When you grow up with a mechanical man’s man for a dad, life has no time for tea parties and dress up. My dad is an AMAZING father, and just because he had two little girls doesn’t mean he went soft on my sister and I! We grew up having pantyhose put over our heads to smoosh them into funny faces, and going around the corner rarely happened without someone being there to jump out and scare the crap out of you! I love my dad for all the great memories he gave us. And if there was one life lesson my dad taught us girls that sticks out to me when I think of the Hamblin family – it was having thick skin!
Harold Hamblin – this is the guy my dad must have been preparing me for. Harold is the fun-loving type that decides that there is no better time to scare a bunch of young girls than right before bed on their first camping trip. It was my first ever church youth group camping trip in the woods without my parents, and as we were all about to settle in for the night, Harold decided it was the appropriate time to tell us all about the man (who’s name I still refuse to say or type) had just committed a crazy crime and has been announced by law enforcement as wandering out in the very woods we were camping in. So, we should find a buddy and keep a buddy and never be by ourselves, especially if we needed to get up because nature (literally) called in the middle of the night. What did I do? I did what any 12 year old would do. I frantically searched for the key to the cheap lock on my diary and used it to lock the inside zipper of our tent! That would keep any scary criminal lurking in the woods from getting inside our tent, right!? Looking back it’s impossible not to laugh at my innocence, but I had to find some comfort after being traumatized. Harold is a great guy, and as long as I have known him, he’s always been the one pulling pranks.
Showing up for our session with the Hamblin family was no exception. We had the PERFECT setting for their photos on the equestrian trails in the San Tan Mountain foothills. Riley had prepared to bring her horse, Goldie, and Garret was bringing along his dog Ryder. Jon and I were crazy excited for the chance to photograph this awesome family along with the added bonuses of their animal family members. I mean what session is complete without the family horse? When they arrived at our meeting place, Jodie and Riley looking beautiful as always were decked out in fun fall style and Garret cleaned up into his handsome George Strait attire! Harold…well, he showed up with a really sweet Larry the Cable Guy cut off denim shirt! We were fully loving how he was so comfortable with his hillbilly bone, but thought maybe he looked a bit mismatched with the handsome stud and the beautiful gals. That’s when the full sales pitch came, and Harold convinced us with 100% certainty that it was no joke – he was wearing this for the family photos. Oh well, I thought – his photos!! That’s when Jodie came to the rescue and reigned the old cowboy in and made sure he got into his designated outfit. It was an awesome start to the super fun time we had with the whole family.
Hamblin family – we miss living close enough to be pranked on a regular basis, but loved that you made sure to take advantage of the opportunity you had with our time together. Thank you for making it a memorable session!
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