Say cheese!

We had to cram a lot of things into that two and a half weeks between Rebekah's moving home from college and leaving for the MTC. Getting family pictures taken was high on the priority list before Rebekah left for 18 months...especially seeing as we had originally intended to get them taken the summer before she left for college and never did. We did a combo family portraits and missionary pictures in one evening with our favorite Jon Woodbury. The last time we did family shots we went to the International Peace Gardens in Salt Lake and did a whole reading theme. This time we decided to go more cityscape...especially since that meant we'd also be close to Temple Square for Rebekah's mission pics. I was worried it would be a crazy evening trying to fit everything in...but ever the professional, Jon got all the amazing shots he needed and we had a great time doing it.

Obviously I think they are all fabulous and had the hardest time narrowing it down to just a few...but here are some favorites.

I printed out a few and sent them to Rebekah on her mission. She says she loves this one of us all laughing and keeps it in her scriptures where she can see it easily when she is missing us.

Because I couldn't bring myself to replace our family shots from four years ago, I left those in their frames and ordered one of my favorites canvas wrapped and hung it over the table in the front hall. I'm so pleased with how it all turned out!

Go check out Jon's website...he's fantastic!
www.jonwoodburyphotography.com

A ridiculously long time in coming...

I've FINALLY updated my family pictures on the wall in the front hallway.  Though I'd updated the two frames of kid pics to include Lilian, the official family portrait up there was still the one taken back in 2005 or something.  Brandon was 4 years old.  Lilian wasn't even a twinkle in our eye yet.  I wasn't yet a brunette!  (Funny side note: my visiting teacher came over one day, took a look at the blonde me and joked, "So...Bryan's first wife?"  Not many people in this neighborhood know that I'm originally a blonde.)  So yes, needless to say, a new family portrait was way overdue.

But then after FINALLY arranging to get our family portraits taken (Jon Woodbury Photography.  Trust me, he's amazing!) it took me another year and a half to get them printed and hung.  You've seen the pictures....because I've used them for so many things in the past 18 months, including the header at the top of this blog.  But indecisiveness (as well as laziness) played a big part in my procrastination.  The original dilemma...which of the fabulous plethora of pictures should I pick?  And then...should I just pick one and blow it up huge?  Or a collage of many?  One big and a few small or all the same size?  Canvas or not?  New frames or keep the sizes to fit in the old?  Yeah...I made it way more hard than it needed to be.  Finally I made it my number one priority last week and MADE A DECISION!  A trip to Costco, a trip to Michaels for frames, and then tons of help from Bryan (who was, in all honesty, more than willing to help because it meant he got to play with his new laser level) we got those beauties hung.  I couldn't be more pleased with the result.

And as long as I'm showing off house decor, I might as well point out my new(ish) runner.  Pretty, yes?  I think it warms up the hallway nicely.  (In looks as well as bare feet in the winter.)  Originally I bought the runner (from IKEA) for the hallway coming in from the front door.  But then for kicks one day I moved it to this section of the wood flooring leading to the kitchen and I liked that too!  So off I ran to IKEA for another identical one.  (If you look closely, you can see the other runner leading to the front door in the above picture.)  Next up:  Hopefully curtains for the living room windows.

"Say Cheese!"

Years ago, after numerous school portraits that were marginal at best, I decided to start taking the kids down to Target once a year to get their pictures taken. No offense to the photographers from Bell Inc...but when you are charged with taking pictures of over 700 kids within a few scant hours, well...as long as the kid looks somewhat decent and isn't closing his/her eyes the picture is counted as a success. "Next please!" That works okay for Brandon...but apparently my girls need a bit more coaxing to get a good shot.
The only downside to Target...I actually have to make the appointment and get the kids there as opposed to the photographers just showing up at the elementary school. Because of this, unfortunately, I'm a bit overdue...the last sitting was in January 2009.
The time off during spring break seemed to me to be a good time to rectify this procrastination issue. (Brandon didn't join us, having just had a photo shoot with his gym.)
Here are the results:

JULIANNE

LILIAN

REBEKAH

Our handsome gymnast

Is this a handsome boy or what? Not only does he have some serious gymnastics moves, you should see his six-pack! He is one buff kid! He's competing at level 5 this year. He has 2 hour workouts 4 times a week...and he absolutely loves it. His first meet for the season is in a week and a half. Unfortunately, he injured himself at his workout yesterday afternoon. A strained chest muscle? An out of place rib? We're not quite sure yet what is wrong but he is in a lot of pain and we're watching him closely. Whatever it is, I'm sure some rest and time off is in order. He has worked so hard and has been so excited about these upcoming meets! I hope this injury doesn't sideline him for long.
Brandon loved this action shot at first. But since bringing it home, he's continually bugged by the fact that his knee is bent. :)

Family Pictures

Our good friends, Lori and Jon Woodbury, run a wedding planning company called Weddings By Woodbury. If you or someone you know is getting married, they've got everything you need from invitations and cake to flowers and photography... and they do it all elegantly, beautifully and professionally. But more than just weddings, Jon is your ultimate photographer. He's got the gear, the know how, the passion and the talent to shoot anything. I've been following his blogs and website for quite awhile so when it came time to get our family pictures done, I knew without a doubt that I wanted Jon to do them.

Over dinner at our house, Jon explained his philosophy with family pictures. Sitting all together and smiling for the camera is something any family can do. What made our family different? What was uniquely us? For example, he said, he did a sitting with a family that owned and worked the Nightmare on 13th Street haunted house. Pictures taken with the haunted house as a background would be perfect for their family. Another family enjoyed watching videos together. Their sitting ended up being at the Salt Flats where they re-created a family room of sorts with a TV, a side table and a bunch of DVD's spread everywhere. What was our "thing"?

It didn't take too long to decide on books. We all love to read. Books line shelves in almost every room in the house. I read to my kids, even now as teenagers. Specifically Harry Potter. I read that whole series out loud to my girls when they were younger. And then again a few years later when Brandon was ready for them. So we packed the Harry Potter series and the books that we were all currently in the middle of (notice Bryan has an Amazon Kindle) and headed to the International Peace Gardens in Salt Lake City.

Jon did a fabulous job! Every single picture is amazing. But here are a few of my very favorites:


Go check out Jon's blogs and website:

www.jonwoodbury.com
(This is his official website which can then lead you to wedding stuff, his fine arts photography, his blog and Lori's flowers)

http://oneadayphotoproject.blogspot.com
(This is a different blog project for the year of 2010 where he has been taking and posting one shot daily of just average things all around. It's amazing. I've been following it religiously this whole year.)

Favorite Photo Friday: Mom and babies

Can you guess which baby is who?

What a Handsome Little Man...

Re-Takes

I took Lilian up to Kiddie Kandids today to try and get some better shots of her. Preferably something with some sort of smile. I figured that Kiddie Kandids might be better with little toddlers and was probably used to doing all sorts of silly and crazy things to get them to smile. Lilian was still not at all happy about the prospect of getting more pictures taken. About 10 minutes into it I was ready to quit and settle for the other non-smile shots we already had. But the photographer assured me that everything would be fine, to just let Lilian play for a bit and get comfortable with her. I think we played for a good 20 minutes...with toys and also various chairs and props that caught Lilian's attention....before getting even a single shot. And the shots she did get were just of Lilian playing...a random glance up with a smile that she was able to catch. I don't know how she did it. But I now have some sweet, SMILING pictures of my girl.