October 2022 Part 1: Family Pictures

 On October 2, we took our family pictures! It was a group effort--our friends, Dustin and Serene, along with their kids, came with us and we had a big picture taking party! I took Dustin and Serene's family pictures, I posed my family so Serene could take our family pictures, and Brian and I took individual shots of our kids. I really love how they turned out! It's always a little tricky to take two different family pictures in the same session, but Serene saved us from tripod frustration, so it was worth it!

We took them up at Suncrest, the neighborhood on the hill/mountain above us between Salt Lake and Utah Counties. It was a bit chilly, so kids were huddled in blankets in between pictures. 

Everyone was really helpful about hauling stools and our wagon of stuff (and Hunter) down this steep incline and around this spot. See Utah Valley in the background?

Rachel and Elsie insisted on taking some pictures together

and Haven wanted in on the action too. 

Of course, so did Gabe and Hunter. 

And now for some more of our favorite photos: 

Gabe and I totally matched, even down to our shoes! 

For photo credit, I took this one: 

And Brian took all of these: 

A zoomed in one of this one is hanging on the wall: 

I took these ones:

And Brian took all of these: 

(This is the shot we put on the wall for her)

I took these ones:

While Brian took these ones: 

(This one made the wall)

Brian said these are Michael's pictures for his upcoming music album. Michael let the posing on these ones. 

I took these ones: 

Serene took these ones for us. 

(I really like my hair in this shot)

And I took these ones: 

Brian took this one. 

And, of course, Serene took this one (and I'm pretty sure this is actually a few photos because this was one of the last photos of the day, and we were tired of taking pictures. We couldn't all have a good face at the same time, so this one needed some head-swapping action to create this image)

I left my tripod at home, so we couldn't get one epic picture of both our families, but we did remember to take a selfie of the four of us. 

And no family session is really done properly without a reward at the end. Here we are enjoying the treats we all earned for being SO good for pictures! (Not pictured: the kids cuddled in blankets in the car eating their treats.)

This was a massive group project, and I absolutely love how our pictures turned out. Brian did a great job of getting shots of our family while I made sure Serene's crew got some good ones. The kids were so great at bringing their best smiles, even after they just wanted to play with their friends. It was a beautiful night, and it felt so good to get these taken care of. Thanks, Serene, for making it happen!