Oh how I just adore this family, friends and this mama! She is the perfect embodiment of real and raw and endearing! She is all the sunshine and also all the imperfect perfection you could ask for! Her girls are strong willed and beautiful and energetic and that’s why whenever we get together we just laugh out loud (you know the snorting, open mouth I’m going to eat you kind of open mouth,)and embarrassing laughs and there are all kinds of OH MY GOSH ME TOO’s!!! BUT… you want to know the best part… no matter where you are in this great big world… you can get to know her like I know her! If you aren’t already following her blog, friends!!! It is a MUST! You have go to go check out my girlfriend Ashley over on her blog at http://www.beingbrickner.com/! You will fall in love at first click! She’s truly amazing!
Whenever I come back to my home town in Virginia Beach, we always get together! It’s a MUST because honestly, I don’t know how I could do this mom-life without her. Her Waverly and my Linc are just two peas in a pod and we lean on each other like no other. It’s also crazy how magical it is when we get together! She is a creative genius and so it’s also a known fact that when we get together there will be a session involved; and usually it’s exactly what we both need creatively and for our souls! That sounds really crazy I know but sometimes you just crave something that makes your creative heart sing and usually the sheer craziness of how things happen for us makes it all just… well magic!
This session was actually their holiday session that we shot way way WAY in advance! I haven’t been able to share it until now for many reasons but I’m just so freaking excited! The adventure this session was, ya’ll I can’t even begin to tell you!
Let’s just say: potential rain that never happened which means beautiful cloudy skies and temperatures that were phenomenal! I mean it WAS during tropical storm Hermine! Ashley and I may have almost died because of a HUGE snake and snake bites. Thank goodness for Joe because neither of us saw it and we almost stepped on this monsterous thing (not even joking). Ashley literally jumped into my arms and poor Waverly and Avalon had to fend for themselves. Talk about mom fail there and mom guilt, to each their own survival! However, lesson learned, protect the kids! We caught a fish… and it was Joe (hahahha). I think we may have stayed at that beach for 4 hours! We played until we were all sandy and soaked and exhausted with salty sea air. I can’t wait to repeat when I come home again!!
These two are some of my favorites! I just love Waverly’s run and I love her feet in this image! I think it’s such a mark of childhood… our little’s feet. They start so small and then all of a sudden, they grow so big!
Oh these girls… beach girls inside their souls! We share that and I promise you it’s what makes us the best of girlfriends! They love and giggle when I get in the water and the waves with my camera and I love and giggle when they bravely and fiercely take off to the ocean waves fully clothed!
I will never ever forget this day and I can not wait to see you all again!
This is the best part about being a lifetime photographer: I’m not just coming and going in your life. I am truly connected with Ashley and Joe and these girls! I love them all like my own family and when we spend time together, I feel like a member of the family! The girls see me as a true playmate and they think I’m probably their age (ahahha). They see me splashing in the water and I am no longer just someone with a camera, in fact they forget I even have the camera! They just want to play with me! They ask me and know about my life just as I know about their life and their stories! Heck, I was there when Avalon was born!
Ashley and Joe and I have stories between us that we can laugh about and we can connect with. We can share stories as parents and really come together to support one another! We are doing this together and we are in this together. It takes a village and a tribe and they are a part of mine. Although I have moved, we still chat! We are still along for the ride and I am still a part of their lives, still their photographer and more importantly still their friend!
I love you guys so much and thank you for letting me into your lives and into your heart!
Oh, FRIEND!!!!!!!!! Love these images soooo much, I will truly treasure them forever! Your words, I love even more though, because they are SO TRUE! You are truly a part of our family now! Forever thankful for YOU!
Now get your ass home for a trip so we can see you! 😉 Or we will try to make our way there!