Holiday Portraits

What a GREAT weekend. Steve and I took the boys for their annual Holiday Photo Shoot. I think this is the last time we are taking them to JCPenney’s since we are slowly receiving “on location photographer” referrals.  It is definitely time to move on. When the boys were first born we decided to purchase a small membership with JCPenney because of birthdays and holidays. This most recent experience with JCPenney was a disaster…not the boys, but the wait time. We arrived one minute early to our appointment and that was even making a return at Macy’s. I check in and thought I would ask “are you behind schedule” simply because the studio was already packed with only two cameras. The manager proceeds to inform me there are two more families in front of us but the good news is we have two cameras. Okay…how is that good news? I am thinking jammed studio, we were on time, but now we have to wait 30 minutes. Hmmm. The boys were AMAZING. I will say it again…AMAZING! They listened to everything we asked them to do, held our hand, and did not fight us or squirm. Since we had 30 minutes to spare we decided to walk around the store for a little bit. Zach instantly landed his eyes on some toys, monster trucks and CARs. Browsing ate up some time and I thought it would be good to let them know we could come back and look at the monster trucks but first they would have to listen to the nice lady and say cheese. Both boys looked at me with a twinkle in their eye and responded, okay. They just grabbed our hand and we picked up a couple of pillows and a shower curtain to take advantage of the door-buster deals. Before you know it was our time. However, as we were making our way back to the studio you could just hear kids screaming and throwing tantrums. Jack and Zach just held our hands starring at the other kids putting up a fight.  I remember one time Zach looked up at me and said no as he pointed to the boy pitching a fit. That’s my boy! It was our turn and so we walked into our studio. Right away the photographer motioned Jack to sit down and sure enough he listened intently. She did not even have to motion Zach because he sat down next to brother right away. From there they were all ears! I almost got teary eyed because they were such good boys. We got a lot of good shots of the boys, including one of us a family. We didn’t have the photographer take too many photos because it is always hard enough picking out photos at the end of the session so I did myself a favor and called it quits early. J  The last part of the process at JCPenney is selecting the photos, etc. They only had two viewing stations open and some people were just taking the longest time picking out pictures. I understand why!! In total we were there for 2 HOURS and the boys did not make one peep whatsoever. There was only one moment when Steve was taking the boys back out to the toys and Zach wanted me to go with and I was right in the middle of making my selections but he was fine and just went with Daddy. I included a sampling of our tremendous experience. I apologize if the pictures are hard to view because of their size [I attempted to enlarge them but then the resolution is horrible]. JCPenney redid their online viewing center and it does not really allow you the option to download photos to your PC any longer. Just another reason to move on to a professional photographer!



Jack and Zach



Our 1st Family Professional Photo....believe or not.

The hugging photo.
Zach was NOT camera shy
Jack reminded me of Chandler on Friends in the "engagement photo" episode. Those that have seen it know exactly what I am talking about! HA.



Jackson

Opening Presents

Zachary

Saturday evening Steve and I went to Splash Restaurant at Surf and Sand Resort in Laguna Beach for dinner. We met two other couples from DPR. We had a great time and unfortunately I didn’t take any photos. Steve and I arrived 30 minutes early to have a drink at the bar which is on the lower level of the resort and eye level with the ocean. Although the bar is enclosed, it was a little windy and brisk as the windows were slightly cracked (yet heaters were on) but was fascinating to sit, talk, and watch the waves crash in…literally. Everyone else arrived just in time for our dinner reservation and from there we had a great time. It was great getting to know more of Steve’s coworkers and their wives. I certainly look forward to other gatherings. Steve and I will definitely put Splash on the list for one of our date nights.

Sunday was relaxing in the morning. The boys slept in longer and woke up chipper as can be. We ran to Costco…shocker…to stock up on some items and get fixings for our gathering we had Sunday evening. We invited Tara (who works for United Health, partnering with DPR), her husband Matt, and their little boy Zachary. They were over once before and all the boys had a fun time playing. This time so I would not confuse Zach and Jack when I said Zac was coming over to play, I would call him Baby Zac. All night long the boys kept calling him Baby. It was really sweet. I think it is great how well the boys do when interacting with younger children. They are both very nurturing, which is interesting. They love each other but are not afraid to pinch or pull hair if they are upset because of a toy, not sharing. However, when it comes to visitors it is VERY different. They would help Baby Zac by holding his hand, and even walked up and gave him a hug bye-bye. Zac loves anything to do with CARs and so he was having a hard parting ways with some of the toys. It was really comical because as Tara is trying to get his coat on, Matt was coaching Zac to hand the toys over. We look over and Jack is holding his drill with his hand out waiting for Zac to pass the toys over. It was quite the picture. I did not take any photos of the evening, and realized I didn’t take any pictures all weekend. 

We have an exciting week ahead of us. Grandma Smith comes into town Tuesday evening and we will certainly stay active through next Tuesday. I will be taking some extra days off of work so looking forward to more sightseeing and trying different restaurants. I probably need to take a pad of paper with me so I do not forget parts of our journey because I know I won’t be able to update the blog during this time. J We also plan to do some wonderful things with the boys while we are all together and I am really excited just thinking about all of our plans!

Love,

Julie