Sarah and EJ modeled for me in Laguna Beach last year and I shared some of their story. I remember looking for models to do a beach session with me last year when I first started trying to get out of Texas and jump into adventure sessions. Sarah and EJ were a DREAM to work with and did every little thing I asked of them.

Now, a year later, they booked a couple session with me in Joshua Tree National park to make Sarah’s dreams come true. (And mine!) And I HAD to share their entire session and story on here because it is PERFECT.

Sarah and EJ were supposed to meet multiple times. Her roommates became friends with his group of friends but EJ always seems to have plans every time they tried to hangout. The only thing Sarah knew about this guy was that he had a girlfriend so she never thought anything off it. Little did she know, she had been following him on Twitter for awhile. Once her and her roommates put those pieces together, the story gets interesting!

Sarah’s roommate was dating one of EJ’s friends and they all decided to have a party for one of their football games. EJ was recently single and had started messaging Sarah on Twitter (because EVERYONE was trying to set them up and knew they would get along great). But to Sarah, he was still some random guy. That night Saah and EJ IMMEDIATELY hit it off. They ended up staying up all night talking about everything under the sun. They eventually started dating and once they graduated, their cars became their best friends because of long distance.

In November of 2016 EJ told Sarah that he entered a contest to have a private penguin encounter at Moody Gardens in Galveston (Side note is that Sarah is OBSESSED with Penguins). One weekend Sarah was in town for EJ’s birthday and he surprised her with the fact that he actually had WON the contest and they were going to get to meet Penguins that next day. Sarah told me she immediately started bawling.

The next morning they drove down to Galveston, met up with 2 of EJ’s friends and a zoologist who walked them through the penguin enclosure, then back to a private room.

Sarah is STILL in tears when a penguin came waddling in and she just LOSES it.

The zookeeper had the penguin walk across a sponge that had paint, then across a canvas to create little penguin footprints. After they dried she handed them all the canvases and told them to flip them over because the penguin had signed the back… just wait for it.

When Sarah flipped hers over the words “Will you marry me?” were printed on the back. She looked over and EJ was down on one knee. LIKE WUT
EJ LITERALLY made Sarah’s dreams come true AND put a ring on it. In the same day. How better a proposal then that for someone who has always dreamed of getting to meet a penguin!?? When Sarah sent me this story I just wanted to sob because it sounded like the sweetest most genuine thing EJ could have ever come up with to ask the love of his life to marry him.

SO – basically, EJ did not actually win a contest, He had been working with Moody Gardens for months to set up the proposal of Sarah’s dreams.

They got married in Anna, Tx the next June and moved to LA the next January. I got to meet these two a little bit after they had moved to LA and let me tell you – they are SO IN LOVE.

This year my DREAM was to book an adventure shoot in Joshua Tree. When I shared my travel schedule for 2019 Sarah immediately messaged me and booked a weekend adventure session in Joshua Tree National Park. I love these two friends so much! This love of theirs has only grown the more Ive known them and I am so happy I had the privilege off documenting it for them! Enjoy!