Window of Opportunity

As I take group pictures of all of our kids together, I've learned that the best shots are usually found in the first few clicks of the camera. The window of opportunity is brief and fleeting, as evidenced in the pictures below......

It was right about here that I finally noticed Lily's antics. I had been completely focused on trying to keep Owen and Ava's attention long enough to get a smile, I wasn't even paying attention to what the big girls were doing. After I chided her, she gave me a sweet smile for the last couple of shots, but by then Owen was wacky. I didn't realize just how hilarious her poses were until we were in the car and I was looking through the pictures on the camera. I nearly died laughing.

And a few of the whole crew....

For the sake of remembering, these pictures were taken outside of the Billings temple, the week before Chris started school. With the thought of school and commitments looming close, we made an impromptu little getaway to Billings for a couple of days. We swam and shopped for everyone's school supplies and clothes. It was lovely, staying up there meant we could pace ourselves when we shopped. We had five people who were heading off to school, so shopping was quite a task. We met up with my parents on Saturday and they played with the kids while Chris and I went through an endowment session.