23 People + 105-Degree Weather = 1 Sweaty Photographer!

Months ago, Della Miller reached out to me about doing a family photoshoot in my hometown, Lake of the Ozarks. She warned me there would be a lot of people.

I don’t flinch at crowds, especially since I’ve done a loooot of weddings, and I always jump at the chance to go visit home!

Plus, I love visiting with repeat clients and seeing how much their families have grown! The top photo is baby Holden earlier this year, and the second one is him from this Saturday!

This Saturday, Missouri cities broke heat records across the state. And it just so happened to be the Saturday Della and I had planned!

We couldn’t do a morning shoot because there were people traveling in from out of town — so instead we set it as late as we could where we’d still have sunlight, but also before the kiddos bedtimes.

When I arrived, it was 105 degrees. At least it was 2 degrees cooler from that afternoon, but golly! ONE. HUNDRED. FIVE.

But we were all troopers!

Since we met at Della’s home, everyone with kids could stay in the A/C until it was their turn for photos (we broke off into smaller family units after the big group shots)!

I also LOVE how they color coordinated everything!! And it made it easy to say “it’s the purple family’s turn!” Instead of, you know, “Clay, Karen, Eren, Brooklyn — please stand over here!”

I thought it was a family get together, but it turns out everyone drove in just for the family photos! It’s always so great when that happens — and I love it when people make it a priority to have photos with their families!

The best part of it all — like I mentioned earlier, I have worked with some of these families individually before. I love watching the kiddos get bigger & bigger!

Although, some things never change —

Just kidding! We got one of him smiling, too (a little, at least)! Practice makes perfect.

Despite having worked with some of this family on an individual basis, this was the first time I had gotten them all together like this!

Della told me the family added two babies in 2017, and there’s one more on the way for the end of the year. What a great time to be a grandparent! <3

It was great to see them all as a big family unit! I “threatened” no one could go inside until we did one, final silly photo — worked like a charm! Kinda.

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