wedding, friends, family, and birthdays

i never did document my trip to utah last month. i was going to put a few highlights but ended up posting LOTS of pictures. so enjoy :)

grandma homer picked us up from the airport. the boys were sooo excited!
hanging out with karie and her kids. look how cute they are. notice elliot and lillie holding hands.
girls night out. it is always so good to see friends. hard to say goodbye.
my sister, my cousin, and i threw a wedding shower for becky and brian. it was really fun.

my grandma is turning 94 this year. isn't she beautiful!! loa you are an amazing woman. i look up to you in so many ways.
my sweet mother-in-law threw a joint birthday party for my boys while we were in town. elliot turned 5 on july 3rd and sam turned 3 on june 6th. it was so fun. thanks sheryl!!
the cousins lined up.
siblings.
both grandparents.
this is when karie and i took the 5 kids shopping with us to old navy. crazy but fun!
swimming with cousins.
sam's superman cape that jeffrey and i made for his birthday. he wore it almost everyday while we were in utah.
the oquirrh mountain temple.
marseille and me!
elliot, christopher, and sam.
melissa and me at her new house.
becky and brian's wedding dinner at the place where brian proposed.
and . . .





the wedding!!!!
kissing as husband and wife.

my entire family with becky and brian in front of the salt lake temple.
together for eternity.
my neices and sarah's sister. they were so sweet to help watch the kids while we were in the temple for the wedding.
some of becky's good friends.
daddy and sam.
sweet elliot.
amy, amelia, and me. (my cousins)
some of brian's family.
laura and lily.
sarah and will.
grandpa richards performed the wedding ceremony. it was so sweet. we miss grandma richards so much. today it has been a year since she passed away. we find peace knowing the she is in heaven and we will see her again. at times i feel her close. we miss her so much. she was such an amazing woman. we love you grandma.
david and ben.
sammy.
darling sala.
now the wedding reception.


isn't he a hottie! i'm so lucky he married me 6 years ago. i am still so in love with this man!
check out that face. haha.
sweet loa.
eric and me.
the girls.
i love you sis! i am so happy for you!
cutting the cake.


the boys decorated the car.
leaving!
running to their car in the pouring rain. we hope you had tons of fun in hawaii!!!


after the wedding we hung out for a couple of days before having to head back to utah.
we hit the farmer's market with grandma homer, scott, and kate.
played lots of legos.
hung out with uncle brian!
and aunt laura.
we had a dinner with the allens. fuzz leaves on his mission to oregon in 4 days! wow. good luck fuzz!!! we love you.
saying goodbye. miss you karie!
one last shot of the cute friends.
phew. i made it. i hope you liked the pictures. sorry if i left anyone out. we love you all. we love utah. it will always be our home. we can't wait to see you again.

the past couple of weeks

i love these boys. i say that a lot don't i? well i do. they are such great buddies. i remember my mom pointing out how in nearly every picture of me as a kid my brother eric was always by my side. i love that my boys have that too. it makes it all worth it.

we had the chance to go to boston over the 4th of july weekend. of course i forgot my camera on elliot's birthday, so i don't have any of those pictures. mom, when you can will you email those to me? thanks.
we had a great time though. we went to plum island beach and instead of the rain that was supposed to come, sunshine and warmth shined on us and we had a great time! that night we went to eric and sarah's and had pizza, cake, ice cream, and of course present opening time. elliot had a great time. his favorites were the lego star wars wii game and the race car track. thanks eric, sarah, grandpa, and grandma for helping make his birthday so much fun!

the next day we went into boston and met up with my friend cristy. we first stopped at the little fountains and the boys had a ball. they got wet, but it was warm and they dried off quickly. next we made our way up into little italy, visited the old north church, made a stop at mike's pastry and got cookies this time. oh yum. they were sooo good!
sam.
we made our way back to eric and sarah's for burgers and prep for the fireworks show. the kids had a lot of fun with will and lily. it is so fun to see lily crawling around! she seems so excited to be mobile. sammy always makes her laugh too. it's so cute to see. she's really helped him warm up to babies. he's finally learning to be careful around them. i really think it was lily's charm. so thanks lily!
the fireworks over the charles river were absolutely fantastic and loud! what a way to celebrate.
this was our farewell picture on sunday. it was so fun to crash their party while mom and dad were in town. thanks so much for letting us come!!
i have to make mention that mike and ashley were so kind to let us stay at their place with them all weekend (except one night we stayed with cristy, thanks!!) they were so sweet. they joined us at the beach on friday, and then on monday we made our way up to walden pond, one of my favorite spots in the world. it's just so peaceful. it'll always have a special place in my heart.
sammy loves the sand and mud. elliot and daddy went out swimming deeper. elliot got 3 quarters for going under the water 3 times. hehe. cute daddy trying encourage him.
we ate lunch on the beach.
isn't it beautiful!!
we made a stop by the decordova sculpture garden in lincoln, ma. it reminded me of storm king here in ny. what a neat idea. notice elliot and sam under the arms of this sculpture.
before we headed back to ny we had to stop by this brazilian store for some food from jeffrey's past. we got some Bono cookies, bis (chocolate covered wafers), guaraná (soda), requeijão cremoso (brazilian cream cheese), doce de amendoim (peanut candy), and even a pair of havaianas (brazilian flip flops) for elliot. it was fun. someday we'll travel to brazil. i promise!
i had to throw this one in from the road trip home. my three boys :)



this past weekend we had the chance to go to a carnival. it was so much fun. the boys went on a rollercoaster (kid size) and elliot had fun, but sammy cried and cried. it was so sad, but it was cute to see elliot trying to comfort him. he got over it pretty quick and loved this car one. it was a little slow for elliot, but he had fun anyway.

daddy and elliot got a game in at the clown water squirter game. they had to squirt water into the clown's mouth which would then fill up a balloon and the first person to have their balloon pop won. they didn't win, but they did have fun.
it started to rain, but we got in one family shot.


on sunday we had the luck to have scott, kate and sala stop in on their way to maine. i just love that little girl sal. it was really fun to see the kids all play together. despite this grumpy picture of sam, he really did have so much fun. he and sal get along so well now. it's wonderful.
it was so nice to have some time to chat with kate and with scott. they are such great people to talk to. thanks so much for stopping by guys.
here's their setup. pretty impressive. looks like a lot of fun in store. wish i was going. hehe.
here's one last shot of sala and sam. we played outside a bunch. the kids had so much fun. sandbox, baseball, scooter, tricycle, kid lawnmower, running, balls, swing, playground, etc.
love you guys.
well, thanks for looking at this long catch up post. we've been busy with elliot being out of school. we've joined the town pool, we go to the playground, we hang out with dad. so far it's been a great summer. we love you all and hope your summer is going great too. God bless.
mi

www.jeffreyallenphoto.com

don't forget!!! the chance to win a free print from jeffrey's photography gallery ends tonight at midnight! all you have to do is go to martawrites.blogspot.com and leave a comment. it's well worth your time. his work is beautiful!! check it out and see for yourself. jeffreyallenphoto.com enjoy!

jeffrey's new gallery and store (plus a giveaway!)

jeffrey here - with maryirene's permission i'm taking over the allen wrench for a post of my own.

for a while now i've been keeping a blog where I document my adventures in photography (i.e. photographing in big cities like new york, san francisco, and boston, experimenting with interesting and unique cameras, oh yeah - and being questioned by a handful of policemen in new jersey for photographing a water tower).

my blog is at upsidedownbackwards.blogspot.com.

the exciting news is that i've collected a bunch of my favorite photographs and put together an online gallery and store where prints can be purchased. check it out at jeffreyallenphoto.com.

to kick off my new gallery and store a friend of ours is featuring my work on her blog and also doing a giveaway, starting this saturday. two winners, randomly selected, will win a print of their choice (glossy or lustre) up to 11"x14". her blog is at martawrites.blogspot.com and to enter just leave a comment on the giveaway post between saturday and monday. the deadline for comments is Monday at midnight.

here's a sample of what you'll find on my blog and in my gallery. enjoy!

preschool graduation

elliot had his graduation this last week. he'll be moving on to kindergarten in the fall. he's so excited!

way to go elliot!
this is elliot's class performing their song.

news

it's been a while so i thought i would share a quick update. there are lots of pictures to come.

for those of you who have been wanting to know about our move, well . . . it's been pushed back about 6 months, so we'll be enjoying the beauty of new york for a little bit longer. we're happy to stick around and have time to hang out with the friends we have made here.

sam just turned 3 and elliot will soon be 5! i can't believe how old they are. i can't believe i have a 5 year old. i love it though. it's wonderful. i just registered him for kindergarten today. he'll be picked up by a bus and everything. pretty cool!

my sister just got married and so we got to go home to utah and see family for a couple of weeks. it was a wonderful vacation.

we love you all and hope that your summer is filled with wonderful things. if any of you are in our area, give us a call.