Oh, Those Teenage Years

When I was in high school, going out on a Friday night, my parents thought it was fun to find out what restaurant my friends and I were going to, and then they'd just "happen" to appear at the same restaurant - waving and saying "Hiiiii!" very loudly while grinning from ear to ear. Multiple. Times.*

As a teenager, going through my I'm-basically-an-adult-that-needs-extreme-independence phase (even though I was depending on my parents for shelter, food, clothing and then some), this drove me crazy. Crazy in the "Like, omg, I can't believe you guys are doing this to me!" way. My family loved to tease me because my sensitive, emotional teenage meltdowns were just too silly. Oh, there was the time they told me that packing peanuts were edible and I fell for it - but that's neither here nor there -_-

Even through those times I knew that I had wonderful and very loving parents. Family came first and everything they did was for us. They sacrificed and worked so hard to provide for both me and my sister even though they didn't have very good role models when they were growing up. My dad would turn down additional work so that he wouldn't miss a single one of our soccer or basketball games (I sure did keep that bball bench nice and toasty). Even amongst the adolescent screaming, yelling and crying (on my end - shudder), my parents loved me and showed their love to me still.

They are beautiful.
And wonderful.
They're also quite funny. 
I'm so blessed.
I love them so very much.

*Now as an adult, Sherwin and I think this is hilarious and we will one day do the same to our own kids.

Nikon F100 | Fuji Pro 400H

The Bradshaw Family | Norcross, GA

Since I didn't have to go to work for 2 full weeks during the break (which was awesome), I got a lot of quality time with family in Atlanta. My parents graciously and quite hilariously agreed to model :)

Holli & Steve Engagement (Film) | Mesilla, NM

Holli & Steve are another fun couple from church. They've since moved away to the big city (what's up with cool people leaving Las Cruces?!).

Kevin & Kaitlyn Engagement (Film) | Las Cruces, NM

Kevin was one of the first good friends Sherwin made when he moved to New Mexico. Although they've since moved, Kevin and his entire family constantly opened their home to Sherwin and many meals were shared. When I (Monica) moved to New Mexico, this same family was so welcoming and Kevin's mom was a source of encouragement when I had to go through the motions to find a job as a new nurse. So when Kevin and his beautiful bride-to-be Kaitlyn asked if Sherwin would take some fun engagement photos for them he was more than happy to do it!

Monica & Sherwin Engagement (Film) | Las Cruces, NM

After getting engaged, we figured that we had enough camera equipment to do our own engagement shoot. We had a lot of fun and it was definitely a challenge posing ourselves when we couldn't really be behind the camera at the same time. With a tripod in hand, a reliable self-timer and learning to be really fast at getting in place after pressing the shutter button (we got a lot of exercise), our self-taken engagement photos were born! Most of these photos are film, but there are a couple digital photos here and there. Enjoy! :)

Archna & Bruce (Film) | Duluth, GA

I've known Archna since our early school days and fondly remember chatting it up in the front of the classroom during math with our other friend Sheryl (obviously not talking about math). Archna is super smart, hilarious and has an infectious laugh - which, not surprisingly, won the heart of Bruce. The two were married and had a fun reception complete with an Indian buffet line that I visited an undisclosed number of times. After seeing photos from our (Monica + Sherwin) self-taken engagement shoot, Archna asked if I would take some photos of her and her husband. With my digital and old school film camera in hand, I met the pair at a nearby park and finished my first photoshoot. Although I had played around with film photography early on with my dad's equipment and shot everything in sight after getting my first digital slr after college, I credit Archna & Bruce with being the first couple brave enough to test out my lack of skills & experience :)

P.S. These two make ridiculously cute babies :)