the preparation

We got into Spokane on Thursday and the rehearsal was that evening. There were a lot of people to coordinate at this wedding, so the coordinator had her hands full. Lots of laughing, lots of talking when we weren’t supposed to be and lots of keeping the kids occupied while waiting in line.

Here is the bride and her Dad, followed by random rehearsal shots.

The flower girl carefully practiced throwing flower petals down.

Derek and Paul (Megan’s boyfriend) did a great job at managing children. There was a lot of waiting for them. And Derek actually deserves the credit for most of these pictures, as I was a little busy. He had his own little photo shoot to occupy them.

After the rehearsal, we headed to a mexican restaurant for the rehearsal dinner. I failed and only got a couple of pictures of this – hopefully Ryann had some friends take some!

There were no plans for Friday, so we were able to head to the Spokane fair, hang out and have some of our own family time that evening. I have tons of pictures of all of this, but it doesn’t fit this theme:). So on to the continued preparations for the wedding, starting at 9am on Saturday morning. My mom had found this lovely girl to come do all of our hair. I am so glad she was a lovely girl, because Mom found her on Craig’s list and Megan and I were a bit concerned. But it worked out wonderfully and she was great! The girls had their hair put in rags to curl it. I think I will steal this idea for the future.

There was a lot of tv watching, ipad playing and any other thing we could think of doing to entertain them after this. Derek had the brilliant idea of taking them down to the pool to “put their feet in the water”, or rather get all the bottoms of their rags wet so we had to spend extra time blowdrying them. But I shouldn’t complain because Derek was extremely patient and helpful through all of this “girl stuff”. We all got our hair pinned up, which was great since it was 95 degrees outside.

Addison was able to sleep in her rags and then have her hair done at the last minute. This worked out perfectly, and Derek brought her to the venue later. I was amazed how quickly this day of getting ready went, and then we were off to the big event. Stay tuned…

The Wedding

I have been sorting through hundreds of photos, trying to figure out how to post about my sister Ryann and Gerry’s wedding. It is a little overwhelming! It was a beautiful wedding, in a beautiful place. So, that is where I thought I would start – the place. I figured out some categories to show the highlights, and that will be my next few posts. Warning, you are about to see a ton of pictures, but I know you are dying to see them:)

They were married at Belle Victorian Gardens, just north of Spokane. This place was amazing, with more photo spots than I could even take pictures of.  The house, the gardens, all of it was just made for taking cute pictures. If I hadn’t been so preoccupied with what we were there for, you know, the WEDDING, then I would have taken about a thousand family and kid pictures. But wedding pictures are fun, too.

More to come…..

Mom is engaged!!

Isn’t it beautiful and sparkly?!!

Let the wedding season continue for our family…. so excited for you, Mom and Leon!

A new school year

They were ready and they were excited for the first day of school. My first and fourth grader – can that really be?? Time is seriously flying by.

Hailey was not sure about her teacher, although she had only met her once. Hailey tends to be a bit negative lately, but she perked up and headed right in to her classroom  to check out who was sitting by her. Isn’t her hair so cute??

And Symantha had the same teacher as last year, which she was excited about, and she just hugged her right away.

So Addison and I begin our two years of just the two of us all day. I miss my big girls sometimes, but to be completely honest, it is so fun and so easy to have Addison by herself. Well, not totally by herself. Baby “Gracie” often joins us

Sweet 16

16 sweet years of marriage. I have loved every one of them, although there have been ups and downs, highs and lows. Yes, I got married pretty young, but I have never regretted it for a moment. I have always just felt blessed that I found my perfect soul mate earlier rather than later, and that my life has been so wonderful with him beside me. I love that we make anniversaries a big deal and have a whole scrapbook to remember each year of our married life. This year, we just had a few days away in Bellingham, which we added on to some work Derek had to do up there. I love the years we do big trips or more exciting places, but I always realize that no matter what, it’s just great to be away and be together. This year, we fit in shopping, eating (always one of my favorite parts:)), hiking, visiting a cool church, seeing a movie (The Help, along with every senior citizen in Bellingham – it was a crazy experience!), and some total relaxation. It was a great break from the house, the kids and the rest of life.

We actually did this little trip a week before our anniversary, and I hardly got to see Derek on our actual anniversary. However, the big girls had a little surprise for us. The day before our anniversary, they made a secret collage out of old pictures I had given them for their scrapbooks or projects. They hid it under the rug and pulled it out on the morning of our anniversary, as a present to us. It was pretty cute. And pretty funny, since there was only one picture of me and Derek together, which they highlighted in the middle, along with the words, “Loves Sym and Hailey”.

Showering Ryann

After months of planning and discussing my sister Ryann’s bridal shower, the big day finally arrived on August 13. We had it outside at my Mom’s house, and it was quite the amazing garden party. My other sister Megan and I were “officially” hosting it, however my mom cannot resist going all out on big events! She, along with her best friend Kathy, Megan and I provided an Asian feast for lunch, gorgeous table setting, amazing decorations, a lavish candy bar and all sorts of other fun.

We played simple and fun games, sometimes at the expense to the bride-to-be, as we reminded everyone of some of our favorite little stories and remembrances of Ryann growing up. We couldn’t resist bringing up things like her obsession with wearing the same Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle shirt for days on end, or keeping a nice and tidy “bowl cut” hairdo for years on end. How far she has come! So glad she was a good sport about all of it:).

The junior bridesmaids helped her open presents and showed them around to the guests…

But the flowergirl was not quite as interested. She had a thing for Sara all afternoon, and happily fell asleep cuddling with her.

It was a great day of celebrating and showering the bride.

Since I have been so behind on blogging, I’m finally posting this about a week before Ryann and Gerry’s wedding. I can’t believe my littlest sister is getting married! We are so excited for their big day, and so excited for the new life they are beginning.

Staycation

Since the summer has been consumed with building our house, there have been no vacations or fun trips really planned. However, we were blessed to get to have a little “staycation” August 6-14, when we were able to stay at our friends’ lake house while they were away for 9 days. We actually bid on and won this little trip at our church’s youth mission auction, and it was such a perfect retreat. We stayed on Lake Sawyer and it was literally 5 minutes from the new house and 5 minutes from the old house. They let us use their speed boat, hot tub and all sorts of toys for the water, and I invited pretty much all of my friends or the kids’ friends to visit at one time or another. Most vacations don’t include lots of friends and family visiting, so this made it all the better. I took tons of pictures, but here are some of my favorites.

It really was the perfect vacation for us this year!