Marist Homecoming 2014

Before I proceed any further with photos of a fantastic night, can I just address this?  These side by sides were taken one week short of a year apart.  Six inches in height, an expert hair cut (thank you Christi!!), and kind of hitting that change-over from boy to young man all happened.  Based on these pics, you'd think it was years instead of months that took place.  When did I blink?  

Alright - on to the pre-Homecoming Dance festivities.  Leave it to Brayden to have all the details supplied last minute - and actually, they were supplied by Ashton.  Bless her.  We were told they'd decided to meet up at their friend, Brennan's, house.  Okay.  Apparently, her parents were willing to have the dinner catered by Mucho Gusto and have transportation to the dance supplied by a limousine.  Um, really??? and THANK YOU!!!

We pulled up and recognized quickly that those gestures of kindness were probably within their means...though I'm glad we encouraged Brayden to purchase a bouquet of flowers for Brennan's mom for all of her generosity and effort.  =)

I didn't think it would be too appropriate to walk around their house snapping pictures of everything I saw, but this was their living room.  The place was elaborately decorated for Halloween.  

Upon arrival, she suggested the kids hang out in the "Game Room" - adjacent to the the "Movie Room".  

 

Or, they could proceed outside and enjoy the back yard.  (At this point, I should mention the temperatures were in the mid 70's - these kids had it made!!!)  This picture doesn't begin to do this place justice.  at the farthest point of the horizon is the Willamette River.  The house actually sits back against the walk/bike path that we are often on.  

It's hard to navigate through all the pictures that were taken.  So, I'll pull the set up first that John took with the big camera - and then follow up, sans captions, the same poses taken with our cell phones.

Always the starting point of these shots - the corsage and boutonniere.  Kind of awkward, but with these two, an opportunity to just get lots of fun expressions!

That extra hand in there is mine.  These things are hard to secure, so I was trying to keep him from getting stabbed or it falling off during the dance.

Love this shot.  The look he gives her is, "I really like this girl".  No, not "like, like" - not at this point anyway - but, definitely "best friend" kind of like.  It went back and forth with expressions like that all evening.

Nice....

We suggested that they pose in the playground area of the "estate" and they were totally game.  It helped that Ashton's mom was by our side encouraging the silliness and crazy poses every step of the way.

They had a "Boys Only" Club House (the family has three kids - all boys) - so we were trying to get Ashton to pull off the "no fair" straight face - which she found nearly impossible to pull off!

On to the teeter totter...

The group shot - minus a few late stragglers.  I know very few of these kids - however, the tall couple on the opposite end of Brayden and Ashton are Joey and Spencer Hoffman.  Spencer is Steph Hoffman's son - so cool to run into her there and take pics of him and his date.

Stunning!

We went ahead and had them walk down to the river for these last shots....

Love...

Isn't this a classic pic of a high school party/dance....all the girls in one crowd (looking at their phones) - all the boys in another (eating!)

Okay - on to the less fun cell phone pics - so I won't add commentary - but they are worth having around to be preserved on the blog....

 

Definitely an awesome start to a fantastic evening for Brayden and Ashton!!!