Fall Family Photo Shoot

If there's one tangible (or rather, intangible?) thing I value most, it's photographs. I'm lucky to have a husband with an interest in photography as he captures many beautiful images of our every day life together. Though, while Andi has the skill and all the fancy camera equipment, sometimes it's nice for him to actually be in our family photos. He tries to show me how to use his camera and I like to think I'm getting better at it, but he's probably reading this and saying, "um, no, always blurry."

That's why I think it's worth the money to hire a professional photographer at least once a year to capture our family together. We've used our friends, Bee's Knees Photography, for a few years now and they're fantastic about letting us voice our photo shoot suggestions and location ideas. In September, we met up with them for an afternoon photo session to document Tory's second birthday, with some family shots of the three of us together and a few maternity pics thrown in for good measure.

Looking back on this September day, I have a few regrets -- both things in and out of our control. For one, the weather was super windy, cloudy and cool the afternoon of our session, so we're all faking big smiles and enjoyment in most of the photos. I would have dressed us differently for the weather, but we met up with Bee's Knees on the drive home from the cabin on Sunday afternoon. In hindsight, this wasn't the smartest idea since Tory had been cooped up in the car for 1 1/2 prior and we were limited to the clothing we brought with us. Tory was less than interested in smiling or taking pictures that day so it took a serious amount of M&Ms to get her to cooperate. As I look back on the photos now, I see that Tory's clothes were too big on her (she teeters between 18M to 2T and it's hard to tell sometimes what looks best). I don't love my choice in maternity wear either. My scarf photographed too long, my skinny jeans too tight on my legs and my brown boots weren't tall enough up my legs. Our clothes don't look horrible, but just not my favorite choices. But! None of these things had anything to do with Bee's Knees or their quality of photography. Despite all my personal gripes, we still walked away with some cute family photographs.

Look at that scowl ...

Possibly the only Tory smile we captured all day ...

"Who wants a M&M?!" (x1000 begging cooperation from this girl).

Love this one. Andi is always teasing Tory, so it captures their relationship perfectly.

One other thing we missed amongst all the commotion was a photo of just Andi and I together. We are still a couple, of course, though sometimes it feels like all we do is chase after Tory. We have a newborn photo shoot for Aden scheduled with Bee's Knees in December so we'll have another chance for family photos next month. This time, I think I'd like to be in the comforts of our home (away from the weather!) and I'm hoping for some sweet shots of our family of four together. (EEK!! Family of four)!