Scott Hayne: the best photographer on the planet. Remember our "trash the dress" shoot I posted about some months back? Well, he found some time in his crazy schedule to edit the photos and post them on his blog (www.scotthayneblog.com). There is also an awesome slideshow, put to music, that I am BEGGING you to check out!!! You can see the slideshow by clicking on this link: http://www.scotthayneblog.com/slideshow/BRtrash/.

Enjoy!!

Madeline prays

Make sure you turn the volume up loud enough to hear Brian and Madeline. :)

Sunday Mornings fly right on by...

Brian and I don't see each other much anymore. He gets up for work around 2 am, and doesn't get home until close to 5 pm most days. He puts Madeline, and himself, to bed around 7 pm each night. His two days off are Saturdays and Sundays.

And then there is my schedule... the opposite of his. I get up around 7 am every morning to the giggles and violent crib-shaking of our daughter. ;) I drop Madeline off at her babysitter's house around 11 am. My scheduled shift starts between 12-12:30, and I have to catch a shuttle bus about 20-30 minutes prior to the start of my shift. I don't get home until after 9 pm each night, and it can run later if we have delayed flights (which we often do have). My days off are on Mondays and Tuesdays.

So, as you can see, we don't get much time to see each other. I see his sleeping face when I crawl into bed each night, and he sees my cocooned, sleeping self when he gets up in the wee hours of the morning. On the weekends I see him for a few of hours before heading to work, which is nice. Mondays and Tuesdays I see him for maybe 2 hours after he gets home from work. So there you have it... we see each other maybe 8-10 hours each week, and nearly half of that time is spent at church, still apart from one another, since I am singing, or one of us is volunteering in the nursery.

This makes me cherish each minute I have with my husband. I am so grateful to have such a wonderful man to love me.

The picture above was taken this morning, after coming home from church, and just before I changed into my work uniform.

Google yourself!

Have you ever "googled" yourself? It's when you type your name into the www.google.com search engine. I did it today out of boredom, and found out that I was a professional christian singer... who sings for exercise cds. Who knew? ;) If you want to hear what this other Rachel Beasley sounds like, just click on the link below:

http://music.yahoo.com/track/30016468


I also discovered that there were several Rachel Beasleys in the 17-1800's. Who knew.

Maddie and mommy yesterday, just hanging around and having fun. :)

My dad finally shared some of the pictures he has taken over the past year. He uploaded them on Facebook, and I just HAD to share some of them with you all! Some were taken in spring or summer of 2008 (I can't remember exactly), and the ones towards the end, where Madeline wears a striped sweater and a purple dress, are from November 2008.

This one is blurry, but adorable!

Grandma Juanita (Kim's mother), Kim, Madeline and I

Dad, Levi and Madeline

This one is hilarious! (And look at those rolls on Madeline... She has changed so much!)

Gigi (Kim) and Maddie, November 2008

Dad and I (after a long day at work!!!)

This is my new favorite picture of Brian and Madeline. She winks ALL the time, but it's rare to capture it on film. ;)

I LOVE this face!!!!!!! (She looks like this quite often, too... I call it her "Ooh!" face.)

My poor daughter... this football loving, car racing little girl will one day discover that she was born to two musical, artsy fartsy, theater loving and, unfortunately, sports illiterate parents. Good thing she has Uncles and Grandpas. ;)

After a delicious oatmeal breakfast and a good hand/face washing this morning (that oatmeal gets EVERYWHERE!), Madeline raced to the living room with two of her favorite toys- a race car (that she loves to "vroom" all over mommy's arms, back, and head) and her Uncle Levi's football. What's amazing to me is that she already knows how to punt. I don't know if she saw it on TV, but she's pretty good at it. She will carefully place the football on the little plastic punter-thingy (I assume that is what it is??), then kick it off, all while squealing in joy. It is absolutely adorable. It's even sweeter knowing that Levi was the punter and kicker* for his high school football team, and my dad was a punter* for the Navy football team.

*I'd like to clarify that I called Levi to ask him "Are you a punter or a kicker? Or is there even such a thing as a kicker? Is a punter a kicker? Or am I making this 'kicker' word up?" all while he laughed in the background. He cleared it up for me- they are two different things, of which he was both, and dad was just a punter. Learn something new every day... ;)

Madeline; January 2009

Here are some of the latest "Maddie pictures". These were all taken with my cell phone camera... so I apologize for their fuzziness!

Brian allows Madeline to use his finger as a teether...

Maddie and mommy have some snuggle time!

There's a small story to this one: Whenever Madeline sees anything Football related, she goes NUTS. I'm talking squealing, shouting ("FOOTBALL! FOOTBALL!"), and twirling so forceful it often causes her to fall flat on the ground. Well, this particular picture is from the lounge of the auto repair shop. My car was 'stabbed' by a tree branch just before Christmas, and I was able to finally pick it up this week. Their TV was set to ESPN, which sent Madeline into her 'football happy dance frenzy'. The auto shop men just loved her!!! This photo caught the moment of her patience stance while waiting for the announcer to hurry up and show a replay, already... ;)





Here is Madeline enjoying the chilly weather in her adorable leopard coat and pink boots from Papa and Gigi (Dad and Kim):

Here are a few of her favorite things: babydolls, and a stroller just her size! (I absolutely adore the expression on her face in this one.)

Rachel's 2009 Resolutions

I never make New Year's Resolutions... but this year seems like a good year for change. I am determined to accomplish these things, and what better way to make sure they get done than to put them on my blog for everyone to see? ;)

Resolution #1. Get an A in my college course this semester.

I am starting out slowly. I have this enormous, inexplicable fear of college. This will be my third attempt at it (and that is something I am extremely ashamed of). I dropped out of a full course at ODU in 2003 (an administrative withdrawal... no negative effect on my grades, or even any record of my enrollment existing anymore). I decided in 2005 that I would try TCC- and not just any class. Oh no- I was bold enough (or is it stupid enough?) to jump into Human Anatomy and Physiology, along with Lifespan Development. I never really excelled at science in high school, but for some reason I thought it would be fun. I actually did reasonably well until my first exam. Our professor warned us that 60% of his students fail their first exam, and he suggested that the failures drop out and start over again in the next semester. I was one of those failures... but I dropped out for good. Failing reinforced my fear.

So what's so different about this third attempt? Well, first off, I am only taking Eng 111- a freshman course that every degree requires. English is also my favorite subject. I even have new motivation: my daughter. I am determined to be a good example for her; that includes having a college degree. Don't get me wrong- I am doing this for myself first and foremost, but it certainly doesn't hurt to have extra inspiration! I have also been quite motivated by my job with TSA... but as this is a public blog, I won't go into the details of that one. ;)

It is rather embarrassing to have typed that out for (potentially) all the world to see, but there it is. At you all know that I don't give up!

Resolution #2. Pay off my debt.

Now, I really don't have a lot of debt, compared to most people... but it is still more than I ever should have accumulated. I owe about $800 in medical bills (maternity care still- eep! and also Madeline's surgery). I owe about $1800 in credit card debt. $2600- that is the rough total of my debt. Not too bad... but not too good, either! I do owe on my car, of course, but I am not as concerned over that- my car will be paid off in a couple years, as planned.

Resolution #3. Save, save, SAVE!!!

I have no savings. (Wow, this blog is getting embarrassing.) I am one of those paycheck-to-paycheck people. I get my bills paid, and when I have those few extra dollars, I often view it as a "treat" (Ooh, I can finally get some Starbucks, and that awesome shirt on sale over there! Hey- it's a sale: I'm SAVING money, right?!) My mom recently got me hooked to this awesome blog: http://www.thesimpledollar.com/. After reading the guy's story, I immediately realized that I never EVER want to get into a bad financial situation like he was in. I also want to own my own home someday. I want to have a cushion for emergencies (like the tree branch that 'stabbed my car two weeks ago... and my car is STILL in the shop. Ahem.). One thing Brian and I have done is open a savings account for Madeline, which we put money in every month. I am quite proud of that (though I do give the credit to Brian- it was his idea!). Now we just need to plan for our own future!!!

So there you have it. I will try to keep everyone updated on my progress. There are, of course, many more things that I want to do to better myself. I want to read my bible more, strengthen some of my relationships with friends and loved ones, keep my house cleaner... but the three above are resolutions that I have yet to accomplish. These resolutions are uncharted territory!

Welcome to 2009!

Happy New Year, everyone!!! I had the honor of ringing in the new year with this fabulous man. ;)