To love and to be loved

To say I love my family is a gross understatement.  It doesn't even begin to express the emotions I feel, or the devotion I have. 

They make me laugh. They make me cry.  They inspire me. They help me to live fully, truly, and deeply.

I hope I do the same for each of them.

 

Yesterday they loved me unselfishly, because I asked for just one thing for my birthday...

a family photo shoot. 

Even though we do have fun, and laugh, and are silly, photo sessions are stressful, and not their favorite thing to do.  It all starts with me stressing over what we will all wear and how to pull a look together so we are all coordinated, but not matching.  Uniforms are for work, not family photos, right?

 

Then there is the challenge of, well, US.  There are lots of us and trying to get us all looking at the camera, at the same time, with a natural smile is one-in-a-million.  Seriously.  One good shot out a million taken! 

 

 I grabbed one of Hannah's besties to come along and take our group shots.  The poor Dear, this was no easy job.

 

 

Water craft photo bombs above and some without smiles below.

Nice grouping here, but....no one knew that Ellie was chewing gum.   WHAT?

Mary Anne found a seagull feather...no distraction there.

 

 Doesn't Matthew look amused?

 

 Caleb certainly does.

This one isn't too bad, but Dad forgot to take off his sunnies. 

 

The sunnies are off, but now Caleb isn't smiling.

 

  and what am I doing with my hair?

Ahh, this might be our one in a million...or not.

I'm so used to Eric always wearing his wireless headset, that I didn't notice it.

He looks like an undercover agent.

 

 Poor Hannah was trying to balance on this crazy shaped log with Abbie tugging on her.

Hello?? The camera is this way.

 

 Different spot, new challenges.  A bit of sunlight on the lense.

 

 Smiles, Everyone...

Just plain silly

and sweet too.

I was needing some updated "school" photos for some frames, so I snapped a few.

 

"And you may call me Mufasa, if you like."

 

 Since we have some that are notorious for spilling food or drinks on their clothes, I plain out forbade it, which is so hard because to have good pictures with happy kids, you need to feed them, but to have good pictures, with clean clothes you need to NOT feed them.

But this reward awaited ~ Fish and Chips from Ivar's Fish Bar.

 

 Followed by delish ice cream

 

Such a great day.  Not only was the weather just glorious, but it was so satisfying just spending time with the people I love.  It was PICTURE PERFECT!

 

Thank you Family for the best gift ever!

{and thank you to my photographer for bearing with us ;-) }