It happened again!...We've been photographed and blogged!!!

Last Friday, the family gathered together for a family weekend, ALL of us at the in laws house.  

The plan was to cash in on the second half of the Giveaway prize from Ariana and spend the weekend together.  

We almost weren't able to coordinate it {Last minute RBC build, work schedule changes, etc}

but in the end it worked out!

I'm SO glad that it did!

Check out Ariana's blog at Faces in Focus for a preview.  

I think she and Brian did an amazing job!

They were on time, we were running late.

The location that we chose didn't work, so they changed it, it was perfect.

We needed serious guidance on coordinating outfits, Ariana came to the rescue and provided suggestions.

 Our 30 minute session ran over, way over, and they were way cool about it.

Everyone had a great time, and they look amazing!

Great job Ariana and Brian, Thank you SO much!!!

I wasn't nervous this time... I felt seasoned. Haha.

You'll probably think me a dork {because I am}, but I kept my families outfits almost the same as last time.

The way the color scheme worked out, I figured...'eh, why not?'

I hate coordinating outfits, I'm SO NOT into fashion and everything I own I buy either severely discounted or used, 

I don't even own a full length mirror, so when it came down to having to coordinate everyone again, 

to the same color scheme as last time, I said No way, I can't do it again!

Plus I knew that to make the colors work as well as last time would probably be impossible

Why mess with a good thing?

Ariana didn't make Hubby and I do gooshy lovey dovey pictures again, 

we already had ours, but she did take some of the rest of the family...I LOVE them!

So consider this a continuation of the last session :)

My most favorite picture is of M&G with their 4 kids, beautiful!

And if you'll check out the one with all of us ladies, you'll notice that we are all wearing flowers made by me!  

I made flowers for everyone, and then they decided to wear them {how sweet!}

Except 'Ana, I made flowers for her girls, but her sweater had flowers on it, so it was all good.

I can't wait to see the rest of the shots!

Thank you Ariana!

Best.Giveaway.Prize.EVER!

I think this family has found themselves a permanent photographer, perhaps next year we can get them to come to the beach for family shots...or the mountains!

We've been photographed!

That's right, you heard me!

We finally, for the first time, have a family portrait!

The other week, my step-sister-in-law, Ariana of Faces in Focus posted a giveaway on her ever adorable blog.  Her theme for her business is "Let me show what your Love looks like...in Focus"  I think it sums up her awesomeness right there!

She's new to the photography biz and I'm proud to say that I've been a fan ever since I heard she was going for it 2 years ago.  It has been fun watching her grow as a photographer and cheering her on.  

The prize was for a free 30 minute photo session for yourself if you nominated someone else to win one.  So, I nominated my loving mother in-law to be the recipient.

  

You can imagine my glee when I found out that I WON!!!  

{I mean, WE won}  

Winning anything is just pure joy, but to win something that you desperately need and want, well, that bumps it up many notches.  And after the break-in and hubby's car dying, we just really needed something great to come our way, and it absolutely did!

Our little family of four cashed in on our prize this past Saturday.

I was nervous...

The only time I've really had my picture taken by someone other than myself was for our wedding...*8 years ago*  I chalk it up to a lot of things, the major one being self-consciousness.  I've always had body image issues, and having two children doesn't really help the equation.  Add procrastination and the ever passing of time... Plus when no one ever really takes your picture and the only ones they do take look horrible, you start to think 'do I deserve having my picture taken?' 'What's wrong with me?' etc etc...

So yeah, the nerves were getting to me, I have anxiety issues... felt like I was going to throw up.  But I tried to remind myself that it was more for getting a good picture of the kids and showing that yes, they do indeed have parents, and so in the end, it didn't matter what we {the parents} looked like.

You can imagine my startle when as we're getting started Ariana looks to me and says that she is going to let the kids play while she takes pictures of the hubby and myself first.  "GAH!"  But I was trying to go with the flow,  play it cool, act cas {casual}, so I agreed.

Our first few poses were a bit tense/awekward, but then I remembered...

{She's a professional, she wants the pictures to look great just as much as I do, and the most important part was to have fun and relax.  And oh yeah, we've been married for 8 years, dated since I was 13, fear of PDA {public displays of affection} shouldn't even exist}  So I took a deep breath and I did it!  I'm so thankful that she suggested it, because hubby and I really needed couple shots and Ariana was great!  She was encouraging, helpful, gave suggestions, walked me through it, and it was fun.  Her husband Brian {who was in our wedding} was there too.  He has become her side-kick and he was there capturing moments and encouraging us right along side her.

It was a lot of fun, and even though the kiddos didn't quite cooperate, the weather was perfect, leaves were on the ground, love was in the air, and it ended all too quickly.

I encourage you to consider Ariana for your future photo taking needs, she's awesome.  Check our her website, she blogged about us!

Also, for those that would like to see the rest of the pictures, check them out { http://www.digiproofs.com/facesinfocusphotography/   Password: Brandie } I am quite pleased with how the pictures turned out.  Thanks Ariana!  I think you've found yourself some repeat customers!