Front Porch Family Pictures, April 2020

 So, one of the really nice things that happened during Covid was that some photographers started doing "front porch pictures" to document this weird quarantine time in our lives.  Most of them did it gratis-- ours did.  They just asked if you wanted family pictures, then they would come to your house and take pictures from a safe distance.  Some people even wore masks to really get the effect.  But anyway, I definitely wanted to seize that opportunity, so one day we dolled everyone up-- look at gorgeous Hazel.  I kept taking more and more pictures because she was so pretty.

Two beautiful girls!!

I made them pose so much.  They loved it. ha.

Wyatt even wanted in on the action!

Look how cute he is!!!  And he just gave me that smile just because he wanted to--no bribing or prodding.  It was a miracle.  I wish I had had my real camera out.

ALLLL the selfies.

Bell girls.  Awww.

Love this one.  :)

I like how our hair mixed in the middle and became auburn.

And here are the photographer's pictures (why oh why didn't I make Jethro shave??? ewww.  I even noticed it, but didn't say anything because I didn't want to make an issue of it.  Having kids come home and live with you again after they've been on their own for a while is weird.  A lot more difficult than I expected.  But, it makes sense, since they've been on their own and they don't really want their parents telling them what to do anymore...)

This one below is soooo cute!  Those little boys' grins kill me.  Ethne says they're grinning because Talmage was choking her.  haha

Oh my adorable children!!!!

All my little ducks in a row.

I cropped this of Hazel out of a picture because I thought it was so nice.

And the final, head-swapped (by me, of Hazel, because she had her eyes almost closed in this one) masterpiece.  I love it!  Not shabby at all for 10 minutes and Zero dollars!  :) :)

Family Pictures at Antelope Island Sept. 2019

After much planning and stressing about getting a good day that Brett would be back in Utah and Jethro could come home from BYU and LOTS of stressing over outfits (I'm sorry, but it is honestly really hard with 9 people!), we finally met up with Amber, our friend from Pittsburgh who moved to Utah about a year or so before us, and who is a photographer on Antelope Island for some family piccys.  We went a little too early and things were too bright for a while. (p.s. ages were 17, 15, 12, 11, 8, 6, and 3)

Awww, I love that one below. :)

The best one of all the kids was without Brett and I, which is sad because I wanted one with us in it to put on the wall, but still, it's dang adorable! ♥♥

Orrin, who usually smiles TERRIBLE fake smiles has so many ADORABLE pictures because we were all making him laugh, I think by throwing rocks at him.  Yeah, I don't understand either, but boys are weird.  (It was boys that threw the rocks, not me.  I was trying to tell them to throw them not so close, but that was the hilarious part right-almost getting hit in the head.  Amber was like, as long as it's only a little blood we can photoshop it out. hahaa)

Despite all of us trying to make Wyatt smile naturally, his were all horrible forced smiles.  And it's funny because he was trying SOOO hard so he could earn his reward/bribe.  And it's not really that bad, but none were really good either.  smh

Cutie.

Hazel hated her dress, but it worked for the grand scheme, so what can you do?  That's how I feel family picture outfits are--no one actually has something that's super great, everyone just has to settle for things that go together.  But I think it's fine and she's lovely.

Ethne and Jethro were both very photogenic and had great pics.

I had wanted Brett to bring different pants, but these are the ones he brought.  What can you do.  Still okay.  And, the first dress I bought and accidentally had it sent to Pittsburgh, and then instead of Brett just bringing it with him on the plane, I told him to forward it so that I would have a little while to search for a plan B dress in case I didn't like it. But then it never came.  (Legitimately never-- that dress and the dress for Hazel that was in the same package were lost forever. :(  )  Anyway, luckily I found a dress the day before when I was frantic that I liked quite a lot.  But I had a lady in my ward change the sleeves for me, because they were weird butterfly sleeves.  All these details that no one will care about... they just want to look at the lovely pictures on the beautiful shores of the Great Salt Lake.  haahaha

LOVE! ♥

This was the best one, but I don't know why I thought holding Wyatt would be a good idea.  Everyone voted it was too awkward, so then I had to do photoshopping to put him down.  It's okay, I just always assume I'll do some photoshopping to get everyone's best faces.  That's the beauty of technology.

Why, Jethro?  

And the final, photoshopped picture that I am really going to order a big picture of, like, this week, I promise!  (Only 8 months later.)  Anyway, success.  Super happy with this picture. :)