The Sherrill Family | Dallas Family Portraits

"it’s been a long hard ride (we've got a ways to go), 

but this is still the place that we all call home."

dierks bentley 

“Suddenly it seemed to me that I looked back from a great distance on that smile and saw it all again - the smile and the day, the whole sunny, sad, funny, wonderful day and all the days that we had spent here together. What was I going to do when such days came no more? There could not be many; for we were a family growing old..." Jetta Carleton

I have nearly ten good friends who are now wives and mothers.  When I met most of them they had neither "a guy" or "kids."  What a meaningful and fascinating experience it is to watch someone else grow, overcome hard new things, nurture a brood, bring new relationships into the world, develop, and happily thrive.  Jessica (Shae) and I met with weirdly similar life goals, and similarly weird current-life circumstances.   "It's the oldest story in the world.  One day you're 17 and you're planning for someday.  And then quietly, without you're ever really noticing, someday is today.  And then someday is yesterday.  And this is your life."  It's wonderful to look at a short-legged, fat-footed, brownie-eyed, watchful, puppy-boy and see my friend looking back up at me.  At least parts of my friend.  His eye-shape is the same as hers when he smiles, and just like his dad's "at rest."  Her dimples, his eyebrows.  Her goofiness, his need to figure out how things work.  A whole, original, never-before-and-never-again human who was wondered about in parks and Chipotle's all over the east coast.  I love knowing a talented, quietly sassy, determined woman and then meeting the new characters in her story -- finding out where her story all along was written into somebody else's.  This is the man.  This is the child.  Here is her family!

Josh is a friendly, smart partner for Jessica, and she is a lively, tough match for him.  Judah is clearly and affectionately loved by them both (I think every time we've hung out together Josh feeds/changes/cleans-up Judah.  Caleb and Josh have special bonding time over their sons' stank! haha) Being with them is easy and warm.  I love this little family, mostly because I know how much joy they have in each other.






























--- + --- + --- + --- + --- + --- to book your own i'm kristen one-year or family session,  especially in the maryland/virginia/dc, new york/boston, or oklahoma to dallas areas E-MAIL ME HERE (i'll also be traveling around southern california + the lake tahoe/nevada areas in coming months.)

Jessica Shae | Maternity Portraits

the next time we meet,
a new kind of "hello!"
both our hearts have a secret,
only both of us know.
josh ritter - kathleen

She was born in 1989.  So was I.  She was the firstborn daughter.  So was I.  She became the oldest of seven children.  So did I.  She was homeschooled.  So was I.  After graduating highschool, she went to Chicago for an internship.  So did I.  She was interested in starting a photography business.  So was I.  She liked to travel.  So did I.  She likes Chipotle, tanning in sunshine, getting nails done, wearing maxi dresses (or dresses, period) and the colors coral and Tiffany Blue.  So do I.  I started dating a guy, and three months later she started dating a guy.  I got engaged to a guy, and three months later she got engaged to a guy.  I married my guy, and three months later, she married her guy.  My guy and I became a family of three, and a few months after her guy and she, also, became a family of three.

For better or for worse, Jessica and I have managed to connect over, well, pretty much everything.  She's far neater, and I'm a bit messier and wilder.   She is a bit more thought-through and I'm a bit more impulsive.  She rarely (until) finishes her Chipotle, and I always do.

And she's a friend who understands, feels and knows things about me that very, very few do.  Some things you can never explain or describe.  You just know.  Our life pace-car has been step-by-step for nearly our entire lives.  When we met, we were little blonde whirlwinds, just dreaming about eerily similar things. And four years and a whole lot of story later, we are a little and bigger blonde, living out those eerily similar things.  We had no idea how sweet they'd be.  Or how much fun they would be to enjoy together.



Little Ras has an extraordinary mommy.  Full of insight, thoughtful consideration, life lessons, fight, quirky charm, happy grace, and love.  She loves your daddy, Ras.  And they have quite a story.  She loves you, Ras.  And has for a very, very long time.  In so many ways (which sounds so vague.  Sorry. It's going to have to), Tiny Jessica Shae is a very different person than I met years ago.  But, truly more than that, she is one of the most consistent, sure and stable people I've ever known.  Her course has been tried and proven true, so she's stayed the way.  Her heart has wanted and hunted down good, real desires.  She's been like that for as long as I've been her friend.  You're going to have a life-of-lives being raised by this woman.


Thank you for, well, you know.  Thank you :)  Yesterday was wonderful, and your burrito bump is even better and I can't wait to see you again - hopefully with a little munch in your arms.