Over the weekend, we really put ourselves out there. Way out there. Like, outta town out there.
Literally.
It’s Fall, Ya’ll
It’s September! The $1 section at Target is full of the perfect pumpkin items. Starbucks has released the long awaited #PSL and us Arizonans are about the have 7 consecutive days of temps only in the 90’s – it’s fall ya’ll! And with fall comes family pictures.
Fresh, new, updated family pictures have been at the top of Erica’s priority list for a long time now. With Jon being the logical thinker that he is, his solution was to take turns snapping pictures of each of us with the kids and taking some new photos of them. Only one problem: that left us without getting photos of the two of us together and of all of us together as a family.
– Side Note –
Erica’s parents have a custom picture wall that they have had hanging in their house for years now. With each new house they have moved into, that same picture wall gets hung up the same exact way each and every time. There are about 14 different frames that are filled with photos of the grandkids, photos of Erica’s sister and brother-in-law, and photos of Erica’s parents. All taken by us. And for the last couple of years as those pictures continue to get updated, do you know whose faces are not seen in any of those pictures?
Ours!
There was a quick second where Erica was tempted to believe her childhood thought that her sister really was the favorite daughter, but then she found comfort in reminding herself that we are the photographers in the family and take pictures often for everyone else! And it reaffirmed the fact that now we need to start placing ourselves on that side of the lens.
Back to the Story
This is where we like to think that Michelle Praskins texted in and saved the day. Ever since we met her at the Amy & Jordan Demos workshop, we have wanted her to take family photos for us. With the vision and the location she had in mind for the shoot, there was no way that we were going to pass it up. We rounded the roads in and out of the mountains, pulled off on the side of the road, changed into our clothes and trekked through the “wilderness” (Nacho Libre, anyone?) to find our jaws dropping at the most perfect location! The mountains and the hills, the lighting and the two kiddos we watched smile and giggle with each other was all we could have asked for.
We’re always busy being the photographers. Having the opportunity to step back and just be ourselves as parents was so refreshing! We got to live in the moment with our kids while someone else captured what we do that we love the most – being together as a family. We found ourselves looking at Brody while it was his turn and Erica having to keep looking away so her makeup wouldn’t get ruined. He’s getting so big. Actually, he is so big and it happened way, way too fast. We’re so stinking proud of the kid that he is and looking at his big brown eyes and gelled over hair, was just about all our hearts could handle.
And then we turned and saw our little girl. With flowers on her head like Princess Poppy. The sun was glowing through her dress and her little beauty mark above her lip just looked so sweet every time she smiled at the camera. She was shy but when Michelle asked her to kiss mommy’s cheeks or snuggle with daddy, those moments right there were ones we wanted to freeze. And we did. Even though they aren’t frozen in time for us to stay in forever, we have them on camera and those pictures will always mean so much to us.
When Brody is 15 and driving with his permit and when Paislee comes to us asking to wear makeup, we’ll be able to look back on these pictures, smile at the missing teeth that marked Brody as a little boy, smile at remember the sweet snuggles that Paislee loves to give, and shed tears of joy for the memories we get to hold onto forever!
Thank you Michelle for your talents and the amazing time our whole family had with you!
We can’t wait to share the images with you soon!!
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