Happy Anniversary

Today is my parents 40th wedding anniversary. Pretty old, huh? (Just kidding, mom and dad!) Shane is in denial, because that means he turns 39 next week. I feel like anniversaries are a private affair, so we've never exchanged gifts or anything, but this year my mom made a request. She wanted a family photo from each of her children (because deep down she knows it's going to take a miracle to get a photo with EVERYONE in it). So, she's settling for individual family photos. And then I believe she's going to make a collage similar to my family wall. This was a great excuse for me to get our family portrait updated. We tried to go out on Sunday to get it done, but we got rained on so we postponed it till the next night. Much nicer. And everything was so green after the rainstorm. Now I have to tell you, getting my family's picture taken is not a fun thing. It is so freakin' hard to take a picture when I'm not behind the camera, no clue what it's focusing on, setting up the tripod a billion times. Brandon asked me why I can go take someone else's pictures and come home with 150 of them, but we do our own family I get 5. Well, now you know. I would love to just hire someone to do it, but so far I can't find anyone who works as cheap as I do. Or anywhere close. I do have to say, though, that I have some great posers. My kids love to come up with ideas for us, and they're usually pretty cute. If only they didn't have to fight over who posed the last shot, or whose turn it is. And if only all my clients were so eager to tell me how they'd like to be posed. That is not one of my strong points. They all want me to tell them where to stand and where to put their hands. I definitely prefer candid shots where they just play and I can shoot at my leisure. Well, this has been quite the rambling. So, Mom, here are your pictures. Happy Anniversary!