Pre-Wedding Prep And Fun

We got to enjoy spending about five days with Lindsee before her wedding.  We did lots of wedding prep, but also had time for fun and lots of laughs together.  There were some great "Aunt Lindsee" moments with all three kids.  They all three love their Aunt Lindsee and getting to do all sorts of fun things with her.

One night we had a stamping party... Dad, Mom and I hand-stamped all of Lindsee's popcorn bags.  Lindsee and Eric Paul purchased a big popcorn machine to make fresh popcorn for their guests at their wedding.  Lindsee wanted to have cute popcorn bags for each guest to put their popcorn in, so we got busy (assembly line style) and got over 300 bags stamped and ready for the big event.

Lindsee wanted hay bales to decorate around the barn with and to use for some seating.  Dad and Uncle Dale were the official hay haulers and movers.

We went on some shopping trips for wedding items... Sam's, Hobby Lobby, Thrift Stores, Dillons, Target, and Menards.

We also went out one afternoon, after picking Sarah up from school, and let Lindsee pick wildflowers from the side of the road to use in vases on the tables and in wedding bouquets.  This led to some hysterical screaming and crying from one of my children, as we were driving down the gravel roads in search of more flowers, all sorts of bugs, caterpillars, and mostly bees started to come off the picked flowers in our vehicle and fly all around.  I quickly pulled over and rolled down windows, while one someone kept screaming and crying, two someones sat in their seats oblivious to what was happening and Aunt Lindsee jumped out and into action... She was a bee and bug getter-outter machine!

EP arrived at our house on Thursday night.  The kids all had a good time with him while he was here  too.  Silas really enjoyed playing "cars" with him.  He is going to be a GREAT "Uncle Eric".

Lindsee and EP's wedding was in Hesston, so most of the out of town guests stayed at hotels there.  Popee and Nanee stayed at one with a great swimming pool that we all got to enjoy several times.  Lots of kids and lots of grown up adult kids had fun splashing, jumping, playing games, and swimming!

There were also lots of out of state guests who arrived on Thursday and Friday.  Lindsee and EP have a LOT of really GOOD and CARING FRIENDS!  

EP's Dad and wife, (Stan and Carole) came from California.

We got to go eat dinner on Thursday night with some of EP's family.  Stan, Carole, Shawn and Tara (EP's brother and sister-in-law), before heading to the barn to decorate for the wedding.

Silas especially liked the cheese dip at the Mexican restaurant in Hesston.

After leaving the restaurant we went back by the hotel before heading out to the barn to begin the decorating.  As we pulled up to the hotel we spotted Patti (EP's mom).  She and Jim had just arrived from Colorado and were checking into the hotel.  Shrieks of excitement rattled every window in my vehicle as Sarah and Phoebe saw Patti and could NOT WAIT to see and hug her!

After decorating, the fun continued late that night at the hotel as friends got together and more friends and family arrived from out of town and out of state.

 

Rehearsal went well Friday night.  We practiced walking in and out, singing, reading, and then we all ate dinner together, and did a little more decorating.  Then Lindsee had a "mini" breakdown about all that was left to do... Not to worry though.  I am the big sister, (sometimes my siblings say I may be just a tad "bossy").  I say more of a protector, a fixer, a doer,  and a taker-care-er of my siblings by nature person, so I sprang into action, finishing a few things and delegating out some of the last minute things that needed to be done on Saturday morning or early afternoon to some very helpful and more than willing to help Aunts of ours.  (a few more Matron of Honor and big sister duties fulfilled, check.)

Saturday morning at the hotel there were these two funny guys... 

one wearing a GREAT sunflower corsage, the other wearing this GREAT t-shirt!

The bridesmaids and flower girls headed to the salon to get our hair fixed... of course on the way there we had a group singing of "Let It Go".  What else could have been more appropriate to sing... maybe "Going To The Chapel", but "Let It Go" was so much more fun.

It took over 3 hours for 3 salon ladies to fix 5 ladies hair and 2 little girls hair.  This was not good.  I along with a couple others were a bit antsy and ready to get out of there and on to getting dressed and to the barn for pictures and the WEDDING!  I may or may not have been so flustered when we left the salon, that I accidentally (honestly) ran a red light, with a police officer right behind me... Thankfully he gave me a warning and let us go fairly quickly so we could all get on with the wedding day events.  There was one small moment of dread when a small voice from the backseat of the vehicle asked, as we waited for the officer to run my driver's license... "Is my Mommy going to have to go to jail?"  (Thank you Amelia for helping field this precious little question and for offering the officer my excuse when I was so dazed and confused about why I was getting pulled over.  Literally.)

Some of us had a brief moment to sit down and eat a bit of lunch before getting dressed and putting make-up on then heading out to the barn to start pictures and the WEDDING!

We had a LOT of great helpers Thursday, Friday, and Saturday to get everything prepared for the wedding Saturday afternoon... too many to name and thank all of you here.  But, you know who you are and I want to give you a big fat THANK YOU!  Without YOU we would not have gotten it ALL done, big details and little details.  YOU EACH helped to make this wedding extra special for Lindsee and EP.  Your kindness was not unnoticed and will not be forgotten.

It's Everyone's Turn ~ Let's All Skate

When Lindsee arrived in Wichita last week, the first thing we promptly did all together... was go ROLLER SKATING, of course!  The girls school has a skating party once a month and it just happened to fall on the first evening Lindsee would be in town staying with us.  We ate dinner in a hurry, left Eric and Silas at home (Eric thinks he is a bad skater.), and headed to the skating rink.  Parents always get to skate for free but so did Grandpas and Aunts that night!  Thank you skating rink for allowing us some cheap family fun, laughs, and bruises!

My mom did NOT skate.  She was the official picture taker and comforter to any one of us who fell hard on the wooden floor... which happened to all of us except my Dad.  He managed to stay upright the entire time he skated around the floor, even going semi-fast, and holding hands with me on the couple's skate side by side, and then while I skated backwards he held both my hands and skated me around the floor!  Wowsers, another talent!  I am just glad he did not fall.  We really did not need any broken hips, wrists, or fingers on him before the big wedding a few days later.... Too bad Mom did not capture any of the falls on camera.  Even though they hurt like heck, who doesn't love to watch a good fall.  I for one like to tuck those special little moments into the space in my brain where when I need a good laugh out loud, I recall some of those falls.  (Heehehe, Matt, Eric, Dad, Lindsee - you know some of these falls I am referring too.  Thank you each for providing me those little laugh out loud moments when I have so needed them over and over in my life.)

Sarah did a great job skating.  She is getting better.  She even made it around the floor a couple times with NO FALLS! 

I love my sister and I love times when we get to be together and laugh and do silly things.  She is so wonderful and we have so much fun together.  I LOVE laughing with her!

 Phoebe got to try new big kid skates for the first time and did not do so well.  In the past she has gotten to use the shoe skates and the wheels do not turn as easily on them, so she was able to mostly march around the floor and not fall much.  This time however, her feet had grown bigger and would not work in the shoe skates anymore so she got to wear the "real" skates.  Consequently, she was on the floor almost all the time.  Poor Phoebe.  She had some big sad faces and tears a few times before she decided she had had enough and went to hang out with the "comforter" for the rest of the evening.

On the way home from the skating rink everyone was pretty tired... Look at those sleeper faces!  Sleeping in the backseat with smiles on their faces.  Almost like they were all laughing... I don't know many who can do that.

PS ~ When wearing skates and the DJ tells you to JUMP when the song says "Jump".  Be very careful.  This is not as easy as it may sound.  I may or may not know this from watching my sister "try it" and my own personal experience.

PSS ~ I have no broken bones and neither does she.