Family pictures

I am finally getting around to printing out copies of the family pictures we had taken the end of December, so I thought I would upload them to the blog as well.

I have this yearning for great family pictures taken outdoors - I have always loved the look of outdoor pictures!  But, we have a history of choosing bad weather days for family pictures.

Before we get talk more about this year's outdoor family photos, let's review a few attempts from the past:

There's the really great family pics circa 2003.   (I'm still looking for the well-buried evidence in my picture files).  I  had set up family pictures in the evening and eye appointments for both Dan and me during the day. The opthamologist dilated our eyes, and Dan and I were basically blind, squinting, with huge pupils in the pictures.

There was November 2009 on the beach in Hawaii, when the wind was blowing 40 mph and there were dangerous jellyfish all over the beach (we were walking barefoot).  We all looked windblown, but my hair especially stood straight up in the wind gusts.

Cute, right?

 The photographer sent us some photoshopped versions where she digitally plastered my hair down.  The photoshopped versions were so hideous that I just embraced the windy look and counted this as another failed attempt at family pictures.

Then, in May 2011 we tried a family photoshoot again right before Brandon left on his mission. It was cold and pouring rain so all our pictures were taken under a porch on Officer's Row.  Joseph was so bothered by the cold, wind, and rain that he sobbed and wouldn't lift his head or smile for the pictures.

This time, in December of 2013, Mother Nature was once again not our friend.  It was unusually bitter cold on the day we had scheduled for pictures, which was the only day we had available during Brandon's Christmas break. We shivered and shed our coats for most of the pictures, but I think the photographer had to touch up our red noses and frostbit fingers. Brrrrrr.  Despite that, we got some decent shots.

We took these pictures in the Officer's Row area of historic Fort Vancouver.

We will get another chance to take pictures soon for Brandon and Angela's wedding!
(Join with us and pray for good weather, please).