It was barely light outside as one eye opened to find my alarm. As my brain came to life after, what felt like, a short sleep… I remembered…. Today’s the day. Lance and Laurie are getting married today!!! From there, a flood of jitters and butterflies fell into my chest and the coffee I was sipping at the breakfast table only made them flap their wings faster. “Today’s the day my girl marries the love of her life.” “Today’s the day Lance has been waiting his whole life for.” I felt the beautiful tension of their love story burst through my nerves… and a flow of excitement and pure joy filled my heart. As I pulled into the driveway… I said a quick prayer, “This is your day God… can’t wait to see you move!”

Quick steps and a “Come on in!” placed me in the living room of the Kohlenberg house staring at this beauty….

Laurie’s a ridiculously beautiful girl even on a bad day… THIS day, however, there was an extra glow that made her absolutely stunning! I had to fight back tears because I was so proud/in awe/excited/nostalgic.

While I spent the morning with Laurie and the girls, Christopher hung out with Lance and the boys. Apparently it was quite the silent and peaceful morning for them… they went about their business and got ready for the big day…. Lance just couldn’t wait to see his bride!

Just look at this guy! I couldn’t help but think about how just grateful he was for this day and for his bride… there was nothing but happiness in his eyes all day.

This was one of my absolute favorite moments of the day. They wanted to be with each other SO BAD. I love how this shot just shows the excitement and anticipation Laurie had for when Lance saw her for the first time. This isn’t just a moment people… this is a moment we, as women, dream of our whole lives…. what our future husband’s reaction will be when he first sees us on our wedding day. It’s a day when we look and feel our best… a day we’ll remember the rest of our lives. And Laurie was GORGEOUS!

The day went without a hitch… and the love and support I felt from all angles definitely left me feeling full and inspired. Something that struck me during the ceremony was how the central importance of their entire event was God. Lance and Laurie’s life and love story is such a stark pointer to the gut-wrenchingly powerful love of their Savior. He is present and active. He is Good. He loves us.

I owe a big thank you to a few people who made my life easier, more beautiful, and basically fantastic! First of all, Laurie and Lance, you are clients to covet and irreplaceable friends… I’m completely humbled and honored that you think so highly of me and your support has been so encouraging! Thank you! Bob Botsford of Horizon Christian Fellowship–you ROCK! Also, Diane of Whimsey Florals was the genius behind all the beautiful flowers. I was IN LOVE with the bouquets she did and would recommend that EVERYONE use her! Lastly, I had two amazing shooters with me… first, Christopher outdid himself this wedding! Not only did he get quite a few Ah-Mazing shots, but I couldn’t have done everything I did without him. Mucho Thanks also go to Amanda Patrice, who battled traffic and a super early morning to come all the way down to San Diego to shoot with me! I had so much fun with you and basically… you’re amazing.

And now, without further adieu… the slideshow.

Click Here to View the Slideshow!!!

Southern California is known for the beach… and surfing… and palm trees. Socal is not a place known for the beauty of changing leaves…. in fact, it’s ridiculously hard to find some good autumn leaves around here. So when Matthew contacted me about taking some “secret” shots of him and his boys for a Christmas present for his wife in autumn leaves, I thought “Uh…..yes?” After a few excited emails back and forth, Matthew tracked down some sweet maple trees to take pictures by…. he just didn’t tell me it was in some random person’s yard… and that we’d have to trespass to get in. Cool. Luckily though, the owner of the house turned out to be this sweet old lady who thought it was awesome that we trespassed into her yard to take pictures with cute children and waved us on.

So I had met Matthew once before when I shot Bob Botsford’s portraits earlier in the month (he’s one of the very talented media/graphics guys at Horizon Christian Fellowship)…. and I had never met “the boys”… and I had no clue what was coming…. Matthew’s boys are probably THE CUTEST CHILDREN EVER! The oldest and most spunky of the group was Milo, next is the Mr. Bashful McSmiles Autry, and finally the baby of the family Finlay. Matthew + Milo + Autry + Finlay = the coolest names ever!

We spent the first part of the shoot taking as many posed and “Mom” pictures as we could before the kids lost interest and when they finally got antsy enough….. we gave them candy and set them loose so they’d sleep well that night . I hung out with Autry for a while and examined the fall colors that painted the once green leaves of the baby Maples. This guy LOVED the camera… he kept wanting more pictures taken of himself and then wanted to see them all. I’d take a few pictures, show him… and his hands would reflexively shoot up to his mouth, he’d get a huge smile and the uncontrollable giggles and run away laughing….        then he’d come back for more.

While the boys ran free, Matt and Finlay examined the colorful leaves too…. Finlay definitely has an appreciation for the autumn colors… at least for the taste of them.

I thought this picture was hilarious because THAT day, Matthew had taught Finlay how to shake his head “no” and he’d been doing it all day. When I was taking this, Finlay was shaking his head “no” with his finger on Dad’s lips…. “Shhh, Dad. Stop talking for a second…I know I’m handsome.”

I finally caught up with Milo for a little… but it took some convincing to put his sticks down for a picture. He swore his face only made a sad face…. not a smiley one… so insisted that if I took a picture, it had to be the best and most convincing sad face ever…. he happily obliged.

Then Autry joined him… and his was his attempt at a sad face….

Later on in the shoot, Autry saw Milo jump in a pile of leaves. He stood there amazed for a second, and when Milo ran away looking for more sticks, Autrey walked slowly up to the trampled mess of leaves and gently pushed them back together into a pile. He smiled at me, walked away for a second, and then ran back full speed and jumped in the pile of leaves squealing with joy. Such a fun moment….

At the end of the day, Matthew gathered the boys together and gave them a quick lesson on why autumn is so cool….. then gave them all a group hug.

Matthew, I hope you know you’re WAAAY blessed to have such adorable and well behaved boys. Your wife must be proud…. and speaking of your wife… if she just read this blog… the pictures are supposed to be a surprise, so make sure you’re surprised on Christmas morning!

Many thanks to Christopher and Mitch for tagging along and helping with the kids!

We all had originally met at John and Christina’s Wedding in May of this year. Bob Botsford, the head pastor of Horizon Christian Fellowship in Rancho Santa Fe, California, had been the officiant… and the beautiful church was the venue for both the ceremony and the reception. Not only was he the officiant, but he is John’s uncle… more affectionately referred to as “Uncle Bob.” Bob is married to Bonnie… the cutest thing since puppies were created and the sweetest wife I’ve ever met. Together, Bob and Bonnie have three awesome children… Mitch, Annie, and Matt. While all three children have their good looks and awesome smiles in common, all three are quite different on their own. Mitch, who’s the oldest, is a blooming tech and graphics guy who works for the church graphics department outside of taking college classes. Annie’s the cutest 16 yr. old I’ve met in a long time and I’m way jealous of her cake making skills (she made John and Christina’s cake… and she’s going to be making Lance and Laurie’s cake in November… can’t wait! ) Matt is a cool kid. He’s the youngest of the three Botsford children, and he’s super fun… loves a good laugh… is uber involved in extracurricular activities and sports… but best of all… he LOVES his family!

That’s actually something I really admire about the Botsfords… they genuinely love each other and want to spend time together. They’re all in different places and involved in many different things, but I love how excited they were to spend time together and take some family portraits.

We actually began the day shooting some sweet portraits for Bob’s new blogsite. In talking about some ideas he had before hand, it was funny to hear how competitive he is with his pastor friends from other churches. He told me ” I kind of want to out-do them with these pictures.” I loved it. So I did my research, combined it with my own style of shooting… and here’s some of the images we came up with… I, personally LOVE THEM.

Something I love about Bob is that he’s very concerned with his personal relevancy to this generation. He talked a lot about his blog, about his Twitter, and how he wants to be able to use it to relate and interact with people. I know maybe 3 pastors/churches who twitter… and maybe 1 church who uses a blog effectively. So we chatted about that for a bit and we pondered questions like, ” what do I write about on a blog?”, “What is the purpose of having a blog?”, ” How can I use my Twitter and my blog more effectively?” They were some good, thought provoking questions… and I’d love to hear what all you guys think about the use of blogs, twitter, and what their purpose is… leave some comments…

The afternoon would not be complete without some “pastor” shots… so we headed to the nearest Starbucks in Del Mar… and rested a little before the family joined us at the church….

Probably the coolest thing about the day was this conversation…

Bob: “So what are some ideas you have for future shoots?”

Me: “Well… one of these days I want to find myself a sweet antique couch, plop it in the middle of a field, and do a shoot there. But first I have to find a couch and a way to get it to where I want it. Someday….”

(Speaker phone in the car starts ringing)

Bob: ” Hey Mitch, after you pick up Annie, will you guys stop by the house and pick up our antique couch, put it in Grandad’s truck and drive it over to the church? Thanks!”

Me: “Seriously? YESS!”

So…. we took the sweet couch and plopped it in the middle of a eucalyptus grove on the side of the road and shot some sweet family shots… I was IN HEAVEN!

Can you believe this girl? How gorgeous is she?!!!

This is Matt… and during the shoot.. I told him if he continues to be so good at this… I’m gonna have to use him as a model! He was amused…

On our way back to the church, we stopped at an OLD dairy farm we shot at earlier in the day and shot some more family shots… I love these. This barn was awesome and the older lady who owned it was happy that it’s seeing some use after 80 years.

Twas a fun and eventful day full of wonderful people, great smiles, and a loving family! Thank you guys for choosing me to document your family this pre-holiday season and it was a complete honor to have a glimpse into who you guys are! Cheers!

It was so much fun shooting with Bob and the Botsford Family today that I just had to take share a couple images before I call it a day… more to come on another day…. thanks for a great time today guys!