A Family Tradition For 44 Years!

In 1973, Tom and Jeannie Baugher decided to have a little get together. Little did they know that 44 years later, the tradition would still be carried on. It became known as “Mauvais,” but more on that later!

Here’s a picture from the 1986 get together —

1986

And from the latest get together in 2017 —

Mauvais 2017

It was my husband’s grandparents who started it all. They decided to name their yearly family gathering (usually in Louisville, Kentucky, where Tom and Jeannie lived) “Mauvais.”

For anyone who knows French — that means “bad.” But, of course, there’s a story behind the name. And, in truly French fashion, it involves wine.

Mauvais 1986

For the gathering, the Baugher clan would make wine with their good friends Lee and Peggie Buser. At the time, one of Tom and Jeannie’s sons, Jeff, was taking French. So, to impress people with their handmade wine — they gave it a French name. And made the mistake of letting Jeff name it. And, know what he picked? Yuuup — Mauvais.

But everyone loved it!

So, “bad wine” was made every year — and the name Mauvais just stuck as the name of family gathering!

And there are old photos galore! Here is my husband on the left in 1990. His big brother, David, on the right.

Mauvais 1990

They grew up pretty cute — David is on the left, and Bryan is on the right in the photo below from 2013.

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There are several traditions for Mauvais — one of them is to play golf (mini golf counts, too).

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Here is the original scorecard from the 1973 game:

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I’m tickled they wrote the weather conditions on the score as well.

Another of Tom and Jeannie’s sons (they had five boys), Dan Baugher (who is also my father-in-law), told me about the golfing tradition:

“We were lucky to have a nice par 3 course nearby at the local college (Bellarmine) that meant everyone could play. Also, in order to make it fair, my dad and Jeff used to provide the less experienced golfers with a handicap to adjust everyone’s score. I think they really used that to make sure someone different won every year.”

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“There was a silver bowl that someone found at a yard sale one year that we used as the traveling trophy.”

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Two other Baugher brothers, Matt and Lee, would bring prizes. Most of the time it was silly stuff that Matt would get since he was a wine distributor.

Another tradition? Music. But not just listening to music — real instruments are whipped out!

Mauvais 1988

Tom played the banjo. Jim Baugher was on bass. Jeff learned to play ukelele. The rest … well, there were kazoos! Or, you could just sing along!

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Now, we’ve added other musical talents to the team, Christie Baugher (Lee’s daughter) plays a mean keyboard [below].

Mauvais 2017

And David and Bryan both play guitar. Although, Bryan is a little out of practice now … he was skippin’ cords all over the place this last Mauvais!

Here is a song in action — you know, put da lime in da coconut.

Mauvais always takes place around the Fourth of July. So, you know, smoke bombs and fireworks are a thing.

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One of Bryan’s cousins told him she thought it was common for families to get together and sing horrible songs around the holiday. Buuuuut … then she realized it’s just her family that does that.

I’m glad I married into this fun family!

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Photo Fixing / Restoration Services? Yup!

The phone rang last week. It was a Kansas number, so I went ahead and answered it since it wasn’t a random number from Florida or Connecticut (anyone else feel like their cell has been extra spammed lately?!). It was a woman asking if Kansas City Photography does photo restoration services. Yes, we sure do! It’s quite the specialty!

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But don’t take our word for it. Let’s show you some more examples! I had a friend come to me a couple of years ago. She said she had no photos of her mom and dad together (her mom passed away years ago), but she did manage to find a photo of them in the same picture … just not standing by each other.

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I did do some digital restoration on the original, but what I ended up doing was more than that with Photoshop magic. I removed the person in the middle, and then cleaned up the rest, added in some fun clouds, brightened the colors (the photo was taken in the 80s I believe), etc.

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I’ve also had several people come to me to “fix” their photos. Not necessarily restore, but fix the coloring, make it look better, etc. Or, in Emily’s case … fix that nail polish! 😉

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Another time, I had a friend reach out to me about a bride who was just devastated with how her wedding photos turned out (I’m telling you, going with the cheapest option for a photographer is a big mistake … there’s a reason they’re cheap) — I took them and edited a handful for her. Once I reached out to the bride with the edited photos, she said she nearly started crying from joy after seeing them.

(Keep in mind, I don’t own these wedding photos. I did not take them. I just fixed them.)

Another time, I had a friend message me on Facebook to ask me to remove her bra strap that was showing in a fun picture of her from a wedding. I get these requests all the time, but until that phone call last week, it never occurred to me to advertise it as a service Kansas City Photography can do.

I recently had an old friend reach out to me. This was the last picture ever taken with her grandma before she died. She really wanted the shot of just her and her sister:

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If you’re looking for photo restoration, or fixes to your photos, make sure to contact us!