7 years…
it’s been since we tied the knot.
This fall will be 10 years of us together. That seems like such a long time, but it passed in a blink of an eye.
It seems like just yesterday you would call and wake me up at 11:00 am so I would get up and go eat lunch and go to class. 
Here’s our very first picture.. Such babies!!
Here’s the picture I took moments after we got engaged…
One of my favorite pictures of us.. from our rehearsal dinner.
Our wedding reception.. you know our band rocked!
It’s crazy to think the ride we have been on so far…
to the birth of another daughter..
to a National Title game and a trip to Pasadena.. (And weird hair for both of us!)
to more football games… (I’m sensing a trend, here!)
to Viva Las Vegas… among other fantastic trips.
and a trip to New Orleans this January…
You’ve helped me grow into the person that I am proud to have become. You’ve given me two fantastic red heads, that I wouldn’t trade the world for.
We’ve shared thousands of laughs, highs and lows, good times and bad.
You take my mood swings and my stubbornness for what it is.
You accept me– faults and all, and I thank you for that.
There’s no one else I’d rather high five at a football game, or give a sweaty hug to after I cross a finish line, or be absolutely lazy with on a Saturday morning.
I’m glad you attempted to talk me out of going to that Frat house the first time we ever talked on the phone.
Just so you know, I’d totally wait at the Arby’s on University for 45 minutes all over again.
Love you, dear.
Tardy to the 4th of July Party..
Yep. We celebrated Independence Day about 2 weeks ago.
I’m just now getting around to the pics. I did my sister’s family pictures early that morning, and since all the kids were a color coordinated, I decided to try to get some shots of all the grandkids for the grandparents…
Let’s review how easy it is to get 5 kids looking at the camera and smiling…
Claire is giving EMH the stink eye…
The little Philly kids are done with pictures.
So we’ll move on to the 3 granddaughters…
Claire doesn’t want to be touched.
Now she’s seen a bug or something…
At least I got a decent family picture out of the deal…
Photographers must have endless amounts of patience.
I don’t know where mine comes from, at times.
New Living Room Pictures
I ordered a giant 24×30 canvas of our family last year, put it up, and decided it needed something on either side of it.
It took me a year to decide what.
Alright. So I’m not that great at decision making.
I was originally thinking sconces, but couldn’t find something big enough that I liked. Then I realized that as a photographer, I don’t have NEAR enough pictures of our family up. (Some may disagree with me, but their opinion is invalid since it’s not the same as mine.)
I put up these shelves from Ikea, then I printed the pictures on the foam board that I would normally do for bigger prints. No frames. Makes them much less expensive and easy to change out! I’m not in love with the picture grouping, but they are some of my favorites.
I am wanting to do a framed collage of pictures by the front door and possibly one for the girls rooms, but we shall see. The smaller pictures are all 5×7′s and they may be a tad smaller than I was originally picturing.
What do you think? Do you like? Or are my pictures too small?
Easter 2012.
Wow. I totally meant to schedule this post for last week… but whatevs.
We took some impromptu family pictures for Easter.. I mean, of course I wanted one of our family being all color coordinated, but we had some time to kill before lunch, so I took everyone outside.
Look how cute these girls are… they love their daddy!
Such sweeties! And.. what’s that? Both girls smiling AND looking at the camera… it’s a miracle!
Addy has perfected her NEW gymnastics salute.. as opposed to the old one…
John said he looks like an insurance salesmen…
Addy took this.. be still my heart. The rule of thirds AND negative space. I love it.
She took this one as well… our poor chins are working with the height disadvantage of a 5 year old.
This one took some work.. I should show you the outtake of the family picture.. it’s classic!
I want to do a photo wall with these pictures… Can’t decide how to lay it out though.. What are your thoughts?
Are these good enough to constitute their own wall?
Also.. I should announce a winner for the Estrea Giveaway…
Maybe that will help make your day, since your kiddos have been sick! Email me at runningbackwardsinhighheels@gmail(dot)com with your address and I will get the info to Estrea!
Happy 3rd Birthday, Clara.
My little Claire-bear. I cannot believe you are 3.
You are extremely independent, stating “I do it myself” but at the same time, grabbing your blanket and snuggling up with me.
I love how you drink your juice and twirl your hair. That’s how I know you get really tired. When both hands are messing and twirling in your hair.
You are so charming. Your smile and giggle are infectious and always have been.
You may not be the athlete that Addy is, but your ability to put together a puzzle is nothing short of amazing.
While potty training you this year, we finally got you to go by cupping our hands to our ears to listen.. and you continued to do that every time you went, but somehow it’s faded away.
You call yourself “Clara” instead of “Claire” and I fear that it’s catching on and we will all be calling you that before too long.
You are extremely sneaky, constantly getting Addison into trouble.
You will absolutely NOT do something that you don’t want to.
I see traits of mine in you- not a morning person or stubborn, but so many of your Daddy’s- excellent swimmer, singer, and very laid back at most times- I call you my little beach bum. That is, until someone wants you to do something you don’t want to.
You are perfectly happy to sit and entertain yourself. Whether it be by watching a movie or reading a book or putting a puzzle together or coloring.
You are very organized.
You love your blanket, Ariel doll, Sleeping Beauty doll, and Fannie your elephant all in the bed with you.. another one of my traits.
I love you so much my little Clara Bell. I can’t wait to see what being 3 years old has in store for you.
Project 12. Completed.
I started this Project 12 in January, so hopefully we would have 12 good family pictures at the end of 2011. It was not easy. There are several months that I had to do 2 pictures, simply because we didn’t have time/ I forgot. I am very glad we did this. It became apparent early on, that I was going to have to get creative or else they would look the same. Some of these, I have no make-up on, some are the best we could do simply because we have two small children who are very uncooperative in front of the camera sometimes. (Some would call this perspective.. me learning what it’s like in front of the camera.)
June was actually taken at Addy’s birthday.
I feel like this project really helped me with my positioning of people and also helped my photoshop skills, as I had to learn how to photoshop my kids into pictures.
April is probably my least favorite month.. with a toss up between August, May, or November being my favorite.
September is probably hands down the best picture of the girls, but too bad my eye went wonky in it.
I don’t think I will do another one of these for 2012.. although they are nice to have, they are a lot of work, and I feel like I exhausted the grandparents taking these pictures. Or ya know, Tracie, who took a good bit of them too!
P.S. Dear Grandparents.. If you want one of these pictures, please just tell me and I will order it. Don’t steal them off the blog and print them. It will make me sad so see a poor quality picture of my family framed in your house.
Easter 2011
So, she enjoyed the bubbles instead. Although, Claire was the master kite flyer!
Halloween 2010
Weight Watchers Week 1
Birthdays and Such
I think they had some good birthdays. As they are always filled with love and cake.
