I am SO excited to have my little one back home safe and sound!! She just brightens everything! Here she is goofing around in Jonny’s clothes Silly girl!

So how DO you pronounce my last name?? Fries, hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm…

hahahaha…

It’s pronounced “freeze” but spelled Fries

I’m getting used to the whole “super-sized” fries thing though 

and in the words of Paul Harvey….”that’s the rest of the story”

~Courtney

Just debuting my new watermark This is an image I took at the OneLight Alaska workshop!

Additionally, I am dying a little inside that the Olympics are ending! We have been glued to the t.v. set these past 2 weeks. They have been such an incredible olympics, barring any gymnastic controversy!! I am really looking forward to seeing what Phelps brings in 2012.

Oh and I’m super excited! I got to talk to Jesh De Rox on the phone today That was awesome! He called me and said “Hey this is Jesh De Rox” and I was like “woah, really?” hahahaha That was the highlight of my Friday!!

Wow, could this weather get any yuckier?? I haven’t been able to do much of anything in the constant downpour we’ve had because of Fay! I feel all pruny and need some Florida sunshine! Piper is visiting my ex-husband up in Boston this week and I just miss her SO, SO much! In honor of that, here is a picture Jonny snapped of she and I. I don’t have too many of the two of us together, because I’m usually the one taking pics of her, but I love the emotion in this one, so I thought I’d share. I love that little chipmunk, SO much!!

Just a quick blog post to say “Happy Anniversary” to my hubby of 1 year It was a FANTASTIC first year of marriage! We have become so close and have had so many amazing times and made many memories that I will hold close to my heart forever! This time last year, we were cruisin’ the streets of Las Vegas enjoying our newly wedded bliss! I couldn’t have asked for a more amazing wedding! You are my best friend and I love you more than words! Happy Anniversary, Babe. Thank you SO much for my awesome steak dinner! It was DEEEE-LISH!

It all began in Kindergarten. We both rode the same school bus to St. Joseph’s Catholic School in Bradenton. We sat on opposite sides of the bus. We never spoke. We merely knew the other existed. One sunny morning, we both sat in our respective seats, riding quietly and staring out the window. This morning was different, however. This morning we noticed a little boy sitting  near us had pulled out a pack of Crayola crayons and he began to slowly and carefully peel the paper wrapper from the crayon. Puzzled, we both continued to stare as he began to chew on the crayon…the entire crayon…and then “gulp” swallow the crayon. A squeal came out of our mouths almost silmutaneously and for the first time we made eye contact and couldn’t stop laughing. Our school bus driver, John Stinson, noticed our connection and asked her if she wanted to come sit with me and as if we had known each other for life, it began…a friendship that would become so special, so meaningful and so life-changing…all because a boy ate a crayon and a bus driver took note.

Lori Krull and I, after that chance encounter, became virtually inseperable. We later found out that our parents had known each other for years and, because I was the only girl in a family with 2 rowdy boys, they decided then and there that we should take advantage of a chance to hang out with another little girl. I still remember going to her house for the first time. Her parents had a really large pool and Lori’s first inclination was to ask me to go swimming. Armed with my bathing suit circa 1983, she and I changed on either side of her parents bed, attempting to hide so we couldn’t see each other changing…after all I was 5 and she was 6 and we had barely met We giggled so hard that day at the thought of seeing the other naked…and just like that our friendship was sealed.

I spent the greater part of my young life at Lori’s house…eating, sleeping, camping, laughing, growing, learning and becoming a young lady. Her parents are owed much credit in instilling values in me that they instilled in their own children. My parents were so thrilled that I had met such a wonderful young girl and  that we would become such an integral part of each other’s lives. This is the girl that was my sister…the sister that I never had. We spent days choreographing dance moves, jumping on trampolines, creating haunted houses together, stuffing our bra’s by emptying every Kleenex box in the house, painting our fingers and toe nails with glow-in-the-dark paint and turning the lights off and laughing so hard my ribs actually ached. The same girl that snuck into her mother’s kitchen with me, stole her bucket of flour, rubbed it all over our hands and feet and then went into the back yard to pretend we were Mary Lou Retton on the monkey bars. FYI…flour does NOT stick like chalk (hahaha). There are so many memories I could share here..so many ridiculous things we did over the span of our 12 year friendship, but they would take pages and pages and I could never do them justice. Let’s just say she was my best friend. My one true friend.

I still remember sitting on my couch the night we received the phone call about Lori’s horrible news. I can envision my mother and father walking out of their bedroom with a look of sadness spread across their face. I was only 16 at the time. Young, innocent and completely unsuspecting of what could happen in what seemed to be such an invincible time of our lives. Then the words came spilling out of my mother’s mouth…the words that I wanted so badly to push back into her mouth, but instead sat emotionless for moments after hearing the word “Cancer”. I just didn’t understand. How could this happen to a young, beautiful, active person. How could this happen to my best friend?

The next year was one of the most difficult transitions of my life. To see her so frail and sick and want nothing more but to go back to that school bus and start over and enjoy every minute. Lori was such a fighter. She fought to the bitter end. She was amazing in so many ways. She taught me what it meant to be strong and to accept adversity. What it meant to remain calm and peaceful, in even the bleakest of moments. She taught me so much about myself…perhaps even, how to deal with my own daughters illness. We lost her one quiet day at home. Just as easily as she had breezed into my life, she had breezed back out. There isn’t a day that passes that I don’t think of her and what she means to me…how badly I wanted her to meet my daughter…how our biggest dream was to have our children grow up together, just as we did and become just as close. I love you Lori…just as much today as 12 years ago. I still feel you in my life and I thank you so much for sharing your amazing life with me. You are my biggest hero and I miss you. Everyday.

(The above image was taken just before we lost Lori–I have some of us when we were about 5 years old that I will post at a later date!)

Lori Krull 3-8-78 to 8-16-96

Hi guys! Things have been super crazy here at Courtney Fries Photography, in a great way I just wanted to take a second and post about my Christmas card sessions that I have coming up. I have had an influx of inqueries about them and when I was going to be doing them, so here ya go! Be sure to schedule yours as soon as possible. I am only offering 10 of them this season, so be sure to get in one of the available time slots! Here are the details

Spending the day on the couch nursing a pulled muscle, so I thought I’d post a little something to pass the time A giant thanks to those who commented below. You are all so wonderful and I am so blessed to have crossed paths with each and every one of you. You truly made me remember that HE is in charge…thank you so much for your love and support!! Here are two quick images of the little one! I think I’m going to have these made into canvases and hang them in her bathroom!

Last night, after putting Piper down for the night I began to hear her coughing in the other room. Whenever this happens, I hush everything in the house…Jonny if he’s talking, the TV if it’s on…whatever is happening fails to matter and I scurry to her door to listen closer to judge whether or not this is a spasm or just a passing cough. I ran in her room and gave her the usual oral steroids and inhaler and about 10 minutes later the coughing stopped and life went back to normal. I always feel so awful seeing her in that state. Her pillow is usually wet in one spot from the coughing…that’s typically when I know that she needs “something”. It is summer time. I hate summer. I’m a wierdo. I’ve never enjoyed being hot and sweaty…or laying out in the sun, hence my pasty white skin haha, but rather fall and winter are my two most favorite seasons of all. Spring never mattered much living in Florida, because well…it ceases to exist. It’s Summer…winter (real quick) and then right back to summer. For all of the reasons that I hate summer, I sure do love it for one of THE biggest reasons of all LESS GERMS and for all of the reasons that I love winter and fall I sure should hate it for  one of THE biggest reasons being MORE GERMS. Talk about your oxymoron’s.  Summer is the time when Piper is at her healthiest *usually*. Lately her cough has started, but that is rare.  The fall and winter totally freak me out…when flu season hits I turn into a total germaphobe. If anyone in a 20 foot radius is sick, I hang up a white bed sheet and burn incense (i kid, i kid…haha) but I sure do bust out the hand sanitizer and lysol. Seeing as today is August 1st, I just got to thinking about how quickly the fall is approaching.  I told Jonny last night in the kitchen that I’m not ready for respiratory season. It makes me quiver in my boots. Last season was one of the roughest one’s yet. I remember sleeping for maybe 2 hours a night for about 2 weeks. Her baby monitor was cranked to the highest decibel so I could hear every sniffle, cough and breath. Poor Jonny was exhausted. I know that Piper is still very young and her CF is still in its earliest stages and that I should make myself ready for many more long winters to come…it just makes my stomach turn to think of it. If I could bubble wrap her I would Can you do that? Can you shrink and bubble wrap your children? hahaha…this has been a long standing joke in my family. I think God knew what he was doing when he gave Piper to me, because he knows so well that I am an over-protective, germ-aware, “stay away from my daughter with that cough” kinda mom. She is in the best hands possible…I don’t doubt that. I just worry so much for her. I want to protect her from all the things that will bring her to her lowest. I want to move somewhere that never has flu season…like, um… Narnia. It gets cold there though, so they probably have some form of flu season. lol Anyway, just an evening blog from the thoughts of a CF mom. The thoughts that encompass my everyday realm of thinking. The one’s that I often wonder if I, alone, think of. To want to take your little one to the top of the highest mountain and hold her close for safe keeping, so nothing in life can swat at her. Yeah. Those kinds of thoughts.

SO…to show a little faith…one of my favorite songs!!

Much Love~
Courtney