Hello friends!

Our family friends the Borns love to host big events and parties at their farm. Recently they put on their famous “Spring Fling” which includes a family obstacle course, crosscut-sawing and doughnut-eating contests, a cupcake-baking competition, barn dancing, and more. I was the “lead photographer” for the event and had so much fun wandering around capturing pictures of laughter, cute kids, and pretty scenery.

Scroll through this post if you need a smile. 🙂

The first activity of the day was an obstacle course. I followed a few of my siblings and siblings-in-law as they went through it and it brought me much amusement. Station #3 involved finding not a needle in a haystack, but 10 plastic Little People figurines.

This team game required everyone to stack Solo cups using a rubber band stretched by many pieces of twine. Slightly agonizing to watch but also great fun. I love these pictures. 😀

Out of the several groups I watched do this station, I think the family below made the best pyramid. Epic.

This year they bought a cotton candy maker! It felt very festive and carnival-y.

I took so many pictures of cute kids eating cotton candy. I mean… how could I not??

Actually I took a lot of pictures of cute kids in general. It was something of a theme.

While the obstacle course was going on, many of the other guests played rousing games of “9 Square in the Air.” Sully made some impressive shots as you can see.

I love this picture because the red ball matches perfectly with the red shirts. Photographer things…

The kids also started a long game of Japanese Dodgeball. Ah, childhood memories…

Sully and his brother Harrison claimed the “jail bench” while they waited for the game to begin. Hehe isn’t this one cute?

The girls enjoyed the face painting table. It looks like she’s carefully putting on makeup here. Adorable.

I took a picture of Carmen’s face paint and ended up loving how crisp and beautiful the photo turned out!

Megan didn’t notice me getting this one. I guess she was busy being cute with Harrison. ❤ (She looks a little concerned in this photo but I promise she was happy.) Also look at their almost-matching, almost-clashing shirts!

The flowers on the tables + string lights in the Borns’ new barn made everything inside look aesthetic. Here Eliana and friends are tying twine to doughnuts for…

The doughnut-eating competition! It’s always wildly entertaining to watch, especially when someone inevitably dives to the ground to eat the last, fallen pieces out of the grass. Jeff won his round but he did kinda have an unfair advantage: he’s so tall that he barely needed any string, as you can see to the right of the middle picture.

I took a quick break in the middle of the competition to run inside for photos of a second competition: cupcake baking! There were SOOOO MANY beautiful and fancy cupcakes entered this year, oh my!

Back outside for the crosscut sawing competition. Every time I tried to capture the slice of wood in midair as it fell. I finally got this shot near the end.

This one accurately depicts how lush and green and beautiful everything was, and also the cute paper hats made from another station inside the barn.

I’m not sure if I’ve posted pictures of the Borns’ new barn on here but look! Isn’t it beautiful? It’s perfect for dancing in. And also eating in, which is why there’s a long line in this one.

Supper was delicious AND SO WAS THIS CUPCAKE. I was blown away by how professional they were even though most were made by kids.

After supper comes, of course, the barn dancing! I feel like I’m getting old since I’m not as enthusiastic about dancing anymore… I still enjoyed dancing a few of them with Sully and taking pictures of everyone else having fun.

More cute kid pictures because I couldn’t resist. 🙂

Later in the evening I wandered around outside getting some neat shots featuring glowing string lights.

This photo is slightly less aesthetic when you know that the building thingy is a porta-john but, you know, it’s still a nice picture. 😛

We’ll end with a shot of the barn glowing from within. ‘Twas a lovely day.

I feel like my photography improved a lot since last year, so I had a terrible time narrowing down my favorite photos. A bunch more will appear in the next Etcetera post if not before because I have many to share. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this selection!

Would you rather participate in a doughnut-eating competition or crosscut sawing? Ever played Japanese Dodgeball or Nine Square in the Air?

Thanks so much for reading, my friends, and have a lovely day!

***Allison***

P. S. Photos taken with my Nikon D7200 and a 35mm lens. Edited with Lightroom.