Jessica for ROK15 | Fort Smith Portrait Photographer

Whoa! I have been away for too long!

Winter has passed (thankfully!) and here we are in this very, very wet month of May! The Arkansas River is unreal. I can't get over it.

Today I would like to share with you one of my favorite sessions so far this season. I was so privileged to photograph Jessica for a super fun event you may have heard about… Rocklahoma. As it turns out, Rocklahoma was this past weekend, Memorial Day weekend.. and it was a huge mud fest with all these  storms! I hope everyone still had fun, though!

We did this session in downtown Fort Smith, one of my favorite places in the world! I love this city and everything she's given me over the last two years.

Thank you, Jessica, for rocking with me for Rocklahoma 2015!

Rachel Hope {Fort Smith Portrait Photographer}

You know those perfect, sunshiny warm spring days? How wonderfully the sun beats down on your face, and the tiniest of breezes flutter by making it an absolutely magical day? I love those days. What I love even more is when we're blessed with not one, not two, but three of those days right in the middle of January. It has been absolutely amazing in Arkansas this week. Something about these perfect, out of character winter days make the best sunsets, too.

I can't lie, part of the reason the last few days were so perfect is because one of my favorite people on this planet came to Fort Smith to visit. You've seen her on my blog before, and probably all over my instagram feed and Facebook, too. There is something so profound about meeting someone in life that totally understands you, flaws and all, and chooses to love you anyway. I feel like I'm the luckiest person on the planet, because not only did I find that in my husband, but I found that in Rachel, too.

My story is pretty roller coaster-y, but in a nutshell, my brave fearless husband maintained an unending veteran status… well, for about 10 years. The last 6 of those 10, he was in Iraq 3, 5, 6, and 8 months at a time, only being home about 28 or 30 days in between. The last 2 of those 10 years.. I began to crumble. The burden of being alone and being fearful was too much to bear. God heard the plea of my heart for someone to lean on, someone to love, someone to love me.. and then one day this blonde angel walked up to me and said, "Hi I'm Rachel." Shortly after, during the same conversation, she says "I've got a boat! Will you be my first mate?" And we laughed, it was so silly. A few years later, and here we are… I couldn't imagine my life without her. Best friends are a true gift, a soul sister is a Godsend.

I'm so, so incredibly lucky.

Ushering in the FEELINGS

What goals did you set for the New Year? Resolutions? 

What do you want to change in the next year?

These are the typical questions rattling around in my head every single December. Generally my answers are ridiculous and I come up with a list of 10-15 things that I *kind of want* but don't actually intend to work on achieving past January 4th or so. 

Yeah.. you can pretend like you see that smug little emoji frown-y smile guy right behind that last sentence.

Last year I bought Danielle LaPorte's book "The Desire Map." I started it but it was way, way too deep for me to brave it. I was scared of the answers to her incredible question…

"How Do You Want To Feel?"

Also, her perfect font and spacing intimidated the crap out of me. No lie. All my journalism classes and writing classes creep back in to my mind.. and I'm incredibly envious of a perfect font and space combo.

I digress.

December 2014 I did it. I sat down, I read the book, I cried, I brainstormed, I looked up words in the dictionary that I already knew the meaning to, then cross referenced them in the thesaurus, cried some more, found my perfect shiny gold words and their incredible meanings that shine a beacon straight to my heart. 

Oh Danielle. Let me take you for a drink. Seriously. 

So many years I say things like "I'm going to lose 10 pounds." Or "I am going to go to the gym 5 days a week and only drink alcohol on Tuesdays."

Snark Snark Snark

WRONG

I never follow through.

This year I've chosen FEELINGS. The ways I want to feel.

And I'm rolling with it. It's already working. My heart is so happy and full. Incredibly. 

Consistent. Radiant. Love. Strong.

Simple. Incredibly simple. 

Out of a list of about 150 words scribbled all over my copy of The Desire Map in bright blue ink (from a super fat pen, just like the kind my Dad used to order when he owned a fence business, the best pens on the planet).. those four words are MINE. They stand out to me. They convey the best way I could feel (for now). 

Consistent. Because setting goals for weight loss or times in the gym per week or foods to eat or photos I'd love to take but never quite find the time… consistency is something I want to feel. I could subcategorize that one with organization but.. you can still be organized and not follow through. I want to feel that consistent feeling and the accomplishments that come with consistency are going to be so huge for me.

Radiant. Not like beauty. This is a tricky one if you're not in my head and heart (be thankful you're not, ok!). I want to radiate feelings of light and love. I try to do that anyway. But seeing the word RADIANT on my planner pages daily and in my home and surrounding me.. it helps me to remember. I need to be the light and the love I want to see in the world. 

Love. Real talk: I wanted to feel LOVED. Except, I have no control over that. I can't make someone love me. I can't make someone show me that they love me. I am not in control of that feeling. So. Back up a bit. How can I change that around and still feel the way I want to? I want to feel LOVE. I AM the love. Thanks, Danielle. You're the best. Realization number eleventy, donezo. :)

Strong. This one is maybe more about a physicality than any other word and I sort of felt shallow for that, at first. But there's nothing wrong with craving the feeling of strength. Feeling strong and happy physically also leads to feeling amazingly strong and happy mentally. It's a never ending journey. 

So.. there are my core desired feelings for 2015. I'm very excited about them and I love them. I gravitate toward them. The power of words is amazing! 

How do you want to feel? I highly recommend taking this journey with Danielle!

A Merry Clayton Christmas {Fort Smith Photographer}

Sunday, I got to be a part of something totally, wonderfully, amazing. I was asked to be the photographer for the Clayton House Christmas.

The Clayton House is an historic home here in Fort Smith that is simply breathtaking… for SO MANY reasons! Now, I'm going to gush a little bit and say that Julie, the lovely lady that runs the Clayton House, is the absolute best part about visiting. She's the sweetest woman ever. So patient and kind, and genuinely in love with her job and the people she meets every single day. I love to listen to her speak about the Clayton family, and all the volunteers and artifacts that have been donated to the house. I just want to hug her every time I see her (and I do!).

Angelic Julie with Santa!

The event started off with a bit of piano playing, and then the Fort Smith Chorale sang Christmas carols, then there was a vignette, refreshments, and crafts. Simply wonderful! It was so fun to see everyone coming and going, learning, appreciating, and being merry.

The Clayton Family vignette actors

Of course, Santa made an appearance, and what a lovely Santa he was! I even got to meet the future Mrs. Claus, and she snapped my picture with Santa and texted it to me. I had so much fun.

Seeing the children's eyes light up when they saw Santa really lit a fire inside me! I already love Christmas, and I have two children, so the magic is very real to me. Every year it is like I get to experience Christmas in a new way, through the eyes of my children. Being a mother is a wonderful gift, and I think it is even more so during the holidays!

This cutie was enthralled with Old Saint Nick!

One of the Clayton sisters hanging out with Santa between the chorale and the vignette.

This image is my favorite! Not just because it happens to be of my daughter, but because of the serious love this little girl obviously has for Santa!

Christmas at the Clayton House has been my favorite part of this holiday season, so far. I hope to be invited back next year, and I hope that all of you will join us! What a magical, historical time!

xoxo

kP

Julian | 2015 {Fort Smith Senior Photographer}

Hello!

Today I'm posting about Julian. :) He's a super sweet high school senior out in Sallisaw, Oklahoma. I had the pleasure of meeting Julian while I was at the Deck The Halls event at the First Assembly of God out in Sallisaw. I was showcasing my photo skillzzzz :) haha and he was helping out with his youth group (the event was to raise money for the youth ministry!).

Anyway, we started talking about senior year, senior pictures, senior rings, you know.. all that exciting stuff! The rest is history. I had a fun day hanging out with Julian and his youth pastor Ashton during his session. Thanks, guys!

Julian told me he feels very called to youth ministry. That is so cool! My heart is so full when I encounter someone with such an evident love for God. To see that in our future generations is seriously so amazing. 

Thankful Thursday & BBR {Fort Smith Photographer}

I've been thinking about writing a weekly "getting to know your photographer" post for a while now, and I think that this morning is the perfect time to start. I need to write down the words that I couldn't get out this morning!

In case you didn't already know, I am a member of a wonderful group of people called Business By Referral. It is an amazing, seriously, I can't put enough adjectives down in this sentence to describe them, fabulous, group of souls. I was invited to join the group by a very dear friend of mine (who at the time was only an acquaintance, but she also happened to be my neighbor, and her kids are friends with my kids). I was over the moon to go and probably drove her a little crazy asking and re-asking what time the meeting was and would we ride together or should I just meet her there? I was nervous to go in  to the Chamber of Commerce as a business owner and entrepreneur. Especially coming off of a couple of years without really working, and 7 months of not even owning a camera (this is a story for another time, my struggle with my decision to go back to work- I'll post about that in another getting to know me entry!).

The morning of my first meeting came and everyone was so nice. I could not believe that I could be a member of a group of like minded, business and desire driven people, much less in person and not over the internet (helloooo life of a stay at home mom with a husband that travels a lot! Much of my adult interaction comes by way of Facebook or GeoClique!). Fast forward to today, after 5 or 6 months of weekly meetings with these people.. laughing and learning more than I ever could have dreamed of!

This morning was our Thankful Thursday breakfast and I wasn't sure what to expect other than a lot of love. Boy, was I right. Almost everyone brought a guest and many people shed tears of thankfulness over our little group. It was beautiful. I brought Jeannie, the Youth Ministries Coordinator at my family's church (St. John's Episcopal in downtown Fort Smith). Jeannie was the first person that reached out to us when we moved here. Actually, our former Priest, Father Jesse, contacted our now church home and let them know we were moving here. Amazing. So, Jeannie has been so supportive of me and my family since we moved here almost two years ago. Except, it seems like we just moved here like, last week! My kids call her Grandma, and she is wonderful at being a part of my family. :) We love her so much and we are so thankful for her.

While I was telling my BBR friends and their guests about Jeannie, I began to cry. I didn't plan to, but sometimes when we think about how blessed we are, and how thankful we are, the words just aren't there because all we can feel are those waves of unbridled love and gratitude welling up from within us.  I have so much to be thankful for in business and in my personal life, and every single member of Business By Referral is part of that. I meant to speak a little longer about how BBR has changed my life, about how each person has touched me in some way or another, but I just couldn't get it out. I don't want my lovely friends to think I walked away this morning without being thankful to and for them.

I have so loved getting to know each member, some more than others (don't worry, y'all. I want to know everyone equally!). I am so thankful for Cassie, of course, for inviting me… and for being the best friend & realtor a girl could ever hope to find when she moves to a new place. Cassie's husband Bob isn't in our BBR group, but I think they're probably a package deal, and I am so thankful for him, too. Bob and Cassie have helped me on so many occasions with my kids (last minute babysitter, anyone!? With a traveling husband, schedules can be so hard!), fed my family multiple times, offered support to me when I was stressed or frazzled, given me referrals for work, hired me to work for them (love that real estate photography!), and just been great friends to hang out with and sip wine on their back porch. I just could not imagine my life in Fort Smith without them. The Almighty PlummaGirl formerly known as Michelle, for being so freaking cool and making me laugh every time she opens her mouth. I think she could probably make anyone blush and giggle, and I am so thankful for her presence in our group, and to consider her a friend. Rick for being flat out hilarious, his Facebook status updates need to be compiled into a book. They'll be better than $#!T my dad says' twitter/book for sure! He has blessed us musically at our meetings and every time there is a cause in our town, he steps up to provide, or coordinate, or both. I don't get to go to as many functions as I would like to, and I have yet to be able to attend one that Rick does- but I can only imagine he's the belle of the ball! Julie at the Clayton House. I don't have words kind enough to describe her. I have never met someone so sweet. She's someone that I am most honored to know and I can't hug her enough. If you're ever in Fort Smith, please make it out to the Clayton House for a tour, and say hi to her. Your life will be better because she was in it, even if just for a brief greeting. I promise. Liz, our president, one of the very sweetest ladies I have ever known. I knew she was amazing through her work with ovarian cancer support, and over the last couple of weeks she has been in situations with my children and been so completely amazing to them- I think she was born to be maternal. Liz has always made me feel so welcome and valued as a part of our group. Susan at the Reynolds Cancer Support House, I am so thankful to know her and be involved with DWR House in each and every way I can be. One of the most provoking meetings I have ever attended with BBR was at the Support House, and Susan opened my eyes to cancer patients and what I can and need to do to help. She made me want to be a better person, to give more of myself as a volunteer and as an entrepreneur. There are so so many amazing, kind, caring, PHENOMENAL people in BBR with me. Nathan, Raymond, Bobby, Sheila, Stacy, Dean, Phil (who always manages to post the absolute WORST photos of me on Morgan Supply's Facebook page every single Thursday), Amy, and everyone else in BBR: Thank you SO much for being a part of my life. I am so sorry I couldn't spit this out at breakfast… I had something in my eye. I love you all and I pray that I am a member of our little group for years to come.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Jeannie, the Youth Ministries Coordinator at St. John's Episcopal Church in Fort Smith

Super blonde me and Cassie out for a night of networking last summer!

Sweet Patricia at the BBR table at Teal Night In Tahiti

Phil, the worst photographer in BBR (I think he does it on purpose) and his gorgeous now-wife Nikki 

Cassie, Plumma Girl, and me!

BBR!!

Some people in BBR like each other so much, they plan coordinating outfits

Susan, me, & Cassie at Teal Night in Tahiti

Plumma Girl, me, Cassie @ Teal Night

Stacy and Teresa @ Boots n' Bling

Julie, me, & Cassie @ Boots n' Bling!

BBR girls at Boots n' Bling!

Dave playing guitar at one of our meetings!

a selfie with the Almighty Plumma Girl :)

Christmas Mini Sessions {Fort Smith Family Photographer}

This weekend, I had the pleasure of photographing so many beautiful people! I went home to see my family in Central Arkansas for a couple of days, and I always like to schedule a session or two when I go back. Greers Ferry is just too beautiful to visit and not photograph.

I scheduled a few Christmas Mini Sessions and it just so happened that this weekend was our first snow!! Of course, and luckily, it waited to start sputtering tiny wet snowflakes until after everyone was finished! I would have loved the snow in the photos but I couldn't bear to see the little kiddos be so so cold! :) It was a gorgeous weekend for pictures!

Thank you to everyone that came out for these mini sessions! If you're in the FSM area, I'm doing another "mini marathon" on Saturday! Contact me for details!

I had so much fun! I can't wait to see everyone's Christmas cards! I love to receive them… I put them on our trees like ornaments. This year, I got a new 9.5 foot tree so I have LOTS of room for gorgeous cards from friends, family, and clients. :) That makes me super happy!

During a break from photos, I had my super sweet almost sister in law Paige take a couple of my family while we were all in one place. That doesn't happen often, lately. It seems like my husband travels more and more for work! 

I can't believe that this is our 10th Christmas/year together. It has been an amazing decade, for sure! I hope you have a very wonderful Holiday Season… I can't believe it's here already!

Be Blessed!

xoxo

kP