I love this family! Steven is my husband’s youngest uncle and Spencer has always looked up to his good example. DawnSheree inspires me by her positivity and passion for life as she raises her 5 boys. Together they make a solid team. As each of their boys came to their family one at a time, their different personalities came together to make up their fun, crazy, loving family. I watch DawnSheree parent her boys so naturally; wrestling and kissing, showing each one that they are important and capable and loved. I watch her give them room to grow, to make messes, to excel, and learn from their mistakes. I watch her boys thrive under her loving care, and I feel reassured in this amazing work that we do as mothers.
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Lynae has this way of making everyone feel valuable. She is incredibly patient, organized, and impossibly fun. She is an amazing wife to her husband, David, and mother to her son, Dylan. A couple years after her son Dylan was born, Lynae was ready for another addition! It wasn’t until about 5 years later, that she finally got those two little pink lines! They switched the bedrooms around and started preparing the new nursery. Dylan was so happy to be a big brother, and would give the baby a little hug before going to school. At the doctor’s office, they were excited to see the baby’s tiny heart beat, but worried when it was a little slower than usual. They came back a week later to find out that the baby had been lost. All the anticipation and hopes and uncertainties were at once halted as they tried to make sense of what was next. They had one glimmer of hope in the knowledge that her body could conceive. And they carried on, keeping that little bit of hope inside themselves. A year later, nothing. Another year, nothing. They decided to go to a fertility clinic where they went through multiple cycles of fertility treatment. Their high hopes and raw emotions were dashed into pieces every time the treatments failed. In a confusing mess of expensive and uncertain possibilities, they felt utterly hopeless. Lynae was then led to an amazing doctor, Dr. Joseph Stanford. She said they were on the right path. This doctor focused on all the things that could possibly be wrong, and worked to fix them. They discovered a hormonal problem and a disorder of the uterus called Endometriosis. After another year of working with this doctor, he suggested a surgery for the Endometriosis. She had it done in March. More negative pregnancy tests, more disappointment. But she knew deep down that she would have more children. She didn’t know how, or when, but she held on to that feeling, when it would have been easier to give up. It hurt to watch others’ children grow up around her, and even though she was still young, it was hard to watch her own son grow older and older. In June of that year, David’s dad lay on his deathbed. In one last tender moment together, he told them, “You need a sweet little girl. I’m going to find one and send her down.”
After his passing, they mourned his loss, but smiled when they thought about his sweet promise. Weeks passed as usual until one day she took her routine pregnancy test. Two lines. She took another test. She made Dylan do one too, to see if they were faulty. With Dylan's test negative, and all 6 of hers positive, it was certain. Pregnancy. Prayers. Tears. And a lot of celebrating! This sweet baby girl is already so loved (read: spoiled) by so many people who are so grateful for amazing miracles. Lynae said, “This has been a very long pregnancy, full of hope, excitement, and a lot of worry, but such an amazing journey! I wouldn't change any of it. Through all of this, I have learned to have empathy for so many people with similar trials! I'm so grateful for my little family and more than anything, I cannot wait to meet this little sweet girl that Grandpa sent from heaven, who our angel parents, sister, and grandparents have been hanging out with! I'm so grateful for our amazing doctors! And for so many, many prayers! And so much love! We have been so blessed!” Watching Andrea play Barbies with Evie made my week. I was giggling the entire time. Evie does this tiny high voice as she complains that she (Ariel) has a head ache and needs to go to the doctor. Only to find out that “Oh, he died.” This was how the storyline went the entire time. My favorite part was watching Andrea be so present with her and enjoy their time together. Andrea said “My kids are totally different and it couldn't be more fun. Trae is my cuddle bunny and wants to snuggle into my lap whenever possible. He is sensitive, sweet and emotional. He is so tender-hearted. He also loves anything Avengers, especially the Hulk. Then there is Evie. She is my sassy little redhead. Her personality matches her fiery-red hair perfectly. She is independent and thinks she is 16 years old. She kind of runs the show around here. Evie loves anything princesses, and especially loves princess Ariel. Some days Trae and Evie will be the best of friends and never leave each other sides. Other days... well, let’s just say there are other days. "Together, we have so much fun. It's exhausting, but fun. We like to have dance parties, play Memory, have movie nights, read books, do puzzles and play hide ‘n’ go seek. We go swimming, skiing, to new parks, Bear Lake, Lagoon, Park City, California, and anywhere that we can fit into our crazy schedule. I like my kids to try new things and get a taste of what the world has to offer. I want them to remember their childhood as being fun, spontaneous and always filled with love." This home was a dream for me as a photographer, because of the beautiful big windows. But to Andrea, it has so much meaning. She said, "This home will always have a special place in my heart because it was where we built our family of THREE. It is where I stood on my own two feet and decided to raise my children by myself, in a home of harmony and love. This home built me into the woman I am today. In this home, I proved to myself that I can do hard things. I'm so grateful for this house and the experiences I have had here, the people I have met, and the lessons I have learned." I'm grateful to learn from so many amazing, strong mothers, who love their children unconditionally and work everyday to create beautiful homes and lives filled with charity and love.
This little story made me laugh out loud. These two were grocery shopping. Becka went to grab something, and while she was away, Max took advantage of the opportunity and asked a store employee to find him the biggest jar of Nutella they had! When Becka came back a moment later, there were 5 employees gathered around Max laughing and enjoying his playful banter. Max loves to help his mama. Any time she bakes, he's right there, ready to assemble the ingredients. He's happy to help clean just about anything, as long as he's by her side. Becka said the other day she changed a burnt-out lightbulb, and Max came to her later in the day and told her that he was so sad she had changed it without his help. Max has a big imagination and loves telling stories. His stories are usually long-winded, lacking structure, and maybe a little nonsensical, but he enjoys telling them and they make people laugh. Becka loves that Max is so cuddly. He wakes her up in the morning with kisses and cuddles!
Becka said she has found so much joy in raising Max and learning and growing together. I am so inspired by their sweet relationship, and it reminds me to continue to try to be more intentional in my relationships, especially with my baby boy. One of the reasons I am so grateful we moved to Logan Utah, is all the amazing people we have met here. Sam and Emily are at the top of that list. They are some of the most generous and down-to-earth people I have ever met. I was so grateful to be able to photograph their beautiful family. Emily and Sam first met in high school in California. Emily described herself as pretty quiet and said the first time Sam tried to talk to her, she felt like she couldn’t even speak! Sam was cracking jokes and talking to everyone. Emily kept to herself, and laughed as Sam tried to guess who she was, by making up a funny story about what her life was like. A few months later, they met up again and officially got together. But it wasn’t long before they both ended up moving and broke it off because of the distance. Time passed and they lived their separate lives until one day Emily received a long message from Sam saying that he loved her and had made a mistake in letting her go. He then moved all the way back to California just so they could be together! They are now married and living in Logan with their adorable baby girl named Olivia, or Olive for short. I asked Emily if she wanted to share her conversion story and she went above and beyond! I felt so inspired as I read through it. We all have hard challenges, but with the Atonement, we can be healed. I am so grateful that Emily chose to share her amazing story. “My whole life I grew up in the Catholic Church. Every Sunday, I went to mass with my family. Being in the Catholic Church growing up felt right to me. I didn’t know anything else. I remember being young, going to catechism, and looking forward to the day I was going to get baptized. I was juggling school, soccer, dance, and catechism all at the same time. It was very time consuming, but it was worth it. The time finally came that I was able to get baptized. It was a special day. My faith was stronger than it had ever been before. About two years after I got baptized, tragedy struck my family. I was 13 years old when my older sister who was 16 years old took her own life. Sadly, I was the one who found her. From that moment, everything that I felt about God suddenly went to black. There was no longer that brightness, peace or happiness I once felt. I felt that God had betrayed me and my family. I felt so much hurt and anger. I thought to myself “Why would God do this?” By the day of my sister’s funeral, my whole faith had crumbled. I felt that my faith had gone down in the ground with my sister. I was scared because I had no idea what was going to happen to her. At that moment I believed that there was no heaven, no hell, no after-life. For 5 years I had no faith, no more interest in God, the Almighty. I wouldn’t say I was atheist because I knew there was a God. I just wasn’t on speaking terms with Him. I didn’t know what to believe or what to think. I became so lost. One day, Sam introduced me to some missionaries (from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.) I told him that I had no interest. The first Elder I ever talked to was Elder Young, and I will never forget him and the kind messages and words he spoke to me. I told him what I had been struggling with for the past 4 years, and I was afraid he was going to judge me or say something insensitive. But he didn’t, and I will forever be grateful for that. When we moved to Logan, our next set of missionaries came. They were Elder Wheeler and Elder Nasca. I will admit I was skeptical on the first few visits. I remember Elder Wheeler asking me to read the Book of Mormon and see how I felt about it. By the end of the week, I was already in 2nd Nephi. He asked me what I thought. I told him, “ I like it…I didn’t get any negative or doubtful feeling about it. So I guess that’s good right?” He then told me to open up to Alma 32:28. I remember it said, “It must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me.” From then on, my seed grew more and more each day, and my faith slowly started to come back. After a couple months, Sam and I decided we both wanted to be baptized. Unfortunately, I had to wait because I lost all my important documents during the move. It was a long and hard process. Sometimes I wondered if I should still follow through, because of how difficult it was. But I held on tight to the iron rod, until we finally got all my paperwork. We called the missionaries and they hurried over. We immediately started the process toward baptism. September 3rd was the day I became one of Heavenly Father’s children again. It was the most amazing feeling I could ever feel besides getting married to the love of my life and having a beautiful daughter. Getting baptized was the best thing I could ever do for myself and for my family. I cannot express enough how blessed I am to have the gospel in our lives, and to raise our family in the Church. I truly believe that the Lord put me through one of the hardest trials in my life to be able to go through the experience I did with the church, and to be quite honest, I would do it all again for HIM.”
Oh, motherhood. Kids may be expensive but we sure do get our money’s worth in emotion, entertainment, and plot twists. For example, a few weeks ago, Bryson decided to go on a milk strike. Yup, you read that right. Every time I’d offer to nurse him, he’d turn up his nose. It usually ended in tears for both of us, and with me feeding him more “big people food.” After a couple days of bottles and lots of pleading, he had pity on me and continued his quick distracted-by-everything nursing sessions, that I’ve come to accept as standard. You have to understand that Bryson thinks he’s an adult. He started getting teeth at 2 months and was crawling before 6 months. It sounds like a lot of fun but it can translate to bite marks where you’d least want them, torn up Ensigns and unraveled toilet paper. You cannot slow this kid down. He follows me around the house while I clean. He insists on seeing what I’m cooking (try handling raw meat & a hot stove with one hand, while restraining a curious child in the other). He comes in to splash on the side of the tub while I’m bathing. I even have to set him in the sink while I do my makeup to keep him from crying at my feet. He does not want to miss out on anything. Speaking of bathrooms, yesterday Bryson peed on the toilet for the first time. Not in it, on it. I had changed his diaper and decided it was a good time for a bath. I brought him with me to the bathroom and set him on his feet, holding onto the closed toilet while I filled his bath. Feeling a wet splash at my feet, I looked down to see a steady stream aimed right at the base of the toilet. I think he’s starting to get the idea. We’ll work on it. I guess what I’ve discovered is that as much as we’re learning how to survive raising this rambunctious little man, he survives us, as we learn how to play again, to give undivided attention, and remember to keep diapers in the diaper bag for when we leave the house. Oh, we’ve still got a long way to go.
You know those people that you only need to spend about 5 seconds with before they brighten your day? That would be the Fryers. Between Melody’s bubbly personality and Doug’s sweet and silly interactions with his kids, this shoot had me grinning from ear to ear all day. Well that, and I knew how adorable these photos were going to be! I always say that my worst fear is that my (8 month old) baby boy, Bryson, will grow up and not want his momma anymore. He’s not even a year old and he already prefers exploring over cuddling. So when I asked little Ozi if he still cuddled with his momma, I was so delighted to find out that he still loved momma-cuddles! I don’t think anyone should outgrow that. Now let’s talk about this cute father-daughter pair. Growing up in this society as a girl and women can be rough, because we live in a society that feeds off our insecurities. Magazines, movies, beauty ads and social media constantly pose the lie that we don’t measure up, and it is easy to fall into that belief system. I believe that one of the most powerful forces to combat these struggles is a father’s love. Fathers have the power to show their daughters every day that they are beautiful, valuable, and cherished without needing to conform to any standard set by society. I love seeing righteous fathers who love their daughters and wives with pure love and charity. And then there’s the house. Bright and fresh, with vibrant pops of color. The living room had a wall of windows. It was every photographer’s dream. They play instruments, they do gymnastics and sports, they cuddle, they bake, they are huge Aggie fans, and… they dance before they pray. I hope you enjoy this cute family as much as I do!
"Daddy & Me" | Logan PhotographerIt’s the first day of winter, and here in Utah, that means we play indoors. This shoot took place in our little (tiny) apartment in Logan. As you can tell, Bryson loves having Spencer’s full attention. Almost every day, I have to remark on the way he looks at his daddy. And Spencer has earned that look. He makes Bryson laugh, he holds him during dinner, he even changes diapers. I absolutely love watching them interact and grow closer every day. Thinking on their relationship, I am reminded of our relationship with our Heavenly Father. He created us, and gives us all we need for life. He loves us with a love greater than we can comprehend and is always encouraging us to keep trying and keep growing. Spencer and I are alike in that we’re both always wanting to improve, but get discouraged when we don’t measure up to what we think we should be. God would never stop loving us because we stumble. But we won’t ever learn to walk if we reject the help he offers or decide that it’s not worth the price. I’m encouraged by the fact that every day is a new chance to be a little bit better. One of my favorite quotes is by Richard G. Scott. He says “We become what we want to be by consistently being what we want to become each day.” This tells me that the vision I have for myself is attainable, but only as I work on it every day. So be a better version of yourself for just one day. Then try to be even better tomorrow. Improvement, no matter how small, is bringing you closer to who you were meant to be. Give yourself credit for how far you’ve come and how much you’ve learned. Because just like with Bryson learning to stand, it's always going to take practice, patience and a good deal of stumbling.
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Hi, I'm Kalee.I believe we have the power to cultivate authenticity & genuine relationships, which bring meaning & true joy to our lives. Let me show you what I mean. Archives
March 2017
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