On the mantel of the fireplace in my grandparents' living room sits 9 portraits of 9 grandchildren. Since they are all senior portraits and the youngest grandchild graduated from high school 3 years ago, my grandma decided it's time for updated photos.

Since I am the photographer of the family, I was charged with this task. So on Thanksgiving, I packed up my gear and headed to Grandma's. My siblings and cousins decided that they didn't want mug shots while standing next to a beige wall, so we went up the the Missouri Botanical Garden so they could each have a different background.

Now before I show you the pictures, I have to inform you that nobody in my family likes getting their picture taken. NOBODY! Oh and it was really cold that day and we had to rush through it because they're wimps when it comes to the cold (I was hot because I had on a wool coat and was lugging around my gear... I did, however, complain about the fact that I was wearing 3-inch heels because they wouldn't let me go home to get tennis shoes). I still have 3 portraits to take because two of my cousins couldn't go and I left my tripod in the car so I couldn't get a shot of myself, but here are the ones I have....

Just for fun, let's start with the group shot. At the garden there are 6 sheep statues. People love sitting on them and taking pictures. I have yet to sit on one, but it sure looks fun. We decided to get a group shot of everyone on the sheep. My brother is trying to balance on the smallest sheep of the bunch. I love it.

This is my sister, Kate. She hates getting her picture taken. She doesn't smile with her teeth and often looks rigid in photos. But I like this photograph. The wind blew her hair rather nicely right as I snapped the picture. She thinks the picture is 'ok'

Here is my brother, Joe. He chose this picture of himself because he thinks it's the most natural looking one of the take, and one of the few he was actually looking at the camera. When I took the picture, he was just getting out of the thinking man pose and was about to say something. It was under exposed, so I had to try to lighten it in photoshop, which is hard to do if you don't like grainy photos, and I don't. It's not my favorite, but he likes it, and frankly, I had to work with what I got.

I'm throwing this picture in just for kicks.

This is my cousin, Andrea. I don't think she minds getting her picture taken as much as the others, but it was cold, so I only snapped a few pictures of her so she could put her coat back on. I really like this picture. It was her idea to lean up against the wall, and I think it works pretty well.

This is Mary. She loves the Japanese culture, so of course we had to go out to the Japanese Garden. It's the furthest away, but it's my favorite garden. I have hundreds of shots of the bridge that she wanted it in the background. I like how the light hits her hair to make a halo around it, but I should've used a fill flash.

Here is Emma. My mom likes this picture of her. It's ok. She was having a hard time posing. I had to keep telling her to stop looking creepy. I have a bunch of really good goofy photos of her, but I don't think that's what Grandma had in mind.

This is the photo Emma and I chose for her shot.

And Connie.... I don't think there is a picture of her in existence that she actually likes. I don't get this at all since she is so pretty, inside and out. I took her picture in the Ottoman Garden while she was leaning up against a red door. She wanted final say in the picture and made me delete some from my camera. This is my favorite one of her, but she doesn't like it.

So we're going with this one, which I like and she is ok with.

And that's it, for now.