Rest & Recharge

Little moments and big thankfulness

This past week my husband was out of town, so I took time away from photoshoots to rest and recharge with my kids. We spent time at grandparents' houses, playing outside, cooking and baking, and doing all the fun things that often get overlooked when we are so busy. While wonderful blessings come from filling up our schedules with things we love to do, sometimes these slower weeks remind you to appreciate quietness and the little things around the house.

Recently, Ryleigh has enjoyed gaining responsibilities. She has started to learn how to cook her breakfast and seeing her excitement as she gets to do it "all on her own" (with us present of course) is a really cool mom moment. I find myself realizing how big she is. I often still picture her as a little baby or very young toddler, even though she's clearly bigger than that. I guess my brain just has a hard time wrapping around the idea of how big she is. It's in these moments where I see her cooking her eggs by herself, making a smoothie, and putting the clean silverware away that I realize how much she's grown. As I watched her stir her scrambled eggs and pour her smoothie into a cup, purely happiness and thankfulness came across me as I smiled at her; not because I wasn't doing it, but because I am so incredibly thankful for how far she's came in 3.5 years. She is a beautiful, sweet and loving little lady that knows her worth, and it was a proud mom moment.

I am thankful for these weeks every once in a while, because there's more intention to noticing those little things and to reflect on them. No matter how busy you are this week, I want you to take just five minutes at the end of the day or whenever you have time to reflect back on your day and count your blessings. Think about all the small things we overlook and see the little blessings that happened in each of those small moments.

I think if we could all do this more often when we were busy, stressed, feeling down, etc. it would help us all see the joy around us more. Who knows, you might even see someone else struggling with something and be more open and available to lend a hand or comforting presence they need. While you get to be a blessing to someone else, you will find it's a blessing to you at the same time.

Behind the scenes

I mentioned I blocked this week off from photo sessions since my husband was gone so I could spend it with my children, but this a photography blog; so, let me share some of the behind the scenes work that happened this week!

First think on my schedule was to EDIT!! I had several sessions last week, and I spent time to finish up editing all the images and deliver galleries to their home! It is the best feeling to hear responses like, "we're obsessing over them," "we are going to book again," "these made me cry," and so many other heartfelt, kind words from previous sessions. My goal, of course, is to deliver images you love that have meaning behind them; so, to hear responses that you all love them means the world!

Another "to do" item this past week was to work on creating session guides for future clients! I want you to be prepared and to know exactly what to expect for your upcoming session, and these guides lay it all out for you! From knowing what kind of images will be captured, outfits, the booking process to gallery delivery, and more! I don't want you to have to stress about anything so these will be the perfect tool for you!

Business in's and out's: Lastly on my agenda for this past week was finalizing all my business in's and out's. From setting up online payments (yay! another easier way to serve you!) to ordering business cards, to finalizing the legality of my business (another yay! It's official!), to meetings with my accountant and so much more!

So, while this was a "rest" week for session, there was still SO MUCH happening behind the scenes to prepare for future clients (like you hopefully one day!!) and to keep the satisfaction of previous clients!

As always, thank you for following along on this journey of mine and being incredible!