Tell me a bit about you and your family! Who are you guys and what do you enjoy doing?
We are the Wakefield's! Haley (33) Sam (35) Harrison (4) and Crosby (2). We also have an 8 year old Pitbull named Ruthie!
We love spending time outside at our house riding the go-kart, having fires, going for nature walks, and visiting the many amazing businesses downtown (ice cream is our fave in the summer). In the winter we are either building Legos, racing Hot Wheels, or sledding!
You guys have always maintained an easy-going and laid-back attitude for your sessions (which turns into great photos!) How do you prepare your family for picture day (if at all)?
I used to be set on making sure the kids were on their BEST behavior and were acting like perfect little angels but realized that's 100% unrealistic. So we just try to go with the flow, set our expectations pretty low (lol) and once we get going the kids loosen up pretty quickly and on their own. Rachel is amazing at making everyone feel comfortable which helps us all be ourselves! Also, bribe the kids with an ice cream outing post photo session-that is sure to work :)
Tell me about your Subhouse journey! How did you come to be the owners? What are your greatest joys and challenges in running a business?
We were fortunate enough to purchase The Subhouse in January of 2019. I was working a corporate job in Minneapolis and had just returned from maternity leave. Lets just say I didn't love my current job and was looking for anything that might bring more joy. We were living in Mounds View, MN at the time and Sam walked past randomly one day while in town and saw the for sale sign on the door. We looked into it and something about it just felt right. We both grew up in Hudson and were looking for a reason to come back as we had just had our first child. It's wild how things just work out if they're meant to be. I can honestly say this is the first job that has brought me joy. I look forward to going to work every day and it's fun to see so many friendly faces, come up with new sandwiches, and give back to our community. We especially enjoy packing lunches for the High School Sports teams for their away game bus rides.
Challenges-surviving a pandemic and a whole summer of construction-we learned so much and are incredibly thankful for the support of this community!
What do you and your family enjoy about living in Hudson?
Nothing sweeter than summertime at a river city! The hustle and bustle of downtown is so fun-we love walking around, grabbing candy or ice cream at Knokes, going for hikes at Willow River...it's just so magical. Both our parents are here so it's nice to see them a lot. The community is wonderful and is always willing to help others in need.
Your kiddos are ever so cute! What are some things they do or say at these young ages that you know you don't want to forget?
It's great when we wake up to giggles on the baby monitor and one kid has crawled into the other kid's bed and they are reading together!
Croz refers to Harry as buddy-she'll rub his back and be like "It's ok buddy."
Harry referring to pine needles from our Christmas Tree as "Christmas feathers"
It's amazing how brave kids are. We put them into so many new experiences and they just give it a try. They don't question if they'll be good enough, they aren't afraid of failure yet...It's really inspiring actually and I think we can learn a lot from our kiddos!
I’m Rachel Gaetz
I’m Rachel Gaetz and I am a creative portrait photographer in the Twin Cities. I am also a busy mom of four and can often be spotted with a coffee in hand, a big messy bun on my head, and a baby on my hip. My goal is to create images that YOU will be obsessed with -- pictures you will be eager to post today as well as cherish decades from now. My business BelleAmiss Photography strives to take the stress out of photo sessions while capturing life's beautiful imperfections. You will leave feeling great about YOU and your photo experience.
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