out takes and hard to take outs

Now that our almost annual, after the holidays, if you didn't get one here it is, New Year greetings have been delivered, here are a few out takes. Because,  you know there are going to be a few of those with our group of five. Getting us all together is sometimes a challenge in itself but, (I hope anyway), that one day these three will look back at these and say..."I'm glad we took the time to take those pictures".

The conditions this particular day in January were pleasant. Sunny with an occasional wind gust that made Chuck's hair so uncooperative! The thing with digital cameras and tripods is that you can take fifty pictures really quickly, hoping to get just the right one. This first one, and the one chosen for our card, were about the only two that made the cut.

I guess I didn't get the memo to put my hands in my pockets.

I was trying to adjust the lens and frame the shot. They were just beginning their antics.

Like this. "Just before the timer goes off let's get out our cell phones... don't tell Mom." Hello?

Rachel was behind the lens and I really don't know what was going on here. Austin, apparently missed the humor. Or, perhaps, he was the humor. Generally speaking, that is usually the case.

I'm obviously giving directions right about now. Chuck is  just casually observing. Leah and Austin are obviously losing interest.

What's a photo shoot without a close-up?

An even closer up? Big Bird...are you in there?

And it wouldn't be 2014 without the famous selfie.

 Well, this proves that we CAN sometimes take a decent photo. (I think his eyes are open?)

Until we notice that THIS happened.

You need a closer look? Just one of the hazards of walking through desert landscape.

You know what? Those darn things are hard to get off your shoe! Or your boot.

"Were they laughing at you Norma?" you ask? Why yes, yes they were.

But then it happened to Leah. And I laughed too. These are the cholla cactus (pronounced choya) and if you click on the highlighted words you can read a little more about this gem. Be sure to note the photo they have of the golfer! That is a sticky situation. This cactus is not one to mess with and even though we stayed our distance, we had a few jump towards us.

By the time I walked out of there the bottom of my boot was covered. These pesky things are hard to take out once they attach themselves to you. And take it from me...they are painful when attached to your skin!

But then, as with many times when I scroll through or up-load my pictures, I'm lucky enough to find one of these. So nice.

We thought we'd try a "let's just look casual and random" pose. I think we succeeded. 

So there you have a snippet of our just-do-it-quickly-someday-you'll-be-glad-we-did-it photo shoot.

If anyone is wondering about the "are you in there Big Bird?" comment I made...let me tell you a cute little story.
When Austin was just a wee babe and had trouble going to sleep at night, we tried all the methods parents do to get their kids to go to sleep. One of those was music. We bought a small cassette player (ya, kinda the olden days on that already) and would turn it on at bed time. An hour long cassette would play in its entirety and a little voice would come from his bedroom yelling "more music pwease!" This went on for a long time and his music player became a favorite. He would carry it around by the handle listening to music all day. I guess that is why it didn't really work so well to put him to sleep. Another favorite thing of his was to watch his Big Bird VHS tape on the TV, over and over again. He loved it! Eventually, I got the idea to buy the cassette tape so that he could listen to his favorite Sesame Street songs without having to watch the TV all the time. The first time I popped the cassette in the recorder and pushed play he got the funniest, most puzzled look on his face. Then, he toddled over to the machine, got his nose just inches away and peered into the little speaker. He took his little toddler hand and patted the top of the recorder and said... "Big Bird...are you in there?"

Aww...cute huh?

Speaking of VHS tapes. Rachel was doing her student teaching day last week in a combined third/fourth grade class. She mentioned something about a VHS tape to one of the students who blankly looked at her and said... "what's a VHS?"

Happy Wednesday!