Last week started out with the Schneiders staying over Monday night. Monday was our only free day before our departure date of Wednesday. Which, it all turned out to be a blessing in disguise. We got the house cleaned before our trip (from top to bottom, no less!), got most of the bedding washed, and, well, absolutely no laundry but towels got done. :)
Tuesday, Abi and I cleaned a house from 9-11:30, went home for a quick lunch, then headed off to clean another place. That took us from 1 to, oh, about 4 pm. Mom was home doing the rest of the laundry and the odds and ends that still needed accomplished at home. What a day!
We left the next morning around 10. It was a little later start than we'd wanted, but because of all the things we still had to accomplish, it had to be. Dad, Josh, and Nate flew out to Denver early that morning so that they could get an early start on the work and wouldn't be so fatigued.
We brought some of Dad's cake stuff along in the van. Because of the higher altitude, the tub of frosting got pressurized. We were slightly disappointed that it didn't explode when Dad opened it. :)
Pineapple for the fruit trays and snacks for the snack mix.
They asked us to do the rehearsal dinner. These are the place settings.
Nate and Sam, testing the wedding songs.
The Miller and Smith family prepared the reception meal (with Dad's help, since he was the reception coordinator and because he can't stay away from the kitchen) :).
Ron arrived at church that Thursday morning to clean the meat slicer up in preparation to slice the meat and cheese for sandwiches. He was wearing this really goofy looking fisherman's hat! I loved it, Ron! :)
Nate was asked to be the ceremony coordinator.
Frosting the bridal cake
Slicing (and sampling) the Pennsylvania cheese
Since Dad wouldn't need most of us till 4:30 or so that evening, we decided to try to drive to Estes Park. We only got part of the way there, though, before we had to turn back due to time.
Not sure what kind of pine tree this was, but it was pretty!
Somebody (naming no names) had to answer the "call of nature" so we stopped at a porta john that was on the side of the road. :)
Back at the church, we were immediately immersed in rehearsal dinner preparation.
The menu was lasagna, salad, garlic bread, and cream puffs with fruit for dessert.
The cakes got shoved off to the side, but still suffered some damage. :)
We spotted a momma antelope and her twins out of the kitchen windows at church.
We all helped assemble the desserts, even Gracie Strong and Sam!
Waiting...
Does that look yummy or what!? Trust me, they were as good as they looked! (Aren't you just a teensy bit jealous that you didn't get any?) :)
Family started arriving around 5 pm. for the rehearsal.
As Willard started to walk Teresa up, Dad ran over and gave Willard a big hug.
Waiting for his bride... Seth and Teri's little girls were so cute!
Nathan and Nathan talking. :)
The rehearsal dinner went off pretty smooth. Addison Strong came to help us since we were serving the food restaurant style. Sorry, we were too busy to get pictures.
Dawn asked us if we could help decorate the reception hall on Friday morning.
Schneiders were in charge of the pink lemonade, coffee and other drinks.
The center piece
Teresa wanted a very plain wedding cake with cream ribbons around the pieces and flowers for the color.
A chandelier in the reception hall.
Careena Kauffman...
...and her little brother Madison are adorable!
Katie and Teresa decorated the bridal table.
Kayla and Teri were in charge of the welcome tables.
Lower half of the cake
Voila!
After we finished decorating, we went back to Strongs to change and get ready for the wedding. How do you like Abi's green dress? Teresa wanted us in a specific color, so we had to wear that color.
The happy bridal party!
And the happy couple!
Andrew and Meredith Klewin served the bridal party.
Abi and I had been asked to serve cake along with two of the Bacca girls. KK and three other boys served ice cream alongside us too.
Hm...
The Zion youth shared a couple songs.
Later, after most everybody left, we helped take down decorations, clean, wash dishes, mop, etc. Tammy Strong and I swept the floor with those giant dust mop things. That was fun! :)
All the little girls (and big ones too!) got into the roses.
Changing the heaping trash bags.
Dad was always so busy that you could only get a fly by blurry shot of him. :)
Tanya and her new friend
All the wedding pictures were taken outside by the lake. I took these next couple pictures through the blinds. :)
Dad let Shawn hold the rest of the cake for a minute... and... nothing happened! :)
Little Madison just loved the cake! He started diving for and would've kept going if his mommy hadn't stopped him. :)
Gracie Strong wanted me to watch her flowers, so I couldn't resist some pictures.
I've titled this picture "The Exhausted Photographer." Poor Nathan Toews got a stomach bug and was pretty sick the entire time.
Ron and Anita took a car just like that one on their honeymoon years ago, so Darrell got a car of the same year and model. He restored it and painted it the same color as his mom and dad's car had been. I thought that was so sweet!
Sam got a hold of the camera and took a bunch of pictures of a couple antelope at Strongs house.
Everybody slept in Saturday morning. That was so refreshing! Around ten, some of our family headed to Schneiders for a brunch. Then, we headed over to Vedauwoo to climb around.
The rest of the guests from Strongs and other families had been there long before we had, so we just went climbing around, hoping to run into them. Ashleigh came along with us, which was fun! :) I tell you, those boulders are huge! See how small Ashleigh and I look?
This rock had a perfect, built in recliner. :)
This tree had become so gnarled from the extreme weather and high winds, it was actually twisted!
Upon climbing higher, we spotted the other group. Ashleigh took a picture of us as we were pointing them out.
We zoomed in as close as we could with the camera (30x) and saw that it was, indeed, the other group. So, we started in hot pursuit as they appeared to just be sitting there. By the way, thanks, Delwyn for standing there for us! :)
There they are!
We eventually made it to the other group, but they were just getting ready to leave, so we hiked down with them.
We left Sunday morning around 8:30 for two reasons, 1. to get Whit home earlier, and 2. to get back to our home before it got dark. In this picture there are two Volkswagen Beetles. Every time we'd go by there, at SOP and this time, we'd see who could slug the fastest. Ok, we don't actually slug, just pretend. :)
We enjoyed listening to Haiti stories and chatting with Whit on the way home.
Unbeknownst to us, Sam was taking tons of pictures as he kept himself occupied in the back of the van.
He took pictures of a stick and some rocks that he had.
We would've gotten home around 7:30 that night, but Jessie Shrock (aka Draur) was going to be stopping at Leon's for the night. So, instead of going straight home, we went over to Zooks. Boy, did it ever feel good to get home later that night! What a crazy, busy trip, but, oh, so worth it!
WOW that rehearsal dinner was a major affair. I do not think I ever got anywhere close to that at my simple little rehearsal dinners I have hosted!!
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