Friday, August 14th, 2015
it takes a village.
it all started with a little girl named amaya. she and her dad, morgan, needed a village to support them as he worked full-time to provide for their family. this is where the small town childcare centre stepped in, where morgan’s sister worked with a lovely young lady, jessica. morgan’s sister watched love start to grow in jessica’s heart for this little girl and she couldn’t help but take matters into her own hands to try to connect jessica with morgan.
and the rest is history. the village that walked with them as individuals and brought them together as a couple threw them an incredible party to celebrate their union and set the foundation for their family.
Tags: backyard wedding, cafe lights, chilliwack wedding photographer, church pew, outdoor wedding, vancouver wedding photographer, vedder river wedding photos, yarrow
Posted in weddings 1 Comment »
Monday, January 16th, 2012
when i heard these two were getting married, i was silently praying “please pick me. please pick me.” and they did!! what a sweet sweet love story theirs is…i’m pumped to be able to document even a small portion of it.
i had been eyeing up this property for awhile and when bethany and jason showed up in their western attire, i knew it would be perfect.
if you know anything about their story, you will know that it begins with pie. to continue the legacy, they stopped off at the chilliwack airport coffee shop which is reported to have the best pie in the world and got one for the road.
we were approaching the end of our time together and i asked them if there was anything else they would like to do/try and bethany was like, “jason can do a backflip.” and you know what a sucker i am for theatrics…
you two are so delightful and i am tickled pink that i get to hang out with you again on what will be a beautiful summer day on harrison lake. can’t wait!
Tags: chilliwack airport coffee shop pie, chilliwack wedding photographer, engagement pictures, vancouver wedding photographer, vedder mountain gille, yarrow
Posted in engagement pictures 10 Comments »
Thursday, August 25th, 2011
the reason this is my favorite part of the wedding day is because it’s usually the most chill/emotionally intense moment for the couple. especially if the pictures were done ahead of time. now they’re really married. and the stress of the ceremony and standing up in front of all of those people is over. and they’re on the verge of the biggest party they’ve ever hosted and all the work is done (or at least now someone else is doing it!). mostly, though, it’s the love. the love is thick. and i get to be the luckiest person on earth for just a moment because i get to witness it.
you were all so lovely and gracious…thanks for inviting me into your day!
Tags: abbotsford wedding photographer, blueberry field, chilliwack wedding photographer, first dance, vancouver wedding photographer, woodbridge ponds, yarrow
Posted in event photography, weddings 2 Comments »
Sunday, July 31st, 2011
for those of you who check in here regularly (i do not presume to think there are many, other than my mom…and amber who comments on nearly every post and oh how i love her for it :), you may or may not have noticed that it’s been a little quiet the past couple of weeks. this does not mean i haven’t been working…quite the opposite. i’ve been working hard to balance my professional and personal life and haven’t always been that successful (ask the people whose calls i’ve taken several days to return “sorry!”. oh and you could ask my children too).
the thing is, in the midst of my busiest photography season ever, we decided to move. this was not a decision that came easily and the process of it once it was made was even harder. because it wasn’t just a matter of moving from one house into another. for the past two years, our family has lived in community. “ don’t we all live in a community” some might say. yeah, but we don’t all live in a commune, and as weird as it is to say, that’s kind of what we’ve been a part of. a group of people who came together with a common mission, living together, sharing our stuff and our lives. and it was wonderful. friends became family. we began to challenge each other to live more simply and to honor others and God with the choices we made. we saw people move in and move out, watched babies grow and big boys go to their first day of school. we saw people quit jobs and start new ones, saw (so many) dishes broken, had shelves collapse and saw gardens grow. we got frustrated. with one another and with ourselves. we laughed and cried and were moody and made fun of one another and played silly games and cooked for each other and avoided each other and cleaned up each other’s messes (sometimes willingly. sometimes not.). we saw a wedding (we were all there) and a baby born (we were not all there). we called ourselves a cult as a joke because we knew people were wondering and hoped that saying it first would diffuse their fears (we think cliff’s mom might still think it’s a cult. but i’m okay with that). there was almost always someone around to talk to, to watch a movie or go for a run with. there was grace in difficult moments and celebration in milestones. and love. lots of love. not always the warm fuzzy kind, but the true kind that perseveres and hopes and doesn’t fail.
so you can see why it was hard to leave.
but here we are, a growing family. we were just feeling like it was time. not to pursue a new path but to embrace the place we are in life and run with it. and just as we were talking through that, an opportunity presented itself: the house my grandpa built. the perfect amount of space for us inside and an abundance of space out. and four doors down from my parents (so close i think i can hear my mom dreaming up the next way she’s going to spoil my children:). and in a sweet little town not far from work and friends and community.
it feels pretty special.
i don’t really have many memories of my grandma and the ones i do were of her when she was sick. but as i hung my first load of laundry on her line today, i could vividly picture her doing the same. my grandpa i knew better and all sorts of things about him flooded back as i walked down the driveway and checked out the grapes growing on the vines in the back and heard my dad talk about the number of nails grandpa had used in the kitchen cabinets.
we don’t know how long we will be here, but we’re going to love every minute of it. and our kids…oh our kids. so excited.
and we love visitors! please come by. we’ve already had a few lovely and unexpected drop-ins.
future engagement shoot location??
Tags: yarrow
Posted in my family 20 Comments »