a preview

We took our first family pictures 6 years ago when Addison was 4 months old. Bryan and I loaded Addi, Zoe and all their baby and dog stuff into Bryan's truck one morning and headed to College Station. That evening we had family pictures taken in the bluebonnets.

When I scheduled the appointment a few months prior, we weren't sure Bryan would be in the pictures. Bryan's unit had deployment orders, but we didn't know when the pictures would be and we weren't sure when Bryan would deploy. You see, bluebonnets aren't out long and, like all flowers, you can't predict when they'll bloom, so the photographer put us on a list to call when the first blooms appeared.

Not only did Bryan get to be in the pictures, by that time I'd allowed myself to entertain the idea that he might not actually leave. As I said before, we'd known for months he was supposed to deploy. We'd even had a farewell ceremony for his battalion over a month earlier. The day after we took those pictures, Bryan received a call telling him to return to Ft. Sill because he would deploy the next week.

It felt like someone had kicked me in the gut! We drove the 6+ hours home listening to reports of the first attacks in Iraq.

Fast forward 6 years and we were back in our picture clothes. This time the pictures were taken at the Dallas Arboretum with the addition of 2 people and without the stress of an upcoming deployment. Within the first few minutes, I wondered why I thought family pictures would be a good idea. Getting 5 people, most of those kids, to all smile at the same time is nearly impossible. Last night I was just hoping there was 1 good, usable picture.

This afternoon, Dana at Tin Star Photography emailed to let me know she'd posted a preview of our session on her blog. I am telling you, she is a photographic genius! There are 7 pictures posted and I love them all. If you live in the Dallas area and are considering pictures, email Dana. You won't be disappointed.