An attempt at a family photo!

We tried. Really we did! I got the girls all dressed up in little matching white breezy dresses. For three weeks I'd watched families parade down to that beach in matchy, matchy clothes, (sometimes light blue. sometimes white and khaki. sometimes black tees and blue jeans.) Always such cute little color schemes, and I just wanted the Groves pics to be cute... so what to wear?! Tonight would be OUR night. Masson said whe would take our pics and we bribed Todd the Bod to get dressed and get down there when the sun was setting for "just right" lighting! Gabbi is definitely the easy one! She just hangs out and grins! I was amazed to get a few of ol Daddy-O grinning too! I am not sure what was going on with my hair. I am trying out for Rock of Love. I think Brett Michaels would dig all this wildness! This is what you call BEACH hair! I rarely dried it, and only used the Chi once! This night was NOT that once!
Ata girl, Masson. Crop in on that hair. and by all means, get those raccoon eyes! I even tried smaller sunglasses, but, alas, it was not meant to be! WOuld you look at pretty Gabbi Gull?! Oh my lands. Is it? Could it be? 3 or 4 facing the camera and smiling? Gabbi... what are you looking at?! WHy are you not smiling? This could have had Christmas card written all over it!

Awwww, and even sometimes Hellcat decides to participate.orrrrrrrr not! This would be Ellie the REST of the time ESCAPING the camera and the group photos by going off to play alone and to see what the camera could capture from behind! After many attempts, we said, "hey there are some shovels!" and then we let 'er rip! We thought perhaps that would keep Hellcat stationary enough for Dad and I to sneak in and get in a few shots with the two of them. I wish you could see the 56 or so picture ATTEMPTS of us holding the two of them and Ellie's CRYING, WINCING, ARCHING, and FLEEING!! They are pretty funny, I suppose. You know what they say, "Someday you are going to look back on this and Laaaaugh!" Ha. Ha. Ha. All Todd and I could do was grin and bear it. Maybe our Christmas card will have to be from behind. A few minutes later, we looked around to see Ellie over stealing a kid's toys. But, you gotta admit, the sunrays coming down through that little umbrella may have been worth a little theft!
Oh, dude. I love this one! And this one. Hey. Where is Gabbi?
NO Gabbi. NOT the sand. Ooooh yuck! Will that pass through?!

And then sometimes, Ellie Sue can look so angelic!
Oh, this one is sweet. I wish GG was facing the front. At the same time that we were taking these, the Fords were taking a professional picture with a local photographer who was at the beach with scheduled appointments. Staci and her crew met up with her at 6:00 AM!! I didnt' expect to take pics with her, but we actually ended up doing so. We had a gorgeous sunset, so I can't wait to see how they turned out. We had about 4 teens doing all kinds of tricks to get Ellie to look at the camera, smile, and just plain ol' cooperate! The audience swears there is going to be one or two good ones in the batch. When I see them, I will try to share!
And finally, I got to end the night in this very sweet way! Me, feeding my sweet girl a bottle. Isnt' that a sweet thing!? Get ready, Mindy. Here you go again!

Thanks to Cyndi, Kacy, and Kathryn, who gave me their phone numbers for the telethon. I really do appreciate your participation. I will get Todd to call you personally!

Melanie