Photography Class

Just posted the next date for the photography class I teach.  Saturday, November 17th.  Check out all the info at www.tellmystoryclasses.blogspot.com  

Had Carter do a thumbs up so I could send this picture to my sis-in-law for her birthday.  Didn't notice the other hand down his pants until after I sent it.  Awesome.  Boys.

The fun way to do family photos...

FUNBOOTH.  Seriously.  This is the fastest, easiest, least painful way to get family pictures taken.
Cause we have one of those kids.  The one who won't cooperate with family pictures.  Or doing anything they don't want to do.  And I didn't have time or energy (or money) to plan out cute outfits, and find a location, and bribe my kids with toys, and all the other things that come with getting good family pictures.

Want family pictures but aren't up for the hassle?  Here's your solution people.

Funbooth details:

Only takes 20-30 minutes
You can get the pictures in color and black and white or just black and white if you don't want to coordinate outfit colors
You get all the pictures on a disc so you can print off whatever you want whenever you want (usually around 60 pictures)
It's a great way to do family pictures with younger kids who don't like to sit still
No stuffy poses
No forced smiles
And when it's over you have a ton of awesome images to make killer wall displays, or calendars, or gifts for grandma....

I will be doing funbooth sessions NEXT SATURDAY.  The cost is $175 for the session and a disc of the pictures.  This price is for next Saturday only.  E-mail me for a time if you are interested at [email protected]  

Then you can check family pictures off your list and get them done in a fun, painless way.
You can do them with the whole family, just the kids, or round up all the grandkids in your family and give it to your parents as a Christmas present.

Here's how our family funbooth turned out.  Out of the hundreds I took, I ended up with 103 that I really liked.  Here are some of my favorites.  And you may not believe that Carter was completely uncooperative, was wearing jammie pants, and wanted to hold a pez dispenser the entire time.  Yet we still came out with photos I love.

At the bottom you can see how I displayed them.

Right when you walk into my house, this is what you see.  I put those pictures at the top of my stair and nearly every person who comes to my house comments about those pictures.  I love it.  Other people love it.

The first time I did these, I printed them as 11x14's on a standout board (sticks out about 3/4" from the wall and is black on the sides).  This time, I just printed them off as 11x14 prints at Costco (after I lightened them up alot since Costco prints dark) and used double-sided tape and taped them right over the last ones that were already up there.  A quick and easy update.  You could also print them on matboard, canvas, or probably just as a plain print stuck right to the wall.  For the standout boards, we put velcro with adhesive on the back to stick them to the wall.  Velcro makes it easier to level all the pictures because you can adjust them easily.   My total cost to do all 9 pictures this time around was only $28.  

Our headshots

Did headshots of my kids today.  And Carter definitely made me work for it.  We said the word poop about a hundred times.  That face gets him places.  

Don't let that innocent smile fool you.  Most of his pictures looked like this.  Either that or ones with alligator tears rolling down his face.  Unfortunately for him, tears don't get you out of pictures at my house.

Gah.  Can't believe this guy is mine.  Forever.  So sweet.  And happy.  And cuddly.  And teething.  Oi.

She's beautiful.  Mike and I have already started discussing game plans to scare boys away as these girls get older.

Jaida reminds me so much of me.  It's very strange.  Everything but the girly part.  :)

School pictures the awesome way

How can it already be that time of year?  School pictures??  We weren't ready for summer to end around here.
I'm doing "school" headshots again this year.  It's an alternative to buying them at school.  Cause I think these ones are cooler.
Here's the deal.  You get a vertical and horizontal shot of each kid in color and black and white on a disc so you can print what you want in whatever sizes you want as many times as you want.
And you get to make sure your kids don't have crazy hair or faces.

If you're interested in more info, e-mail me at [email protected] and I'll fill you in!!

A sampling from last years:

Father's Day

We really needed a get away after being quarantined all winter with a new baby.  Caleb's still not awesome in the car so I didn't want to go far, so we combined a "vacation" with Father's day and went up to Park City.  We went to the Alpine Slide first.  Jaida was just tall enough to ride by herself which she wasn't happy about at first.  She and Mya were both really nervous, but I made them go anyway cause doing things that scare you is good for the soul.  That's what I've heard anyway.  On the way down, my phone fell out of my pocket and took its own ride down the slide.  Mya and I caught up to it half way down and we had to jump out of the side of the slide to get it.  No harm no foul.  Mike waited at the bottom with Caleb and Carter.  Then he took Carter up.  And Carter loved it!  Kept saying "Woo hoo" the whole way down.  Then Mike and I took turns (lots of juggling when you have little kids who aren't old enough for rides) taking the girls down the Alpine coaster.  That, my friends, is fun.  Really fast and kinda like the wild mouse at Lagoon.  I was sure we were going to fall off at any moment.  I think I screamed more than Jaida.
Then we headed to the hotel, went swimming, ate dinner, went for ice cream, then let the kids "swim" in our own private hot tub on the deck.
Celebrated Father's Day the next morning and then went to check out the Olympic Park up there and watched some people practice ski jumps into the pool.
The kids were awesome and Mike and I were temporarily refreshed (unfortunately doesn't usually last very long).
Dad's don't come much better than Mike.  My kids are really, really lucky.