Christopher Cross lied to me. (dedicated to my mom)

"Oh the canvas can do miracles, just you wait and see... Believe me... Sailing takes me away to where I always heard it could... Just a dream and the wind to carry me... and soon I will be free." 

Christopher Cross lied to me. His song "Sailing" is, as my Uncle Cam puts it, "The most serene song ever recorded." This can lead one to believe that sailing is a purely serene experience. Ha. I wanted to believe it, but now... I know the truth. You can call off the hoax, Chris Cross. I know what really goes on out there. Or, perhaps he wrote about sailing while he was on a pond. The ocean + sailing, I have learned, is not quite like I was led to believe through this amazing song I have listened to on repeat for hours at a time.

In May, I got an email from my friend Brianna, saying that she wanted me to road trip to FL with her, go sailing with her fiance and his friend for a few days, and buy me a plane ticket home. Now Brianna is fun enough without all these bells and whistles, but this was definitely an offer I couldn't refuse (especially since I've been wanting to go sailing for a couple of years now and had never been!) In fact, my response to her invitation was probably something like "Duh." I have to say, the first few days of sailing were incredible (I mean, except for the dern engine). In fact, all of it–except for the last few hours and then the few hours in between when my neck went out– was incredible. I was lovin' it. Then, our faulty engine + lack of radio response for help + 8 ft swells of waves + terrible winds + the fact that it was nighttime... well... it 'turned the tide' for us a bit. Our glorious sailing-into-the-sunset-freedom-ride turned into a 4-hour Disney water ride from hell. BUT, before that, I was able to shoot some engagement pics for Bri + Josiah, which was...  trickier than I thought! Taking pics while the waves are ... waving (?) ... is a bit of a daunting task! But they turned out okay, and we all came out of the trip alive, and below you can see pics of us having fun before we figured out CC was a liar.

Hope you enjoy :)

tying the knot! (couldn't resist that one)

Oh Captain, my captain

left, hakuna mata in all her glory right, me learning how to drop anchor

Kleenex, anyone?

I stopped crying at weddings a while back... I think. I could be wrong, though, because if crying was an Olympic sport, let's just say I would bring great honor to my country!  All I know is that when sweet Ally stepped out of that limo in her beautiful dress with her beautiful self, there was no stopping it. I had to cry all over myself. And I wasn't the only one! Her Dad, who's kept it all "together" during wedding planning, rehearsals, and everything, finally broke down in the middle of the ceremony ... which only made it harder for everyone else to keep composure! This wedding, like many, is bittersweet. Everything about Ally & Greg is lovely and perfect, except that they moved to Georgia the next day and will be moving to MN after that. Where is the justice? :)  They are truly an incredible couple, though, with hearts to live their lives for something bigger than themselves and a desire to do that as a team. Pretty rare for a couple of 20-year-olds! We raise our glasses to them, though...  glasses of sparkling apple cider, of course  :)

[ally + greg, i love you!]

Daddy's last embrace of his baby girl before giving her away

This was one of the MOST fun wedding parties of all time.

2 Generations of looooove.

Love ALL these girls! Didn't even have to tell them jokes for this!

I had to squeeze in a picture with my surrogate sisters :)