My name is Brooke, but my babies call me
Hi Mama!
Mama
I'm married to the love of my life, Lance, who is active-duty military, and balances me out perfectly. We are blessed with two incredible human children, Blake + Archer, fifteen chickens (Midnight, Moonlight, Marie, Honey, Pig, Cow, Marie, Honey, Pig Honey… Blake named them), and two dog-dogs, our Belgian Mals, Bella and Stout.
Philippians 4:13 carried me through my darkest moments
1 Samuel 1:27-28 gave me peace when I lost my first baby
Bible verses close to my heart:
Military wife, Christian mama, sourdough bread baker, and passionate photographer.
In my spare time, I’m an avid gym junkie, true-crime podcast listener, full-time baby chaser, sourdough bread baker, and always busy with projects at home. We’re working on raising our family to live a more simple, wholesome, and crunchy lifestyle. Being present with our family is where you'll find me, which is why I have become so passionate about photography - to relive those precious moments and take you back in time.
my hubs
Let me take you back in time, 10 years to be exact. While we may not be bar patrons now, the bars of Jax Beach is where our unplanned romance began. It’s crazy to think that such a humble, hardworking, and loving man from a small town in CA would meet my wild, compassionate, and all-in self from an island no one’s heard of - Amelia Island. Lance was in EOD school at the time, and I was in college. We use to take turns traveling to see each other on the weekends - Destin to Amelia Island four hour drive.
We did this for months, and he received orders to CA. He asked me to go with him, and I did. We’ve been married for eight years, filled with wonderful and challenging memories and emotions. Marriage isn’t easy; it’s actually really fucking hard, especially being in the military, but we are mad for one another. For us God is first, and we make quite the team together. I think of our eight years of marriage: one loss, two beautiful children, three deployments, three moves across the country, and here we are. In Song of Solomon 3:4, the Bible says this: I have found the one whom my soul loves, and that right there says it all.
My fav person is
homesteading
My husband and I have a dream to own a wedding venue with a farm one day. This is our long-term goal to pass down for generations to come. We value life's simple pleasures and therefore take great pride in what we eat and drink and do. I began making my own sourdough bread about three years ago and since then haven’t purchased any. I make various sourdough pastries, breads, pancakes, etc.
I make my own tallow creams and scrubs. We also began our own garden and raise chickens. We started out with three which became five, then seven, nine, and now fifteen. — God help me- chicken math IS REAL lol. I am 100% that crunchy mama who spends hours researching, educating, and sharing information on what is good/bad for our bodies. It has brought us great pleasure, and we hope to pursue our dream one day soon.
we enjoy
motherhood
I never saw myself being a mother. I wasn’t sure I even wanted to ever get married. These things changed when I found Lance, my soulmate. It’s amazing how we think we know what we want when we’re young and once you grow up, how different our lives become. The love I have for my babies is with every single ounce of my being. When I look at them, I try to permanently etch the face and the smiles into my memory, hoping I’ll never forget the day, the time, the feeling, the smell, the funny things they do and say. Blake (3) and Archer (2) are so much alike and yet SO different that I love every bit of what makes them, them.
My daughter a gentle, kind, thorough, intelligent, animal whisperer, and my son a wild, loving, curious, and hungry one. They compliment one another and have just the perfect amount of Lance and I within them. They know and love the Lord with all of their heart, singing songs about Jesus and holding hands at dinner to pray before each meal. These messy, in-between, heartfelt, inquisitive moments are the ones I want to cherish in my heart and mind forever. This is why and how photography has changed my perspective on life - my children, the family memories, the in-between, each moment matters and holds a special place where we want to go back in time to relive it over and over again.
my journey
testimony
I grew up in the Catholic church and school where “religion” was expected. I went through all of the motions as every Catholic does, but I never felt any REAL relationship with God. I was honestly scared of God. I was taught to obey His commands and, if not, I’d go to Hell, that doing certain“duties” gets you into Heaven. I didn’t understand what it meant to truly have this connection with God until I was much older. I had a difficult childhood. After my parents divorced, I was very rebellious and doing things I now cannot believe I took part in. I went through several losses of people, friendships, boyfriends, and other things. I was in and out of nondenominational churches, trying but not really feeling it and thought I had made this connection with God.
It wasn’t until I became pregnant with my first baby that I started to really get into what it meant to be a Christian. I prayed hard and changed my life around. My marriage became even better. We worked on things together, and it was wonderful. But then I lost my baby. I remember feeling this emptiness inside I had never felt in my entire lifetime, but this made Lance and I closer than we ever had been. This emptiness was awful, but for some insane reason, the more I leaned into God I felt a sense of peace come over me that I’ve never, ever felt. I knew it would be okay even in such a sad time in my life. The next month I was pregnant with Blake. Laying my eyes on her for the first time is something words can’t even begin to describe. I trusted Him, and here I was with a perfectly healthy and beautiful baby girl. I overcame it all and trusted God, and my life has never been the same. Pastor Joby Martin and the Church of Eleven 22 became our church home throughout all of this, and he baptized me in the Atlantic Ocean with my sister along with hundreds of other people. May 21, 2023 I became free, and it is a day I will never forget.
my faith
Let's be honest
Life can be chaotic, especially juggling your family, home, animals, work, and everything else in general. It's overwhelming.
Taking photos is the last thing you'd want to plan for, but I also know how much this means to you and how badly you want these to be able to look back on for years to come. So take a deep breath and know that I've got you every step of the way.
If you’re anything like me, then you know exactly what I mean about you taking snapshots inside your head (that’s what I call them anyway) of these moments you want to hold on to forever and relive over and over again.
For me it might be the smell of my daughter's hair as I rock and cuddle her before bedtime or the gentle touch of my son's tiny fingers as he reaches his little arms out at me for a hug, the sound of my children's deep belly laughs, or the feeling of my husband's hands as we dance in the kitchen.
For you it may be catching the moment of your dad’s tear-filled eyes of joy on your wedding day or celebrating becoming a family and never letting go of the newborn baby smell or the heaviness of your pregnant belly. It might be the fun and wild date nights with your other half, popping bottles and cheering on new adventures yet to come. You inhale deeply and try to hold on to every scent, sound, taste, and touch—every single detail--so you can come back to relive that very moment forever and ever.
That's what I want for my clients, for my families, for my couples, for everyone.
Taking pictures is so much more than just a paycheck or an image to me--It's a relationship and a sacred bond. It’s a visual of mixed emotion--it's like pressing repeat to that favorite song you can't stop listening to and every sense you can feel being put into an art form. This is why I have become so passionate about photography: to relive those precious moments, to take you back in time so you can physically hold on to those snapshots in your head so you're able to truly treasure and feel them for years to come.
