Monday, June 28, 2010

Boston Grand Finale

Are you ready for a picture overload? Seriously, don't bother to read the rest if you don't want to look at boat loads of wedding pictures. Although, if you do read to the end you will be rewarded with some of the greatest dance moves ever captured on film.



Alicia & Bryce were deliriously happy, as it should be. Meredith had to remind them they probably wouldn't want hundreds of pictures of themselves kissing because they couldn't keep their lips off each other.

Although, I don't blame Bryce because Alicia was stunning.



Only 2 single John kids remaining (on the right)- both are teenagers- better claim them while you can.
4 weddings in 5 years- we're going like hotcakes!
But really, what are hotcakes, so we are going like candy contraband at fat camp.

Weird to think that this...


...will be them some day


My 2 gorgeous little sisters

Love the faces in this one

After the temple pictures, we headed over to the luncheon


Which included delicious food and sweet/funny toasts (this one included standing on a chair).

Alicia, Bryce, and her "friends" bridesmaids (as opposed to "sisters" bridesmaids) then headed into downtown Boston for more pics.

Oh, yeah, and they took the subway to get there.

With the backdrop of Boston, how could any pictures be bad?

Love the brick-paved streets

(By the way, I am completely jealous of how beautiful Alicia's dress is. The two pictures above show the front and back well.)


One of my favorite pictures of the day

Meanwhile, the rest of us were doing the final set-up of the reception. The set-up was stalled for an hour during a torrential downpour, but it let up just in time for us to finish up and take a few more family pictures.

Anthony really wanted to take a "Cosby-style" family picture.

This is pretty much how Sadie reacted whenever someone besides us was holding her.

But it's hard to stay mad when she is this cute.

The reception turned out *almost* as I had planned.
Guests walked up a lighted path lined with engagement photos and wreaths.

At the end of the path was the present/guest book table. Guests then walked down the stairs (at the left in the picture below) where they could watch a picture slide show and greet the bride and groom.

(One of the major failed design elements was the pool decor. All of my plans did not work!)
Guests could then wander over to the tent and eat. Dinner was chicken madeira/asparagus/mashed potatoes/salad/rolls from the Cheesecake Factory. I'll admit I had seconds. And thirds.

Here you can see the chinese lanterns hung all around inside the tent. The biggest design element that failed was the clear top tent. Alicia and I were so excited for a clear tent but when the tent vendor arrived to set it up they said they couldn't get the clear tent clean enough. We could have still used it but it was filthy and we decided to just go with typical white. It is my biggest disappointment from the wedding. The white tent still looked fine, but the clear top tent would have been stunning with all the chinese lanterns.


Please pay attention to the fabric walls in the background. We spent many hours on those. They gave us a hard time, but we conquered them and they looked great.

I love simple, elegant wedding cakes.

Alicia and Bryce greeted guests for a while, ate dinner, cut the cake, and had their first dance.


So...now for the promised dancing pictures.






You are welcome.

Wedding guests lined up along the lighted path and Alicia and Bryce made their grand exit to a sweet slow clap started by yours truly. Of course they stopped to kiss for us all and then went on their merry way.

The End.

Friday, June 18, 2010

Boston Numero Tres

Memorial Day- the day of the annual parade in Belmont, Mass. My hometown has a small (emphasis on small) parade each Memorial Day. I have memories when I was young of the parade being much bigger. Not sure if that is my 4 year old mind thinking the parade was big, or if it was actually bigger. My parents house is directly on the parade route so we just gathered on the front lawn and observed the 5 minute- yes 5 minute- parade.

Cousins watching the parade

Sadie was all smiles- finally. It only took 4 days for her to get used to everyone.

While everyone else was playing a game...


...Sadie and Will got together for a picture with Papa John.

Then Will noticed Sadie was snacking on Cheerios

And he wanted some too

So he came closer

and closer

And Sadie was totally offended.

Don't worry; she got him back later


On Monday night we had the awards ceremony for the John family Biggest Loser competition.

One of my favorite pictures of the whole trip. Mom, you are so great.

The winners. Carrie won. My 17-year-old brother surprised us all and came in second place. Daniel and I didn't come close to winning. Oh well.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Boston Numero Dos


Only a week later and I am back to do Boston post #2- the wedding day. I got so caught up in the actual wedding day that I hardly took any pictures at all. The photo above is the best one I took that day, but that's perfect because it has my two favorite people. Guess we'll have to wait for the photographer's pictures. Here are the few that I got.

Sadie and Will enjoyed dancing outside after the sealing

Sadie really enjoyed it

Then Sadie got distracted by her best friend- her lobster.




Stay tuned for Memorial Day pictures

Monday, June 7, 2010

Boston Numero Uno

This post begins a series of posts about our trip to Boston for my sister Alicia's wedding and its associated activities.


Thursday was a jam-packed day with a temple session, reception set-up, and a Red Sox game. Meredith and Carrie bought matching Big Papi shirts for the cousins. The only pictures I got were at the Red Sox game, so here you go.


Most of the time on this trip Sadie wouldn't let anyone besides us come near her but she let uncle Steven hold her for a while.

Will with my mom. He's much more laid back than Sadie. If you can't tell by the previous caption, Sadie cried a lot on our trip.

Sadie at Fenway. For some reason Daniel loves to take pictures of Sadie from the nose up.

Will at Fenway. Apparently he didn't enjoy my camera flashing in his face. Look at his TWO teeth at 5 months old! Sadie really needs to step it up in the teeth-growing competition.

Sadie pretty much ignored Will unless she wanted to grab his hair, take his pacifier, scratch his face or pat his stomach. Here she is pulling his hair, but she's not excited about it.

Will relaxing with his uncle Matt.

The obligatory Ortiz-at-bat picture. Daniel takes this picture every single time we go to Fenway.

Unsuccessfully holding two babies. Sadie pulled Will's pacifier out and then scratched his face.

Family portrait. Apparently Sadie's life is miserable.

We had fun, even though Boston lost to Kansas City. I guess it's alright because it was Carrie's birthday and maybe her team deserves a win since she had to spend her birthday with us.

We were hesitant to bring Sadie to the game, but she was pretty good. She even did some head shaking and dancing for the drunk fans around us. Someone got it on video. I'll post it when I get it.