes are $10 before August 13th and that pass gets you in for the whole week.
Who can volunteer? High school students and adults

What's our babies gender?

Baby check up

Today we had our second check up. It was so cool, because the baby was much clearer now and it was moving its arms and legs around. I mean, there is nothing like seeing something like that and knowing it is inside your body, growing bigger and bigger.

We also were given a plastic baby the size of a 12 week old baby as a "doctors visit favor." Hold out your the palm of your hand, and that is how tiny our baby is.

I am further along than we had thought too. I am now 11 weeks and 4 days. The due date is now Feb 8th. We'll see if that changes when we go back in Sept.

Please continue to pray for us and for mine and the babies health. I am completely healthy according to all my lab results, so praise the Lord for that.

New pictures of our baby. The first of many...

Visiting with dear friends

Brooklyn and Zoe Max sharing his sucker with mom (Danica)
Zoe being a model
Sweet Leyton

Zoe and Max having a sucker sword fight. It was really funny b/c it was Zoe's idea to have the sucker sword fight, but when Zoe's sucker broke into tiny little pieces she began to cry.

Max being his happy little self
The lovely Brooklyn checking out what color to lick
Max driving the golf cart or as he says "go cot" (say this with an African clicking sound)

At the beginning of June Ben and I drove to the lovely Cloudcroft, NM to visit some of my dearest friends and their families. Danica, my best friend and "my sister" and her husband Greg, and their sweet little boy Max came home from Russia to visit with family and friends this summer. I haven't seen Danica since she we was pregnant with Max. It was a much need time with them. We also were lucky to see her sister, Maren, who is also one of my dearest friends and "sisters." Maren's husband, Blair, and their kids Brooklyn, Zoe, and Leyton were their too.

When I was in high school, they were in college and took me under their wing and treated me like a little sister. So from then on, they have pampered me and loved on me like sisters and I hold their friendship so near and dear to my heart.

We stayed at Danica and Maren's parents cabin in Cloudcroft and they fed us the most wonderful food.

I so wish we could have had longer, but I know there will be one day when we can all be back together with Ben and I joining in on the "chase the baby" game.

New Prices

I just wanted to notify you of some new prices. Adjustments have been made to the dvd slideshows and the gallery wraps.

www.cristycross.com/prices.pdf

And if you are interested in weddings, click on the link below for information.

www.cristycross.com/weddingcollections.pdf

Spider and Snails

I drove to Portales for this session to enter into a backyard filled with imagination. One section of the yard was build with a Roman theme, then a rain forest, and then and Italian theme. It was so beautiful. It was filled with spiders and snails too, which weren't necessarily my favorite. At least the spiders weren't. These kids loved exploring and finding all the spider webs and spiders crawling around. And then they moved on to the slimy snails that left trails around the backyard. They would crawl up their arms and leave gooey stuff behind. (I'm not really sure what that stuff is either) Their great grandpa owns this house and he was a former biology teacher at the college in Portales and keeps all living things that crawl alive in his yard. I'm sure if we searched long enough we would have found much more crawling insects. Here are a few favorites of these fun and adventurous kids with their grandmother.

My session tonight

I just want to say thank you to Laura and Alice for tonight. Laura was my bridal session tonight and she did an awesome job. She was honked at by a ton of crazy people on two main streets, and she did get her dress dirty a little bit, but I have to say she looked fabulous and Alice, her mom, did a wonderful job assisting me tonight.

I won't be posting her bridal session until after August 4th. So stay tuned for those.
I have two family session I need to post too. So come back to check 'em out.

Have a wonderful night. Ben and I are about to head out to the lovely Walmart to buy some much much needed groceries. We decided since the dogs food was almost out that it was time to go to the grocery store.

SHOOTSAC

So I've been procrastinated to get one of the lovely Shootsac's by Jessica Claire, because I wondered if it was really worth the money.
My decision is YES! It is worth the money. I am tired of lugging my big who knows how heavy camera bag around. Now, I still we be taking it with me, but I don't have to rely on it anymore and wonder where I put it when I need a lens in a hurry. I am only aloud to carry 20 pounds or less now that I'm PREGNANT. And I want to make sure and follow the rules. So I went and bought me a shootsac. Below is the cover I chose and I had a hard time deciding between all the cool fabrics.
This is what it looks like inside.

If you are a photo guy or gal and you want one of these cool and nifty camera satules, click here--> SHOOTSAC

and learn more about what it has to offer. They go fast. So if you want one, you better jump on it. Or you'll have to wait until the next shipment.

Our Big News!!-Yipeee!

We are having a baby!
We found out that we are going to be having a baby and we couldn't be any happier. I am 9 weeks and 2 days. We have been told that the 30x40 image of our dogs is going to have to be replaced by our baby and we are okay with that. We are excited whether it is a boy or a girl. I tried to have a bet with Ben on what the baby would be, but he couldn't decide and didn't want to play the game because it was too hard of a decision to pick. We even have an ultra-sound too. You aren't supposed to get one until 8-10 weeks, but we got it at 6 weeks. It may be because we have the hook up at the Women's Medical Center with Ben's dad being an OB-GYN. And for those who are asking, no he won't be delivering the baby, but he will definitely be in charge in another room.
Everyone is so excited for us and that makes it so much fun. One of our friends has given us a bag full of fun mother-to-be books and some fun pilates and yoga dvd's for when I decide I'm going to exercise. Thanks Shannon! One of the books is "Belly Laughs" by Jenny McCarthy. It is hilarious and totally worth reading. I will warn you though, she says things that will shock you. One, because of things that happen to when your pregnant that everyone forgets to tell you, and two, because it is coming out of Jenny McCarthy's mouth.
I have felt a little queasy here and there, but no vomiting thank goodness. Food isn't very appealing to me, but I will still eat it. A few cravings I've had lately are Chinese food, Red Barron mini pizzas, hamburgers, spaghetti, warm milk with vanilla extract and sugar, and Subway meatball sandwiches with salt and vinegar chips. Really, I don't think the cravings have hit yet because those are all things I wanted before I was pregnant. I've tried to be good and eat veggies, but it's a little hard.
We are due Feb 12th and have another appt with the OB in two weeks.
Please say your prayers for us and for a healthy baby.
Leave me a comment with any advice and/or questions if I forgot something. I want to share this with my blog viewers. Thanks everyone!
Look at my myspace to see the development of the baby.
www.myspace.com/cristycrossphotography

Ben and I in the waiting room for our first meeting and then our first ultrasound.

This is my guess. I don't know what is what just yet, but I'm hoping when I go in in two weeks we can see more definition. That's my little Pistachio!!

Jenn

Something I love about this girl is that she has been so excited for this session every since I did her brother Ryan and her sister Amanda's session back in May. She was supposed to take pictures then too, but she got sick. Jadee came along with me and helped out with her wonderful video light holding skills. We tried a few ideas from our magazine collections too. Like whipping your hair around in circles and trying to smile while doing it. It kind of worked, but I think I need a little more practice on directing them in the swooshing.

Here are some favorites of mine.

I absolutely love this one. It goes perfectly with my tag on the side.

She is such a model, but it was hard for her to keep a straight face.

I experimented with back lighting, which I love that lighting so much and then a few with my off camera flash, and then my little $30 sunpak video light.

Your rock my socks off when you leave comments!

Tiff + Alan

My Favorite picture!

gorgeous dress


Oh if you only knew what kind of fun we had in the dressing room...


Tiffany is a make-up artist and did her own make-up. So beautiful! For all you brides out there she will makeup your face for your wedding day too! She works at Ribbons and Bows in Lubbock next to Zookini's! (below is the lovely owner of Ribbons and Bows(dancing) -a great place to shop for your lingerie shower too)



Hello seniorita



Alan did an awesome job on that ring-would you look at that thing!



Good 'ol Alan getting ready with a little bit of butterflies in his stomach

I really don't know what to say about his guys. I mean, they did this all on their own.



Oh what beauties. (Marsi, Ashley, Heather, Tiff, Becca, and Betsy)









Can we say yummy and too pretty to eat! But don't you worry, I did get me a bite of each of these delicious cakes. And that is exactly what they were, delicious.

I had to snag a shot of me and my assistant

Well this wedding was wonderful in so many ways. One main reason was that it was a friends wedding and it couldn't have been more special. It was such an honor to be Tiffany and Alan's photographer for this special day. I kept having to remind myself that I can't sit around and joke all day with them. I had to work, but had so much fun while doing my job. I mean, what better career than to hang out with wonderful people, be pampered, cry a little, laugh a lot and take pictures all at the same time.

Tiffany and Alan saw each other before the ceremony and it was truly precious. He is head over hills for this girl and could not hold back his "manly" tears for his beautiful bride.

Thanks Alan and Tiffany for letting me apart of your big day!

Also, the web gallery is up for all who have the password and want to go check out the pics.

Vendors:

Wedding Location-Baker Building

Catering-Baker Building

Bakery-The ever so lovely Vida at Sweet Temptations

Flowers-Joe Shakespere at Lou Dee's in Levelland-the flowers were awesome!

Hair-Marsi and Whitney (They work at Linsdey's Salon by Texas Tech)