Some sessions are a hello, and some are a goodbye. This one was a little of both. Just a few days before Ryan, McKenzie, and their five children packed up their life and moved back home to Kentucky, we met at LeFurge Woods Nature Preserve to hold onto their Michigan chapter for a little while longer.

The Parsons family walking together along a path through a field of white wildflowers at LeFurge Woods

A field full of wildflowers (and twirling dresses)

If you've never been, LeFurge Woods in Superior Township is a quiet stretch of prairie and woodland that, in late summer, absolutely fills with wildflowers. We arrived to find waves of white blooms as far as we could see — and the girls did exactly what you'd hope little girls in flowy dresses would do. They spun. And spun. And spun some more, skirts floating out around them in the golden evening light. I don't think anyone stopped smiling the entire time.

The three Parsons sisters in flowy cream dresses playing among the white wildflowers

The little bridge and a whole lot of running

While we waited for the sun to sink lower, we took a walk and stumbled onto a sweet little boardwalk tucked into the preserve. It became the stage for my favorite kind of photos — the unposed ones. The kids ran in circles around Ryan and McKenzie, giggling and chasing each other, while I just kept my shutter going. Those are the frames that feel the most like real life: a little blurry around the edges, completely full of joy.

Ryan and McKenzie walking with their children along a wooden boardwalk at LeFurge Woods Nature Preserve

Slow moments and big goodbyes

On the walk back to the flower field, the kids turned into little explorers, crouching to inspect flowers, sticks, and any small creature brave enough to cross their path. It gave me a chance to walk alongside Ryan and McKenzie and hear about the move — the excitement, the nerves, the bittersweet of leaving one home for another.

One of the Parsons children exploring with a handful of wildflowers

That's the thing I love most about a family session. We're never really just making pictures. We're bottling up a specific season of your life — this many kids, this tall, this in love with spinning in fields — so that no matter where you move next, you get to keep it.

Wishing the whole Parsons family so much joy in Kentucky. Thank you for letting me send you off in the wildflowers. 💛