Fun in the desert!

Towards the beginning of December we decided it was time to document my growing belly as well as get some photos ready for Christmas cards. We were very lucky to have a good friend of ours agree to take the pictures, saving us some money and making me feel more comfortable having someone I knew with us.

The day of the pictures I got ready, spending time trying to straighten and fix my hair and ironing our previously chosen outfits. This turned out to be very humorous as the wind and sand made it pointless. We drove out to the dunes, which were beautiful. They had a great red hue to them and what I call “tiger stripes”.

Oh, I forgot to mention the irony of scheduling. The day we were originally going to do the photos was the first day it rained here in about 6 months. It was nice to see a real rain, but funny it happened that day! It worked out though, as the day we went had beautiful blue skies.

We did Christmas photos first and then belly pics. It was an adventure as the wind would whip over the dune and send sand into our faces. So much for fixing my hair :) I have to say our friend taking the pictures was such a trooper as she had to deal with the sand as well. We spent a lot of time laughing and had a good time with it.

 An unedited photo to show the sand, wind, and flies!

The other funny thing was the Emirati's out dune-bashing. This is when they take their SUVs out and ride over the dunes. Remember, in their culture women cover from head to toe. So here I am in a little tank-top with my big belly hanging out as these huge SUVs are driving around. One even pulled up next to us waving and inviting us to go for a ride. Maybe another time!

So here are some of the finished pics! 

Merry Christmas!!!