We are so excited to share our newborn lifestyle session with you today! Thank you Melissa Jill!
We’ll never forget our last day teaching elementary school. After we turned off the lights in our classrooms for the final time, we went to lunch with our colleagues. A few hours later, we sobbed in the parking lot. Our best friend at the school was the seventy-year-old second grade teacher. Her name is Mary. Over those four years of teaching, we spent our fair share of Friday nights having teacher potlucks at Mary’s house, playing a dominoes game she taught us. Jordan ugly-cried on Mary’s shoulder that afternoon. One of the few times in his life. Because even though we were excited to start our dream job of being full-time professional photographers, we were going to miss seeing her, and the rest of the teachers, staff, parents and kids we’d grown to love every morning. They had become a huge part of our life, and, in the back of our mind, we were scared that we wouldn’t find the same kind of life-giving friendships in our new industry, especially since we’d (mostly) be working from home.
Thankfully, right around the same time, God placed Melissa Jill (or, MJ, for short) in our life. We’ve been friends ever since. Over the last five years, we’ve made more memories together that we can count. But here are a few:
— MJ witnessed our first time in the snow as a couple. WE WERE ALMOST THIRTY… because we live in the desert.
— When Jordan’s little sister got married, we shot the wedding and we were in the bridal party, so MJ stepped in to shoot the ceremony so we could be present. If you’re wondering how to shoot and wedding and be in it, we’ve got a how-to blog post here.
— And, when she made the transition from shooting digital to shooting film, we got to be one of her first sessions. IN NANTUCKET. Since it was our first time ever being photographed on film, every time Jordan blinked at the same time the shutter clicked… he’d slightly panic… and yell out, “Oh-my-gosh! I’m so sorry! That frame probably cost like four dollars with processing and shipping, and you can’t even use it. I’ll reimburse you!” She never let us.
Needless to say, MJ and us, we’ve been through a lot together, and she’s become more than just a friend. She’s the big sister we never had.
After Beckett was born, we scheduled a family newborn lifestyle session in our new house — We moved last spring after saying goodbye to the little condo where we spent the first eight years of our marriage — and we got so excited because…
1. We hadn’t been professionally photographed in our new home yet.
2. We finished Beckett’s neutral baby animal nursery a few weeks before he was born — so everything was D-O-N-E!
3. Jordan blinks less now.
MJ, thank you, from the bottom of our heart, for doing this newborn lifestyle session; for taking our first official family photos; for helping us freeze time that we’ll never get back, but now can re-live whenever we want. What a gift you are (and these are) to us.
We will cherish these photos for the rest of our lives.
To see more of Beckett’s nursery, click here. To check out more of Melissa’s newborn sessions, click here.