And because I attempted to be a photographer in college (scarily enough, I even did several weddings--see photos at bottom of post for the scary part...), I am somewhat picky about the quality of the photos. And while Walmart may take fine photos, I have found a photographer whose work I am absolutely in love with.
This is the third time that Emily Potts has taken the girls' pictures. And every time, without fail, she takes the most incredible pictures of my girls...
(I wish that I had digital files of the photos she took fall 2007, but I only have prints.) This photo is from Spring 2008. This is my all time favorite picture of my girls.
So this fall, first we took these pictures...this one of the three girls is wonderful.
And Elizabeth, photogenic as always, posed for these photos.
But Jacklyn would not smile for her individual pictures, and Rhian kept smiling goofy, and her hair was funky, and her shirt did not look quite right. So, I called the ever-gracious Emily, and asked if we could redo the pictures. And of course, she said yes, because she is just that wonderful.
This is the result of the second attempt. We decided that the girls' skin tone might look pretty on Emily's brown background and look how gorgeous they are!!
Jacklyn still did not want to smile, but Emily snapped a half-happy shot of her, and I think it captures her perfectly.
Because, as we all know, she has a more serious personality than her older, smiley sister...case in point...Can't you just see the orneriness oozing out of her?
Then, there is always one perfect shot in every bunch. And here it is. Is this not the most perfect picture of Rhian? She looks way, way too grown up and just really, really beautiful.
Everyone always asks, "You're a great photographer Kathryn, why don't you just take their Christmas pictures yourself?" Even David asked me that this year. Well, for one thing, I do not have the right equipment. Two, I cannot get the color right on any indoor picture that I take. Third, my children will not, will not, will not, behave for me. They walk into Emily's studio and they become perfectly behaved models...but for me, well, just check out my attempt...They just don't have that same polished look, do they?
And remember those perfectly behaved models from the photos above...yeah, well...
But remember what I said about one great picture in every bunch? This is it. Thank you, Jacklyn, for renewing your mother's faith in her creative ability.
She has several pictures of my girls on her website (including the pink picture above), which of course, means that I have gorgeous daughters, which of course, I already knew...
(Now, my pictures are not worth protecting, so you know what, print all of those ugly things you like!!!)
Merry Christmas!! May God bless you all in the coming year!
Losha is an orphan from Russia. (How about now, can you feel the foreshadowing?) The Payton family agreed to host him for two weeks through an organization called 
Can you tell I live in the middle of an ranch? LOL. These little beauties were our fillies that were born this spring...my babies. I spent weeks washing, brushing and feeding these girls in preparation for a big sale up in Wyoming. A couple of them are now in Colorado, a couple in Georgia. David just brought this year's stud colts (which we kept for him to train, rather than selling) back to the house, and if it weren't 30 below outside (okay--exaggeration, but its really cold!), then I would be out there scrubbing and brushing them too!