Good thing there’s no audio!

Who cares that it’s February and I’m just barely talking about Christmas? Not me!

I was determined to send Christmas Cards this year.

There is a picture we snapped with our point and shoot camera several years ago, I think it was 2006. I love the picture. It was back when our family was little and pretty calm.

I love the goofy smile on Allie. I just adore Kiki’s squinty eyes. Paul looks handsome in his glasses. And it’s fun to see him in them again, although I know he’s so glad to not have to wear them anymore. (Lasik is awesome) I love that the pillow is perfectly hanging on the tree wishing all a happy holiday. And the picture of the temple over Paul’s shoulder just finishes the whole thing off.

Since I love this picture so much and love remembering the stage we were in at the time, I thought we should try to recreate it with Coop and Cass.

Well, all I have to say is…..

Good thing there’s no audio!

After several attempts at setting the timer and running, and kids poking other kids, and certain little boys who wanted their sippy cups in the picture, and certain big boys who didn’t see the need for retakes, this is what we came up with.

And I love this one too.

I love Cooper’s confused expression and I love Cassidy’s shut eyes! What a great big cheesy smile! Allie and Kara have definitely grown up a lot in the last couple of years.

But taking this picture was NOTHING compared to taking the next picture.

And its really a good thing that there was no audio for this ‘photo shoot’.

It probably would have improved the situation had I been a little more prepared. Our ward does a breakfast Christmas party each year. As we were getting ready to head over to the ward party, I realized that we all looked fairly cute. I grabbed my camera as we were running out the door. (yea! so glad to have a camera again. I looovve my camera. Now I don’t have any more excuses!)

It’s a good thing that the ward party was so early this year because it gave me some time to work on a Christmas card. But because it was so early, I almost didn’t remember the party at all. It really snuck up on me.

After the Christmas party, we drove over to Desert Shores. Now, remember that this was very last minute. So last minute that all I had was the camera. Nothing else at all.

Desert Shores has many pretty shooting locations. I have shot there several times over the last several years. We did Allie’s baptism pictures there too. Its great because the water makes a really nice background and there are so many trees and green areas all year round. But the one problem, and it can be a big problem, are the birds. There are so many geese and ducks and birds and they are used to people so they come right up to you. It can be very intimidating to little kids. And because they are everywhere, so are their droppings. Everywhere.

So here we are at Desert Shores. Aggressive Ducks everywhere. Poop everywhere. A family of 6 people with 2 scared little kids and 1 annoyed husband. And no tripod.

This was kind of a big problem.

There was nothing to place the camera on to set the timer and run. I tried talking Paul into taking the seats of the van so I could use it as a make-shift tripod. He wasn’t going for it. Probably better that we didn’t- I’m sure the ducks would have enjoyed it too much.

So we parked on the side of the road and opened the doors of the van. I used whatever I could find in the van to prop the camera up on the seat. I put everyone in place and then I set the timer.

Yes- that is part of my backside. (I deleted the full frame shots)

And yes, that is part of the van door and a duck that would not get the hint.

I felt like it was too zoomed out so I cropped it an for the next shot.

And I missed our heads altogether.

So in between me running back and forth to fix the zoom or readjust the camera angle, everyone was getting sidetracked. The ducks were getting close and Paul was sick of kneeling. One kid stepped in something. There was crying. I was getting stuck in between car seats as I tried to balance the camera. The camera would sometimes take the picture before I ran from the car to my place. Another kid stepped in something.

And there was yelling. From me. Maybe yelling is to strong a word. How about strongly suggesting people stay where I put them? Yeah, that sounds better.

When we left, I evaluated the experience with the family. We all, including Paul, decided that Paul was the worst behaved! At least we were all on the same page.

And it is definitely a memory. And we managed to laugh and have fun during an overly frustrating experience.

And I did my Christmas card.

Mission Accomplished!