ALI + SPENCER

Ali was one of the first people I met at Tech and I am oh so glad we tentatively exchanged hello's and awkward small talk at orientation. She was the "oh thank goodness! a familiar face" when I walked into the room on our first day of class and I rushed to snag the seat next to hers. Two years later, I'm so glad I did! So many fun memories with this girl. Her and Spencer quickly became known as "Mom" and "Dad" amongst our group of friends and with good reason. Thanks mom and dad for saving me a seat every Sunday because my version of on time turns out to be everyone else's version of late. Thanks mom and dad for teaching me to whisk. Thanks mom and dad for bringing an extra tent, sleeping bags, and food when the rest of us showed up essentially empty handed. Thanks for loving + looking after Bings! (Ok ok, Ali thanks for "tolerating" Bings). Lastly, thanks for showing us around your home state. Which brings us to this post... An anniversary session in the mountains of Cloudcroft + at White Sands National Monument = this girls DREAM. The following are some of my favorite images I've ever taken. Love you two!  

LAUREN + NATE

Heyo long time no blog! Life is crazy y'all. But I have so much gold just sitting on my external hard drive and its time to introduce it to the world wide web! 

So here's the beginning of many a throwback post over the next few weeks. Starting with this couple feels appropriate because a) today is this beautiful lady's birthday and b) these two are some of my most favorite human beings in the world. This shoot was a surprise for Lauren by her ever-so-thoughtful husband, Nate. Sneaky man flew me and one of our other best friends, Tori, to Wichita to spend the weekend with Lauren. Simply because she missed us and he thought she deserved a fun surprise. Jeez #husbandgoals. Am I right yall? 

Nate picked me up from the airport and we headed to the Great Plains Nature Center. Lauren had been told to meet Nate there after school because he had scheduled someone to take their Christmas Card photos and SURPRISE, that someone was me! Commence giddiness, hugs, and minimal tears. 

Also, s/o to the real star of many of these images-- Guppy the puppy y'all. Sweet thang was a hoot throughout the session

LINDSAY + RYAN: ENGAGED

Praise God for grad school yall. Hey stop laughing, I'm for real right now!  I'm thankful for my current season in life for many reasons, but this week I'm feeling particularly thankful for the new friendships I've gained through this program. Meet Lindsay + Ryan. Lindsay is in the speech pathology master's program with me here at Texas Tech. Lindsay is strong, brave, resilient, loyal, and beautiful. Her fiance, Ryan, is in the Air Force and currently lives in San Antonio. Ryan is kind, patient, authentic, hardworking, and loves Linds wholeheartedly. Sweet couple is doing the ever tough but oh-so-worth-it long distance thing right now. Bless em. Ryan made the trek up to Lubbock for their shoot and the weather was giving all of us cause to fret for a bit. West Texas yall--always keeping us on our toes. By the grace of God, it only rained for a small portion of the evening and we spent that time driving to a new location. After a short time spent camping out in my car, the clouds parted, the sun came out and we couldn't have asked for a better end to our session. Linds + Ryan, I so enjoyed getting to spend the evening with the two of you! Thanks for inviting me to capture this sweet season of yalls life!