Family Pho(to)bia!

What is the most stressful thing in the world for a Mom??? ↓

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FAMILY PHOTOS!!!


Do I hear an AMEN or a HERE-HERE? Or am I the ONLY one that feels this way?


What other time do you have to have every single person in your family with PERFECT hair (I mean really - how many perfect hair days do WE really have?), PERFECT (matching) clothes (can we say "Shop til' ya drop" --more like drop over dead and haggered!), PERFECT faces (no scabs, cuts, oozing wounds, dark circles, or zits!), PERFECT bones (no casts), PERFECT teeth, (no braces or chips), PERFECT EVERYTHING!!!


NO OTHER TIME!


And even when you WANT this to happen, it NEVER does! It is impossible to EVER have all those things come together at once with a large family. IMPOSSIBLE! Thus, the stress!!!

I was not looking forward to finding everyone matching clothes and making sure everyone had hair cuts (before the day before) and then scheduling it when there were no oozing wounds or scabs, broken bones, or serious zits on anyone. With all boys, that is quite a feat!

I bit the bullet and scheduled it and then went on the grand hunt for clothes that would look good together. I ended up buying shirts for everyone in two different colors and decided on which to wear the night before. Which meant I also had to return what we didn't wear!

The day of:

~McKay had a scab on his nose (of course!)

~Taylor had injured (and possible broken) his ankle in basketball the day before and was wearing a huge cast boot.

~ I hadn't slept for two days and had huge dark circles under my eyes.

~Two of the boys had broke out on their face.

~Dave's shirt sleeves weren't long enough.

I was just grateful no one had leprosy or something worse!

We arrived at the studio and waited... and waited... for my son Skyler to get there. Then we started the ordeal. I must admit it's much easier to be IN the picture because then I don't have to turn into a circus clown trying to make everyone smile like I used to do when they were little!

A few candid shots of the shoot ↓

*Taylor removing his boot cast for the photos *Me still deciding about a belt *The boys being very bored waiting *Me in the mirror trying to do some magic

*Here we are looking at the shots with Brenda Young the photographer. She does really good work. Can't wait to see the finished product!

It has been about five years since we had our last professional family photo taken. We had them done right before my oldest son Skyler went on his mission. Then while he was gone our second son Tyson passed away and after that I wasn't anxious to have them taken without Tyson in them. It took me a while to get to the point where it was okay.

After the photo shoot, we took the boys out to dinner. Their reward (AND MINE!) for surviving the ordeal!!! It was nice having Sky in town from Vegas for a few days.

Check out those purple boots! Better yet, check out the look on Bryce's face (right next to me)!

~The Fam~

Taylor, McKay, Skyler, Bryce, Me, Dave, & Tyson (he's there in spirit!)

Since I don't have the REAL ones back yet, THIS will have to do for now!