I still remember the first moment Travis called to tell me about her. I was outside pushing my kids on the swings in the late August sun, and he randomly called - something he hadn’t done in a little while. He began to excitedly share all about Crown College’s welcome weekend, and finally he got to talking about her (the girl Josiah had hinted at in our family group text with a photo earlier that week). Emma was her name, and Travis was pretty smitten. We talked for the next few weeks about how things were going, what she was like, and what he could/should do with liking her. Flash forward to the day of our family photos – yes, on top of everything else in capturing a proposal we thought we’d try to throw Emma off by taking our family photos (pretty sure she was too smart still but we tried!) It’s not every shoot that you get to capture a proposal, and it’s even less likely for it to be your brother the one proposing. In fact, for me, that chance is two in a lifetime, as I had previously taken photos for my sister’s surprise engagement (no pressure to make it three, J ;D)! Anyways, when Travis shared he was getting ready to propose and that he wanted us there to capture it the answer was, “OF COURSE.” Josiah joining in on the fun again to capture the day? Yes, please! Who wouldn’t want three photographers in order to make sure we would get at least one solid angle! The tricky part was when he shared he wanted to take them in our area at Vermillion Falls. We LOVE Vermillion Falls, but if you’ve been there, you know there really aren’t that many angles you can take from with all the trees, bushes, and, well, falls. But we were up for the challenge, which meant that I went weeks in advance to take photos and videos while I walked the area to get an idea of what we would do.

Mark, Mark, Mark… you’re turning thirty today – where has the time gone? I remember that high school boy that I first caught watching me in the tent at Beulah Beach like it was yesterday. He was cute and funny, able to talk but didn’t talk too much, and a complete mystery to me. You’re still mostly a mystery to me even though we’ve liked each other for 13 years, have officially dated for 11 years, and have been married for 8 years. I don’t get how you’re so content to be a servant leader. I don’t get how you love interruptions in your day. I don’t get how you can be so present with a person when you have so much to do. I don’t get how you stay so calm and so loving when I start to spin out of control and allow anxiety to gain ground.

As I sit here on the carpet next to Chloe's crib while she sleeps, there is a wave of emotions that are rushing through me. Part of it is probably still from pregnancy hormones regulating out,and the other part is because I can't believe it's already been a month since this little lady entered our world! As I work to pick the photos and upload the ones to share, I smile at the different memories and feel sad that these first few days are already gone. Then,there's the feeling of fear and guilt. Fear that people will look at these photos and think, "they didn't do this or that" and guilt that I didn't do "more" photos during her first few weeks. Silly? Absolutely! Will people actually think this? I highly doubt it, but isn't it interesting how instead of just joy there is a regret to do more? If you're a fellow mama, I bet you totally get this,and if I can say anything to you it's to be present over perfect. So move aside guilt and fear because we chose not to take so many photos.

​I’ll never forget the moment we decided to have another child. We were on a family vacation, sitting on the couch in a friend’s beautiful family cabin in the Black Hills of South Dakota. We were talking about our future as we listened to the rain ting off the tin roof above our heads. I had brought up the subject and Mark was as gracious as ever about timing for the third child as he knew my hesitation of wanting to have my “own body” for a while.

The first time I thought about how we should actually document some of our own funny behind the scene moments was after so many people asked us what it was like to hang out with llamas at Peter & Hannah's wedding day but I wasn't re-reminded until Matt & Laura's wedding day when Mark graciously attempted to hold all 8 opened umbrellas in his arms. I missed the funny moment as I was more focused on him not flying away but from that point on we made an agreement to try to stop and snap a photo of the silly moment before moving on. ​There are so many things that happen behind the camera or when it's down that you never see, so this year we stopped to capture some of the funniest and truest wedding photography behind the scene moments that we could find. Being a husband and wife photography team in the Twin Cities has been a dream come true because we get to work with our best friend and relive our wedding day all over again as we live vicariously through our amazing brides and grooms.