the journal

Oh my goodness, I love this family! They come back to me every year for family photos but this year they decided to book a Spring Meadow Mini Session instead of a Fall Mini Session! I photographed their CRESS CREEK MINI SESSION in Fall 2022 so it had only been about 8 months since I photographed them last. But, holy cow, their daughter, Hazel has grown SO much! And they’ve been through a lot in those 8 months. In January, Gary spent about a week and a half in the hospital having emergency surgery and recovering from 2 blood clots. Can we say scary!? Gary said he lost a ton of weight and is still at a lower weight than he was before the blood clots. But, thankfully, he had an awesome team and recovered well. I was honestly, just so grateful to see their whole family for this Spring Meadow Mini Session. It was a long winter for them and I’m sure they were excited to get back to a bit of normalcy.

I have always loved Spring. It’s my favorite season and not just because my favorite color is green. haha. To me, Spring is re-birth. I LOVE seeing everything come to life again after a long winter. It reminds me to keep going and to have hope! And this family is a great example of that! Jessica & Gary pulled through this hard time and came out on top. Their family photos at THE MEADOW this Spring have new meaning for me, and I’m sure for them too. I am beyond grateful that I get to call this my job. Photographing life’s moments and memories is something I truly treasure and do not take for granted. My brother passed away in 2021 and it taught me that no moment is guaranteed and to savor every second we get with our loved ones.