Beets & Pictures

I got a sweet deal on beets at the farmer's market a couple weeks ago. I finally got around to canning them yesterday. There is something so beautiful about a jar of pickled beets sitting there sparkling in their fuchsia-colored juice. It makes me happy. :-)

On a different topic...

I am a big fan of taking my kids' milestone pictures myself. Not only is it free to take the picture yourself (no sitting fees!), but you can print as many as you want and you own complete rights. (A big tip even for photographers with little experience - take the pictures on a cloudy day! That way you get the best lighting without needing any fancy lights. Not to mention no one is squinting in the sun.)

My first attempt was an autumn one of my son at 10 months sitting in colorful autumn leaves with a small bright orange pumpkin in his lap. It's one of my favorite pictures of him. I've only done this with my kids, and have never attempted a family portrait this way. However, this past weekend we discovered a great and thrifty way to get family pictures done. It's by no means a new idea, but it was new for us. A couple from our church wanted to get family pictures taken, and I mentioned that we did too. So, we arranged to take each other's family pictures!

Photo by Ryan Faggard

We went to the beautiful field across the street from where we live and snapped some quick photos before the sun went down. It was pretty chilly and our poor kids were getting shivery by the time we went back to our house for hot cocoa. I am very pleased with the photo results and now I have pictures to send out for Christmas! Hooray!