This Love is on Fire

Yeah I'm cheesy, but hey, how else do you expect me to write an entire blog about love and be anything less?

If you love me enough to follow my Instagram or (dare I say, AND?!) Facebook page, this post my seem a little repetitive, it's just how I truly feel though so here it is.

I LOVE photographing people I know. It not only makes my heart happy, but I tend to have a good grip on what makes them tick so that helps bring out those raw emotions, those nose crinkles, those belly laughs, those genuine grins. Believe me when I say that I smile and laugh when editing your photos.

Photographs are my favorite way to express myself, they're a portal in to your life, frozen moments. I use the word treasure a lot because again, I mean it. What else do people do with their photos? Yeah you can post them sure, but aren't you devastated when your computer crashes or your phone gets crushed and you don't have those tangible memories anymore? That feeling is losing something you treasure.

This couple is so special to me. I met both of them, separately, about ten years ago. John was someone I could call at 3 am (and he'd answer!) and cry my eyes out about a boyfriend; he would just listen, be there. It's not often a guy will do that for a girl and expect nothing in return. As a matter of fact, I'll go ahead and say nowadays there aren't many PEOPLE in general who will even call or answer calls without first seeing what the other end of the phone wanted via voicemail. I knew John as a big sweetheart. He has always wanted to be a firefighter and started chasing his dream right out of high school. Paramedic training is hard you guys, like really hard. And getting in to the fire academy isn't much easier. But he stuck with it and is now at a phenomenal fire house where he hopes to spend the rest of his career. That's pretty great in my opinion considering he is just barely over 25 years old.

Now for Jessica. The sugar to my cinnamon. Who knew those annoying "Text this to 10 people or you'll die" messages (who else remembers those?!) would turn in to such an amazing friendship? She is affectionately known as "Sugar" or "Sug" by my entire family; when I say entire I mean even my grandma. Back story: There were approximately a billion Jessicas at our high school. And for whatever reason I was in a phase of calling people "sugar" , I guess I thought I was from New Orleans or something. Well, Jess being the smarty butt that she is one day said, "Ok cinnamon!". From then on the name Sug just stuck (let's be honest, we all have good intentions with nicknames then they just become unrecognizable inside jokes). We did everything together for an entire summer; weddings, house parties, vacations to Arizona to visit her grandma, shopping, dinners with my family. She was and still is my best friend. One of the two people who is most like me in the whole world. We anticipate each other's actions (

if you want to pay for something of Sug's you literally have to hold her back or be really sneaky and give the waiter your card on the sly, otherwise, she will pay for you every time) . She is one of the strongest people I know, and you'd never know all the hardships she's been through in her 28 years because she is so unbelievably kind and caring. Sug regularly goes out of her way, like way out of her way, for those she loves. Luckily, I get to be one of "those". My husband and I moved around in western Missouri for a few years and we lost touch a little. But when we moved back in 2016, we picked right back up.

When John proposed on Thanksgiving of last year, I immediately offered myself to them for photography. She promptly told me they would rather I was IN the photos. So this is my gift to them. An entire evening of laughs, snorts, nose crinkles and kisses; not to mention bad ass fire gear and smoke bombs.

Sug and John, I love you guys to the moon and back. I hope you love these as much as I do. It was really hard to not post all 405 images. But here are a few of my favorites.