Photogenetics

What have I been doing this past week?

Taking some senior pictures of some beautiful people, that's what.  Well, two beautiful people anyway.

I've said it before, senior pictures are my absolute favorite to take.  The part I feel bad about is that these guys left it up to me to document this time in their life rather than someone who actually knows what they're doing.   Imagine how fabulous they would have looked with a real photographer.  I mean, right?  Look!  Gorgeous.


First, my beautiful Micah.  One of my Laurels.  She is the sweetest girl on the planet.  And I'm not exaggerating.  You know how I hate exaggerating.  She's always helpful and nice and upbeat and she's a huge fan of GITYD which always helps (::teehee::).   Her mom said she was the "perfect baby & toddler" too which is no surprise.  And look at her...it's like she can't take a bad picture.  Even when she'd look away to "regroup" I'd keep shooting due to her extreme beauty.  Loved spending this time with her one-on-one.

Next up, the ward heart-throb, Dallin.  His mom (CIP) is a good friend of mine so we had fun posing Dallin in uncomfortable ways & making him STOP doing Blue Steel so we could get a few good pictures.  Sorry ladies, he recently changed his FB profile to "in a relationship" so you're outta luck.  I'll keep you posted though, if you're interested.

We Are Family

I know I'm a little slow on the uptake here.  You've all, most likely, visited here and here and here and here to get the overall experience that is the Jeppson Family Reunion in McCall, ID.  This blessed event occurs once every two years and it is not to be missed.  And why would you miss it?  Well, you wouldn't.  That's all I'm saying.  And just like the Jeppson Reunion, I'm gonna pack all of my pictures and witty commentary into one big huge post.  No breaking it up or giving you time to rest.  My dad would be very disappointed if I did.

No doubt you've already heard about the beach front fun.  Boats for skiing or tubing, a lake trampoline, an enclosed dock area for the littles, canoes, kayaks and sailboats.  And, in the case of these guys, minnow catching.  People come from all around the world to catch minnows in Payette Lake.  What?  You were unaware?  Well now you know.

Where were Gty & JBird?  Oh right.  Well, they decided to enter the golf tournament which, basically, made them MIA for about 60% of the reunion.  The other 40% Gty was playing sand volleyball.  So there's that.

There are much better pics on those other sites than my cell phone pic here of the pinewood derby track my Dad made, but are there some of him at the "command center"with dual computers, speakers, and projectors?  No.  So see below.  He ruled this thing (except for a couple of technical difficulties which about put him through the roof, that is).

I really only got my camera out on one day.  That was horseback riding day.  We "safely" and "legally" stuffed secured six kids in the back storage area of the car and headed over to the Yahoo! Corral for some giddy upping and general cowboying action. 

Here's Kimi looking more excited about Beebs' imminent pony ride than Beebs. 

She loved it.  Duh.

Here's my cutemous neice (the current youngest grandchild) Annie and my SIL Blondee.  Annie didn't exactly RIDE, per say, but she liked sitting in the saddle while I took a couple of pics.  She adores me, btw.   As for Blondee, my Uncle Bil mistook her for me one day at dinner.  Like, had a full on conversation and still thought it was me.  And now he's going to China with my aunt on a mission.  How is he going to tell the Chinese people apart, I ask you?  He's not, that's how.

Here's Annie's brother, Sam.  No need for Aunt Kimi to be makin' the excited face to him.  He's got that covered.

Here's my other cousin Jen.  Mistaken for Me Case #2.  This time by my OWN nieces and nephews!  What the?   I guess there is a little bit of a reason here, however, as our Dads are identical twins. But still.  I know she'd love to know this pic was up on the internet somewhere.  She's tooootally giving me the momface. 

There's no mistaking this cowboy (who is old enough to ride on his own horse this year rather than do the lamerz pony ride--don't tell Beebs it's lamerz, k?).  Goldiloxx Tbone.

These guys got to go on the totally "not lamerz" wagon ride while the rest of us headed off into the sunset on our horses.  Blondee is laughing cuz I was able to capture Sam chugging a Diet Coke.  Apparently she didn't really want that captured on film. In the pic taken right before this one (which I'm too lazy to post) she's trying to get it away from him. Oh well.

Here was my view on the horse trial.  I spared you all the views of horses pooping and peeing right in front of me.  Every time my nephew Zach's horse (seen below in the grey hoodie) would poo or pee he'd turn around and yell "In your face!!"   It was awesome.

And, if you've been paying attention, you also know these Pokemon trainers were joined at the hip for the entire three days.  Now if Memzy could only find her webcam they could Skype like we promised they could as they were crying themselves to sleep the first night they were apart. ::ahem::  Please note the wide spectrum of personalities going on there.  And yet, Pokemon knit their hearts together forever.  I think that if everyone liked Pokemon (I'm looking at you Iraq & friends), world peace would commence immediately.

Family photo op!  Memzy (profesh photog) was standing right there, so why not, right?

And here is my loverly family in its almost complete form.  We are missing Kim's three kids and one of RT's.  Otherwise I think we got it.

And here we are in our natural and unposed state. I don't think a more hideous picture of myself exists.  I suggest zooming in. 

Now for a little side note adventure.  

RT had been kind enough to let us take his Expedition up to the reoon.  We were instructed to "ignore the pinging in the engine" and told it was something with the transmission.  No biggie.  On the drive up it was a little loud, but ran great.  No problems.    On the way home, Gty decided to go golfing one last time with Memzy's brother, Nick that morning.  This meant I was driving the two hours back to Boise by myself with the kids.  RT said he had a bad feeling about the car and maybe I should have someone follow me.  So, of course, AV and her empty rental car saved the day by being my escort down the mountain.  Long story short, the car died in Horseshoe Bend.  It had gotten progressively worse on the drive down, wasn't going up hills at more than 20 mph, getting louder, etc.  I'm just glad I was able to coast it into a Chevron just as it died.

I'm also grateful for this awesome lady who immediately went out to the corner & waited to flag down any family member coming by.  Our main concern was catching my Dad as he had room in the boat he was towing for all our stuff and then we could just jump in with AV.  As you can see, she did a fabulous job.  Perfect form actually.

The beauty of having 160+ peeps at the reunion and only a handful of gas stations between McCall and Boise is that you're bound to run into SOMEONE.  And sure enough, a bunch of my cousins had stopped at this Chevron.  The hood of the Expedition was popped and the problem diagnosed in a matter of minutes upon my arrival.   Here is my rescue squad.

Thank goodness we weren't trying to hurry down and catch a flight that day or something.  We did that the next morning after a fun dinner with my immediate family plus AV that night.

Then we returned home to reality on Sunday . . . and about 9 loads of laundry.

I'm so so so glad we made the effort to go this year.  In two years, when I'm thinking about what a pain it is to get there, I need to come re-read this post (minus the last part).   Good good times.

State of Mind Update

Still haven't quite recovered from the fact that it's actually over. 

Update complete.   

That is all.  

12 U 10 pt.3 ::drum roll plz::

Now, for the moment you've all been waiting for.......

After the funtivities were over up at the cabin, we all headed back down to Phil & Milly's house.  But did we just veg at the house cuz we were all dead tired?  Did we all just take naps and try to recuperate from the constant entertaining-of-kids which had occurred for the previous 4 days?

Not if this one had anything to say about it.

That's SM2003 explaining how this whole thing was gonna go down.  But first a wider shot of the decor.

The events are as follows:

1) Ring toss (no photos taken)

2) Treasure Hunt on the Shore of the River (SM2003 had buried some candy and little toys in the sand earlier)

3) Obstacle Course

Here is Mr. Thomas navigating the intense Tire Running portion of the obstacle course.  There were also  Army Crawling Under Chairs, Walking On Rocks, and Scooter Riding segments as well. 

4) Photo Booth

SM2003 had brought a bunch of funny dress up props.  Here are a few of my favorite concoctions.

5) Bobbing for Water Balloons:  Not as easy as it looks, folks.  Especially for a couple of the kids who were missing some front teeth.

6) Visor decorating! (aka, make your own party favor)

  

7) Then a lunch of "carnival foods" such as hot dogs, chips, drinks, etc.  And for dessert?  A Cupcake Decorating Station, of course!

Although the THOUGHT of pulling this off was exhausting, once it got going (I was feeding off of SM2003's energy there for a while) it was fabulous.  The kids loved it & will, no doubt, want to do it again year after year.  We are hoping that next time the older kids will want to help out at the stations more which would make it easier on us.

PS I highly suggest getting yourself a SIL/aunt like SM2003 ASAP. Just FYI IMHO.

12 Kids Under 10 pt. 2

Before I get on with it already, I simply must share the rest of the fabulous reunion we had with the Landerson side of the family in July. 

On day 2 of the fun, Milly added a falcon twist in the plans and we were off on a hike of epic proportions!  K, it was about a mile, but still.  It felt epic and that's what matters.

It was a bit chillier there than we had anticipated so we wrapped up in whatever we could find in the back of the cars (beach towels, blankets, Phil's jackets, etc.) and headed on our way.

Tbone was in his element.  He's not a "stay on the beaten path" kind of a kid.  We only lost him once at the very end when he "saw something in the woods and walked toward it."  I wanna cry for his future scout camp leaders. 

 

Beebs & Allybear....just seeing this pic made Beebee say "I wish they could come to our house" with a big saddy face.

Blane & Dotty!

A few of our more adventuresome explorers walked around Lake Wellington to the glacier.  Yes, it's a glacier...now shhh.

The Preston Family.  Cute as buttons!

A full view of the cute little lake, and the cute little girl.

Allybear wuvs me.

Blane & my other BIL, Joe were brave enough to do the rope swing across the way.  Due to the aforementioned glacier and my being a wuss, I just watched from afar.  Can you see him there dangling in the air? 

Brrrrrr.