happy mister and missus

This wedding was twenty-three (ish?) years in the making. I met Steph and Kyle before I met my husband, and they've been a great part of our story as a couple. The love that these two share, the patience and support they have for one another, made them such great models for lasting couplehood, and this summer, my husband and I have hit sixteen years together. It was such an absolute treat to celebrate them on this day. I read a poem I wrote for them at the ceremony, which was such a gift to be able to do.

The ceremony was at the bride's sister's home--I'm not sure if it's a farm, though I do know the bride comes from dairy farmers, and the land was fantastically gorgeous and perfect for this kind of event, with nooks for camping, a little dock on a pond full of frogs, a huge hill for rolling and sledding down, a great swing set, a small beach and a paddleboat. One of those dreamy places for children to romp. Ours certainly did, particularly my daughter, who bested the bigger boys and caught so many frogs we lost count.

strawberry farm

Oh, this day! So hot--the kind of hot where the grass is a new kind of green, your eyes are squinched shut, and you feel for those sheep in the fields.

solstice at the creek

I love that being a mother means looking at the undersides of things. It means being ready to open my arms at any moment. It's a rather disruptive gift, isn't it?

duluth: family photographs

Here's a treat: I thought I'd share a few glimpses into our family photo session in Duluth. As you can see, we have a gatherer in the family.

duluth: into the woods

We went into the woods for family photographs, and the kids absolutely loved running around amongst the trees. We're not a family who is good at being still for pictures, no matter how much I ask nicely--please, please, for Mama?--but that's OK because when you have a photographer like this one, she's willing to tromp around for those shots. It's more pleasure in the process, which is what this space is about, isn't it?

duluth: windy beach day

We go up to Duluth, Minnesota every handful of months, sometimes a year, to have our family photographs taken by a very talented photographer up there who happens to be friends of a friend. My husband got his undergraduate degree (in biology!) up there, and I've always loved this town, so it's no trouble to travel for photos when you can get a sweet family trip out of it as well. We usually visit the beach on Lake Superior and this particular time it was dramatically windy.

It's never warm enough to comfortably swim in the Great Lakes, but it's nice to dip a toe and watch. I grew up near Lake Michigan--at least my teenage years--and we went in sometimes in the very center of summer, but mostly only if we swam on the bay side. Our kids are happy enough to run around on the beach and collect stones and feathers and such. I'm just so very happy to see green again.