revisiting.

i hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving weekend!

ours was busy but beautiful.

on our way to the familia on thursday, we made a random pit stop at the church where we were married 9 years ago.

we just so happened to be looking cute that day to, so we set up an impromptu photo session.

shout out to my sis that bought me a wireless remote last christmas. haha.

so we sure did pull over, rig up the camera and start shooting.

and then of course we had to be our normal crazy selves.

this is our every day style. 

you know making faces, eating faces. 

what? you don't do that in your house?

"is this thing on?"

somebody has a little swag.

anywho, it was fun to revisit where the magic was made official. ;)

backyard party!

little known fact: i have a thing for backyard parties.

i'm a little obsessed.

yet i've never had one and i've only been to a couple.

what can i say? i'm a little strange.

a couple of weeks ago my bff got married in her back yard and it was just perfect.

hayley and i met in the first grade, and the rest was history.

we have been through the good, bad and ugly together.

it's the type of friendship that we can go month without talking and then pick right back up like a day was never missed.

we're just connected...might as well be blood.

anywho, it was really awesome to be on the other side of the camera for this wedding. 

almost 10 years ago she got married and i was in that one. this photo business was only a slight glimmer in my brain at that time. 

so let's get to it shall we?

this was a total diy wedding and it was just perfect.

pumpkins and fresh flowers....i mean seriously, how much better could it get? oh i know. throw in a few mason jars. there we go - sheer perfection!

we did a really cute sneak peak before hand. josh didn't want to see her dress until she walked down the isle. so we had him cover his eyes and hayley came up from behind him. the series of photos of that came out so cute!

they each have a daughter from their previous marriages, so i love that both of them were in the ceremony. hayley's little girl, carleigh, walked her down the isle.

presh.

side note. i made the boquet when i got there a few hours before the ceremony.

sunflowers are by far the most complicated thing i've ever encountered.

luckily, with enough praying and trying, it turned out alright!

y'all...this cake....caramel apple cider spice cake.

one word: yummo.

a good time was had by all. 

the main course - bbq and brunswick stew.

now, i'm not typically a brunswick stew fan, but hayley's grandmother makes the best in the whole world.

i indulged.

the evening seriously was lovely.

and i was so excited to have a small part in it ;)

9 whole years.

today, hubby and i are celebrating 9 whole years of wedded bliss!

9 years. that just seems so grown up.

i guess we're are 100% no longer newlyweds!

this 9 year ride has definitely been full of ups and downs, struggles, heartache, happiness and love.

but that's what marriage is all about right?

standing beside one another through it ALL.

we struggled with issues in our first two years of marriage that many people never face.

and we survived....together.

i'm pretty sure in the back of people's minds, they thought we'd never make it.

we dated 2 months, got engaged, and married 5 months later.

to do the math, we knew each other 7 whole months before jumping into marriage.

and it was the best leap of faith i've ever made!

we've traveled so many places together...and somehow miraculously cheap!

we've truly done life with one another.

and for that i am so grateful.

i'm so thankful that our marriage started out with Jesus in the middle and that's where He still remains.

i'm thankful that this husband of mine loves me equally at my best and my worst.

i'm thankful that when we finally do have children, that chris and i will have a solid foundation and that we really got to experience time with each other before kids.

i'm thankful for our story. how it started, how it progressed, and how it will end in the future.

i'm thankful for how God has used us, and for the plans He has to use us even more.

 

i'm thankful that nothing has been handed to us and that we have worked hard for everything we have.

we know how to hustle lol.

i simply love "us".

we are as perfect of match for one another as one could possibly be.

that God....hmpfh - He sure knows what He's a doin.

and i'm so glad that He does. 

i'm blessed beyond measure by the love in my marriage.

happy anniversary babe.

i loveth you.

love, love, love.

yesterday i told you that i did an engagement session last friday.

seriously, it was one of my favorites. 

this is toni and ty.

toni and i met in the 4th grade and remained friends all through high school.

we lost touch after graduation, but have kept up with each other through facebook and such.

so a few weeks back she got engaged and asked ME to do their engagement session.

um, YES please!

the weather was perfectly awesome!

so he proposed on a wine bottle. 

how presh is that?!

and this is what we call golden hour.

it's when the sun is the most magical.

and magical it was!

so excited for you two!!!!

wedding bells!

ok, ok, ok.

so 8/31 my most precious cousin holli married her prince charming!

it was a beautifully perfect day.

and i got to play photographer.

for the last few years, her father has been very sick with a rare lung disease.

well about a month before the wedding, he went through a double lung transplant!

after lots of scares and LOTS of prayers, he was well enough to walk her down the isle.

so needless to say, when this happened, the tears started flowing.

they got married in this pretty little winery in grapevine, tx.

it was just lovely.

here's the happy couple right after they were official!

the decor was precious. 

holli and all of her friends spent lots of time being crafty.

and then there were a few fabulous peeps that set it all up and it looked amazing.

this is one of my favorites from the evening.

and then it was time to boogie.

and boogie hard.

and then.......

the daddy/daughter dance.

o.m.g.

tears flowed from every single person there.

i kid you not, it was so emotional.

the guy on the other side there is holli's stepbrother and he was filming it.

it's funny because at the end, i make a debut by wiping my snot and tears! lol!

sparkle time!!!!

the wedding was just great, and it was so wonderful to see my precious cousin and friend finally have her dreams come true!