Still to this day when we arrive to weddings and chat with the family and bride and groom we hear the question multiple times a day, “So, where are your kids?” “Who is with your children?” I find it fascinating that they find it so fascinating.
We are also asked often from friends, “how do you guys do it?” Yep just like a line plucked from the movie I Don’t Know How She Does It. A lot from what I remember of that movie was that her life looked like a big mess haha but what inspires me about it is how positive she is the whole time, how they both continue to fight for their marriage and how they stay passionate and true to it all. And that is worth it to us as well.
We actually started our family when we started our business in 2012. We were married for less than 2 years and we had no clue that we were swimming in the deep end of life. I officially registered the company with the state of MN Jan of 2012. We then found out we were expecting around May of 2012 and had our first born Jan of 2013.
I remember having a home office since we got married and I would work when our daughter napped as a newborn. I stupidly didn’t sleep when she slept and she still holds the record of being the child who gave me the most sleep deprivation. I remember writing on my bed a lot, doing a lot of training on wedding videography. We even had to take her with us to a love story shoot where we strapped her in a carrier while we hiked and walked across a wide stream which was the setting of our shoot.
We have also sat together editing a lot of projects and she is still the first one to watch our work and put her own stamp of approval on it.
When I was pregnant with our second and about to have her we called upon and incredibly talented videographer Adam Grumbo to help us out which started a great friendship.
Our second born came Aug of 2015 and life looked completely different. We moved from MN to Austin TX and we were just starting to come out of one of the hardest times in our life. We were paying rent in a low income priced house that felt like it was crumbling around us, using WIC benefits and working our tails off. When another baby girl was coming into the picture I knew I was going to need Ryan to be with the business full time and we needed to make this company grow and work for our family. So right after she was born I worked my tail off for 4 months and with God’s guidance Ryan quit his job and came home to work the business full time!
For the next 2 years we grew our business, our finances and adjusted to life with 2 babies and daddy home full time. It was a big adjustment but right as we were starting to feel like we had it more handled and were focusing on saving for a house we learned that another one was on the way!
Those 9 months with our third child went by so crazy fast! We found out we were having a boy and couldn’t be more excited but we had ZERO room for this child in our home so we bought a house! And after only 2 months of moving in we had baby number 3!
Now……I mentioned earlier we moved from MN. That is where all of my family lives and Ryans family is in MO. To this day I think it’s crazy how were and are able to do this. I truly believe that God gets all the credit.
There were days where my kids woke up crazy sick on someones wedding day. I was days away from a wedding shoot not knowing who was going to watch my children. Ive had to plan wedding weekend shoots where I had to take all 3 children with us because one had sleeping issues at night. We have had countless nights of aching bones after a weekend shoot where we barely saw our children and woke up the next morning in pain to see their sweet excited faces, and then we passed out later in the day. We have flown family members to come be with our children so we can shoot. Ive brought home glow lights and popcorn or cookies for my kids from our sweet and thoughtful couples. Ive shot so many weddings with a big belly, aching back and extreme nausea. And some of the hardest moments were when I had to rush to the car in-between wedding moments to pump so my newborn could eat while I uncontrollably sobbed for no reason due to crazy hormones. All of these moments have the common thread of Ryan and I looking at each other and not knowing what we were going to do or how it was going to go and yet we were taken care of. We were never alone, we supported one another and called on God for help. He answered every time.
Today doesn’t look much different. I am writing this blog in the middle of what feels like a never ending world wide quarantine and we are working the hardest we ever have before and pressing forward with excitement and encouragement and laughter and exhaustion and tantrums and ice cream breaks and I love it.
We are growing our business and growing our family. And now we are pregnant with our 4th child! Just kidding…..
Our wedding day 
my little helper 
Quarantine Real Estate shoot 
1 of our couples 
