Aliciana and I took my Grandma’s new puppy, Sandy, out for a walk because it was such a beautiful day. After the walk, I decided to take some photos of Sandy because he is just so cute. He is a 4 month old miniature poodle and has so much fluffy fur he looks like a giant cotton ball. He is a very good puppy and very affectionate. It is commonly known that a picture is work a thousand words, so here is 10,000 worth:
I tagged along with Aliciana on her business trip to Concord, California this week. I figured it would be nice to wander around the town while she actually worked for a living. Plus, because I am looking for a job, it might be my last chance to get out of town until the wedding. On the way into the hotel, I passed this duck that was hanging out in front. He posed for me, so I had to take his picture.
I took a day trip around Mt. Diablo State Park, which is near Walnut Creek and Concord. It was a beautiful drive all the way up to the summit of the mountain. On the very top of the mountain there is a little building that was used as a lookout post. The views from the top were breathtaking. Way off in the distance I could barely make out the Golden Gate Bridge through the haze.
All of the Ladd family gathered at Grandma and Grandpa’s house for our traditional Easter Sunday gathering. It was a good time that was filled with great food and company.
Almost the whole family was able to make it. Brianna and Brian couldn’t come because Brian was in the hospital (get well soon!). Doug was also missing due to a cold. My parents and sister also couldn’t make the trip from Las Vegas.
This wedding between two of my best friends was a truly magical affair. The setting was the wonderful wilderness on the outskirts of Yosemite Park filled with majestic pine trees and all the glory of nature. The ceremony was very touching, with Aaron’s step-dad performing the service and the couple reciting their hand written vows. Melinda looked gorgeous in her wedding gown and Aaron didn’t look too bad either.
The reception took place in the restaurant at the hotel and was filled with family and friends. I got to see all my friends who have spread out to different cities since college and, as you can see in the photos, we had a great time. Congratulations Aaron and Mel!
We are spending a long weekend in San Diego in order to taste test the food for our wedding reception. We spent today hanging out with Aliciana’s family and trying to remain sane while dealing with her nephews. Their amount of energy never ceases to amaze me. It is quite a shock to your system when you go from hanging out in a nice quiet apartment at home to being surrounded by 4 little children who are screaming, running around, causing trouble, and using your body as a jungle gym. I had lots of fun with them once I adjusted… but I am glad I don’t have to deal with this level of noise all the time.
After tasting the food that we are going to serve at our wedding reception we took a look at the banquet room the event is going to take place in. The first photo located below is of the the center piece that will be on all the tables. The next 3 photos are of the actual banquet room, which was setup for an event taking place later in the day. The last photo is of the patio that guests will be able to hang out on until the banquet room doors are open at 6:00 pm for the reception. That patio is also ours to use as the evening events go on until midnight (maybe even 1:00 am if anyone can make it that long).
Aliciana went down to San Diego for a bridal shower thrown by her mom. She left Saturday morning early and only stayed in town for about 36 hours. Below are some photos taken before the shower.
Before leaving town Aliciana had Jenny’s mom do I trial run on her hair. She will be doing Aliciana’s hair the morning of the wedding. I think it turned out very beautiful… I was blown away when I saw her later on in the day in person. Jenny’s mom is very talented!
We spent all weekend in San Luis Obispo celebrating Nick and Jessie’s graduation from Cal Poly. Below are my pathetic attempts to take photos from the nose bleed section of the gym their ceremony was held in. The organization of the ceremony seemed pretty bad considering there wasn’t even enough chairs on the court for all the graduates to have a seat. I guess architects leave implementation details like that to us engineers 😉
On the way to my Aunt Susie’s house for some great barbecue and a fireworks show we decided to stop by our future home to record the progress. It is completely trenched and the builders should be pouring the foundation any day now. It really is starting to feel like we are getting a house now that I can walk on the lot and see actual progress.
Aliciana, my brother Nick, his girlfriend Jessie, and I went to the circus today. I don’t know about it being “The Greatest Show On Earth” but it was definitely entertaining. I would have to say the highlight of the show for me were the elephants who would stand on each other’s backs. It is amazing to see such large animals in action.
The foundation to our dream house has been laid! The frame is next, which the workers have started to piece together. We are going to try to chronical the whole building process and make an album about the birth of our house.
My “bachelor party” started in the morning with a trip to Sea World. We all had a good time and we all managed to not get sun burnt right before the wedding. The party continued on that evening with a trip to Dave and Buster’s which is an arcade down in San Diego (and elsewhere). I didn’t have a traditional “bachelor’s party”, my future wife was there, along with various other female friends. There was no strippers or debauchery. In other words, everyone had a great time, which is exactly what I wanted.
We lived through the wedding and everything seemed to turn out great. There was a few chaotic moments but what wedding with 150 guests doesn’t have those? Lots of people we talked to said the ceremony was beautiful and that they had tons of fun at the reception. And, at the end of the day, I had the most beautiful bride in the whole world. What more could I ask for?
We had all of Sunday to lay around and recover before leaving on our honeymoon. Once we got going we spent much of the day opening wedding presents at my new in-laws’ house.
