The Friesins...

Our friends own a winery...a real honest to goodness winery...which is of course the reason why we are friends.  HA...just kidding.  Actually, we've be the best of friends with the Kludt/Williams family since we were all in diapers...or for almost 15 years...whatever.  Ben and April live in Lake Chelan and we went to visit last weekend.  It was a beautiful fall weekend, our kids played hard and we thoroughly enjoyed our time together.  We refer to them as the "friesins."  You know...friends that are like cousins.

Since we're talking wine, if you are ever in Chelan, you MUST visit their winery and restaurant.  Wapato Point Cellars and the Winemakers Grill....fabulous!  Make sure you taste the Reserve Syrah or Red Delicious...my two favorite reds!  And, while you're at it...you should also go to Lake Chelan Winery, which is owned by April's parents.

This wall was just begging to be photographed.
I confess that I did add the "Wapato Point Cellars."

Uma is April's grandma.  She's 97 and lovely.  April asked if I'd snap some pictures of their family together.  Here are a few of the pictures.  While you might not appreciate pictures of someone else's family, take a second and enjoy that these shots are SOOC (straight out of the camera).  I continue to LOVE my new camera!

4 generations of lovely women!  This is SOOC...the lighting and ladies were just perfect.

The whole Kludt/Williams family.  

The friesins.

Yes, our whole family was there, but I put my camera aside for most of the weekend, and just enjoyed being together.  On Saturday, Aaron and the littles had some quiet time, and Luke and I went for a walk by the lake.  It was great to have some time with my oldest son, just hanging out.  Here's what we did...

We walked and played on the beach.

Enjoyed the gorgeous colors.  The sky was gray in this direction,  but the sun was
peeking through the clouds over the lake.  It made everything glow. 

Then Luke collected drift wood....
(This picture captured one my favorite expressions that Luke makes.  A treasure!)

...we made boats... 

...and then we threw sticks for almost an hour.  He just kept collecting and throwing, collect and throwing, collecting and...you get the picture.  You can see just some of the 100+ sticks floating in the middle picture. 

Family pictures...

Aren't family pictures fun?  Spending weeks trying to decide what everyone is going to wear.  Do you go matchy-matchy, or coordinating, or give up and just let everyone wear their jammies?   Scheduling around school schedules, nap schedules and work schedules.  Trying to transport 3 children to the picture location without them wrinkling, ruining, or spilling on their picture clothes.  Really, really, really F*U*N!

BUT, despite all of that, I  do love pictures of our kids and family.  And while I am a photography enthusiast, and sometimes get "wall worthy" photos, I book a session with a professional at least once a year.  Then I get to sit back, relax, covet admire their camera and lenses, and let them do the work to capture great moments.  And double bonus, I actually appear in some of the pictures!  

Here are just some of my favorite shots from our session.

This year we hired the brilliant Alicen Lum to take our pictures.  As crazy as it may sound, I picked up her card at Baskin and Robbins after a T-ball game last spring.  Her card was gorgeous, and when I checked out her website, I was blown away.   She's fun, calm, and excellent with kids (she has two young ones herself).  On top of taking amazing photos, she also edits and then gives you a DVD with all of your pictures.  Can anyone say Christmas card photo?!?!   A few weeks after our photo shoot we realized that we have kids in the same preschool class.  What a small world.

For those of you that are wondering, NO I am not paid to advertise for Alicen.  But, she is excellent and worth every penny!  I like to give credit, where credit is due!  And, when I find someone/something that I like, then I want to share it!   If by chance you do book a session with her, let her know that I recommended you...maybe she'll give me a prize...kidding!

the PUMPED UP pumpkin patch....

One of my favorite things is going to the pumpkin patch.  I love the bright colors of Fall.  This year, I heard about a pumpkin patch that has a monster truck.  Anyone who knows Peter, knows that this would pretty much make him wet his pants in excitement (don't worry, he didn't)!  What I didn't know was that this pumpkin patch was actually a Pumpkin Patch on STEROIDS!  It was the Disneyland of pumpkin patches.  We spent 3 hours in beautiful 67 degree weather enjoying almost everything Maris Farms had to offer.

Too bad the adorable girl standing behind the sign is too small to peek through.
She stood behind the sign and said "CHEEEEEEESE!"

We played in the corn pit

We jumped...

and jumped...

and jumped....

and jumped even more.

and then we saw the MONSTER TRUCK...

So the boys went for a ride.

Luke was not too sure what he thought afterwards.

Peter's face says it all.  He LOVED it!

Love this picture in "vintage"

Finally, we got to the pumpkins.

The rule is...if you can carry it, you can have it.

Luke is so proud!  He GOT it!

Natalie had a hard time because she wouldn't
put down her pretend pink cell phone. Oh geez.

Peter went for the one-hand lift too!  But, he got it!

Beautiful view from Maris Farms.

How did I get so lucky?!?!
(Love this picture in "vintage" too.)