"A picture is worth a thousand words," right? I certainly believe so!! Every picture has some kind of story behind it. As I find myself looking back through old candids of past vacations before kids or the blurry cell phone pics of the boys whizzing around the house, I have never regretted having to sort through and organize thousands of photos. Because those photos are an integral part of us and the memories that we are making each day.
Now more than ever, with the boys getting older, I look forward to planning our family photo sessions with a photographer when I want to be in the photos. I don't remember any family photos growing up. My parents always had photos of my sister and I, but never of the four of us. Moms and dads--you need to be in the photos too!!! As much as the boys (including Eugene) grump and groan about it, I love planning our outfits, our location, and most importantly, I love hanging them on the walls! Here's why...
Every season with our boys is changing. They are constantly growing and improving and it's happening so fast that I can't keep up. I NEED those photos to stop time for a second. I need them so that in the craziness of every day life, I can stop and remember a moment, just as it was.
Are we running out of wall space? Absolutely! Am I going to stop printing, framing, and making canvases to hang up? Nope! Eugene just shakes his head when he sees the prints come in the mail and my feeble attempt to measure to make sure they are lined up correctly. Spoiler alert....there are quite a few holes in the walls behind those frames. Please keep that a secret! My hint to you....canvases are BEAUTIFUL and SO EASY to hang!!!
As we sit and eat meals at our table, I get an every day view of our last beach vacation before covid started. We had an amazing and patient photographer, Jessica Wason (from Forever Treasured Photography, Clearwater Fl). She captured candids of the boys that I WILL treasure forever! We still laugh about us being dressed up and Ethan (being an independent 2yo) refusing to take off his water shoes (that he also refused to wear when it was time to actually wear them...go figure). As an added bonus, Aiden and I decorated the small frames with shells that we collected from the trip. Eugene and I were celebrating our 15th wedding anniversary and she captured some beautiful pictures of the two of us. We had talked before the session and I told her how our wedding photos were horrible and she made SURE to take some special photos of JUST US.
When we sit in the family room to watch tv or play, we are constantly reminded of the "Adventure Session" that we had this past summer at the Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes National Park with Josh Hartman Photography. Josh made this session SO incredibly fun. Our two hours flew by and we ran up and down the dunes, feeling the cool sand beneath our feet and standing on the edge of the largest dune, Lake Michigan below, and the sun setting behind us. I loved so many pictures that I couldn't even decide which ones to hang. Sooo.....I printed 11 (yep you read that right!) from his site and they are all displayed on the wall! I have to give the "hanging" credit to my brother in law...he did an awesome job!
I think some of my FAVORITE memories though are our holiday photos that we take right after Thanksgiving at a local library. For the past four years, the amazing Ari Grealish (she and her husband are AMAZING wedding photographers) have gotten the boys to laugh, smile and have fun. I can never decide which ones to print so I usually combine them into collages and hang them in clusters throughout the house. Just this season, Eugene and I were standing in the dining room and he looked at the ones from 2019 and then over to the most recent ones from 2021. He said, "Wow. Look how much they have changed in two years." DING DING DING!!! And that, RIGHT there, is WHY I do this!! I don't hang these up to clutter the walls. I intentionally design our wall art to display the memories that are so important to us.
I am excited to be offering more products this year (photos to come soon on my photo page). I am so excited to help you design your wall art and find the BEST places for you to decorate your walls with the love of your family! Getting the photos taken is the first step but preserving them into timeless pieces of wall art is something that can be enjoyed forever!
