Well hey friends! I hope you are all doing well on this fine Tuesday evening. I’m still goin’ strong with my Oxygen Magazine Challenge and I’m loving it. I haven’t been 100% perfect at it, but just being “in the challenge” is keeping me motivated and consistent, which is awesome.
I’m loving the workouts and I’m just trying to be more mindful with what I’m eating and how much I’m eating. This first month has been a little bit more low carb, so I’ve just been trying to be aware of that as well. It’s been great and I’m just trying to take it one day at a time.
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Well, today I wanted to share the beautiful family pictures we had taken recently. My dear friend (more like a sister), Jen Hanni of Jen Hanni Photography took them for us and I’m so grateful!
Jen is a wonderful photographer! If you check out her website, her Facebook page or her Instagram page, you can see some beautiful examples of her work.
She has a keen eye for detail and knows just how to pose everyone and get everyone looking just right…even the dog! That is not an easy task!
She also knows so many incredible places to take pictures and helped us to decide where we wanted to have our family picture taken and what kind of “feel” we were going for. She even gave me some good advice about what types of clothing and accessories to wear and what looks good in pictures, which was very helpful!
Jen is also super easy to work with and makes you feel so comfortable in her presence. She is warm and friendly and really makes the whole “picture taking process” a whole lot less painful. Ha ha!
I gotta tell y’all, I hate, I mean H. A. T. E. planning, preparing and getting family pictures taken. It is a physically painful process, lol!
First off, you have to figure out what the heck everyone’s gonna wear and all the small details that go along with that! Then, ya gotta make sure everyone has fresh haircuts and looks somewhat clean and put together. Then, when picture day finally arrives, you have to make sure everyone looks nice and stays clean ALL AT THE SAME TIME, which is a huge deal. THEN, you gotta make sure all the kids smile, cooperate and don’t melt down in the process.
Yes, it’s a wonderful time. Ha!
With that being said, because I’m not a big fan of the whole “official family picture taking process,” we hadn’t had a professional family picture taken in over FIVE years! The last “real” family picture we had taken didn’t even include our last child. So so sad!
Look how little all my kids were!! Sniff, sniff. Thankfully, we’ve always been very good at taking an amateur snapshot every year for the Christmas card, so I’m happy we’ve at least captured some pictures of our family over the years.
I gotta say though, that as much as I really really dislike the pain of family pictures, Jen really did make the process SO much simpler and a lot less painful. It made me regret not calling her up sooner…..LIKE FOUR YEARS AGO to get our family pictures done.
Live and learn, I guess.
She also took some gorgeous pictures of my kiddos that are priceless to me. I don’t know how she did it, but she got all of them to pose just right, AND got my little boys to smile naturally, which is nearly impossible!
My oldest son is 20, yes TWENTY, and I really don’t know how that is even possible. I still think he’s like 12 or 13. 🙁
My ONLY daughter is just about to graduate high school, so we had Jen take a few extra pictures of her as some “Senior pictures.” These were some of my favs…
My 15 year old son (who has grown about a foot this year!) looks like a man to me now. Sigh.
My sweetie pie 11 year old is growing up way to fast as well!
My darling 9 year old is just as cute as he can be. I’m glad we were able to capture the “funky teeth stage” he’s got goin’ on as well. Hee hee.
I gotta say that THIS CHILD in particular has struggled with the whole “natural smile” thang for the past oh, four or so years! I was so surprised and grateful Jen was able to somehow get him to smile a sweet, natural little smile. 🙂
And, lastly my squishy little “baby” is just getting so darn big and my heart physically hurts because of it! He is my sweet little sidekick and I just want him to never grow up!
I really don’t know how Jen got him to not only hold still, but also smile naturally as well!!
We also had a couple pictures of Kev and I taken and sadly, I think we’re growin’ up a little too fast as well! When in the world did we turn into old people!
I’m sure glad we had Jen take some pictures of us because sadly, it’s rare that we take pictures of just the two of us.
I even had Jen take a couple pictures of just me so I could use them on the blog or wherever I might need a pic of just me!
I am so grateful we were able to capture this time in our little family’s lives. Time goes by so darn quickly and I know I’ll be so glad we took the time (and endured the pain) of the family picture taking process!
I’m so happy we were able to work with Jen and that she could help us capture these memories. If you live in the Salt Lake Valley area, check out Jen Hanni Photography and call her at #801-725-8555 to get your family pictures taken!
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