Anyone who follows this blog knows that I take a lot of pictures. It's a passion of mine, and has become a lens for me to capture pieces of this life in attempts to store up the details I hope to never forget. I have a nice camera, and like any good hobby, I've learned over time that the longer you do something or the better you get at something, the higher your expectations are. Beau used to be happy when he was able to move from a 'C' chord to a 'G,' but now aspires to learn a new song each week on his new guitar. Likewise, I get upset when my white balance is off, or my ISO is too low, or my overall composition is fuzzier than I would prefer. And put a busy two-year-old in the mix of trying to learn to take a picture...especially one who is lately showing signs of rebellion every time the camera is out --- I'm surprised I get anything to turn out.
So when the holidays inched closer and Shutterfly began sending me mailings of their newest styles of Christmas cards, my mind went on a wild goose chase dreaming up the perfect Christmas card for this year. And thus begins what I like to call the Griswold Family Photo Shoot...
If you were a mouse at one of our two Sunday afternoon photo shoots (I totally hope you were not), you may have seen something of the following...
...Cruz, with a sucker in one hand and a candy cane in the other, running like a prison escapee through UNI's campus, or hiding behind an evergreen tree for hopes he wouldn't have to stand and smile nicely for .5 seconds.
This picture says it all...
Or maybe this one...
Okay, maybe this is more like it...
...Me, five minutes after arriving at our destination, changing Cruz's poopy diaper on a patchwork quilt in the middle of Wilder's Park while my mom attempted to hover over his bottom half so he didn't catch a draft.
Finding the evidence...
...Beau, sitting cross-legged on the quilt, mildly pouting because the Bears lost, holding a box of instant potato flakes, acting as if it was 20 degrees outside instead of 45. Because he's never smoked a pork butt on his Big Green Egg in 30 degree temperature...
...My dad, attempting to make Cruz laugh in pictures by 1) holding two sticks behind his head and pretending to be Rudolph; 2) pretending to hit my mom over the side of the head with a stick (to which all the pictures were slightly blurry because she was laughing too hard); or 3) climbing a tree and singing Christmas carols.
He finally gave up and decided it would be easier to just be in the picture himself (which Cruz thought was hilarious)...
Two photo shoots and a hundred pictures later, I consulted the likes of Darcy from At Play Photo, my favorite lifestyle photographer, to put a piece of art together with one of her signature designs. I love how it turned out and was happy to use some of our orchard pictures from Cruz's two-year shoot. That said, the more I look at some of these crazy pictures of my wild boy, they more I love 'em.
They're silly, they're imperfect, they're US.
I see a glimpse of a little devil in this one...
And a big devil in this one. They like to torture me...
Merry Christmas, everyone, and happy 'REAL' snow tonight! We're supposed to get 9-12 inches tonight!
