Day 74

My faves of our first "real" family photos (by Arlee Greenwood)...

I'm picking up the rest of the photos this morning so there may be a few more I decide to sneak in here. I LOVE them and am so happy we finally have something that we can print and frame, and enjoy seeing around the house.

Andrew and I have been saying forever that we can't wait to get healthy and spend money to take really nice pictures (versus the whole self timer thing that cuts out half of your face) when we're all slim and beautiful. We realized that while we're waiting, we have nothing of us for now. One year became two years, etc. and here we are now almost 6 years into our marriage without any real nice family pictures, aside from our wedding day. So we decided to splurge and enjoy ourselves together as we are now and when that day finally comes that we're "ready" to take pictures, we'll get to enjoy all these ones and not regret not having anything nice beforehand, as well as being able to see the comparisons of how we've grown.

I think if you love your family, you need to showcase yourselves in a nice picture whether you get them done by a professional, or you just go out in the yard and take them for the purpose of taking a family picture. Growing up with Mom, Dad, and my brothers, my family took all sorts of pictures for every holiday, every event, but never any professional pictures or something that said "no reason except that we love each other." Around my 20th birthday, Dad shocked me and suggested we get professional pictures taken. I have one of Dad, my little brother W, and I that I LOVE because to me it says, "We want to remember our family in this moment in time," and anything that Dad ever spent money on was something to treasure because it just did not happen. I'm sad that I don't have one with my mom, or my other brothers too. For some reason, to me there's something nostalgic and magical about having a proper photo taken--to me it says unity, love, forever. I'm so glad we did this now instead of putting it off any longer.