family pics, the easy version

My favorite photographer, the lovely Angela, has been busy, busy and I wasn't on the ball enough to schedule family pictures far enough in advance to get them into my parents' Christmas box to Mongolia by mid-November. SO, we had some dear friends over last weekend and I asked my friend Becky if she'd snap some pictures of us in front of our house with my camera if I had the settings all right and everything. While we were at it, I took some of her family and some of Melissa's family! It was fast, fun, and we all got some good family pics out of it, so I am happy! And, I'm thrilled that our house is in the pics this year, since it was a huge part of our year. Here's the one we're going with for Christmas cards:

And a few good ones of the kids, too:

Nice work, Bucky!!!!! I hope you guys don't mind me posting your pictures on my blog, because here they come, hahaha.

Here's some I got of Becky's family (baby girl due in January, yay!)

And then of Melissa's family:

Then, out came baby Liliana (SO PRECIOUS!)

Love this next one, soooo sweet :)

And, of course, there were plenty of out takes!

Boys throwing leaves--the only thing little boys would do with piles of leaves, of course.

And, my all-time personal favorite:

When we went back inside, I got a couple more of the baby.  Isn't she soooooo sweet and adorable??

Whew! I know that was a lot. But, if you stuck it out and are reading the rest of this, I have a great idea for you:  no matter what kind of camera you have, or what kind of photography skills you possess, grab another family or two and take some pics for each other! You will all be glad you did it, I promise :)