Snapshots of the girls

One of the reasons I was so excited about going north for Easter is the chance I would have to take photos of girls. I have a husband and two sons; I rarely get to photograph girls. So I had a great time with my camera and the more feminine side of the family. Most of the photos ended up being snap-shots, because the one female I really wanted to photograph, my great-niece Abby, was not all together cooperative. But we had a good time together, and the photos show the funky cross-generational connections in our clan.

Abby, my great-niece

Isn't she pretty, even with the dirty face? She had been wearing her hair in braids all day and when her mother took the braids out her hair cascaded into the most beautiful waves.

She was so much fun to watch, too. After being around sons, it was fascinating to see her feminine little mannerisms. But like her mother, she's not all sugar and spice and everything nice. When she was playing with "the cousins" her favorite game was slapping hand-cuffs on everyone and booking them ~ She want's to be a "bad boy, bad boy," as in the television show "Cops" when she grows up.

She also does a perfect elk calls. Her father, a hunter, took the family to Cabala's Sporting Good Store on the way to Granny's house. While she was in the busy place, she started making her elk cal. Grown men several hundred feet away turned and said "awwww," when they saw who was making the call.

Holland (left) and Ashlee

Holland is Abby's cousin, Ashlee is her sister. Holland and Ashlee are about three weeks apart in age and are the best of friends. We asked them to strike the "hair display" pose to show Abby what we wanted her to do. But the photo turned out so cute I had to include it here. I did do a little photo shop touch up to make the conversion stronger.

Holland, Abby and Ashlee

It's kind of interesting to see their faces together. I'm trying to see a family resemblance, but I have to really study the photo to pick out individual traits they all have in common. Holland is very long and lanky and Ashlee is getting her curves at the ripe age of 11. She has a cute little body, plenty of self confidence and that little extra that makes her mom be afraid, be very afraid.

Lisa, Abby and Karen

Here is Abby with her mother, (left) my niece, and her aunt. The two are sisters. I can see a similarity in their smiles. I enjoy the company of my nieces so much. Both of them are so cute and funny in that dry, sarcastic way that seems to run rampant in my family. Lisa is a fantastic mother and does day care in her home where she loves up and mothers other people's children. Lisa was her younger sister Ashlee's nanny for the first few months of her life. But she returned to college during winter semester and met the man who would be her husband and the father of their children. Karen is great with children too. She works as a children's librarian in a small town in Utah. She loves children, loves to read, and has the most amazing and creative ideas for her patrons. I can't wait to see her raising children of her own.

Ashlee and Abby

Aunt and the niece. Ashlee was a niece about two years after she was born, so her relationship with her nephews and niece is more like that of a cousin than an aunt. She has four older siblings, but is essentially being raised as an only child because of the gap between her age and the age of her older siblings. Most of them had left the house by the time she was past toddler hood. She is so self confident, and is well known in her small home town. One day her father went in to a local store and the lady behind the counter asked him, "did you want to pick up your lay-away?" He was puzzled, until she explained Ashlee had come into the store, picked up a book she wanted and ask the clerk to hold it for her because her father would be in later to pick it up. One of the most amazing things about this story is the clerk agreed to hold the book. The other amazing thing is her daddy just bought it, no questions asked. Ashlee has her father wrapped around her little finger. But I think her father had decided to put his foot down on one of her requests, she won't be getting a pony for Christmas.