Hiester Family Antics: People Pics

The Hiester Family in a nutshell - a big one, like a coconut or something

We are a family of a whole bunch of random people, thrown together in one small house, who all happen to look alike. Each member of our family was hand-picked by God... that's the only explanation for the saga that is our family. Here's the story from the beginning... My husband, Todd, was married before me. His wife's name was Carrie, and together they had 3 kids: Tyler, Kurstin & Elissa. Todd's parents were divorced and his mother remarried. Her new husband, Don, had 2 small children: Ally & Wesley. Their natural mother was killed in a car accident when they were 8 & 11. One year later, they lost their dad and Todd and Carrie took them into their home. 6 months after Ally & Wesley were added to the household, Carrie died of cancer at age 26. Her own children were 3, 6 & 9 and Ally & Wesley were 10 & 13. And Todd was alone with them. Think Lord of the Flies. So when I fell in love with Todd, I got these 5 kids as a bonus. We married about a year and a half into our relationship, with the kids as our wedding party. We made it all official with an adoption lawyer and lots of money, ensuring that we are LEGALLY their parents. They even had to take oaths saying they would perform the duties of sons and daughters, which I think means I have someone to change my diapers when the time comes! After 2 years of marriage we added Robben Carey to the mix. And now we've welcomed Livi Claire...the seventh, and final, Hiester kid (unless, of course, God has other plans). Todd and I are 37 and 35, respectively, and our kids range in age from 1 to 21. It's great because we're cool and always the youngest in a crowd of high school parents.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

People Pics

Wow, such interest you've all shown in my pictures! I thank you...and keep it comin' :) Several of my friends have commented that they'd like me to take their family pictures. Whether hypothetical or sincere, I thought I'd share a few pictures of actual people. I have plenty of "pose-and-look-at-the-camera" pictures, which I'm sure I will share with you at some point, but I really like candids, so here are a few:

This is my beautiful friend, Katie. I am going to be taking maternity pictures of her every month of her pregnancy. Here she is 4 weeks and beyond ecstatic!

This is our friend (and Todd's employee), Joe, with his daughter, Serena. We got hundreds of great pictures of the baby, but I love this one... She's obviously happy to be with her daddy, and there's no shortage of joy on his face.

Payton on New Year's Day, visting Wesley at the Fresno Rescue Mission. We got to play in the yard with him for 2 hours, and I took a couple hundred pictures :) I like the action of this one. Payton is happily kicking a pile of dirt, and if you look carefully, you can see the blurred dirt flying through the air. I like the contrast of the industrial downtown in the distance.

Before leaving Wesley, we all got hugs and kisses. To me, this one says "love". Why? When I zoom in really close, I can see a string of baby slobber connecting their lips :) It was a real kiss!