A Valentine for Dad

Several days before Valentine's Day, I found out that Walgreens had a special where they would give you 1-8x10, 2-5x7s, and 4-4x6 prints for a FREE Valentine's Day promotion. For those of you who know me well, I never like to let a good deal pass by me, so the Friday before Valentine's Day, after picking up Alden from school, I changed all the kids into their red shirts and began snapping pictures like a dog hopelessly snaps at flies hoping to get a picture that I could send to Walgreens and give to Michael for Valentine's Day. For whatever reason when I exclaim, "Say cheese," especially when I want an especially cute pic, Hyrum runs away, Thobe arches his back and looks everywhere but at the camera, and Alden flashes a fake grin that looks really, really, REALLY happy, although I imagine inside he's thinking, "Uh oh, Mom's got the camera again and wants us to sit still--I hope I don't get the blame for my brothers not doing what they're supposed to do--hopefully I'll get a reward for doing this because I deserve one." And he does. After chasing Hyrum around and around the room, yelling Thobe's name over and over and over again, and asking Alden to please try to keep Hy from running away, I realized that this probably was not going to work and stormed away. After thinking about what a great deal I was missing out on, I went back to the boys and attempted again and again and again. We finally got a few, one that I found acceptable. In the meantime, I also got a few pictures that I loved and will feature here.


Perhaps my favorite picture is this one of Thobe and Alden. For whatever reason, Thobe started crying. I can't remember the exact reason, although my guess is that it was over a minor dispute that he and Alden had that made Thobe cry and Alden very adamant that he was right and Thobe was most definitely wrong. Nonetheless, I told Alden that he needed to hug Thobe to make him happy. When I saw Alden's very happy face and Thobe's sad face, I couldn't resist the picture and ended up with this medley of emotion shot.


I also loved this picture of Hyrum kissing Thobe. Hyrum absolutely loves his brothers! He thinks they are the greatest! He gets really excited when I ask the boys if they are ready to go get Alden from school, and I often hear the three of them laughing their heads off. I feel so fortunate to have my boys get a long with each other so well. Don't get me wrong, they have their fair share of disagreements, but I really think they are each others' best friends. I'm so thankful for that.



Speaking of kissing, I also loved these pictures of Alden and Thobe kissing and hugging Hyrum. It was one of the few times of the "photo shoot" that they were doing what I hoped they would do, at least sort of.
















Can you guess which picture I sent to Walgreens?