Brian and Brianna

My good friend Brianna Ekstedt got married February 19. 

Mom, Abi and I drove out for her wedding. It was a wonderful weekend spent together!

KK had just gotten out of the hospital on Thursday. It was pretty hard to leave him on Friday, but we had already planned this trip and bought hotel rooms... It was ok, though. KK was out of the woods and on the road to recovery!

First stop- the Garrison House in Clarinda. 😉

Best friends are nice, but moms and sisters are better!

A rather horrific picture of me... 😳

We had a free night with Wyndam Rewards so we got a very nice room at Super 8.

We got in Friday night and just hung out at the hotel all evening. The next morning, we had to stop at Walmart to pick cards for our wedding gifts. There's nothing like the last minute!

The wedding was Sunday morning so we spent Saturday morning helping Brianna and her friends decorate the building.

She wanted these candles as centerpieces. She set me to tying the bows around them and hot glueing the roses on. They looked really cute!

They had the service and the reception in the same room. I really liked that! It was very handy!

A friend gave Brianna these tin letters. She wanted to be nice and use them somewhere, but couldn't think where. They finally decided on the mantlepiece.

This is one of their friends from Mexico. I can't remember her name as it was rather unusual. 😋

Some of you would remember Tirza. She's a big girl of 19 now. I could hardly believe it!

A friend lent Brianna tablecloths, but they needed to be ironed.

Monica Brubaker and I

After we finished at the building, Brianna took us to see her house. Maddie and Tirza loved the goats!

We also went with Brianna to Brian's house to help her finish cleaning and organizing. Tirza and Maddie were hilarious! 😂

I organized her spices...

This is only a temporary house for them. In a year or so they'll be moving to a different house.

The view down their road was so beautiful despite the drab winter landscape. The backroads of Missouri reminded me of Ireland roads.

Sunday morning- the guest book and gift table.

If you want a plain wedding, you should've seen this one! It was simplicity in and of itself. Actually, it was very refreshing to go to a wedding without all the folderol.

The "bridal table" was set to accommodate guests as well.

Corban was the song leader and videographer.

We sang a few songs, then David Kealing gave a brief message. After he was finished, he called Brian and Brianna up. Brian shared his vows, I guess you could call them. He said some very sweet and beautiful things to Brianna. I was blessed by his sincerity, love and devotion to her. When he was done, Brianna read some scripture as her vows. David performed the ceremony then. I really enjoyed the short simple service. No hour long message... no long drawn out service. It was perfect!

They had no bridal party either. It was a beautiful wedding!

I didn't realize they were taking family pictures until they were almost done. I only got a picture of Brian's family. Those are his parents and one married brother and his wife. There's another brother, but he wasn't able to attend as he and his wife are missionaries in Ghana.

The cake table was a big attraction. 😀

Aunt Carol and company drove down on Saturday and stayed at our hotel with us. It was fun having them there!

They had a yummy chili bar for lunch!

Tyler sat with us. It was nice to reconnect with him.

We got to see Trasks! That was such a treat!

They are growing up way too fast!

Gavins drove home with us for most of the way. It's always fun to caravan.

Only in Missouri...

This accident shut the interstate down. The police were directing traffic off onto an exit. We sat at a gas station for awhile waiting for the interstate to open again.

 It was a quick, but fun trip!