Darryl & Carrie

pure love {engagement photography, sechelt bc}

darryl and carrie are a true love story.  as good friends, they had shared so much - life stories, laughter, fun.  after months of long distance friendship between the sunshine coast and vancouver island, darryl invited carrie away for a snowboarding new year's eve.  carrie asked if she could invite a few girlfriends, a request that darryl politely dodged.  when carrie arrived, the snowboard trip included darryl and a bunch of family members.  darryl had been falling in love with this beautiful girl as their friendship grew.  they left the snowboarding weekend a couple and have been by each other's side ever since.  they have endured a lot together in their relationship, but have graced each hardship with courage and a deeper love for each other. 

carrie is truly a dream bride - not only is she beyond beautiful, but she is relaxed and so easy going.  and when you see darryl look at her, its pure love and open adoration.  i could not be more excited to be documenting their day tomorrow.  honestly, i am so blessed.

baby wesley

{ 6 month photography, sunshine coast bc }

right after wesley was born, i met marie.  instantly, this incredible girl blew me away with her sincerity and kindness.  honestly, she makes honey seem bland because she is just.so.so.sweet.  case in point, the morning of the shoot, i desperately needed a starbucks treat.  so i quickly texted her i was running out and bringing her back a frappachino (it was a gorgeous, hot spring day in davis bay!).  well, she never got the text and instead brought ME a smoothie.  our shoot was loaded with treats, laughter and baby snuggles.

wesley has an older sister, ava, but we decided for this shoot to be all about wesley.  i think that is a really great idea, especially because often second and third and fourth (ok, i'll stop there) children can get put into the family category and miss out on some solo experiences.  at the beginning of the shoot, wesley wasn't too sure about being on his tummy or smiling for my camera.  but whenever his momma was around, he just shined and smiled and cooed.  clearly, we can tell who his favorite person is! 

marie, thank you so much for the smoothie and letting me shoot your wee boy. i can't wait to spend more sunny days with your this summer and getting to watch him grow!

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This is Joyce.

She's our neighbour.  She lives across the cul-de-sac and slightly above us on the hill.  

She openly admits to stalking us and says its her neighbour-ly duty, like block watch but better.

Judah knows her as "Granny Joyce".

Up until a year ago, she called me 'Vanessa' and Jody was known as 'Cody'.  And, yes, we corrected her.  Multiple times.  Now its a running joke and on particularly sassy days, she still hollers 'Hey, Vanessa' over her glass balcony.

On Mondays, we usually watch Dancing with the Stars as we drink wine, I paint her nails and she tells me old stories that occasionally begin with sentences like "One time, when I was skinny dipping..."

Recently, we celebrated her 83rd birthday with her.  

Her husband has just moved into a local care facility and none of her children live on the Sunshine Coast, so we invited her over for a mini, impromptu party.  Jody made us a delicious dinner of bbq steak and sauteed prawns, garlic mashed potatoes and steamed spring veggies.  Fresh lemon tarts topped with a single candle topped of our night.

Joyce says she doesn't usually like babies.  

But, luckily for us, Judah won her over with his baby charms and we have begun sharing our lives with this funny, vivacious old lady who lives across the street who reminds us not to take life too seriously, keep a sense of humor about things, and rock the red lipstick until I'm old and grey.

And the winner drawn using RandomPicker.com is.....

Christina Boschmann

Prize ID	Winner ID	Public Info	Private Info	Random Sorting ID	Weight
1: print from Pink Dot Design	2	#2		b1cbb15e-78da-4900-8ece-6273195fa182

I loved getting a few new comments from people and hearing the suggestions for posts!  Seriously, giving out a prize was exciting for me - surprise at new comments, the anticipation of finding out who won!  

I do need to find a better way to draw the winner, though, because the text above is pretty boring... I just entered numbers #1 - #4 (to correspond to the comments made).  lame.  but free. 

stay tuned - more posts to come later in the day!

may 19th was the 6th anniversary of my father's death.  for some reason, i found this anniversary really, really hard.  i tend to stuff most of my emotional baggage and just reserve it for late nights with jody and a glass of wine.  i don't know if was because this year was a significant *ahem* birthday for me or because of judah's first birthday or because i'm getting emotional in my old age.  but this anniversary and the sadness of it came out.  on the kinnikinnick trails in sechelt.  while i was walking with jody. 

it went something like this::

j: today i took the water cooler to the dump and it cost $40.  isn't that crazy?! {note: this water cooler was in our driveway for the last 6 months.  only cool kids have coolers in the driveway.  no, we're not ghetto at all......}

m: you took the water cooler to the dump??

j: ya.  finally.

m: but, you just dumped it?!  i wanted it to go in the share shed. {the share shed is at the dump & everything costs only $1.  its a way to reduce waste.  someone's garbage is another person's treasure, or something like that, right?!}

:: i get very upset & silent.  i can't even verbalize why i'm so upset.  seriously, its a water cooler, right?!  but i can hardly breathe.  we walked through 3/4 of the pink trail, which is l.o.n.g. before i decide i should talk to jody because, well, i don't want him to leave me behind because i'm scared of bears and other wild animals and i AM married to the dude.::

m: that water cooler... {start bawling} was my dad's and i wanted it in the share shed because it still works and it wasn't garbage and my dad really liked it and i didn't want it in the dump. *gasp for breathe* and i really miss him. {lean onto jody and start sobbing uncontrollably}

j: {looking stunned} ....... you know your dad's not in the water cooler, right?! {lol. he's so articulate, my darling husband.  but, he did recover quickly and hold me as i fell apart.  the pain of death and the feeling of being an orphan never truly disappears.}

the best part was that a super cute couple went walking by a few minutes later.  i was completely disheveled with mascara running down my face and a runny, red nose.  we then ran into this same couple at a birthday party two days later.  small towns.  but they were nice and pretend not to notice my crying.

in honor of my dad, here's an excerpt of one of my favorite poems::

as freedom is a breakfastfood

or truth can live with right and wrong

or molehills are from mountains made

- long enough and just so long...

deeds cannot dream what dreams can do

- time is a tree (this life one leaf)

but love is the sky and i am for you

just so long and long enough.

~e.e. cummings

dad, i miss you more and more with each memory or moment you miss.  i can't wait to hear your laugh someday.  you would love judah so.  i hope i am making you proud. xo*m