Family Portraits 2023

Adam did our family pictures again this year and they turned out so beautiful!  It's tough to get seven people all smiling, not blinking, and looking at the camera, so if we aren't all looking absolutely perfect in some of these, the blame definitely lies with us, and not with Adam.  This year, Bentley and I were the worst blinkers in the group.  And Ryder had the most trouble smiling normally and not crazily.  (There's always one...)  Adam took about 400 pictures and I'm only sharing my absolute favorites here, so consider yourself lucky!  My poor mom had to look at ALL 400 while she was here visiting!  (If she never comes again, now you know why...!)

We started out at this farm where he'd just done a wedding...

As is often the case, the first one is REALLY good!

This is now the wallpaper on my phone...

Isn't that farm gorgeous???

Time for some individual shots...

Camille is so sweet...

Probably my favorite from the entire photo shoot, and the one (slightly photoshopped) that is now the banner for this blog!  You'll also see it in a Christmas card coming your way soon!

You thought you were done now, didn't you?  HA!  That's just the first location!!!  We piled into the van and drove to a lookout spot and snapped a few more...

I think this shot is beautiful, except the background is almost too pretty to the point of looking kind of fake, right???  I mean, those clouds can't be real, can they?  IT'S REAL, I PROMISE!!!

And then we headed to Raven's Roost, in Shenandoah Park.  Unfortunately, it was very windy AND there were a lot of people there, so we had a tougher time getting good pictures here...  

Poor Kendra had her hair ALL in her face, and it's just so obvious that Colton and Camille are freezing.  But that setting!!!!

One of Adam's wedding photographer friends suggested that for large groups, having them stand farther apart from each other worked really well and he was right!  This looks awesome, despite Kendra and my crazy hair!

But I still love huddling everyone in close together!  (At this point I gave up on my hair and just pulled it back in a ponytail!)

And THEN, as if that wasn't enough, I insisted on different outfits!!!!  My kids were thrilled let me tell you!  Having everyone change in the van is so fun!  (But I was impressed with how organized we were! Craig had also brought a TON of snacks to keep everyone happy, so all of that worked out really well, even if it was a pain.)

Time for our Bay Hay & Feed swag!!!  I really love this picture, but I wish we would have thought to separate the two purples and the two reds!  Very minor gripe.  I love Camille's knowing smile...

I like this one a lot, too.  Any time my hair is backlit and glowing, it makes me happy...  I think I secretly want to be Disney's Rapunzel or something...

I love the rolling green hills behind us and the sun peaking from behind the tree.  I wish we would have thought to move Ryder's sweatshirt (on the ground) out of the frame...  Ah, well...

We hopped in the car again, and drove a few miles down the road where things were a little leafier behind us:

This is too far away and probably too dark and artsy for a Christmas card, but I totally love it (and not just because my hair is, once again, backlit)

And this one DID make it on the Christmas card, but very small!

Bentley kept bugging Adam to take a fish-eye lens picture from up high.  So when he finally did, it turned out awesome and not at all funny like Bentley was hoping for! 

Seriously, how cute is this?

We drove a little down the road again, chasing the last bit of sunlight, and ended with Adam frantically snapping pictures, standing on his toes to catch the light while we made Bentley change clothes again.  It was hectic and crazy, but we got a few really good final shots.  Adam was all ready to schedule another day of pictures, but I knew my kids were done.  We will probably do some more of just Bentley, but that was it for the rest of us!

Anyway, we did some quick individual portraits:

I try really hard to not brag about my kids too much on this blog, but I'm just going to say it: Kendra looks absolutely stunning in this shot.  My beautiful girl.

While we were doing those, Bentley threw on his suit for Round One of his senior portraits:

Then we pulled him back into a group shot and couldn't stop laughing at how out of place he now looked:

Bay Hay and Suits

Just girls

Just boys
(I love how if you look closely, you can see that Bentley is still wearing his suit under the sweatshirt-- classy!)

Mom with her boys

Dad with his girls

And one last shot of the whole family

Whew.  So many pictures!  I really can't even say enough how happy I was with all of them.  We're so lucky to have Adam!

Stay tuned, because my next post will be: Outtakes!  And some fo them are hilarious!