A Favorite Family Portrait

Almost 9 years ago we had this family portrait done. Chris's Mom, Barb paid for all of her kids and their families to have their portraits taken. Chris, being the wonderful woman she is, made sure all of us wore kakhi and navy blue. This is one of my favorite pictures of my family. I know that pride is a sin - but how in the world can a man not be proud of his family when we all look as good as we do here?

We intended to make an impression - We did!

I remember this day as being sheer chaos. When you have nine kids and ALL of their children running around, it ends up being absolute madness. My mother-in-law has nine kids, thirty-four grandkids, and nine great-grandchildren. Maybe madness isn't a good enough word to describe the incident. This event took several hours to negotiate, and was filled with chasing kids, trying to keep them clean, and trying to keep them from being bored out of their minds. We got in near the end when the shadows were starting to lengthen and the golden glow of a summer eveing was washing the sky. In spite of the madness, it was beautiful - though I'd rather never have to endure that again! Regardless, our family wanted to be different. We wanted to stand out. I think we succeeded in spades.

This is me... take it or leave it.