My family has been doing selfie-family-photos for years thanks to the original selfie-stick : the tripod. Our biennial lake trips are known as LeBradship - when the LeMoines, Bradleys, and Winships travel from across the world to spend one week together at a lake. Kelsey is still single, and we're accepting boyfriend applications based solely on how well your last name will improve LeBradship.

We all know that family photo night is going to be the worst night of the trip. Fourteen people need showers, frantics ensue over outfit choices, then there's the sitting out in the 105 degree heat trying to make sure our makeup and our kids don't run. My family is one of those "yelling" families - we communicate in loud decibels most of the time. The ones who married in have gotten used to it by now, so they aren't scared.

Scott and Erica always come prepared with a Pinterest page of poses (that Kirby&Cara and me&Ben will later try to recreate ourselves). Nana always has gummies in her pockets to reward the kids for good behavior. This year was a real treat because Hudson was trying out some new poses - and they don't disappoint.

But the chaos is all worth it --- thanks to myself, my sister, the tripod, and Ben (he has the hardest job of pushing the timer button and running to join the group pose), we've not only saved ourselves thousands of dollars, but we end up with some pretty fun photos that will soon hang on our walls at home and probably go out on a Christmas card in a few months.

If you're in the Anchorage area and are looking for a family photographer, send me a message!

XO,