Family Self Portrait

Last year we had a friend and photographer take our family portraits and they were beautiful. This year we decided to be ambitious and try to free-hand it ourselves. It worked pretty well! Our kids are VERY used to getting their pictures taken by now and as long as we let them play between shots, they will sit and smile for us. I think they know it will be over much quicker if they just cooperate.

Look how beautiful our children are!!

 

 

I had a bit of a hard time deciding the look I wanted for the shoot. Originally, I was wanting a late-in-the-day, late summer shot on a dock at the lake wearing plaid, denim, boat shoes, etc. But August passed us by and then September also. So then I decided to do bare aspen grove and neutral colors for a cool, wintery look but then I just couldn’t resist the sharp yellow of the leaves during October. I gathered all the clothes we had and tried to coordinate grays and browns (so the background would be the main color), but it just wasn’t coming together. It wasn’t in the budget to buy everyone new everything, so I ended up just going with what we had which was gray, black, and red. I figured it would work, especially since I knew we wouldn’t get around to editing these until Christmastime anyway. And I was right!

We drove up to Sundance and found this special spot with a wonderful wooden swing, a creek, and perfect fall colors.
We had a lot of fun playing and posing.

 

Next we went to Vivian Park where we found this great red pavilion and piles and piles of leaves. We had a lot of fun here, too.

 

We know how hard it is to get everything and everyone coordinated for family pictures. We know it can be stressful. But it is so worth it! We tried to make this more of a family outing rather than a portrait session. It’s more fun that way and you get better smiles.

I will always look back on these shots and remember how my kids act at this age. I will remember playing in the leaves. I will see their little smiles and hear their joyful laughs. I will feel love for them.

Merry Christmas To All

Woodmansee Reunion 2012 Edition

Each year our family has a reunion up City Creek Canyon. This has been happening as long as I can remember; always, the same canyon, always the same picnic site, and always a lot of fun. We’ve blogged about this event in the past. It is a Snow family favorite and a must-attend summer event. Our kids are completely in love with it. Something also happened this year that will solidify the reunion in Madi’s mind for years to come. Read on to find out what happened.

One of the most anticipated events is the piñata! Here are all the participants lined up and ready to participate (note Nate’s ridiculous excited face). :)

Madi was the first of our kids up to bat. At first she had her eyes closed but eventually opened them and got down to business.

With a little help from Julie even Cara joined in the fun.

Cousin Joseph also got a few good hits in!

Stacy and Pam decided it would be OK to let Nate go without a blindfold. I think they will choose differently next year. Nate drew first blood and knocked some candy free!

Julie coaxing Cara from the sidelines to join the throng of candy collecters!

My mom Gail, sister Breanna, and cousin Dani look on in happiness.

The kids had some really good face painted left over from a work party earlier in the day. 

After the piñata action things got a little out of hand. This is where Madi and I created a memory that neither of us will soon forget. Here she is looking excited with something tied up in her rope. What has she roped? Me.

Her cousin Joe wanted in on the action as well. Here I am wrapped in rope. I don’t think I stayed upright too much longer. Madi has a fascination with ropes and tying knots. As you can imagine she was totally into this activity.

Here are a couple of videos (video 1 and video 2) showing events as they unfolded.

After they got me to the ground I was done for. Check out the complexity of this knot! If she could only get a hang of swearing she’d be an excellent sailor (ha!). In the next two images you can see how pleased I am with Madi. She is a wonderful girl and I love her very much.

Julie captured her enthusiasm perfectly in these last two frames. She was literally having the time of her life.

In Love for 10 Years!

I was married to the love of my life 10 years ago this week. Julie I love you so much! Thank you for everything you do for me. I love you!

Fall Soccer

We registered Nate to play soccer with the North Utah County Soccer League. We got him geared up and ready for his first practice. Here he is all ready to play.

And a shot of his very cool soccer boots (cleats).

I was able to be Nate’s coach this year. Because the coaches are supposed to be on the field to keep things going I was really grateful for the parents that stepped in to help me keep things going at practice and the game. Here is one of our classic team cheers (It may have actually been our first team cheer). Our cheers became progressively more funny and by the end of the season they always referenced some type of flatulence (Ha).

Nate after the ball and backing up his teammate Thomas. During his first couple Nate played really hard. He was after the ball and scored a few goals. After that he slowed down a bit and goofed off more (This aggravated me to no end). We’ll see what happens in the spring. :)

I love this picture of Nate.

Hey Nate, no slide tackling please. hehe.

Oh he goes down!

Here goes Nate threading the needle between the defenders!

And protecting the ball from the defenders.

Nate looks awesome in this one.

Nate was good enough to pose with the coach (me) at the end of the game. Good times.

Here is a video of Nate doing some great defense and their team scoring a goal!

Here is a video of Cara

And one more sweet picture of me with my oldest kids. Madeleine wants to play soccer in the fall. I’m very excited for that too!