uh apple.

watch me.

perspective.

“If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden.”
― Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

hey there, cupcake!

whew! what a whirlwind of a weekend it has been!

we made a quick trip to austin friday, came back early sunday to photograph precious emmy‘s 1st birthday party and then celebrate our graduating seniors with a cookout at small group!

we even managed to watch the annular eclipse, too!

and yes, you better believe that as soon as our evening was over, we crashed hard last night.

here’s a summation of our weekend in pictures.

momma jeannie (aka zach’s girlfriend), the lovely bride rachel, her friend ashley and sister molly

emmy’s 1st birthday

so many cute kids were at this party!

homemade german chocolate cupcakes! YUM.

some of our awesome seniors with jay.

eclipse in texas. pumpjack and all.

now i’m just hoping i didn’t kill my eyeballs while taking this photo.

jay day.

last week we had a very bittersweet moment at our church’s youth group.

our youth pastor for over 7 years has accepted the calling to be an associate pastor at a little church in throckmorton, tx.

jay came to our church when i was just a sophomore in high school.

i came to him when i doubted. when i was fearful, angry or sad. when i was anxious yet excited about my future. he defintely built us up and sent us out to be kind-hearted and passionate followers of christ.

even during and after college i came back to serve alongside him as his assistant for a while.

and you can bet your bottom dollar he married zach and i, too!

helen byrd photography

simply loving on people is what jay and his family do best.

so in celebration of jay and his family answering the call to serve people in another town, we had a special little day in honor of him: jay day.

jay shared stories and memories as kids asked him to recount them.

meet his sweet-as-pie wife, becky.

for those of you who don’t know jay, he is a competitor.

and i mean, BIG TIME.

as a part of the evening, the lovely assistant melissa asked everyone to raise their hands if they’ve ever been taken out by jay in a game of dodgeball, ultimate frisbee, kickball, etc.

below was the result.

and yes, i too, have been taken out by jay in an intense game of glow-in-the-dark ultimate frisbee.

our seniors presented him with a gift basket full of  native midland goodies.

and a new frisbee with his face on it.

the 8th graders presented him with a pretty awesome signed cross.

and at the end of it all, we surrounded him and his family as we came together in prayer over their next step in ministry.

you have been such a blessing in so many lives!

thank you for all of the love, dedication & service you have poured out over the years.

we are so excited to see what you do next.

———-

on a side note, i can’t wait for their family session before they move in june! so stay tuned!

meet ali.

yup! you guessed it!

my family surprise is that my sweet sister-in-law had precious ali this week! we weren’t expecting her for a couple more weeks, but according to my mother-in-law, “she wanted to pick her birthday!”

here’s how it went down.

around midnight on sunday, aka mother’s day–very fitting don’t you think?–zach and i awoke to the faint sound of his phone buzzing under his pillow. whitney’s name was on the call list. he thought he must have accidentally called her by mistake, but just as he turned his head to the other side of his pillow, my phone went off. as i sleepily answered, whitney’s voice was on the other end telling me ali decided to come early.

apparently, this is all that zach heard when i was talking to his sister:

“what?”

“your water?”

“okay, you want us to come right now?”

“we will be there soon.”

 

his response was something to the effect of:

“i don’t care if their hot water heater broke. they need to call a plumber, not me!”

 

bahahaha.

i don’t think we’ll ever let him live that down.

 

we rushed over to their house to stay with sleeping logan as they went up to the hospital to anticipate ali’s arrival.

let’s just say auntie madison & uncle zach–you may also refer to him as uncle turkey or captain jack–saved the day!

there were SO many sweet family moments that day.

here are a few of my favorites.

ali’s gift to big sister logan.

“how did she know?”

;-)

logan got to pick out ali’s little bow!

what a proud–and did i mention already protective?–sister.

welcome to the family sweet ali! we are beyond excited you are finally here! :-)

excuse my haggard appearance. please & thank you.