Family Photo Shoot

Christmas was looming close and we still hadn't gotten any family pictures taken to pop in those Christmas cards!  We'd tried a few times, but trying to co-ordinate the schedules of nine people is a little difficult - especially when one is working out of town for most of the week.  We decided that a Sunday would be our best bet, mostly because we'd all brushed our hair at least once that day, and Rich is always here on Sundays.  But then sickness interferred too, so that left us with only the last Sunday in December before Christmas to get our pictures done - Dec. 18.  

I told everyone to go and put on jeans and a shirt of greens, blues or browns.  {Let me add that this felt really strange.  We (the girls!) usually stay in our skirts all day - it helps us remember that it is the Sabbath Day.  We act more reverently when we're dressed differently from our every day attire.}

Let the photo shoot begin!!!  We didn't have a photographer so we just set the camera on the timer.  Then we had to play around with the flash and what lights to have on in the house.  So these photos of the girls are practice shots - but fun to look at anyway!  And we took way more shots than what I've posted here.

Lovely face Chelle!

All the girls!  Let's see, their ages are:

Chelle - 19.5, Jas 17, Jordyn 14.5, Carlee 13, Jenna 10.5, Katia 6.5 and Mackenzie 2.

They were singing and swaying back and forth!

"Fa who foraze, da who doraze, Welcome Christmas, Christmas Time!"

 

We lined up the sides of the pictures with the girls and then had to put mom and dad in the middle, so Jordyn is seeing how that looks.  Katia was too short so we had to find a stool.

First attempt with the whole family.  Hmmm!

A better family arrangment.  Something in your eye Katia?

What are you doing Mackenzie?  Carlee?  And where are we supposed to look?

So we all looked up at the light and . . .

. . . got our ""It is Better to Look Up" photo {Elder Carl B. Cook's talk from the October General Conference}.  And we're not sure which light Rich is looking at!

Still trying for that somewhat perfect shot . . .

. . . nope, that's not it!  Rich bumped the camera when he was jumping back into his spot for the picture - which is why he's almost not in the picture, but the tree is!

Kenzie fixing Katia's hair!

And after much effort, we quit after this one . . .

. . . it seemed the most decent of everyone - and we were tired of smiling!!!

I delight in family pictures - not just mine, but all of them out there in the world.  I love to get Christmas mail and post new family pictures on my fridge.  I love to look at the progression of families over the years.  Looking at our family picture, I can't help but wonder how long it will be before Rich isn't the only male in the picture {I'm talking sons-in-law here - not a new baby for us!!!}  Some family pictures are absolutely gorgeous, and some are just random pictures, but they're all wonderful because they are families.

And family is everything!!!

December

This little post is simply to share a few December memories.

Every year when we get out the Christmas decorations, poor Lacie has to suffer through donning her festive apparel!

She gets to wear a hat, a collar and four ankle cuffs.  She doesn't seem to care for this tradition much, but the girls enjoy seeing her in her finery.  She usually gets all of it off except the collar - I don't think that one bothers her too much because she's used to a collar.

This is one of my favourite pictures!

Mackenzie spent half of December playing with the little ceramic Nativity Set under our Nativity Tree.  I think this is so adorable as she's gazing on a little Nativity ornament.  And isn't the lighting great?

And now with the flash on, we can clearly see the little munchkin enjoying the Nativity pieces.

Party time on the north side of the stable - all Nativity pieces invited!

See those boxes the tree is on (actually four food storage boxes!)?  When I put up our tree in our new living room, it looked way too short.  It looked fine in our last house with 8' ceilings, but in this house with 9' ceilings and a vaulted living room, it looked so puny.  Food storage to the rescue once again!!!

There were a few Christmas concerts throughout the month.

Carlee clogged at one of them.  Jordyn didn't clog that term as her clogging and volleyball schedules overlapped.

They were standing there, waiting to clog, but their music wasn't working.  So eventually they did it acappella and it actually sounded pretty cool.  You could hear the clogging rhythms much better without the music playing.

Can you find her?  Back row on the left.

Jenna sang in the elementary school Senior Choir.

She's a beautiful little singer - sounds like an angel and gives it everything she has!

Can you find her?  Back row, second from left.

At this point, the batteries in my camera died so I wasn't able to get the picture of Jasmine singing with the High School Choir.  But there are lots of other things I don't have pictures of either - like Katia clogging for the first time at the Light Up the Town celebration.  Or Richelle singing in a marvellous concert with the Institute Choir.  Or Jenna in a musical play at the Elementary School concert.  Or Jordyn and Carlee playing in the Band Concert.  Or me singing with the ward choir at the Stake Christmas Fireside.  Or Jasmine and Carlee playing on their school basketball teams and Jordyn doing stats.

December is always such a crazy busy month - but I sure delight in it!  There is all the busyness and hustle and bustle, intermixed with beautiful music and stories and acts of kindness and service.  I think one of the things that I find the most delight in during December is . . . the lights!!!  Christmas lights thrill me!  And it must be because in December, when the world is all lit up, it reminds me of my Savior.  He is the Light of the World!

Our Trip North

In November we took a trip northward for Devin and Hannah's wedding reception.  Click here to see their wedding pictures.  We left our two oldest girls at home to look after the dog.  Well, that's not the only reason - Chelle was busy with college and Jas had volleyball zones.

It was nice to get away with our youngest five - more room in the car that way!

We left on Thursday after school and did half of the drive - spent the night with my sister, Rebecca, and girls got to play with cousins.  Went the rest of the way the next morning.  We had a whole afternoon before the reception so we hung out here at WEM.  Rich took three girls into the huge water park, and I explored with my two littlies.

They really enjoyed running and jumping (and cartwheeling!) across the bridge - and the mall was pretty empty in the early afternoon. 

The sea lion show was pretty neat - and we had a great free view!

Everything was decorated for Christmas which made it extra festive.  However, I wasn't very impressed with many of the store window displays and had to divert my sweet innocent children from looking at some scandalous things.

This is how we zoomed around the mall - sharing the single stroller!

I was planning to take the girls on a ride when we explored the amusement park.  But as we wandered through the park and I realized how much it would cost for one little kiddy ride, my budget-conscious brain was having trouble with the thought of forking out at least $6 each for a ride.  So, when my girls got excited about this ride . . .

. . . I was more than happy to fork out the $1 - and I even would have done it twice, but they'd had enough after one ride!

After about four hours we collected Rich and the girls from the water park - they'd had a blast and could have stayed longer.  Then we went off to the reception to congratulate the newlyweds.  (And yes, Katia was doing cartwheels at the reception!) 

Another drive northward brought us to my sister Kathryn's home, where we got to meet a new nephew and cousin - little William.

The girls enjoyed playing with a little boy with spikey hair!  And then the next day, they got to meet their newest cousin - little Andrew (Drew).  He's a happy little man!

That's him in the red shirt.  My other sister, Denyse, and her family came to visit and we had lots of fun as we spent time together.

A group of fifteen cousins!!!  Good times!

And Rook is always played at some point in time!

We attended church with Kathryn's family, and then played and ate some more.  They were wonderful hosts and took such great care of us.  I ate way too much!!!

The girls all had so much fun together.  This group (plus one) slept together in the family room.

These three older girls enjoyed hanging out - literally . . .

. . . and they took a gazillion pictures!

I delight in cousins!  I never really had much opportunity to play with my cousins.  Some lived on the other side of the world, and while many were in the same country, we didn't live close enough to see each other very often.  And when we'd get together for the occasional reunion, we'd just start getting to know each other and it would be time to go home.  But I did like knowing that I had cousins out there in the world!  And of course, those were in the pre-technology days.  One of the greatest perks of Facebook that I have found is that now, I finally have relationships with some of my cousins.  And I can get glimpses into their lives and see pictures - weddings, babies, missions, birthdays, funerals - and it's wonderful!!!  I love my cousins!

It's so delightful to me to see my children love to be with their cousins and the fun they have together.  And it's great to see those over 13 chatting with each other via Facebook.

So while FB (like anything else) may have disadvantages, it's certainly been a wonderful tool for my family in strengthening extended family relationships - like cousins!!!