Family Photos

This is my beautiful family......

Having our family photo taken was my Christmas gift...

and a wonderful one it was!!!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Autumn and fall colors

so we headed to the park,

where here in California

 there was still an abundance of fall foliage.

Well as much foliage as we get here...

My girls commissioned a dear friend of mine who owns

her own Photography business

 (check it out...framedexpression.com)

to take the pictures the day after Christmas while everyone was still in town.

Funny side story....

About a week prior to Christmas I had met with this particular friend for dinner. I had been thinking how much I would love to have our photos done while I had everyone here. As you know my son just returned from a deployment and we never know when he will be heading back over again. As it is he and his family live in Arizona. Then there are my daughters and their busy lives, the kids, school, work schedules....

you get the idea.

I posed the question to my dear friend...

"You wouldn't happen to be available to take some pictures the day after Christmas would you?"

"NO"

was her quick answer.

Oh....okay..............................

I was stunned but also felt like I was asking a bit much so I did not push the issue.

As we were parting that night she said to me

"if you can't figure anything else out, give me a call and I will come over and snap some pictures"

HA!!!!!

Little did I know.....

She had already been contacted and the plan was already set.

So, when I opened up the big beautiful frame on Christmas, that had a family photo drawn inside

with a note saying this is for the family photos that we are taking TOMORROW MORNING,

My immediate reaction was ...........

AH! Ronda....she knew all along! Bless her heart for keeping the secret!!! 

I knew I wanted family photos....

It had been a long time since we had them done and our family has grown and changed...

we were definitely ready for new ones! 

What I did not think of

and what was a pleasant surprise was

TAKING THEM was just as much of a gift as the actual photos!!!!

Spending the time posing and laughing and chatting and walking around the park looking for new locations was in itself a beautiful gift!

I love spending time with my family and I will cherish the memories of that special day now every time I look at our fabulous photos!

Now, I have the difficult job of choosing which one I am enlarging to go into that lovely frame!

I have 356 photos to choose from!  ;)