A Sure-Fire Way to Get an Awesome Family Photo

I do the hard work so you don’t have to.

Bluebonnets have been blooming in Central Texas for weeks. And. They. Are. Gorgeous. We tried to take photos a few weeks ago, but we were just too early. Basically, the planner in me planned too early. Hazard of being Type A.

I even contemplated taking the kids out of school to go get photos. I’m not even kidding. Scott just looked at me and shook his head. Hey, I take bluebonnet photos seriously. I believe we call that #truetexan

Fortunately, saner heads prevailed and we opted for a Saturday morning. As in, come on kids, get up and get your butts in the van. It’s 7:30 in the AM and time is ticking. They were thrilled! {sarcasm font} Hey, I did give them 24 hours notice AND I told them we’d get Shipley’s, because I am soooo not above bribery. Oh, and no, donuts are not the way to get an awesome family photo. They help, though.

I had Googled and mapped it, watched Go Pro videos and read the reviews. We had seen the photos of “miles and miles” of bluebonnets. Everyone was dressed in their Sunday best, no really, we wore our clothes from Easter Sunday. Again, the kids were ecstatic. About fifteen minutes into the trip, Scott leaned over and said, “This is a really great idea, Kathryn.”

I think he was kidding.

Thirty minutes in and I was starting to wonder.

Forty-five minutes in, I started looking for hard liquor.

After an hour and us driving along the lake edge, we realized that all those miles of bluebonnets were, in fact, under water. The previous years we’d had such a drought that the bluebonnets WERE the lake. Now that levels are back up, they’re all she wrote. It’s possible I panicked. Scott pulled the van over, I did some breathing treatments and the kids almost went on strike.

Then, we spotted them. A quasi-field of bluebonnets near a wooden fence. I know, at this point, you’re like, “Kathryn, you’re really not selling this post as advertised.” Point, I’m getting to it.

I’ll spare you the drama that unfolded. It was Oscar worthy. But, as the mist started to fall and I saw rain about to ruin my family photo dream, we propped the camera on the tripod and prayed for the best. Because I can’t run to save my life – damn you broken patella still healing – John Paul offered to push the button.

But, on his oh-so-graceful run back, he slipped. And fell. And got bluebonnet stains on his knee…and everyone?

We cracked up. Like full on laughing. John Paul sprinted to the photo just in time and Will yells out, “ONE SECOND!”

And then this.

God bless “the fall.” It saved the family bluebonnet photo of 2016.

Bottom line? Get yourself a John Paul.

Oh, and here’s the rest of the photos. It only took 152 tries to get them. True story.