For My Birthday I Want Good Smiles :)

With Christmas just a month away, I still hadn't taken any pictures for our annual card/update and I was starting to get a little panicked, so I told the kids that for my birthday all I wanted was for them to cooperate for 10 minutes for a quick photo shoot. The real challenge in Amarillo is finding a day that's not ridiculously windy, and luckily we got one on my birthday! 

After school we played at a park for a bit to wait for golden hour, and then when the sun starting getting low we hopped in the van, changed clothes and drove to meet Dave. Our shooting location was an empty lot behind the gas station just minutes from our house. It hadn't been mowed and had lots of long, golden grass and the photos turned out amazing!!

I'm still a little in awe that I managed to get good smiles from the kids, with the correct lighting and focus. Normally one or two of those areas come up short. I not only got a couple good group photos, but also nice individuals of each child. It truly was the best birthday gift!! 

We used the vertical photo for our Christmas card, but also got a great horizontal one as well. It was nice to have the luxury of choosing!

Sophie - Age 7

Davey - Age 4

Charlie - Age 2

Griffin - Age 7 Months

I also hopped in a few photos, since it was my birthday after all. Sadly I did not get one with the older kids because they had already run back to the van.

4th of July Pictures

July marks the anniversary of our arrival in Texas and every year I like to take a photo of the kids in their patriotic clothes in front of our house with the flag. It is always crazy to look back and see how much they grow and change! This year we actually had to fake it and take photos in June, because we were going to be traveling for the entire month of July - one of the perks of working virtual. Even though everything in the world and country seems to be going down hill, we still feel blessed to be Americans!

Looking back at 2018 and 2019

Individuals of the kids, except for Griffin who needed a sister assist

Pictures of the Kids

A friend in our ward is currently enrolled in photography school. She had an assignment a couple weeks ago to practice shooting toddlers and asked if I would be willing to share Sophie and Davey. Of course I said yes!! I have a million pictures of these two, but it was nice to get some professional looking ones on a neutral background. Here are a few of my favorites!

Sophie was a little reserved with her smiles, but we still got a few good ones. I sure love this girl and can't believe how grown up she is looking these days. I'm glad she took one of Soph with her favorite blanket "Purple."

Davey had the opposite problem and was, if possible, too smiley. He was practically giddy and spent a good portion of the shoot trying to fling himself off the chair, or crawl off the backdrop. That's just who he is though - a ridiculously happy ball of energy. 

P.S. - He can stand! No steps yet, but he can stay up for 30-40 seconds if he's distracted. Standing makes him nervous and he normally drops to the ground once he realizes there's no support.