Brennan & Tessa Love Story

The "love stories" continue... Happy Valentine's Day everyone.

The year was 2001. Ninth grade, the best year of junior high had just begun. We were too young to drive, but too old to ever consider staying home on a weekend. So that’s where our story started... it was Friday night and everyone was “hanging out” (roaming the streets of someone’s neighborhood looking for something to do). It was that time of the day when we had to check-in with our parents to inform them of the plan for the rest of the evening. I needed to call my mom, but had no desire to go inside to use the house phone.

Luckily, standing right by me was a boy who had borrowed his dad’s cell phone for the night. The boy was Brennan and he had just started to hang with our “group.” He offered up his phone to me in exchange for a chicken nugget from the Wendy’s kid’s meal I had just bought. We made the trade and followed up the conversation by introducing ourselves. I asked him, “So what school do you go to?” He replied a little insulted, “Umm, Bonneville.” I apologized for not knowing and immediately questioned how long he’d been going there. “Since seventh grade,” was his response. Clearly seeing how uncomfortable I was, he quickly explained, “Well the only reason I know YOU go to BJH is because you’re a cheerleader.”

It turned out we also had two classes together. It couldn’t have been a more awkward first meeting than that.

Fortunately, my embarrassing first impression didn’t shatter the chance of us becoming friends. In truth, we were never really just friends... we were together. Boyfriend and girlfriend. That year we won “Most Lovable” at our Valentine’s Dance and by then we were very much in love. Two teenagers, who had no idea they’d still be together on Valentine’s Day nine years later.

We’ve had the rare opportunity to see each other grow up and watch one another become the young adults we are today. We share an amazing ten years of history together, “longer than most people stay married these days,” people often joke. But the next chapter in our love story (marriage) will be written later this year. We know it will be the perfect ending to this tale!

Thank you Tessa & Brennan... so so sweet. Ahhhhh, young love!

Ngoanh & Tam Love Story

Several weeks ago I received a phone call from my friend Shelly (of Orchid Dynasty & Kado Designs), suggesting a collaboration surrounding Valentine's Day. The concept consisted of simply photographing a couple and hearing their story... how they met, their love, their trials, plainly their "love story". A very simple, but meaningful attempt to explore what brings and keeps us together.
As we considered couples, Shelly's parents were our first choice, their story is quite unique and triumphant. Ngoanh & Tam, immigrants from Vietnam as a result of the "Fall of Saigon" in 1975, share their story in their own (translated) words.

Tam "My best friend had an older brother who was coming home from the war. She introduced me briefly. I didn’t think much of it. We were neighbors and I had seen him before but he was never home and I had never talked to him. I was maybe 19 or 20 at the time and my mother was very weak and ill. Being a single parent, my mother was afraid that she may not make it and that I would be alone, unmarried. My friend, brother and mother decided that the neighbor’s son would be a great person to marry. After a week of deliberation... permission & blessings, we were getting married!"
Ngoanh "I guess we are getting married."
Tam "A few months later, we were married."

Tam "Flash forward 10 years of really getting to know someone, having 4 children... life in Vietnam prior to the War was extremely harsh and difficult. I raised pigs and chickens for food and took care of the family."
Ngoanh "I was away a lot. This was during the time of social uprising and wars. It took its toll on the both of us."

Tam "My brother was a successful businessman and he had seen the changes in Vietnam, he warned us about the imminent danger ahead and wanted us to leave before it got bad. We attempted to leave several times but when we finally had the chance, we along with 200+ people were able to escape on a boat. We had heard awful stories of piracy, rapes and even murder. There were boats that sunk or disappeared, thousands of people did not make it. We were lucky, everyone on our boat survived but suffered dehydration, sun exposure, diarrhea and sea sickness. Sailing for days and nights, we arrived on the shores of Bidong. An island off of Malaysia. We were reconsidered refugees and lived in makeshifts camps for over a year. I don’t know how we made it, but we did."

Nyoanh "After we arrived, the Malaysian government separated us, the men and boys from the women and girls. We had no idea what to expect, we did not know who would help us. We just had to survive. I worked in exchange for food by slaughtering chickens and whatever jobs I could do. Our youngest was 2 at that time (Shelly). We stayed at the camp for over a year before the United States accepted us as political refugees. After a long process, we arrived in Utah the winter of 1979. We were sponsored by a lovely family."
Tam "We lived with the sponsored family for 6 months and moved out on our own. During that time, I had given birth to my son and we became permanent residences."

Ngoanh "I was so excited the first time I went to the grocery store. They had so much of everything. I bought chickens and meat and thought to myself, this is good. We can make it. I worked 2 jobs for a while, a fortune cookie maker by day and dishwasher at night. We had our own place, and for a little bit it felt safe."
Tam " When the kids were little, I cleaned houses to help. We worked so hard to save for a down payment on our new home. I was so happy. Looking back, the interest rates were like 13%. We both worked full-time at different times so we didn’t have to pay for childcare. The kids were in school and all of us worked hard to assimilate."

Ngoanh & Tam "We have a good life, the kids are all grown up now, and we have 8 grandchildren. We are healthy and retired. We are happy.
How did we fall in love? By living."

As I photographed Tam and Ngoanh in their home, heard their story a great level of emotions were felt. An incredible appreciation for their endurance, admiration for the host family that sponsored the Huynhs and pure awe. Culturally physical affection is not prominent, but the silent pride and love of what they two had accomplished, was strong and felt through their words I (literally) could not understand. Ngoanh & Tam will be celebrating there 43rd wedding anniversary this year.

Thank you Shelly for inspiring this project. And thank you Tam and Ngoanh for inviting me into your home and sharing your love story.

Jett

Playing some serious catch-up on the blog. Starting at Christmas and going backwards... meet Jett.

Seriously, the most adorable Buddha baby ever. Squeals & smiles, (and some tears) abundant, so completely sold on this boy. I tried really (really) hard not to exploit Jett's tears, (no Jett was harmed in making these images), but it was just too irresistible. So so adorable... thank you Jett & Co.!

The Royal Bergelands

(Channeling Margot Tenenbaum here... love!)



One of my favorite families ever... thank you friends!

Miss Liv

Arlo

Parrish Family (Utah Family Photography)

This was my third year photographing this lovely family. It is always a pleasure to spend time with the Parrishs... thank you once again.

Liv & Halloween

Caught this on the way out the door to Liv's school dress-up day... prettiest butterfly on the block.

Carrie & Alex

Unintentional, but lovely...

Brooke

You know those few minutes of perfect light before sunset? Well, this little lady was sitting before my camera at that very point this evening. It was the first moment during our entire shoot that she actually settled in and shared herself with me... good timing Brooke, good timing.