I know that it’s a few weeks after I took the photos for the session that I had with my sweet three, but I couldn’t let the opportunity to share what was in my heart, not only as their photographer, but also as their wife and their mama pass me by.
I wish that I could say that making this session happen (the planning, buying of props, the waiting. Ohh, the waiting) and taking the photos was magical and effortless, but it really wasn’t. It was so much planning and hard work and patience. Not only that, but there is so much more added stress when your helpers are also your subjects for your photos! Little hands carrying things, while wanting to play and collect sticks and moss and run around in the vast hills where these trees stand tall is so stressful when they’ve got their nice clothes on and their beautiful faces to photograph. And my poor marine of a husband so lovingly wearing his dress blues that make him feel stiff as a board and impossible to move helped and posed and loved on his children while I captured their few minutes of time together. He knew how important these sessions were to me and he helped me make it happen!
I loved watching my little (well, not so little anymore) girl have a tea party with her daddy. She was tickled pink because she really loved that special time with her dad. She also really liked the macarons. 😉 She felt like a little princess all dressed up and with her sun hat, sitting fancy with her daddy all dressed up, too. After they had their tea and finished their cookies, I wanted to capture a few portraits of them to hold onto forever. It’s not often that Wesley wears his dress blues and having Allison there for it happens way less often. Allison Marie holding onto his arm and looking up at him was completely unplanned. She loves him ever so much and she beautifully displayed this for my camera. She looks up to him to love her, take care of her, provide for her, make her feel safe, and make her laugh.















My little Titus was so excited when he got to have his very own uniform to match his daddy and he LOVES his little black dress shoes (so do I!). He had so much fun drinkin’ cream soda with Wesley and playing his little games. Watching his eyes look at Wesley so intently was so beautiful. He watches everything his daddy does from brushing his teeth and getting dressed, to the jokes he makes, to working out each day, to the way he loves me. Titus Daniel tries to be like his daddy any chance he gets, and he loved getting to look just like his daddy in this photo shoot. He tried so hard to keep a serious face in the portraits because he watches his daddy and other marines being super serious for photos while in uniform.














In these images, not only do I see my husband being a great daddy to his two special children that God chose to bless us with, I also see the hard-working man that sacrifices for his family to make sure we’re taken care of everyday. And he also is willing to sacrifice for his country if necessary to protect the rights and freedoms others have fought for us to have. What a great man I get to call mine as a wife and a great father I get to have for my children.
Even if he had a job outside of the military, dads carry so much on their shoulders every day that we can’t see. He wades through neck-deep waters and carries us on his shoulders so that we don’t get wet. He fights battles that we can’t even see or know what’s happening and often, he doesn’t say a word to us about it. Such sacrifice, courage, bravery, and love that takes every single day to make that happen for the sake of the ones he calls his back at home!
While the photo shoots themselves were hard work and so intentional, the photos that came from them look and feel so magical and effortless. They feel as though I just happened upon them having tea and cookies or playing games and sipping cream soda and captured the moment. And while I do love intentionality in portraits (I’m a portrait photographer, of course I do), you all know that the candid moments that I can capture for others far out-weigh the posed and intentional ones in my heart. Gosh, those sweet giggles that might be happening in front of the camera right now for me are just a glimpse of the days of fatherhood and motherhood that no one sees in real-life as they unfold.
Often, I get overwhelmed at my workload at home and keeping up with the dishes, laundry (those two are the hardest to keep up with!), the homework, the kid arguments, the crumbs on the floor. But no matter the circumstances we find ourselves in right now, whatever the struggle this season of life has brought us, it is perfect. Just as it is, with all the chaos, struggles, hard, good, and wonder that it is. And that is because God is so faithful.
I saw a sign that I want to build and put it way up high in my living room for everyone (especially me) to see how blessed I am and so that I can be reminded in the times that I forget. It reads:
“I still remember the days I prayed for the things I have now.”
I remember being a little girl and then a teenager praying that God would someday allow my womb to create life. I wondered what my future husband was going to look like or be like and I wondered if I had already met him. If I would be so blessed to have my own children, what would their faces look like? Would they look like me or my husband? Would they have any part of me in them?
Now I get to see their beautiful faces and hear their sweet giggles. I get to see them figuring out the good and the bad things in life there are for four-year-olds and seven-year-olds to learn and I get to be their home. I get to be their safety net where they pour all their emotion into by the end of the day, whether those emotions are strong hard ones or soft loving ones. I get to be their everything. I get to be their mama.
Not only that, but I get to do all of that alongside the man that knows me inside-out. He knows most things about myself that I don’t even know! I get to plan things out, talk things through, argue, love, hold, and laugh with him. Oh, how much he makes me laugh! I cherish these photos so much because they are a representation of what is going on in our lives right now and His faithfulness giving me all of this, all of them.

With both of my kids all dressed up and getting to enjoy sweet photos taken with their daddy in his dress uniform, there was NO way that I could let the opportunity pass without getting some pictures of myself taken with my three. It would have been super awesome having a second photographer with us that could have taken these for us, but I love them ever so much, just as they are. I passed my camera to my husband for some photos and then passed it off to my seven-year-old (thank goodness for that neck strap!) and enjoyed a few pictures taken. I wish we could have pulled off a family portrait or two, but I’ll be grateful for what I did get!



I have gone back through to look at these pictures countless of times. Their little eyes looking up at his, soaking up all his love, kindness, silliness, wisdom, and time. He is leading such a legacy that they can leave for their children as well. Whether he chooses to be an active-duty marine for his lifetime, or whether it’s just a season, this is where we are right now in life – Allison in her seven years and Titus in his four years all loving, learning, growing together as family.
Thank you, my dear Wesley, for all that you do for me and for our children. We are so grateful that we get to call you ours! No matter the season in life, I’m glad that it’s with you that I get to go through it. I love you. ❤
