Tag Archive for 'women'

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Krista

Krista and I have known each other for almost ten years. We met on the day we were both attending a workshop put on by a girl (that I had never heard of at the time) named Jenny Phillips on “How to break into the LDS Music Industry.” Jenny had just started a small choir not long before (with about 10 members) that traveled around, putting on different performances each month. I don’t know if, in that moment, on that day, any of us knew how much our lives would change in 10 years. Now Jenny Phillips is one of the top-selling and most-requested LDS singer/songwriter/performers of all time, having put on thousands of firesides in over 30 states and more than 20 countries. And her choir has grown to 140 rotating members. Me (Cristi) and my husband are still singing with Jenny. It has been a tremendous blessing in our life.

Krista, my dear friend, has gone on to be one of the most amazing and incredible women that I have ever met. Ever. She is a writer, a publicist and a photographer (kristamaurer.com). She’s a true modern day renaissance woman. You know how you hear stories of “people who can do a few things SORTA well, but not one thing REALLY well?” That’s not Krista. Krista is the kind of person who can do A LOT OF THINGS. WELL. SUPER well. Sometimes I look at her and think, “My gosh, woman! How is it possible for one human being to have so many talents packed into a single body?!” She must have been in the front of the “talent” line in Heaven. (I think I was somewhere in the middle of that line, KIND of towards the back, while others were pushing me out of the way, stepping on my feet…) But I think what’s even greater is that she has MAGNIFIED those talents in this life. She doesn’t just let them go to waste. And that is a quality that we can ALL emulate – whether we are chalk full of talents like my beautiful friend Krista here or we feel like our only talent in life is … giving hugs. If that is where your talent lies (or is it lays – obviously one of MY talents is not grammar), you MAGNIFY that hugging ability, sister! Hug away! You never know who you are going to bless by utilizing YOUR specific gifts.

On a personal note, I’ve been doing a lot of internal reflecting the past few days. I have been very blessed in my life through the people that I have met. I fully believe with all of my heart that God puts people in our life – specific people – whom He knows we will need for one reason or another – at specific times. We cannot go through this life alone. We NEED each other! One of my favorite quotes is from Marjorie Hinckley. She says:

“We are all in this together. We need each other. Oh, how we need each other. Those of us who are old need you who are young, and hopefully, you who are young need some of us who are old…We need deep and satisfying and loyal friendships with each other. These friendships are a necessary source of sustenance. We need to renew our faith every day. We need to lock arms and help build the kingdom so that it will roll forth and fill the whole earth.”

I am thankful for the people who have been placed in my life. How I have needed every one of them! How I have LEARNED from them!

This photo shoot with Krista was just the perfect reminder of that. Plus, isn’t she GORGEOUS? She has probably the most stunningly beautiful eyes that Jessi and I have ever had the privilege of photographing. Lucky us!

Published on March 26, 2012 in Portrait. 2 Comments Tags: beautiful, friendship, head shots, talents, utah photographers, women.

beYOUtiful Sadie

Sadie is a stunning natural beauty. What I wouldn’t give to have her gorgeous skin tone and stunning brown eyes! We were super excited to meet Sadie after reading her beYOUtiful statement. And communicating back and forth with her to set her shoot up, I knew she’d be fun. But I think what I loved most about her is her down-to-earthness. (Is earthness a word? Probably not, but I’m leaving it.) She is genuine. And I LOVE that quality in a person!

She grew up in Alaska and met her husband while working for a catering company in an oil drilling camp in Wyoming (seriously, can her story get ANY better?!). She said she had no intention of dating a “roughneck” so when he asked her out, she turned him down. A couple of weeks later, she had a change of heart and asked HIM out. She said dinner was awesome and they’ve been together ever since!

When I asked her why she chose her specific beYOUtiful statement, she said that she just went hunting for the first time this past year and she loved it. I kind of wish she would have worn camo and orange to the photo shoot – and I DEFINITELY wish she would have brought a gun! (Other than those biceps of hers!)

This is what she said about writing what she did: “I really felt so strong when I was up on that mountain with my gun on my shoulder. I usually have my nails painted and for the hunt I kept them painted red because it just seemed right! I think sometimes being a lady gets put under the rug because it seems ‘old fashioned’ or ‘out of date’ but I was always taught to be a lady no matter what. Have manors, be polite and always stand up straight! So old school or not, I’m a believer of always being a lady! Even in orange with a gun slug over my shoulder!”

And I just realized – Sadie rhymes with lady! PERFECT!

Published on February 22, 2012 in Portrait. 2 Comments Tags: beautiful, beauty, beYOUtiful, women.

beYOUtiful Raylynn

We had a very beYOUtiful afternoon photographing campaign winner Raylynn! It was so fun. Raylynn is super cute, spunky and – just as her statement says – TRUE to who she is. She is a breath of fresh air!

Raylynn’s beYOUtiful statement resonated with a lot of you. I think that we, as women, really understand the idea of trying to stay true to who we are and not fitting into the “mold” that society seems to be constantly trying to create for us.

When we decided to do a photo shoot for every woman in the top 15, we knew that we wanted to make Raylynn’s shoot a bit *extra* special – since she was the actual winner! So instead of doing just a 30 minute shoot, we spent an entire afternoon with her. Raylynn hadn’t had pictures taken in 13 years – since she was a senior in high school. A travesty, right?! Every woman needs to be pampered with a photo shoot at LEAST once a year! :)

Raylynn is a TRUE fashionista. AND she’s a pro at changing in a car – the back seat of a Honda Civic, no less. It was impressive!

She wanted us to mention that every outfit she wore told a story. The yellow and blue outfit represented color and her love of life. She wore the black and white dress with the purple cardigan when she turned 30 and “conquered the world.” Hot pink is just that – sassy hot pink. The peach sweater and polka-dot scarf showed her hat side. And the Utes shirt was a must for this avid fan. When we asked Raylynn what she wanted to say for this blog post, she told us, ”I am who I am and love deeply even though that has meant some have been intimidated. But I say it how I know it and move forward in spite of my own insecurity and the nay sayers.”

You go, girl!

And with that, we present Raylynn’s winning beYOUtiful shoot: