Jefferson, GA Engagement Session

It's disgustingly obvious when people are in love. No matter what one says, the other one smiles or laughs like they've heard the funniest joke in the world. There's a smile that they reserve just for each other. You know how you and your friends would make up a modified version of pig latin when you were in grade school and no one else could follow what you were saying but they still were intrigued by the conversation? It's the same with people who are in love.

I liked Hillary from the first text message. It was obvious that she shared my offbeat sense of humor and I realllllly appreciate that in a person. She told me how she and Jay were looking forward to having their engagement pictures done and I immediately thought, "poor girl....men don't enjoy having pictures taken" and I mentally questioned how well she knew this man who she was marrying. Still...me being the reserved person that I am, I withheld my opinion and decided to schedule the session anyway. I knew that she was going to see just how "sweet" Jay really was when he found out an engagement session is not over in 12 minutes. She was going to learn a hard lesson but it's better that she know this now than later.

The poor guy looks miserable here, doesn't he? Almost like he's completely repulsed by her. Wait, maybe he doesn't look that way right here but it's coming.

Yeah, this is the shot....the one where he's politely trying to get away from her......

I'm almost entertaining the thought that I could be wrong about Jay but I'm not one to give up easily. I just can't remember very many sessions when the guy was patient, sweet and totally ok doing most anything that we asked of him. I know that he will snap soon so we trudge on

 and mentally prepare ourselves to have to console Hillary when Jay's true side shows. 

It seems that these two may be the real deal. No matter what pose we ask for or how many fire ant beds we have to dodge, they never break. The smiles are constant and the sweetness is still there. These two just melt when they see each other.

Hillary can make Jay laugh with total ease and I don't know if he truly knows what to expect to come out of her mouth at any given time. Her comments never seem to be censored and I think that he loves that she keeps him on his toes. 

But, make no mistake about it, the adoration certainly isn't one sided. Hillary looks at Jay like she's found the person who makes her heart skip a beat. I'm pretty sure that she knows he's the kind of guy who will always have her back. I'd be willing to bet you that she knows with 100% certainty that she's going to marry her best friend. 

Hillary and Jay are one of the sweetest couples that we've ever met and I have a feeling that they are going to have one of those sweet, fun marriages that all of their friends will envy. 

Because of ungodly high winds, we actually had to do their engagement pictures in two sessions and it ended up being really nice. We ended up meeting clients that we now consider friends and we can only hope that they enjoy their pictures as much as we enjoyed taking them. 

Congratulations, Hillary and Jay!

Time Flies Whether You're Having Fun or Not...

I remember getting the baby shower invitation. I’d met Mark and David several years before and always loved hanging out with them, although it’d always been that it was long periods of time between gatherings so Tanya & I were excited to get to see them. The shower was beautiful and they were as fun as we remembered.

I remember when our mutual friend, Carla, told me that Lorelai was born. She said that she was a beautiful, healthy baby and that they guys were over the moon excited. Our intention was to plan a time to go and see her but, like it always does, time just got away from us and she was already almost a year old when we met her.

 She wasn’t walking or talking yet. Turns out, she didn’t need to do either one of those things because she had a way of getting exactly what she wanted with just cute little grunts and pointing. Mobility was never an issue because we were always running all over each other to hold her. We were feeding her cake batter and ice cream and making all kinds of noises just to make her laugh. She'd walk through the door and we'd go from TV watching zombies to a pack of performing monkeys. 

It soon became obvious that we weren’t dealing well with limited visits and we started having dinner together once a week (at least). We’d all sprint to the door when we’d hear the dogs barking to signal their car pulling up in the driveway. There was the preemptive argument over who was going to get to hold her first. I had no problem with cheating so that I would get her. In the animal kingdom, only the strong survive. If I had to push down a kid to get to her, I was only better preparing them for the brutality of the real world. Through no extra effort on her part, she’d completely wrapped all five of us around her little finger. She started being referred to as the kid’s “weekend sister”.

She started having overnight visits and our hearts would hurt when she’d go home. Finding her little left behind items after she was gone could reduce us to big puddles of weepy! Our cabinets became jammed with sippy cups and these itty bitty t-shirts were showing up in our drawers. 

I don’t know exactly what the point was when she stopped being our friend’s cute kid and became a child that we absolutely loved but it happened.  It’s not just liking her little (or should I say “BIG”) personality, it’s loving her sweet little soul!

All of our lives have gotten so much busier and we don’t see her even close to often enough now. Still, the sight of her just makes us happy. We still run to the window and try to race to the car to get her first and when she wraps her little arms around your neck, there’s a reassurance that all is right with the world.

She walks now. And talks. And runs. And skips. And sings. She has NO trouble communicating what she wants….or getting it for that matter! She’s funny and smart. She sees clouds that looks like T-Rex dinosaurs. 

She’s still got that baby sound in her voice and it hurts my heart to think that’ll be gone one day way too soon. I’m sure it’ll be less fun to come to our house and she’ll be busy with her friends one day but, in the meantime, we’re going to savor every minute of time with her.

Lorelai….one day you will read this and it’ll be a reminder that WE LOVE YOU!!

My friend, Amanda, tries to keep me motivated to set goals. She said that a teacher told her once that the time is going to pass no matter what you’re doing. In editing the last McClure-Wolfe session, I see just how fast the time really does fly.

Tanya makes fun of me all the time for holding Victoria whenever she wants me to. She asks me if I will be holding her when she’s 40 and I can’t honestly say that I won’t be. I have a feeling that she will be 40 giving her Presidential Address to the nation but in my head, she’ll always have that little voice that couldn’t pronounce her “L” or “R” sounds. It's going to be the same way with Lorelai. If she wants me to hold her so that she doesn't have to walk down the aisle on her wedding day, I'll do it. I ain't ashamed.

 Call us to take pictures for you or make sure that you take them yourself. I can assure you that the time is going to pass fast. Make sure that you have lots of pictures to look back on and remember that the teenager asking for your car keys is the same person that used to draw you pictures and sing songs about itsy bitsy spiders.

OH yeah, save up your energy, too. There will be grandkids one day and then the payback for ruined carpet, sleepless nights and stress will be unleashed. I, for one, will be stocking up on Pixie Stix, Mountain Dew, Play-Doh and Legos (the 31,000 piece set).

I giggle just thinking about it.