Family Pictures {A Sneak Peek at the Disaster}

Since my mom was coming down, I got the genius idea to have her take some family pictures for us. It is difficult for us to spend the money to have a professional photographer take them, and I knew my mom could do a good job, so it seemed like the perfect idea. I spent a lot of time and effort trying to come up with coordinating outfits for everyone to wear, and I scoped out a few places to find the perfect location. Everything was ready to go on Saturday morning.

All the outfits looked great, the location was beautiful, the morning light was perfect, but it ended up being quite a disaster because of a certain unnamed 2 year old. He is generally a happy, enthusiastic boy, but as soon as we broke out the camera, he decided he wanted to be grumpy. He pouted, wouldn't cooperate with any posing, ran off as soon as we set him down, and certainly wouldn't smile. The other two boys generally take a decent amount of effort to get good shots, so with a cranky 2 year old, we were doomed.

By the end of the hour, both Jonathon and I were grumpy and glaring at each other, the two older boys were in meltdown mode, and my poor mom was still trying her best to get us a decent picture. I was pretty sure that the whole morning had been a failure, and we went home pretty disappointed.

Sure enough, the majority of the pictures were painful to look at. Either Hyrum was not looking, or the older boys were making goofy faces. But by some stroke of luck, there were 3-4 pictures that had a bit of potential. I got on Photoshop and tried to work some magic. By the end, I was actually happy with 2 of them. So, even though it seemed like a disaster, our mission to get a decent picture for our Christmas card was completed. Looking back at the pictures now, I think they are pretty hilarious. Here are a few outtakes that are pretty awesome:

10 minutes into the adventure and Mom is already annoyed :)

 Trying to keep the kids entertained with an "Act Scared" picture

At least everyone is happy.... a little too happy. Haha!

 So, while the family pictures were a bit painful, My mom and I actually got some good individual ones. I like to take my own pictures of the boys instead of buying expensive school ones that I have no control over. It has worked well the last few years. We also got some "couple" pictures taken since Mom was there.

Christian, age 9, 4th grade

Andrew, age 6, 1st grade

Hyrum, age 2

And finally some cute pictures of Daddy and Hyrum