The Infamous Family Pictures

Yes, the dreaded huge group shot that we haven't done for over 8 years. And after 8 years our group in considerably larger. As with all family group pictures there is always the scheduling factor. Taya has been attempting to get it all calendered since October. We finally got everyone on the same page for January 16th, 10 am at the Potato Barn. Everyone was to wear jeans, and any combination of red, white and black on the top. Whew! Little did we know that R.B. was going to have some medical issues. He was just out of the hospital on Thursday following a horrible bout with an out of control kidney stone. The stone was too large to pass and was lodged. He underwent a surgical procedure to have it blasted with a laser to break it up into passable pieces. I told him in the hospital that we could forego having him there and I could photoshop him in the pic later, or we could do individual family shots and do the big group later. He was determined to be there. I felt so bad that he was still in so much pain. I was so glad that he soldiered through it. I guess ambivalent feelings are just that. Our pictures only took about an hour (amazing in and of itself considering we were 31 people) so I hope he was able to get some relief when he got home.

Everyone looked like the beautiful people that they are. I took some candid shots here and there as Aimee was setting up her shots. I didn't quite get all the families as we were chasing kids and having fun talking as all this was going on. Here are some of the “behind the scenes” I did get:

Our photographer Aimee (http://www.pyperjanedesigns.blogspot.com} setting up Taya and Kevin's family.




This was our other unhappy camper for the day. Emersyn did not like anything about picture day. She only wanted to be running around and would head for the busy road. Such a sad little girl. Such a frustrated mom. Kevin finally resorted to the old throw them up in the air to get a smile routine before each shot. It didn't work. Oh well, we have Emersyn being Emersyn in all the family shots. Such is history recorded.




Our “Men in Black”… Jeff, Taylor, Jake, Jaime, and Robert. The little guys are Austin, Aden, Jaxon and Carson.



Getting all our men together for our manly men shot.




Kaitlin being the pillow prop girl.

Tawna and Nathan's family



After all the pics were done…




And now lunch at the infamous Higley Hot Dog. Nathan, Robert, Jeff, and R.B. swear by this place. They do have good hot dogs, chili cheese fries, etc. It was my first time there, Grumpy too. We had fun with Tawna and Nathan, Faith, Chance and Rylee. I think I'll call it “Heart Attack on a Plate”. I have various places around town that are dubbed “Heart Attack in a Sack”, “Heart Attack by the Dozen”, and so on. Good Stuff.



I wish I had gotten a few shots of Summer and Jaime's family, R.B. and Stacie's family, and Jade and Jeff's family. But alas, we all know what confusion and fun these gatherings are. Jade had to jet back to work as she ended up not being to get the day off. Robert took off with R.B. to get him home and to some pain killers fast. Stacie loaded up the kids and headed them to Rylan's football game so he could play that day. Busy families, busy lives. Wouldn't have it any other way.