Est. 2012 | Colorado Springs, Colorado and Charlottesville, Virginia wedding & family photographer

Last week felt like a whirlwind of emotions! I’ve been through hurricanes in my past, but this one was so different. I’m sharing the behind the scenes in this post, so be sure to check it out below! On a happier note, I’m finally taking these next two weeks to work on house stuff. 🙂 I’m caught up on editing, album designs (until I get updated revisions from clients), packaging, and most of my wedding meetings. PRAISE! Just in time to work on personal projects before Alex and I head out to Wyoming for a little baby-moon. 🙂 SO EXCITED for an adventure before baby responsibilities and before the last bit of fall weddings/sessions! October will be a crazy month, but I’m looking forward to the mountain views again. 🙂 In the meantime, check out what happened this past week!!!

COFFEE TALK

MOCHA MOMENTS
THE SWEETER MEMORIES FROM THIS PAST WEEK

1
FALL IS IN THE AIR

Or it might be cooler as a result from the hurricane… But I’ll take the fall weather!!! It’s so nice to not rush outside to exercise before the scorching heat for once. 🙂 Although, I’m sure once the cold winter weather settles in, I’m going to want the warm temperatures again. 😉 For now, I’m enjoying the cooler temps, apple scented candles, and the fall decor inside and outside of our home! And… bring on the pumpkin pie!!!

2
MY KIND OF WEEKEND 🙂

I’m sure this is not quite the weekend Alex envisioned for his one day off, BUT we started moving furniture around to make room for the baby!! And he was such a great sport about all of the changes since moving my stuff in a little over a year ago. Haha! We cleared out the nursery enough that Alex was even able to build our son’s crib!!!! AHHHH!!! After the crib was assembled, he had me come in to see it all done and grabbed my hand for a slow dance to our first dance wedding song. <3 I love his heart so much and can only imagine the amazing Dad he will be to our son!

ESPRESSO MOMENTS
THE BITTER MEMORIES FROM THIS PAST WEEK

1
NOTHING LIIKE PREPARING FOR A HURRICANE … DURING A HURRICANE.

Thanks to everyone who reached out to us last week! It was one heck of a rollercoaster ride!!! All-day Monday, we expected some rain and storms knowing that the hurricane eye was going to be east of us … BUT, we had NO idea that the track would change in 48-hours and intensify just overnight leaving us no time to prepare.

So Monday morning, we went on with our lives as usual. Although, when I was walking Ollie, I found some neighbors piling up sandbags at their doors and putting together hurricane shutters. I texted Alex, “do they know something we don’t know?” HAHA! We both laughed just thinking they were just overreacting to the storms.

Flash forward to Tuesday, it dumped rain all day long and the track was still aiming for New Orleans, LA/Biloxi, MS. In fact, Alex and I reached out to our friend in Biloxi saying if he needed to escape the hurricane, our house was open!

But… This quickly changed late Tuesday. Every time I pressed “future forecast” the hurricane eye oddly seemed like it was creeping closer to Pensacola, FL (just an hour east of us). I started to wonder if the prediction was off… And sure enough, before going to bed that night, the track shifted towards us. Alex quickly grabbed sandbags and lined our doors with towels before going to sleep. Just anticipating waking up to chaos…

Wednesday at 3:30 a.m., we woke up to a tornado down the road… Only then notified that we were in a hurricane warning (no longer just a tropical storm) … The wind was howling … Rain was DUMPING buckets almost sideways … Alex had to somehow get to the hospital for work at 4:45 a.m. … AND found out that the hurricane intensified to a strong Category 2 overnight. The entire county was UP and on guard. My heart didn’t stop racing that entire morning as Alex had to somehow battle through the flooded backroads to get to work. I hated seeing him leave in those conditions and be left alone in a hurricane while watching the local News as roads were closing down. As soon as Alex let me know that he made it safely to the hospital, I was able to rest a little bit. After cleaning up the water around the house and prepared for power outages, I grabbed Ollie and Pixie and we all gathered in one room in case another tornado showed up. The towering pine trees over and around our home were more a concern for me than the water leaks, though.

It was the longest morning getting through the storms and the wind, but fortunately, by late afternoon, the storms passed by leaving behind a little sunshine and gusty wind. The amount of rain from the storm was crazy!!! These photos aren’t even showing when the flooded roads were at its peak!!

I’ve been through hurricanes before in Virginia, but there was something so different about being in a hurricane on the Gulf coast. The Gulf seems to stir up the storms at the last minute (like Hurricane Michael) making it very unpredictable … But also dealing through the storm alone wasn’t my favorite either… Because the hospital didn’t have time to prepare either, Alex had to go into work and attend his patients. I’m sure if the weather forecasters predicted this exact track, things would have looked a LOT different here. I’m just glad everyone seems to be okay and the materialistic things can be replaced. Everyone around the community had a lot of yard clean up to do, but hopefully, this is the last for the season. 🙂

Our thoughts and prayers go out to those in and around our community who were affected by the hurricane, especially towards Pensacola. <3

Happy Monday, everyone!!