{Haley Family} Sugar Land, TX Family Photographer

Lately I've been blogging client previews with just images and no words or narratives. After 7 years of blogging, many of which were in the middle of personal transition and heartache, I just felt like the words escaped me. I love words. They help me, inspire me, heal me, challenge and release me. And after so many years of sharing my work here on this blog, I felt like they were becoming generic. I felt like I was saying the same thing and somehow it seemed cheapened and value was lost. And if I'm feeling that way, I wondered what my clients and readers were thinking??? So I stopped. I let the images speak for themselves. And frankly, it was a relief to do so. Sometimes you just need to be quiet. And so I was. And from that, this irresistible desire and need to write has been burning in my soul. I've been doing it for myself but not sharing so much on my blog. But I want to share when I feel compelled to do so. And this session calls for that.

This is my sister's family in the images below. I come from an awesome family of five kids. We love and fight hard. We are one part fun, two parts crazy, and three parts unconditional in our love for one another. We have shared challenges and each have all experienced our own individual struggles. Sometimes when I think about my family, I think that we pretty much could represent the human struggle. We've been through cancer, addiction, death, discrimination, divorce, financial woes, resentment, distance, depression, and an overall "f-you, your life is better so how could you possibly understand". It's not always pretty, but it is real.

So back to my sister. She's awesome. She's not perfect, but she truly is a rock to me, always there when I need her. So shooting her family is just a small gesture to repay her for her constant presence in my life (even from states away in Texas). When I sat down to edit this session, I was overwhelmed with emotion. The girls have grown so much, my sister is seriously beautiful (and she doesn't even know it), and her husband is truly a brother to me having been more in my life than not (he could tell you stories but won't, because he knows I would kill him).

FAMILY. It is just so complex. And beautiful (or 'brutiful' as my fave blogger likes to call it). I am grateful for each and every one of you...the Haleys, the Averys, & the Beabers. We won't be together for Thanksgiving this year...but I am truly thinking of each and every one of you. And thanking God the difference a year could make! I will be at my own home here in Long Beach with my boyfriend David hosting his family for Thanksgiving (for the first time in my adult life). And my heart is truly full. Happy Thanksgiving my friends, family, & clients! I am grateful for each and every one of you for believing in me, supporting me, and just being really frickin' RAD!