When I neglect my blog for any amount of time, I feel as if I’ve lost momentum.  In this particular case, my poor blog has sat neglected for quite a bit of time.  I just looked back to see the date of my last post and was actually shocked to see that it’s been nearly a month.  These last few weeks have flown by at warp speed, with no lack of photography and design projects begging to have their spotlight here.  Yet I open a brand new post – a blank canvas just waiting to be prettied up – and I’m at a loss.

For some reason, as I sat there trying to think of the perfect segue to make the transition from month-long silence to a yet another chatterbox story entirely natural, I had Meg Ryan’s voice in my head.

“I like to start my notes to you as if we’re already in the middle of a conversation.”  I love You’ve Got Mail, and I love that line.  It’s almost as good as when she’s smelling the scotch tape and Tom Hanks is talking about bouquets of sharpened pencils.  But I digress.

This note finds me in the middle of my first week of the Scottsdale portrait shooting season, fresh off a few days of some necessary R & R.  Miss Heather Thorne flew in from Dallas to meet me at the Royal Palms Resort for a girls’ getaway with plenty of shopping, coffee, happy hours, antiques, and a morning at the spa.  She even got to meet my twin sister at The Vig where we shared dinner and a bottle of wine al fresco:

Of course, during our stay, I snuck in a family portrait session and made sure to take full advantage of the beautiful property at the resort, originally built as a private winter retreat in 1929 for a couple escaping the cold east coast winters:

But that’s not the point of this post.  More images from that family portrait session will come along later, assuming I find the time to actually get it on the blog!

Today, however, I want to share the small, intimate wedding of a very close friend who I talked about here.  Last month, Josh and I flew down to southern California to attend the affair, and I had the pleasure of documenting every memorable moment.  As I arrived in Shawna’s room at the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach, the champagne was being poured in celebration of a moment nobody ever really thought would come.  But it did.  And it was overwhelmingly joyful.  As the final touches were applied, Shawna put on her perfect wedding shoes, took one last look in the mirror, and went to meet her husband.

As she came to greet him, they embraced.  Then Kaleb came and hugged them.  Then Kushaiah did.  And finally Trenton.  And for a moment, all five of them stood in the breezeway of the gorgeous resort, and time stood still.

The ceremony took place at sunset at the beautiful Corona Del Mar in Newport Beach – a small cove surrounded by rocks and cliffs where two people pledged their love to each other and to their children.  The same children who had arrived prior with their grandparents, and drew the aisle in the sand: two long lines that led to a giant heart where they stood for the duration of the ceremony.  As the vows were spoken, I fought to shoot through the tears.  Because God truly does work all things out for good.  All things.  And that day…. that day was good.

And our God… our God is good.

As evening faded into night, the party made its way to the Rusty Pelican.  The meals were eaten.  Loose teeth were wiggled.  Stories were shared.  And there was laughter.  Lots of laughter.  Then came the time for a few toasts.  And Kaleb, in all of his nine year old glory, stepped up and thanked everyone for coming to the wedding of his mom and his new dad.  And again, I fought the tears.  Because I’ve seen the old.  And I’m watching the new.

And our God… our God is good.  Happy Thursday!