When I had my point and shoot camera I took photos all the time of my family. Now that I take pictures of other people, I rarely have photos of my own family. Sad, huh?

This year, Mackenzie, my 5-year-old, started kindergarten and along with it about a million different activities, it seems. A few weeks ago, she brings home a packet from dance class. “Dance Academy Photos!!” jumps out at me. Right then and there I put my foot down. Nope. No way am I paying for someone else to take a simple photo of my daughter when I can just set up a backdrop and do it myself. I threw away the form. Dance pictures came and went. I got busy, lazy and forgot about photos until I saw them hanging up in all their glory at the year-end dance recital. Of course, the picture of Mackenzie and her friend was super cute. And then I remembered. I was supposed to take her picture in her dance recital costume because I didn’t want to pay for something I could do myself. Never mind I didn’t have the studio setup, time nor inclination to do so. After her recital, I trotted her outside the theater, found a nice shady spot and snapped a few shots.

Next year, I’m buying the darn pictures.