Freeze that smile - literally

So, what does your family do when it is 17 degrees outside and the ground is snow covered?

Well, we drive to a park. We get out of our warm vehicle and we trample through the snow. As we walk by a pond, we pass a sign that reads, "Ice is not safe. Staff off." As we near our destination, we hear a voice, "I shouldn't of done that." We see that one of the boys wandered away from the group. He pulls his foot up and we see his sock, dripping wet. He bends down and pulls his shoe from the pond. It's dripping with mud.

We are speechless. We huddle together for warmth.

Wow. That seems like an odd thing to do when it is so cold outside.

Oh just you wait. Then we take our gloves, hats, and yes, our coats off and pile them in the snow. Why? Because we are taking family pictures today. We are taking family pictures outside. In January. Frozen foot and all.

Hubs and I were up first:

After our pictures, we really started to get cold. Fingers started to ache, faces started to freeze. Smiling became an issue. But, we still ended up with a good family picture:

What you don't see is that my future SIL is standing in a snowdrift up to her knees - welcome to the family! Hubs, frozen-foot-boy, and I then ran to the still-warm car to thaw while the to-be-wed couple posed:

In our frozen state, we totally forgot to get pictures of just mom and dad and pictures of just the kids. Really, all we could think about was getting back to the warm vehicle.

I know it sounds a little crazy to do family pictures outside in January; it felt a little crazy, too! But not only did we end up with some great photos, we also have great memories.