Wedding Details

As promised, here is a detailed (as in 40+ pictures) breakdown of Hillary's wedding day with both the professional photographer's pics and one of Hillary's photography-talented friends' pics.

Hillary and Ben got engaged in August and planned on getting married May 21st. After I announced I was due on May 14th the happy couple decided to move the wedding date....to December 28th! We only had about 2 months to plan it, but it turned out absolutely beautiful.

The Temple

Two days before the wedding there was a huge snow storm in Boston. (Seriously, Utah doesn't have anything on Boston winters.) It was FREEZING outside. There was actually no one outside for this but the photographer- everyone else was in the temple waiting area. Too cold.



We attempted a few outside family pictures (none of which turned out). I zoomed in on this awesome photo of Sade. Sadie thought the wind was both hilarious and terrible. She wasn't sure what to do so she just yelled (not crying yelling, just yelling) every time it blew.



The wedding party stuck it out for some outside pictures, but they are young, they can deal with it.
Hillary's colors were deep purple, green and burgundy. In a lot of the pictures the bridesmaids dresses look blue.

The Ring Ceremony

Hillary and Ben wanted to have a ring ceremony since most of their friends could not attend their temple sealing. We transformed the Sunday School room in the church using chair covers and tying plum sashes around each chair.

Hillary and I made those felt wreaths for Alicia's wedding and re-used them. Hillary and Ben stood between two Christmas trees covered in gorgeous ornaments in their wedding colors.

There was a short program and then Hillary and Ben exchanged rings. Hillary told Ben she especially loves him because he picks his nose in public and doesn't care. I think there were some other words said, but that was my favorite part.

The Luncheon
After the ring ceremony everyone moved downstairs for the luncheon.

Hillary wanted the luncheon to have a more casual feel. We decided to use her wedding colors, but brighter versions of them. We hung Chinese lantern strands from Alicia's wedding.

Hillary and I made the felt banner and strands of felt circles. See the circles in the background of picture below. They were super easy and cheap.

We also made flower centerpieces out of napkins.

They were easy, but time consuming. Hillary made most of them- 65 in all.

(One of my favorite pictures of the day. So Doug John)

When everyone was done eating we had a few toasts/roasts to the happy couple.



Sadie was being hilarious (and inappropriately loud) during the little speeches.

She then set to work breaking apart the center pieces.


The Couple
Hillary and Ben braved the cold after the luncheon for more pictures.

Probably my favorite picture of the day.


You can't even tell how incredibly cold it was, but trust you me, it was awful.

The Reception Details

The reception was held at the Lyman Estate. It is an old mansion that is pretty much just used for events now. It is actually closed for 2011 for extensive renovations. Hillary's wedding was the last event held there.

The estate has such beautiful details. It was already decorated for the Holidays so we didn't do anything besides the tables.









The food was amazing. Some of the best wedding food I've ever had. (Except for the Caesar salad dressing that was so full of anchovy I couldn't eat it. Barf. But some people wanted it that way- love you mom.)

The hot chocolate bar was also delicious. Have you ever mixed fresh caramel sauce directly into your hot chocolate? You should. The only thing I was mad about is I forgot to get seconds.

Hillary chose a 3-tiered cheesecake instead of traditional wedding cake.

After the cake cutting/fight (see pictures further down) the caterers brought out individual cheesecakes- chocolate peanut butter, raspberry key-lime, & pumpkin to go along with the plain. They were incredibly delicious, but so rich I couldn't finish mine.

The Reception

Hillary and Ben got some more great pictures

By the way, isn't Hillary's dress amazing? It had a satin cut-out overlay that was made to look like lace. It was the heaviest wedding dress ever- it had a 5 point bustle because anything less wouldn't have been able to hold up the weight of the dress.

Family Pictures






Ben & his parents- his dad came all the way from Guatemala

Wedding Party Pictures
This is my favorite sequence of pictures from the whole day.




I wasn't present at the time, but it sure looks like they surprised Hillary with that little toss.
I laughed out loud when I was browsing the 1,000+ pictures from the photographer.

Then my mom was feeling left out so the bridesmaids gave her a boost too.

The Line


I had to include these gems of my mom and Hill in the line

A Song

Anthony performed "The Luckiest" by Ben Folds at the request of Hillary. Then my dad accidentally called Hillary "Carly" over the mic.

The Cake Cutting

There are so many hilarious pictures I had a hard time deciding

First Dance


Father-Daughter Dance


Group Dance




The Exit


The End.

Blog Layout

Can anyone tell me how to widen the main text portion of my blog? It drives me crazy that it is so narrow but I can't figure out how to widen it. Is there a simple way to change this?

Wedding

My youngest sister Hillary got married on December 28th. If it seems to you like there are tons of weddings in my family, it's because there are. 5 weddings in 5 1/2 years! My only single sibling left is my 17-year-old brother who we all hope will at least give us 4 years off. It was a beautiful, albeit, cold day. I will do another, more details-focused post with professional pictures some other time, but here are some of my pictures.

Following the sealing at the temple and the ring ceremony at the church, there was a luncheon with some of Boston's finest Mexican food (it's hard to find Mexican food in Boston).

Each table was covered with a paper tablecloth and crayons for coloring.
Sadie LOVED it, but I think it confused her about what she is allowed to color on. The other day she scribbled all over our table with crayons.

Here she is signing cracker. On our trip to Boston she watched Baby Signing Time so much that she now signs all the signs from both of her DVD's. The fact that Sadie signs so much is cool, but maybe a little embarassing that I resorted to letting her watch DVD's so much.

After the luncheon we went home and napped. I was nervous about the wedding day since I would be taking care of Sadie alone on the looong day of activities (Daniel went back to Utah on the 26th), but Sadie was decently behaved and I can't believe I actually got a nap.

After the nap we headed over to the Lyman Estate, an old mansion, where the reception was being held.

We were there early for pictures so Sadie and Will hung out in the bedroom upstairs for a while- playing and snacking.

The food was delicious. I'll write all about it in my other wedding post.
The dancing may have been my favorite part of the day. Once Sadie saw what was going on she just had to be part of it.

Sadie wanted to be on the dance floor at all times, but she wanted to be held. It's difficult to hold a toddler and dance! Everyone helped me out and took turns dancing with her.

Every time I tried to leave the dance floor Sadie would go running back and beg her way into someone's arms.

The funniest part of it all is Sadie did not crack ONE smile the entire time.

You would have thought she hated it by the look on her face!
But she refused to leave the dance floor!

When the music stopped at 10 PM, Sadie went over to the speaker and tried to turn it back on. She studied every part of the that speaker, hoping to find the "on" button.

When we finally got home it was about 11 PM and Sadie actually slept through the night. The following days my entire body was sore from all the dancing. I guess I just don't have it like I used to. But Sadie gave me hope she might follow in my footsteps (see pictures of a few of my moves here)

Christmas in Boston 2

Wow my last couple posts have sounded kind of whiny and bratty, haven't they? I complained so much about Sadie's sleeping habits on our trip; I made it sound like the trip was a waste or something. But really, it was great. I absolutely loved to see Sadie interact with my family and she was hilarious and cute most of the time.

Moving on... Sadie was happy to just play around my parents house. There were so many new people and rooms to discover. Here is some of the stuff we (mostly Sadie) did besides Christmas and the wedding.

I was nervous about how Sadie would interact with her cousin Will. She does not share well and sometimes she gets physical with other kids.

But how could Sadie be mean to this face? She was nice a lot of the time but she did rip toys away from him and push him a few times. He got a toy school bus for Christmas that she was particularly fond of.


Sadie wasn't quite sure what to do since Will couldn't walk, but one night she crawled around with him.

They giggled together for a little while and it was hilarious.


She LOVES necklaces. She wore these around for a few days and cried when I took them off for bed.


One night Sadie got into a bit of other trouble. See those plates of cookies on the counter (above her and to the right)? Sadie ate SIX of them. I couldn't figure out who kept giving her cookies until I saw her go up on her little tippy toes and snag her 6th cookie all by herself.


Photo op with Aunt Meredith- apparently Sadie wanted Meredith all to herself. Funny side note about Meredith. Evidently the name Meredith sounds like "ear" to Sadie and whenever we would ask her where Meredith was she would point to her ear.


The kids enjoyed bath time together.

Sadie loved the foam bath letters they got for Christmas.


Sadie didn't have much interest in the tree until all the presents were gone and she could get up close. She broke an ornament- oops.


Sadie tried to show Will how fun it is to pull books off a shelf. Unfortunately for them, the books are packed so tightly neither of them could get any books off.


Sadie loved all the stairs. We didn't. They are so much steeper than ours.


One afternoon we went to lunch at this great cafe that has a play corner for kids. This idea could never work in Utah because it would get destroyed, but Sadie and Will had it all to themselves when we went.


Don't worry, we didn't let Sadie have all this fun without any work

While she may not have actually helped us get any dirt off the floor, she enjoyed herself.

So what did the rest of us do while the kids had fun?

Played games, stayed up late talking, got delicious Friendly's sundaes, and generally had a good time.

Christmas in Boston

We spent the Holidays in Boston with my whole family this year (13 adults and 2 babies in one house? Oh joy). It was great, but also the most exhausting trip I have ever taken.

I took this picture on the plane to Boston, but then forgot to take any pictures until Christmas Eve.

Activities on days I took no pictures: going through the temple with Hillary, playing basketball with the whole family (I was really bad and it was frustrating), and various wedding preparations.

Christmas Eve
We went caroling- as per usual with my family- and came back for dinner and the acting out of the Nativity.

Here's Sadie with one of her favorite people- Papa. By the end of our time in Boston Sadie knew who most people were, but Papa is the only one she called by name.
The older kids attempted to include Sadie in the acting out of the Nativity but she just sort of wandered around and did what she wanted. Typical.

Christmas Day
Sadie woke up around 4:45 AM and Daniel got up with her. Sadie woke up most days in the wee hours of the morning and decided it was time to get up and play- usually around 2 AM. She knew we were sleeping right next to her so she'd talk and be loud until we finally gave in (some nights after 2 hours of jabbering) and got her up.

Here is Sadie waiting on the stairs- anxious to go see her presents.
Or really she had no idea what was happening, but since there were other people sitting on the stairs, she did too.

It was fun to watch Sadie open presents. Sadie definitely understood the idea that there were new toys in the wrapping paper and she should take it off. It just took her about 5 minutes to unwrap each present as she tore one strip at a time.

This is Sadie's favorite present (despite her face). Meredith made her a laminated book with pictures representing parts of our family for each letter of the alphabet. So "B" is pictures of Uncle Ben and Uncle Bryce. Sadie loves it. Hillary- she actually says your name every time she sees pictures of you now!

Daniel and I got some amazing presents, including, but not limited to a new Phil and Ted's stroller, a diaper bag, the first season of 30 for 30, subscription to ESPN the magazine, and many other things. Thanks family! My family doesn't do a rotation yet, so we all get lots of presents.

To avoid picture overload in one post I will do separate entries about the other days in Boston and Hillary and Ben's wedding.

I am so glad we went because it was great to see my family and it was the last time my whole family will be together for Christmas. Daniel and I will not be traveling for Christmas anymore. This trip absolutely confirmed that decision as a good idea- the sleep deprivation with Sadie sleeping in the same room with us was terrible. It felt like having a newborn again- except I was 5 months pregnant and only getting 3 hour stretches of sleep. On a positive note, Sadie was very well-behaved during the day. The lack of sleep didn't seem to affect her too much.

Anyway....stay tuned for more pictures (mostly of Sadie and Will)!

Why You Should NOT Fly Southwest and Other Thoughts

Caution: Some ranting may be included below

Traveling across the country alone with a 17 month old while 5 months pregnant is pretty much horrible. No way around it. Your day is going to be terrible.

Here are some thoughts on travel with a small child

1. Don't try to add a coat to a suitcase after it has been weighed. We arrived at the Southwest counter and my bag weighed 51 pounds, but the woman said that was fine. When I tried to stick my coat in the suitcase so I didn't have to cart it around all day (with my humongous backpack, diaper bag, child, stroller and stomach) she told me I was lucky she was even checking the 51-pound bag (even though I could have checked a whole other bag for free and I thought it was saving a hassle for them if I checked one 52 pound bag instead of two separate bags).

2. Most airport security are laid back about bringing milk for children. No airports have ever given me trouble about it. You just have to point it out to them before you put it through the screening process. I have never had anyone make me or my child taste it to prove its fine, or had them do any further testing on it. In fact, all the airport security screenings I have gone through with Sadie have been incredibly non-stress-filled. The TSA employees have been patient and willing to help in any way they can. My experiences with TSA have been only positive so far.

3. Pray for nice people sitting around you on the plane. The man sitting 2 seats over from us on our first flight was so nice. Sadie screamed and threw tantrums for the last 45 minutes of that flight. Most people were just ready to get away from me when we landed. He insisted on carrying all of my carry-on stuff off the plane for me and setting up my stroller and loading it up- just making me carry Sadie and put her in the stroller.

4-Bring a personal DVD player! This saved me. While Sadie didn't want to watch it all the time- she watched it for much more than half of the 5 1/2 hours of flying we did that day. I do not know what I would have done without it. (Thank you, thank you, thank you Gaines family for letting us borrow yours).

5. Finally, the reason to not fly Southwest if you have small children- they do not cover any damage to strollers and car seats. I got off the plane in Salt Lake to be greeted by my brand new stroller with 2 parts broken off. One piece was placed with the stroller (so they absolutely knew they broke it), the other piece was just gone. This stroller was only 2 weeks old- there was no way either piece was loose. Neither of these pieces stick out from the stroller so in the event that it might be thrown down they couldn't break off easily. When I saw the damage I figured no big deal, I will just go to the Southwest baggage office and they will give me some sort of reimbursement. The stroller is still usable, but I want all the working parts for it. The Southwest employees were completely useless. They told me I should have looked up the no liability policy on Southwest's website for strollers and car seats (like I had a choice about bringing a stroller). Then they gave me some general phone number to call. One of the employees suggested that since the stroller was brand new I should just return it for another one. She didn't seem to understand the concept that when a product is clearly broken by the consumer the company won't just accept it and give you a new one. The Southwest employees hinted that I shouldn't be traveling with a stroller anyway. When I called the central number I was given it was just as useless. What am I supposed to do? I am traveling alone, 5 months pregnant, with a 1 year old, and 2 bags full of stuff to try to entertain her while flying across the country. Not bring a stroller? And even if I thought I could get through the day of flying without it, how were we supposed to get Sadie around in Boston? Buy another stroller? Basically, I have no choice but to bring a stroller, but Southwest claims no responsibility for the stroller at any point- even if it is clearly broken because of their handling of it. So, to parents of young children who have to bring strollers and car seats I would strongly suggest NOT flying Southwest. It's not worth free bags if you have to replace other, much more expensive items. Thanks for reading.

If you read all of this, don't worry, I'll be adding much happier posts soon!