Update: In light of COVID-19, we wanted to check in and let you know your health and safety are our top priority. We’re still figuring things out and will keep you posted about any changes to our wedding. Thank you for your patience!
Update: In light of COVID-19, we wanted to check in and let you know your health and safety are our top priority. We’re still figuring things out and will keep you posted about any changes to our wedding. Thank you for your patience!
Gallery
One of our early dates - WSL Surf Finals held in San Clemente, CA. Fun to be on the beach up close watching the best surf Trestles. Also right next to where Sharon's mom grew up in Oceanside, CA
Little did she know she would end up married to an artist...
Photo taken in Berkeley, CA on the day of Ben's aunt's wedding. Doesn't look like he was too excited to be the ring bearer.
Art, Sharon's dad, taught the young lady stellar batting form!
Ben, his little brother David on the left, and sister Kendal - We had a blast playing baseball on the dirt lot across from my grandparent's house in St Helena, CA
Ben's mom and dad, with little bro David too.
Sharon's dad Art with his 3 troublemakers.
Father Daughter
Mom and Ben at dinner with the whole family at the Mauna Kea Hotel on the Big Island in Hawaii. Blue blazers were required dinner attire! I think they still are in that one dining room!
3 Muskateers - Steve, Dave, and Sharon
Steve, Sharon, and Dave Ballard
Sharon and big brother Steve and his beloved VW bug.
Sharon's family on a west coast swing - here at the San Diego Zoo
Mom was the original family surfer, as noted by this photo taken in Waikiki when she was in her early 20's. RIP 2020
Another family summer trip to the west coast, this time for Mona's 25th high school reunion in Oceanside, CA
The family created so many multi generational memories based on the house in Stratton, VT
It was always the best feeling having mom in the stands watching!
Maybe the first person with an original Birken Purse? Who knows?
A night never forgotten! Mom and Dad surprised me with an 18th Bday party. I have no clue how they pulled it off, complete with live local band.
Studying senior year while at Abbington High in PA
Ben's senior high school football photo.
Ben's high school senior pic. Only took 40 more years to find Sharon :)
Without Middlebury College, none of this would have happened. Freshman photos as seen in the frosh "lookbook".
Middlebury College Football with Ben at the WR position.
Middlebury Football
It was a strange transition playing WR in high school and then switching to the Wing T offense at Middlebury.
This young lady captained the women's swim team back in the day.
Ben grew up as the typical CA tennis kid in the 1970's and 80's, back in the day when McEnroe and Connors ruled the game. His Dad is in the Harvard Sports Hall of Fame for Men's Tennis.
Middlebury College Men's Tennis. Note the bandage on left hand. Don't ask but he was in the school doctor's office late into prior night, having joined some friends in some rainy night trouble.
Proctor Tennis Courts,
Middlebury College Men's Tennis
Ah now what will the new college grad do in the years ahead? Sharon's senior picture as seen in the Middlebury College 1987 yearbook.
Middlebury College's Proctor Tennis Courts during Men's tennis season.
Father Daughter Time
#82 in the middle looking at the action on the gridiron.
Southside Hermosa Beach Pier. Looking for the green room...
Yeah Ben has a thing for the high Sierra's and all backcountry mountains for that matter...
Allen Dorm, The Trench, Freshman Year MiddKids
Ben and Danny T, frosh roommates in Allen Dorm, Middlebury College. Ask me later about the floral board shorts and what head football Coach Heinecken said as I showed up in weight room wearing these!
Sharon's senior college photo
Yeah we are a couple of tree huggers. Nature itself and being in nature is a main theme in our relationship.
Sharon wears many hats, (pun intended) but true are the words.
A huge accomplishment for anyone! She finished!
The family was out in support as was Sharon's college best friend, Carolyn. Friends to this day.
A medal to prove she finished the Burlington, VT marathon. Heck of a job!
El Porto, Manhattan Beach, CA
Age 50
Cannot beat a sunset surf!
Hermosa Beach, CA
Sharon's girls! Always supporting their Goey's (grandfather Art) Red Sox!
Southside Hermosa Pier, Hermosa Beach, CA
Ben, mid 40's, while visiting his Mom who had retired to Santa Fe, NM
They don't stay little forever.
Sharon and her girls.
The thing is, most people think art is a relaxing experience. They have no clue... You try to get the colors and the compositions and textures and narratives to all work together!!!!
Sharon's girls on a special trip to Europe with grandmother Mona
At the time of this picture, the Santa Monica Bay was getting an increase in juvenile Great Whites ranging from 5-9 feet. Ben had one breach about 15 feet away while sitting on his board. A gift TBH!
Fly fishing at 10,000 feet off a trailhead in Yosemite's Tuolumne Meadows.
Someone means business...
Sharon has had a storied career working to save coastal wetlands.
So this is where it all began the night Sharon walked into the opening night celebrations at the Philadelphia art gallery - The Bridgette Mayer Gallery near her Abbington home town
Bridgette Mayer Gallery view upon entering the space - this is where Ben first caught eyes with Sharon 40 years having passed since their freshman year at Middlebury College. He def did a double take!
Ben's landscape paintings on display - Summer 2023 at The Bridgette Mayer Gallery in Philadelphia, PA
The Occidental College library now has this permanent collection of former President Obama's time at "Oxy" where he spent his first two collegiate years, after arriving from Hawaii.
No truer words
I love the fact she was not scared to give this a go after we met. Finally found a mermaid to share waves with me.
For Ben's 60th bday Sharon was instrumental in getting Ben's friends to collectively pitch in for a custom mid length surfboard shaped by legendary shaper Marc Andreeni. (The Vaquero model- iconic)
Finally, he met a mermaid...
Ben and Sharon on the Occidental College Campus. Was fun to give her a tour of another college life Ben lived after leaving Middlebury. And unlike Midd, it was sunny almost every day. He was happy!!
Sharon is legit. She does not just stay in the whitewash. She paddles all the way out, hunting waves.
Hermosa Beach with Palos Verdes Peninsula in the background.
We had fun making signs for Sharon's daughter and her fiancé who ran the Los Angeles Marathon.
Finished!
We had fun making signs for Sharon's daughter and her fiancé who ran the Los Angeles
Sharon is a tried and true water woman no doubt. She logged over 200 days in the ocean in 2024!
Off for a day of adventure!
For all the days along the way
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