{{carl + sarah} {engaged}}

I did have power at my house today, but no breakfast.

So I ventured out to a place I thought would be relatively quiet so that I could eat, enjoy a coffee, 

and finish up Carl and Sarah's engagement pictures from too many weeks ago.

Instead as I drive through my underground garage, I see that the lights are off at one end and the garage door 

on that side doesn't budge an inch. I drive over piles of leaves and puddles of water to exit on the other side.

On a main drag, I see leaves, branches, and trees down. One power line down and lots of dark houses 

and stop lights. Sirens. Chainsaws. And tons of people working together. Some gawking.

As I turn into a familiar parking lot, I am stunned at the fullness and the lines of people. Some reading menus

 as they stand in line in the parking lot to have some breakfast. Many people are talking about how long 

they've been out of power. My bagelry ends up having a line wrapped around the inside almost to the door. 

People in line are talking to each other at intervals. The bagel artists are extra chatty.

It's amazing how people come together.

This is exactly how people get family trees that extend beyond the regular roots and branches.

Meet some of my non-family-tree family: Sarah and Carl.

I remember playing with baby Sarah in the lake at our cabin and in playgrounds at various campgrounds 

around Minnesota. Carl is her groom-to-be.

One sunny day at the beginning of June, we wandered in to the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden to talk about 

their upcoming wedding and take some engagement shots. Here are some of my favorites.

Victoria and Phil

You never know when life will bring you happiness......!  Sometimes it's right in front of you or in the pew next to you at church.  Victoria and Phil are both part of my Parkway family and were gracious enough to choose me as their wedding photographer.  We met on one of the wonderful spring days that we had in April and were able to take some great pictures in and outdoors!  Phil's son Andy and his partner Kim were just finishing breakfast at his house when I arrived, so we snuck some family photos in, too.


   

Angie and John are Engaged!

My cousin Angie is recently engaged to a great guy named John. Very shortly after their engagement, we spent an early evening together in Maple Grove by the Maple Grove Arboretum along Elm Creek and a cute little flower garden just outside the Maple Grove Community Center. It was a beautiful day with many beautiful photographs of this couple in return! Congratulations, cousin and cousin-to-be!

Tia, Jeff, and Grace!

A big thanks goes out to Tia and Jeff for really helping me get started! One day I literally just sent Tia a Facebook message asking (maybe begging??) to take their wedding photos. Her faith in me has been a huge confidence boost for my first family, engagement, and baby photo shoot.

We started off inside the UCC church in Gaylord where Tia and Jeff will be getting married so that Grace would stay warm (she is only 11 days old!).










In between outfits, I grabbed some shots of Grace in typical baby fashion. She was so much happier as a naked baby!



We used frames in some of Tia and Jeff's pictures; Grace wanted in on the action, too!





I have to admit that I stole this idea from some friends, but it really turned out great and I think I'll keep using it....it definitely got us all smiling and made for some great photos!








Gaylord doesn't have much, but they do have a great city park. Once we got rolling on posing, we used every photo opportunity in the park. It was hard to pick my favorites, so here are quite a few!






















Thanks again, Tia, Jeff, and Grace. See you soon!