Whirlwind of Possibility | 2019 Family Recap
Some years are just simply crazier than others. For me, 2019 was a whirlwind of possibilities… hard choices, family fun and a wild wedding season to boot! But even as we finished out the year exhausted from the insanity 2019 brought, and simply glad to have survived it; looking back, I wouldn’t change it for the world. It was a fun adventure and I am so thrilled to have moved into 2020 strong!
January 2019 brought us a huge surprise! In the middle of planning our annual Disneyland trip, we were struggling to find a hotel that would fit nine of us. Traveling with multiple families can be a bit of a hassle at times, especially when conventional hotels don’t typically offer rooms for more than a family of six. One night while searching hotels, a thought struck me and I realized I was about 3 weeks late. Sure enough, we wouldn’t be taking just the nine we’d originally planned… our family trip would include 10 of us!
February’s Snopocalypse brought a lot of time indoors, and plenty of snow fun outside as I prepped for a wild wedding season while pregnant. I’d already booked 10 weddings and two elopements by this point. Finding a way to not let my couples down if pregnancy took me out of the game, meant creating backup plans and working with someone I trusted to take over photographing in my absence. Thankfully NONE of my backup plans were needed! February was also the month we learned we’d take 11 to Disneyland… My sister in law was due a week after I was!
March was pretty quiet, and April was the beginning of my wedding season! I opened up the year with a romantic Seattle elopement that included portraits at Smith Tower and a sweet ceremony at King Street Station! The Pioneer Square Elopement was one of last year’s top posts!
May through August brought some pretty amazing weddings, each with their own unique stories and feel! A July elopement to Crystal Mountain took the cake though, and became a standing joke about climbing a mountain pregnant for my couples. (While this time I rode the gondola… I’d definitely climb a mountain for all my couples!)
In September we took a different turn when the Tacoma Wedding Expo fell on the same weekend as my scheduled C-Section! I spent the weekend in the hospital after we welcomed Evan on Friday, while Jake took a main role in hosting my booth at the Tacoma Dome! Thankfully, Holly from Sirius Wood Fired Pizza was a total lifesaver and picked up all my booth goodies before the show. She and her husband, Chuck, put together my booth while Jake and I were in the OR. Plus she made sure to take me around the show via Facetime so I didn’t totally miss out.
Evan was born beautiful and healthy. Our little firecracker became my sidekick for the rest of the year, and has already build a wedding assistant resume! We didn’t slow down one bit and ended up photographing an elopement the week after he was born. Five more weddings were completed before we all headed on our October Disney Vacation.
November we celebrated Jake’s 7th Sobriety Birthday with a weekend of crabbing, clamming and family fun. December flew by with the late Thanksgiving holiday and we welcomed 2020 quietly at home as a family of five. 2019 was a wild ride, but it’s one I’ll never forget!
