the Leith family photos

i'm going to start with the first Leith family photo.
all the way from November 1986, with me and my parents:

then came Ryan a year and a half later,

I couldn't find one with just me, Ryan, and Jason (oops! middle-child syndrome strikes again)

here's when Carson arrived:

and then finally came a sister, Heather!
thanks for color-coordinating us Mom. specifically note jason's yellow socks which bring out the yellow in the girls' dresses, and carson's green converse, which i bet she bought specially for the photo.

now, THIS is our last professionally taken photo. on the beach in Washington. the glowing sun rising over the hill. entirely denim. jason whispering sweet jokes into heather's ear. me playing with a stick. carson holding a basket. mmmmmmmmmmmm.

and then fast forward to our totally fun family photoshoot we did in Old Town Orange with Kurt Hilmerson! It was sure weird being on the opposite side of the camera for once, but I had fun!

I now know what it's like to stress over WHAT TO WEAR FOR THE PHOTOSHOOT. ahh! ha, I always tell my clients: "just wear whatever you want! wear what you love. wear something that feels totally YOU." well-- my little philosophy left me confused when it was actually my turn to be photographed. is brown too plain? do i look good in v-neck? will my mom like it? will my friends like it? do i like it? ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

i told my mom that no one was allowed to tell each other what they were wearing. the ultimate solution so that we didn't end up with everyone in 100% jean.

if we ever start a band?

if we ever get asked to do a gap commercial:

if we ever get our own reality tv show:
hi! we're just normal people! sitting on a curb

this one's cute!

my brothers, in age order:

ryan jason carson

oh, the girls.
we're much more fun.

okay, we pulled the melodramatic card too.

i need to explain these next two.
my family has teams. the brownies and the blondies. each team shares specific quirks and tendencies and personality traits.

the brownies. my dad, me, and carson.
we pride ourselves in being the more... normal ones.

the blondies are more...weird?
(they were all blonde when they were younger. promise.)
my team rolled our eyes at them the whole time this shenanigans was happening.

kurt wanted us to be a rap group, so here we are:

aww my parents :)
are cute :)

hi mom and dad!

and here's our ending series. taken in the middle of the street while the police told us to GET OFF THE STREET via loudspeaker.

a big big thank you to Kurt for taking these.

and to mom dad ryan jason carson and heather,
thanks for being so much fun.
we kind of overtook old town orange for the afternoon, didn't we?
love you,
love shan.

and hi grandma and grandpa! i'll send you prints!