Family Beach Photos 2013

And here are some of the "real" photos taken by the "real" photographer.  :)  I'd really like to learn more about digital editing.  I'm amazed at what she was able to do with the color on these.  They are beautiful!











 





 

 



We were so fortunate, it started to rain after our photos were over.  I was so grateful that it all worked out!

Lincoln City ~ Day 3 ~ Family Photos

It is so rare that we see our extended family that I wanted to take the opportunity to take some family photos.



There were 6 kids in my Mom's family. My Aunt Linda, who passed away 5 years ago this September, was the youngest.  My Uncle Butch (George) is the oldest.  My mom was 4th.  Uncle Butch looks JUST like my grandfather.  Really, the resemblance at this age is startling.  His only child is Dennis, pictured on the right and his "significant other" (of approximately 25 years...I'm guessing) is Marcia.  We consider her family.

My Uncle was the volunteer of the year for OroValley, AZ last year.  He has volunteered for the police force for years.



Uncle Buch and Marcia (pronounced Marsha).



The Royer family.  My Grandfather's side of the family is French, (from Callais, France).  My Mom is 1/2 French and my Grandfather is responsible for the nose that you see repeated in this photo.  We call it the "Royer nose."  Apparently it's a dominant gene.  It's even more prominent in profile. :)



I love this photo of my Mom. She looks so happy...she really loves her brother and is so happy when they are together.



A great photo of Mom and Mike.



Mike's family.  We were trying to get through these quickly (the children were not excited about this exercise at all and it was COLD) and so sadly, I didn't notice that Michelle was positioned funny in the photo until after we were inside and looking at them on the camera.













I love this photo of Mom and the grandkids.  I had to do some photoediting to get it though because what I didn't notice until later was that one of the Grandkids had to go to the bathroom.  And you could tell in EVERY photo....



Exhibit A of why I could never be a professional phototrapher.

And Kaitlin insisted on holding her imaginary baby.



I love this photo of Mike and Michelle.



At this point, as evidenced by my hair, it had started raining.



So while I'm not crazy about how I look in them, they are still nice to have.



Can you tell that Andrew is all done with pictures?



Sweet Matthew was game for one more.



I didn't get a good family photo as it was raining and by that point the kids were toast.  But it wasn't a problem as we went back and did professional photos at the beginning of this month which turned out great.

I actually have more photos that I wanted to post from this day of our relaxing afternoon and some beach fun.  But they'll have to wait for the next post.

Tulip Festival

 

It was a COLD trip to the Tulip Festival this year.

I also forgot to charge my camera battery before we left and it died as we were taking photos.  Definitely disappointing, but I was able to take a handful.  It was just so cold and rained a bit as well so it just wasn't as enjoyable as in years past. 

If Dan and I look suspiciously young in the first photograph it's because I put some of my new photo editing to work on it.

For fun, here's the photo that was taken straight out of the camera (or SOOC)....

 

And here's after I played with it in Light Room.

 

I can now do virtual Botox! :)  AND bring blue skies to our cloudy Pacific NW!  I think I made Dan too Plastic-y.  I'm learning.  Seriously though, it was a fantastic class, and I'm really excited about all that I learned.  It does take a while (at least for me) to do an edit like the one above, but nice to at least have the tools to do it when I need/want to.



After we arrive we always head to the fields to take photos.   When the kids were little they ran willy nilly down the path by the tulips.  They field just called to them to run.

Love that Kitti and Grace are still wanting to do that.

 

You are not supposed to pick the flowers.  Soooo hard for this flower-picking-girl of mine.  That is asking a LOT.  But she did very well!

My boys don't enjoy posing in the fields.  But that's just part of the deal.  The little carnival area is what they really get excited about.  But they know it's important to me and so they go along with it.  I think it's good practice for them to do things like this for when they are married and their wives have requests along these lines! :)



I didn't get great individual shots of the kids this year.  Or many good ones in general.  That's okay ~ there's always next year!  I do like this one because of Matthew's arm hooked with Andrew's and Kaitlin daintily holding up the apron to her dress.



And another.....

 

It would be fun to see our collection of tulip photos with Shannon's girls, side by side through the years.  They start when Kaitlin was just 3 months old.  I remember going out that day and just feeling so grateful to be out in the sunshine.  This little crew is just growing up much too fast.



Andrew had turned his ankle at a birthday party held at a Trampoline park the day before.  It was quite swollen and he was hobbling around.  Dan had to carry him a bit.



The most disappointing part about that was not getting to do the bungee jump that the kids love.  So he was treated to cotton candy instead and he was quite pleased!



Matthew is so great at getting down to business and smiling for me.



He is so easy to parent. And just such a great kid.  Quite simply, a joy.

The Bug was quite pleased with the flower fields.



I think she would have happily played and posed for much longer had my battery not died.











And this is where my battery died!

We quickly ate some lunch and limited the kids to one choice at the carnival (instead of two) as the adults were ready.to.go.  It was COLD. 

Hopefully next year we'll have better weather.  But cold or not, the Tulip fields are so beautiful to behold and it simply wouldn't be Spring without our visit to see them.

Easter Sunday ~ Part 1

We had a lovely, quiet Easter.  We often host family for the holidays.  Which I love to do, but it was nice to have a quiet holiday for a change.  I know if this were our norm I would be sad as I do like a big family holiday, but an occasional respite from our usual fanfare makes us enjoy our large family gatherings all the more.

Dan greeted the kids in the morning with, "He is Risen!"'

He is risen, indeed!
 
As usual, the kids were SO excited to come downstairs.
As usual, we tortured them by making them wait at the top until cameras were at the ready.
Couldn't resist a photo of them anxious to make their descent and start running for plastic eggs that the bunny left behind.



Ready to go!



The kids are getting so fast it's hard to capture any photos, but I did manage to get one of Kitti who still takes things at a bit of a slower pace.  The Easter Bunny hides their baskets too, which they discovered....



Matthew was really excited to receive a cover for his ipod....



The Bug is like her Mama, and immediately dove into the chocolate.  Who needs anything else?



Andrew is interested in older Mickey movies and he was excited to receive this one.  I remember seeing it as a child, so it was fun to sit down and watch it that afternoon as a family.

 



We sat down to enjoy breakfast before church.  Tulips are quintessential spring to me.  I loved the sight of them on the table.

 

I saw this idea on Pinterest and thought it was so cute.  It was easy to replicate and fun.



I left a couple of treats on the table for the kids as well.



I stumbled on some sweet Easter coloring placemats that the kids enjoyed. 



My handsome man.

Dan and I get up early and are dressed before the children are up on Easter morning.  It's our only hope for getting to church on time. 



Dan surprised us with corsages for Kaitlin and I.  Very sweet.  He did a great job coordinating with my dress ~ I was impressed!



Kitti's princess egg.



Breakfast on Easter has to be both fast and easy.   I picked up this maple cinnamon roll treat from a local bakery that would be a special treat.  I walked in intending to order something else and they were sampling this and it was sooooo good.  Sadly, ours was quite dry.



I love to take photos of everyone in their "Sunday Best" on Easter.  Kaitlin requested a photo with her doll's parasol as we were getting started.



Sweet little girliness.



So blessed.



I love the Kitti is always game for some photos.



She comes up with these little poses herself.  She is such a character.

Andrew was always young for his years (which was sweet and fun as I'm not in a rush for my kids to grow up) and so having her on his heels is a bit of a shock.   This little one is just sprinting out of the gates.



For some reason she wishes that she had blue eyes and she is always pretending or telling me that she's "shy."  The girl is anything but shy.  I'm not sure where this is coming from.

 

I love her joy.  That was one of the things her pre-school teacher commented on about her.  The child has joy spilling from her heart.   What a gift.



So often, Dan and I will look at each other and say, "We have great kids."  (And we know many, many other great kids as well!)  But we just mutually feel so fortunate to have been given these 3 specific children who are so special in their own unique ways.  Their differences make life so much fun.



Dan and I rarely snap a photo of just us by ourselves.  But I think the children (and grandchildren) will really enjoy having these photos some day, so I try to do it from time to time.  I confess I feel self conscious doing it. But I think years from now it'll be fun for the kids to have these and probably poke fun at my hair and fashion.



After we finished photos, we headed off to church for one of my favorite services of the year.

He is risen!!