John + Christian {Chevy Chase Marriage Photography}

"Here in these deep city lights

Girl could get lost tonight

Nothing here to hold on to

Could I hold you?"sarah bareillesChristian has friends.John has friends.They even have a few mutual friends.Who apparently think they are Emma ;)


But the good news is that the match-making worked.And after John's tour of the White House with a particularly great tour guide, things started rolling.Hours of conversation, stupid couple-jokes, distracted work days, long distance agonies, falling in love, "I love you's", diamonds, proposals and "I do's" all followed.As well as military deployment.This newly married couple, who met at a Starbucks, were about to face their biggest challenge yet.

Being apart.

Thankfully, John made it home safe and sound, so this year they get to spend the holidays together.

Oh so together :D



Aren't they adorable? I want to be that adorable when I grow up.

Thanks for being amazing, for not quitting in the cold and for all the fun!Hugs :D

Craig, Laura + Kids {Family Shoot}

you might fall down on your facebut don't be fall'n in loveas she's walkin' awayzac brown band - as she's walkin' awayCraig is a little on the shorter side.And Laura is a little on the beautiful side.They went to church at the same place, and Craig heard Laura's testimony.  He was kind of hooked.But they hadn't spoken yet.He was chilling with his friends afterwards, and she started to walk their direction.Craig started to get mentally pumped. "Keep it together man."This was a big moment. His chance to introduce himself to beautiful Laura.
And in one boy-ish swoop, Craig's nearly 7-foot-tall friend, grabbed Craig by the ankles and dangled him in the air as Laura passed.He now likes to joke that he was "literally head over heels" when they met ;)Cute stuff.And clearly everything worked out just darling for the young boy and the cute girl Their three awesome kids are so well-behaved and did an excellent job as we ran around taking pictures.







I think this picture is a good intro to the slideshow song ;)So nifty how that worked out...
Enjoy!

John Wooden Love Letters

"I'm very much in love with her."

john wooden

Even though Nellie died over 20 years ago "on the 21st of EVERY month, Wooden writes Nellie a love letter. And no one gets to read the letters, not even his family."

Happy Saturday!
I'm headed out to my final wedding of the year.
And good news: they are very much in love.

Grow Up {Personal}

"so, here i am in my new apartment"

taylor swift - never grow up   

When my little sister was in town for Thanksgiving,
she came out of the bathroom with an announcement.
"Oh Kristen, I just love your new soap!
It smells soooo gooood. Lemon Sausage is my favorite!"

She meant Lemon Sage. 
And I laughed and laughed and I never look at this soap dispenser the same.
Lemon Sausage Hand Soap hahahaha

When they were here we decorated for Christmas
(let's be honest, decorating for Christmas alone...well, you might as well not do it.  It's just no fun.)
We went to Target to get ornaments. 
I told the girls to pick out a special one for my tree.

Lauren picked the ugliest, already-chipped-iest, styrofoam filled ornament in that store. 
Seriously. 
They were some CUTE ones. 
And this was $7.  I could make that 14 times over for $7.
But it was the one she loved and the one she wanted to me to have,
so it hangs on my real, $33.56 Christmas tree
that I carried in, set-up and watered with my little brother. 
The tree base is propped up with a "The Care and Keeping of Home" notebook
- clearly the most I ever got out of that book ;)

At night before bed I fill up a nice wineglass of water.
I turn on the Christmas tree twinkle lights.
I look at the cross-eyed penguin.
I was put on my pj's,
brush my teeth
and wash my hands just to smell the smell Shannon loves so much.
"And I think to myself, what a wonderful world."

JJ + Bethany {Gaithersburg Wedding}

"'i do' are the two most famous last words
the beginning of the end,
but to lose your life for another i've heard
is a good place to begin"
andrew peterson - dancing in the minefields

I usually write a lot in my blog posts.
Today I'm going to keep it particularly simple, but particularly intentional.

Bethany and JJ's wedding is hard to describe with words.

They met at school.

No, not in college at a bar.
Or in highschool in the band.

They might at the small Christian school where they both teach.


They have been good friends for a long time.





And after a while, JJ began to pray about marrying Bethany, his amazing friend.
They hadn't been dating, or even told each other they liked one another!



But JJ wanted to be careful with this girl. He was serious.



Pause in the story:
I'm calling these next 20 or so pictures the "Wow, the love in this place is unreal" Sequence.
















(JJ with his sister when she walked down the aisle. They were both a MESS.)


JJ waiting for Bethany.

Resume story:


JJ, Bethany and another teacher at the school took their class on a field trip.  Or rather the other teacher took the kids on a field trip and JJ + Bethany had a little date.

"On a scale of 1-10 how hard would it be to get you to come to dinner with me this week?"
Bethany thought it would be pretty easy.

On their first date, late this spring, JJ told Bethany one of the sweetest things I've ever heard:

"I have never wanted to take care of someone more then I want to take care of you."


Within months they were engaged and a few months later, they walked down in aisle in a church as husband and wife.

Some lyrics to the song they had played at their wedding:
"So when I lose my way, find me
When I loose love's chains, bind me"

"At the end of all my faith,
till the end of all my days
When I forget my name, remind me"

"We went dancing in the minefields
We went sailing in the storm"



"And it was harder than we dreamed
But I believe that's what the promise is for"

"So I'll walk with you in the shadowlands
Till the shadows disappear"



"Because He promised not to leave us
And His promises are true
So in the face of all this chaos, baby"

"I can dance with you" Congratulations Bethany + JJ :D God has been oh so good.