paige + geoff: the wedding! | fort bliss, el paso TX wedding photographer

My sister is a married woman! Pretty much the entire wedding was planned and executed in the few weeks leading up to THE BIG DAY (which made for a crazy few weeks) but we pulled it off and (in my opinion) it was a beautiful event!

Paige and Geoff got sealed together in marriage at the Washington DC Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and an open house was held at my parent's house in Greensboro, North Carolina a couple of days later. Her wedding day ended up being rainy, but we got lucky and the rain held off while we took photos after the ceremony. They say rain on the day you get married is good luck, so I hope it is for them!

As always, the DC Temple provided a GORGEOUS backdrop for pictures. There is nothing quite like witnessing the very beginnings of a marriage, so to be able to photograph it is always such an honor and joy. Add your sister into the mix and you might find yourself a little emotional too...

Paige's dress was made by a family friend, as was her bouquet. For her hair she wanted to follow the Irish tradition of having braids and wearing a crown of herbs and wildflowers (made by me on the drive to the temple using fresh herbs from the grocery store and flowers picked behind my grandparent's house). We found her shoes on a hunt through DSW; our youngest sister Laura is responsible for spotting them. The belt is from Target, and her earrings are little W's (her new last name starts with W) she found in a local shop. Geoff was very dapper in a grey suit and had yellow suspenders and a green and white striped skinny tie. Paige really loves stripes (so do I) so his socks were grey and yellow striped too. 

The idea for the open house was to keep everything simple and summer-y. We made white bunting and hung white ribbons from the trees. Paige loves succulents so we cleared out Home Depot and decorated with them, as well as a couple of wildflower bouquets from the farmer's market. Yellow provided the pop of color; the same family friend made a few gorgeous bouquets to decorate with that incorporated her colors of green, yellow, and white with traditional flowers, wildflowers and succulents. My Nicola (Max refused to participate) painted the letters, and we had plenty of engagements photos, candles, and all the plants and flowers on display. The painting Laura made for the happy couple was displayed as well (she is insanely talented). Their invitation was made by me and was so 'Paige' we framed it for her to hang in her new house (and displayed it too). We served barbecue sliders, potato salad and coleslaw, a berry salad, sliced peaches, watermelon, a cheese tray, and fresh vegetable and dip, with a white grape peach juice punch to drink.

Now for the cake! Paige's favorite type of cake is angel food so that's what we did. She also really loves dinosaurs, hence the cake toppers. (there were also little dinosaurs tucked away in pots) We left it the way it is since she doesn't like icing, and had strawberries and blackberries and whipped cream to put on top once it was cut. Having angel food cake made for an entertaining cake cutting; instead of a graceful cut they had to saw through it (with Paige holding on to the cake topper so it didn't fall off). 

A couple weeks before we were all talking about the backyard open house and my dad joked that it would end up like George Banks' daydream in Father of the Bride. We all laughed, but upon reflection I think it actually ended up pretty close! It was very low-key and simple, and we even served barbecue. Now I'm going to have to watch the movie again just to see how similar...

A big thank you to everyone who helped out and who came! I know this was the start of something beautiful and lovely and I can't wait to see how their new little family unfolds through the years. I love you Paige and am so excited to have a new brother-in-law! Next up are some nieces and nephews... (no pressure) 

paige + geoff, bff's forever! | fort bliss, el paso engagement photographer

I mentioned before that my sister was getting married, and it's been long enough that now she's getting ready to celebrate a month of marriage! I'm not going to lie, the few weeks leading up to the wedding were chaos but everything got completed and it was beautiful. Her (then) fiance Geoff flew in a few days before the wedding so we drove up to Pilot Mountain to take some engagement photos. I'm not sure if having your soon-to-be sister-in-law that you've barely met do an engagement session with you is the best way to get to know each other better (you get to show lots of PDA on demand while also hearing things like "Move your hand over there!" or "Tilt your head more towards me!" or "Kiss her! Now hold it!" Look like you mean it!" etc.), but he was a good sport and humored my sister and I.

On the drive up there we were all tired and pretty worn out (wedding planning is no joke) and wondering "Why are we driving ALL THE WAY up here?" Then we arrived and remembered why we drove all the way up there. Rocks and mountains are the perfect backdrop for love; after all, to many of us they were our first love. "What are men compared to rocks and mountains?" Jane Austen

Next up are the wedding photos; I can't believe my little sister is married!

(the title of the post is an inside joke; they do not really refer to each other as 'BFFs')

breathless.

Heart stopped. Eyes welled up. Breath taken away. With one image.

Thank you Jon, you have given me such a precious gift.

i do love a good fart joke.

time needs to slow down!

This little guy is growing way too fast.

He is sooo close to crawling; he's at the get on all fours and rock stage. While it's adorable and exciting, inside I'm mourning the passing of my itty bitty baby.

He is teething AGAIN. He's already got four teeth (the top two and bottom two), but a fifth is trying to make it's appearance (one of the teeth right next to the top teeth).

He eats solid food like a pro. He is not picky AT ALL and shovels in whatever I give him. However, about half of his food still ends up on the floor so Yula's favorite place in the house is right beneath the high chair.

This kid has so. many. clothes. The combination of keeping everything from Max, plus all the extra stuff I bought Nick ('cause baby clothes are cute!), plus the stuff I've bought just for him (because I'm sorry, but baby fashions change too. And six years is an eternity in the fashion world). Paige, you better pray your firstborn is a boy because you'll be set.

I'm his absolute favorite person in the world still, thank goodness. Nothing compares to the way his face lights up when he sees me. Granted, this can be a pain too if I'm trying to get stuff done or, heaven forbid, need to use the bathroom. He does not like me out of his sight.

While I'm his favorite, there is no denying how much he loves his dad, brothers, and Yula. And vice-versa. He is surrounded by love.

He has to be the center of attention at all times. And when we go out he usually is. But there have been a lot of babies born recently and he does NOT like them getting any of his attention. Not at all.

His eyes are most definitely blue. I love it.

Unfortunately, he is not a red head. I was hoping so hard, but he's a brunette with a reddish tinge in the sunlight.

I can't get enough of his cheeks and thighs. Such yummy goodness.

He is such a love and I can't believe I got so lucky to be his mom.

And like it or not buddy, you'll always be my baby.

so good.

This is awesome:

Reasons My Son Is Crying


Every parent can relate.

what's been going on around here.

(having fun with their pom-pom pets, courtesy of kiwi crate.)

Presented in bullets.

-My children are growing like weeds. Not only do they consume an insane amount of food given their size, they also keep growing out of their clothes. This makes me very scared for when they are teenage boys. (I keep picturing this scene from 17 Again.)

-I am the new FRG Leader for Rob's company since most of the leadership is single. It's crazy and I don't know what I'm doing, and has been very time consuming recently between taking the necessary classes and the fact that before me the FRG has been pretty much non-existent so I'm having to start from scratch. BUT I got a good response at our first FRG meeting so it should be good!

-Oskar has been teething hard core. Which means lots of fussing, lots of drool, and lots of rough nights. But on the bright side, on the nights he does sleep he doesn't wake up until around 5! That's like 7 hours straight people!!

-Thanks to an awesome tax return (sometimes having to dig a new well at a rental house the same year you have another child pays off.) we got our backyard landscaped! We still need to finish a few things, but once it's all complete there'll be pictures. It's kind of crazy what a difference a little bit of concrete and a lot of rocks makes.

-Does anyone else's baby fight sleep? Every time I put Oskar down for a nap he cries like I'm shattering his heart into a million pieces and he'll never recover from it. When I know he WANTS to sleep since he was falling asleep on me but couldn't get comfortable. Babies.

-I got a new calling at church (a calling is what we call assignments we are asked to do), I am now the Relief Society music director. So I get to stand in front of everyone and direct the music. I love it. It is prefect for me at this stage in my life (it's very low-maintenance). And it allows me to pitch in where I'm needed for activities and stuff since I'm not consumed with other duties.

-The past week I've been doing great at keeping the living areas of our house picked up. (knock on wood) Now I need to shovel out all the bedrooms and keep them clean and I'll be good to go.

-I'm failing miserably at most of my goals for this year. At least the monthly ones (like sew something every month and shoot a roll of film a month). Oh well. I'll have plenty of time to focus on that stuff when the kids are grown.

-My sister is getting married!!!!! It's kind of ridiculous how excited I am, but hey, I've been the lone married/child birthing one for NINE years (by the time she gets married). I think I'm allowed to be excited. But it's killing me to be so far away while she plans the event, there's so much I could help with (like sewing her wedding dress) if I were there!

-When we aren't having sandstorms the weather has been GORGEOUS here! We spent so much time outside in our new backyard Wednesday and it was glorious.

-It's kind of funny how different my parenting style is now compared to when Max was a baby. I've always been very chill, but it's crazy just how much more so I am now. Forget spoon feeding Oskar special baby food, here's a pile of spaghetti noodles. Or a pizza crust. Or peas. And he just goes to town. (disclaimer: he did get spoon fed for a couple of months, but as soon as he was able to grab things and get it to his mouth and had a few teeth popped out I started letting hom feed himself. He is not at risk to choke, but even if he did I'm right there the whole time)

-Yula is one-ish (from what we can tell since we don't know her actual birthday) and crazy. Well, I say she's crazy but she's really pretty good. Just very energetic. And spoiled rotten. But she is so fluffy it makes me so happy and has to tolerate me burying my face in her fur all the time. I also keep the fur that gets brushed off of her and plan on making things with it. (I bought this book and it has served as my inspiration.)

-Rob goes to the Captain's board this month (or his stuff does, he doesn't physically go anywhere) and it'll be a few nerve-racking months until we hear if he makes it or not. Fingers crossed and lots of prayers that he does!

-I've come to the conclusion that we can get stationed anywhere, as long as there is an IKEA within an easy drive of where we are. (like 3 hours or less) Being so far away from one is torture.

-Lastly, I started doing the Brazil Butt Lift workouts! They're awesome, but I stink at them. I have no rhythm so I pretty much just fling myself around my living room hoping I'm working something out. And praying I get my Bum Bum out of it! (that's what a gorgeous Brazilian butt is called. Pronounced "boom-boom")

So that's what's been going on around here! I've left stuff out since I forget everything these days, but I've covered the important stuff I think. What's been up with you guys?