"Looking at the photos today I can't help but smile and occasionally tear up at how real and beautiful these pictures are. These images represent who we are as a family and the joy we bring each other. Ali beautifully captured the love and adoration my son has for me and my husband, his silly, happy-go-lucky attitude, the happiness being a dad brings to Stephen and the awe I have that I get the privilege to be a mom to this sweet boy. Many times I have told my husband that I wish a camera was always rolling so we could catch the little moments that go unnoticed. The sweet embrace when Isaac runs into my arms, the way Stephen patiently plays with Isaac or Isaac's "up to no good" expressions. These photos are exactly that and I will treasure them forever. Thank you Ali, for giving us this gift of memories of who we are, right in this moment, just as God intended."

Seriously, how cute are they?






I love nothing more than when I ask a couple to stand in the middle of a steep winding road with few visible sight lines to see oncoming traffic and they're response is "sure!"









Thanks for being great sports, I can't wait for your June wedding and to see Harry in that tux again!

"We have been married for a year and three-fourths."

When asking Brent and Eva bits and pieces of their story this was one of my very favorite quotes from her.  I love it because it's specific and also a little whimsical the same way a child who is older than 4 will proudly tell you they are 4 and a half.  And I think that such a description sums up Brent & Eva pretty well: unique, a little whimsical and resolutely proud of their love and their life together.

Brent & Eva met at Cascades Camp in Washington (as a side note here, I highly recommend meeting your spouse at camp, it worked out really well for me).  Both attended North Park University in Chicago and bonded over their love for the PNW and Chicago-style pizza.  Between goofy interludes and Eva's captivating eyes, Brent found himself wondering why this fun would ever need to end.  So he set out to make sure it never did.

They were married in 2013 and have been living on Mercer Island where Brent serves as a youth pastor and Eva works downtown Seattle at the Swedish Cultural Center.  Their wedding day was the one and only time they have ever had professional photos taken of themselves, but their wedding day was not where their story stopped, it's not even where it started, but it was the chapter most comprehensively documented.

So in order to keep telling their story about a love that wins and laughs and works it's butt off, we headed down to Snoqualmie Falls to document their current chapter.  It doesn't have any surprise twists or big announcements, it is a continuing love story which deserves to be told.



These two knew that their relationship was on the right track when one evening, walking through an alleyway in Chicago, they saw a mattress near a dumpster and decided to jump up and down on it, laughing their hearts out, while they waited for the rest of their party to catch up.






When talking about what they love to do together and if it's changed at all since being married, they both agreed the thing they love most is to be hams together.  Laughing and being ridiculous together is what they seek to do every day.  But the great thing, is they both have realized that the only thing that has changed is the level of comfort and acceptance they feel about their silliness.  The walls of worry that would keep them from being truly themselves have begun to crumble and fall into heaps of rubble barely visible in the light of how much they adore each other.  And thrifting, they love thrifting. :)







Both of them could, and did, wax poetic on how marriage is teaching them to accept the other person right where they are, just as they are.  Through struggles and hard times, learning to support each other in every scenario takes the lens of marriage off the white dress and sparklers and puts it square in the reality of the everyday work of loving another person with all that you are.  But it is good work that they are glad to do together.  Brent & Eva are not only in love with each other they love their marriage and all the effort they put in to it.







I think Brent put it in such a lovely way: "As hard as marriage can be sometimes, I still think it is awesome. I really love Eva, and I think we still have that thrilling spark. Sometimes we are so ridiculous, one of us will do something silly and make the other laugh, and then we will just keep on doing it until we get to the point of hiccupping because we are laughing so hard. People always talk about hard marriage can be. I feel like it's still an grand adventure. The excitement, the romance, the laughs and the good times far outweighs the arguments or the struggles we have."





 

So cheers, you two!  Cheers to inside jokes and laughing until your sides hurt.  Cheers to being champions for marriage, not just weddings.  Cheers to a great big every day love that surmounts all obstacles.  Here's the flannel and waterfalls and the next chapter.  Thank you for letting me tell your right-now story, it's a good one.