Hailey + Ryan: A love story

THE SESSION

Okay, so talk about an adventure session. These two wanted a lake session to document their love story and Hailey’s little growing baby bump (AH HEM SHE IS 24 WEEKS AND LOOKS AMAZING!!) – so a lake session is what they got, aaaand in KKP fashion… a little more.

We arrived at the beach for our session and within 35 minutes of shooting, we were washed out by a severe thunderstorm with torrential rain. Woop. We made the absolute best of the time we had there though and ended up with some amazing shots. After we sprinted to the car and huddled in the mugginess, we decided we should probably start making our way back to the city with the storm ripping through. Better to be safe than sorry and the radar showed it was only going to get worse.

There was so much I wanted to do at the beach that I wasn’t able to do because of the rain. We were about 20 minutes into driving home and the rain started to calm down. Skies started to open up in spots and it looked like we were in the safe zone. I HAD to keep creating with these two. Our adventure was far from over. I asked them if they’d be into some shots running through the crops. They were down for whatever and trusted me 100%… so I was in total la-la land. Check out the gallery for yourself to see how it all went down!

THEIR STORY

“In September of last year, Ryan and I reconnected after meeting in 2018. I never really expected anything from it, as I just had a baby boy. He kept insisting that he take me on a date and I kept refusing because I was taking care of my son, Grayson full time. His persistence paid off, and he asked me on another dinner date – telling me to bring Grayson along with me. I finally agreed.

I remember watching him get out of his work van, and walking towards us and all I could feel was pure chills. We talked for hours, and if you know me and my tendency to never stop talking… it was nice to talk to someone similar for once. I knew right after he kissed me goodbye that night that he was something special.

The “seal the deal” moment for me happened one morning when he slept over. I woke up in full panic-mode because Grayson didn’t wake up for a feed during the night, and Ryan told me that he actually did wake up and he got up to feed him, change him and put him back to bed because he knew I needed a good rest. From there, we basically became inseparable.

Flash forward to March 16, 2021, when our world was absolutely rocked. I found out that my son Grayson had inoperable brain cancer. This was the beginning of what has become a very long and painful journey as he undergoes multiple surgeries, treatment, battles infections and continues his battle with cancer at the Children’s Hospital in Saskatoon. That same day, we also found out that we would be expecting our newest bundle of love in early November. Wow. Talk about a total shock to the system. How does one even begin to process that all at once?

Through everything – the hospital stays, treatments, surgeries, set-backs, panic attacks, breakdowns, constant fear, non-stop driving, restless days, tears, fights, heartbreak and pain… he has been such a fundamental part of keeping me together and keeping me strong through everything. He’s been my rock.

I couldn’t ask for a better man, a better love or a better family because I’ve already got the best. He is my forever, and so are our boys.”