Sarah’s wedding

Utah Week Three: Solitude

November 2, 2015 by Rebecca Whitehead

Yes, we are still on Utah posts… it never ends!

The morning after the wedding, the Kagels stopped by to say adios as they were on their way back to California.

Bedheads!

After a very long and tiring evening the day prior, it was nice to relax and enjoy the mountains for a bit.

We explored the area around the Solitude condo, which was very…solitudinous! We happened to hit the week after summer vacationers had left and the week before the winter season began, so there was very little staff around and all the restaurants and shops were closed.Next time, we will plan better and bring more food to cook at the condo, since we were counting on being able to eat at some of the lodge restaurants part of the time. We hardly saw a soul out our entire stay, which was perfect in my book.

Samantha scouts out the next awesome rock to throw into the lake.

Amelia fell in the dirt and was proud of it!

We can scream as loud as we want and nobody cares!

Being silly.

Monkey see, monkey do.

The girls are nearly always good sports for photos with Daddy, but not with me. Those stinkers.

Watcha doin,’ Samantha? I thought we agreed to stick out our tongues on this one?

Amelia gives her ironic face for our family selfie.

Samantha’s turn.

The girls thought picking out “cattails” was pretty much the funniest thing ever.

With Aunt Sarah and Mike off on their honeymoon to Oregon and Northern California and most of the out of town guests gone, it was just us and immediate family left in the mountains. Later, Great Grandpa, Grammy, Mike and Ali stopped by to take a walk around Solitude with us and play some foosball back at the game room. We caught up on everything we missed at the wedding and gave high fives all around to a job well done.

The girls were way better foosball players than their mom has ever been.

Absolutely no clue what a “telephone” or a “booth” is.

After naps, we drove up the road to Brighton and passed several moose along the way, including this one which crossed right in front of our car. The girls were enthralled and cried the entire way home the next day because they wanted to “see more moose!”

A mama moose with her baby moose not too far off.

At Brighton, we met up with Grammy, Grandpa and our friend, Susan, and took a lovely fall walk around Silver Lake. Amelia loved to be bundled up tight and pushed in the stroller most of the time.

Wish I could have been bundled up and pushed around in a stroller! I was freezing and, to her intense protests, stole the only one of Samantha’s hats that would fit over my ears.

Walking with Grandpa.

Samantha and Daddy.

Grammy with the swaddled Amelia.

The ever popular throwing rocks in the lake.

To end our last night in the mountains, we roasted hot dogs over at the cabin with Grammy, Grandpa, Great Grandpa and Susan.

Sammy with a hatchet. SCARY.

Girls on roasting duty.

We all snuggled up on the couch with some hot chocolate, which started out well and ended with lots of spilled hot chocolate and some very sugar rushed/cranky toddlers.

We don’t get to snuggle up with hot chocolate very often in California, so it was worth the consequences!

Lots of love,

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Sarah's wedding, Solitude

Sarah’s Wedding: The Reception

October 29, 2015 by Rebecca Whitehead

Apparently, the dinner, speeches, dancing and festivities after the wedding ceremony were all amazing. Too bad Jake and I were wrangling the girls through 90% of it, so I had to piece together things second hand from everyone.

By the time family pictures were done, the no nap situation was starting to take its toll and the girls only got worse as the night went on.

Bottom line: I fully understand why no one wants to bring their kids to weddings! I felt like I didn’t get to fully enjoy my own sister’s wedding reception and was in such a bad mood when it was all over that I sat in bed back at the condo and binged on some leftover chocolate chip pancakes! My biggest regret of the entire day was definitely not hiring a babysitter (or two…or three) to come with us to the reception so that the girls could still be a part of the wedding, and so that Jake and I could celebrate with everyone too!

After family pictures, we took the girls away from the deck below where the toasts were going on and most of the guests were seated for dinner so that we wouldn’t disturb anything. We found the perfect table upstairs, with a bonus of having heating lamps; I guess I’m a true Californian now that I can’t handle any kind of weather below 60. I even had a coat or two on the ready, but was so tired and out of it that I didn’t have the presence of mind to grab it from the car and put it on!

The girls nibbled on some appetizer crackers while Jake and I attempted to listen to my dad’s and the best man’s toasts before dinner. The speeches were heartfelt from what I heard of them!

Samantha clutches the bubbles she found.

While waiting for dinner, one of the waitresses took pity on us and brought out some snacks for the girls. Amelia was delighted to try her first maraschino cherry, which she promptly wiped all over her white bolero.

We were keeping the girls contained on the upper deck during the toasts and dinner.

Zombie eyes! This is why we take naps, Samantha.

I’m so tired I can’t tell the difference between this bouquet and this cracker!

Noah was so good and partied with the best of them the entire night!

After taking approximately two bites of dinner, Jake and I alternated trying to talk to family and friends and attending to the girls, who were melting down fast. We walked around the lodge with the girls and found some fascinating moose heads and saddles they could climb on, which kept them happy for a bit.

Love the moose head photo bomb.

Two_Paper_Horses-14

Hopefully the photographers got a bunch of pictures of all the details/decor at the reception. I was so busy, I hardly took more than five pictures the entire night, but I just love detail photos! All the weeks that Sarah and my mom put into painting frames and making signs/decor for the reception paid off. Everything looked so cute! Samantha and Amelia loved seeing their names in print, too.

Samantha and Amelia were fascinated by the dancing and had a blast blowing bubbles during the happy couple’s first dance. Ow ow!!!

Sarah and Mike did a fantastic job on their dance. The girls loved it and still ask to watch this little video clip of their dance on my phone all the time!

Way to go, Dad, on the Father Daughter dance! Precious!

After Mike and his mom’s dance (also an awesome job!), it was time to party– Jewish style! We all joined hands and danced around in a circle for the Horah. This was definitely Samantha and Amelia’s favorite part of the entire wedding. They couldn’t believe Aunt Sarah got lifted up in a chair in the middle of the circle! The girls had such a blast, they even let Grandpa and Uncle Steve hold their hands and dance around the circle.

When the music stopped, the girls begged to do it again!

We alternated between walking around the lodge with the girls and going out on the patio to dance. The girls even made a few song requests from the DJ. Unfortunately, he didn’t have If You’re Happy and You Know It on hand.

Attempting to get a group photo of all the flower girls during the dancing. Fail.

We had bribed the girls all night with the promise of cake, and at last, they could stuff themselves silly! Thank you, Mike for not stuffing cake in Sarah’s face. He was under threat of violence from all of us if he did anything of the sort!

Don’t mess with an overtired Samantha and her cake. I had no less than 10 hair bows/headbands on hand to put in the girls’ hair (I rightly assumed they would ruin the flower girl hair crowns from the florist hours ago), but was so out of it, I didn’t think to put any in their hair! Hence, the increasingly scraggly hair as the night went on!

Cute pic of Grandpa, Auntie Lynn and my Dad.

Downstairs, Sarah had set up a cute map where guests could put a pushpin in wherever they thought Sarah and Mike should travel to next. Samantha and Amelia of course chose Swaziland (duh).

Downstairs was also one of the best details of the reception– an awesome photo booth. You didn’t sit in an actual booth like at some receptions I’d been to. Instead, there were two live photo booth photographers there to take funny pictures while we threw flower petals in the air. The photographers instantly printed out the photos for us, and Sarah had some custom photo frames to put the photos in for the guests as the wedding favors. The photographers also put them online for viewing and downloading later on. What a fantastic idea! So much fun.

Too bad we were too stressed out to think of any silly poses to do! Someone on Facebook commented on how she loved this picture because it was so “real.” That’s exactly right! With twin two-year-olds and a baby girl on the way, it doesn’t get any more real than this, people!

Wish I could edit out this flower in front of Samantha’s face! Such a cute one of Noah and the girls.

I call it, “Exhausted Pregnant Mommy.”

Samantha clearly enjoyed her second chance at throwing flower petals, since she didn’t toss any out when walking down the aisle. My favorite expression from Samantha of the night!

Trying to either get the girls to cooperate or move out of our shot!

Amanda and I.

Some other cute ones from the rest of the family. Mike and his girlfriend, Ali.

Siblings: Mom, Aunt Linda and Uncle Johnny.

Zack, Allison, Noah, Auntie Lynn and Uncle Steve.

Grandpa and Noah.

Aunt Linda and Uncle David.

Jack, Sarah, Eleri and Rhys.

Mike, Sarah and Hannah.

Shelley and Hannah.

Uncle Johnny, Aunt Annie, Rhys, Eleri and Jack.

The pictures with Mike’s family were hilarious– especially the ones with his grandma and grandpa!

In going through the photo booth photos, the photographers clearly loved Mike’s grandpa because there were at least ten close ups of his mustache! Pretty impressive!

Dad, Mom and longtime family friends, Barb and Dan Panzica.

At the front of the reception, Sarah had a table where we could take instant photos with one of her vintage cameras and could print them out/write a message on them and stick in her guest book. Ali took this one of us with my phone right before we started taking some instant photos. I laugh every time I see this photo because you can totally tell we are forcing smiles and the girls look devilish!

The girls took a spiral way downward after the sugar rush from the cake wore off, so we spent the last hour or so of the reception in a little dark room with a TV that we found. We stuck the girls on the couch and checked outside every few minutes to see what was going on. Music was pumping and the party was still in full swing, while we were inside sitting on a couch! We missed the bouquet toss and 98% of the dancing, but such is life.

After the “send off” of the bride and groom (Mike and Sarah did a fake one for the pictures and then stuck around to dance and play card games with their friends), we took off ourselves, even though the party had just gotten started. The girls were out once their heads hit the bunk bed pillows.

Even though we didn’t get to fully take in every detail of the wedding, we were so excited to be able to be there for Sarah’s special day and were happy everyone had a great time! Most of all, we were happy for the newly wedded couple!

Weeks later, Samantha and Amelia are still talking about how they got to “throw” flowers at Aunt Sarah’s wedding, so apparently, they had some fun too. It was so special that they got to be included– thank you Mike and Sarah!

I hope Samantha and Amelia will look back fondly at these pictures one day and take pity on their loving parents. Maybe they will even get the experience of taking napless toddlers to a wedding one day in the future! I look forward to that day with glee.

Lots of love,

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: reception, Sarah's wedding

Flower Girl Time/Sarah’s Wedding Part One

October 27, 2015 by Rebecca Whitehead

Sarah’s (and let’s be honest– the girls’) big day was finally here!

While everyone was setting up at Silver Fork Lodge where the wedding and reception would be, I headed to the cabin in the afternoon to get ready with Sarah and her bridesmaids. I expected things to be hectic and stressful at the cabin, but when I walked in, it was dead silent– just Sarah and the ladies she hired to do our hair and makeup. Compared to what Jake was dealing with back at the condo with the girls, this was a total vacation! Sarah, Amanda, Katie and I hung out and chillaxed while getting treated to hair and makeup. Heaven!

We don’t have all the wedding photos back yet, but Sarah’s photographers sent her a few sneak peeks.

Mike and his groomsmen were at the lodge, getting themselves ready.

Meanwhile, back at the condo…

Total destruction! They actually did end up breaking a lamp that I had to pay the owners to replace.

Today of all days was THE day I needed the girls to nap. They go down for naps 99.9% of the time without much of a fuss and sleep from 2-3 hours each afternoon. At home, it’s like clockwork. The girls could obviously sense something was up and refused to sleep while in Jake’s custody.

At 3, Jake gave up on naps and headed over to the cabin with Samantha and Amelia to get them dressed. He informed me we were at Situation Critical. Red alert! We put our No Nap Protocol into place (basically a prayer and buckling up for a wild ride) and hoped for the best!

When everyone was ready, the photographers took some pictures of the bridal party in the woods by the cabin. The wedding ceremony was pushed back an hour due to some jerk construction workers who wouldn’t stop jackhammering across the road, despite the pleas of the wedding coordinator and our family who were holding down the fort at Silver Fork.

A few sneak peeks from the photographers…

Sarah looked amazing in her wedding dress, which was handmade by Aunt Annie. The lace and beading she hand-sewed on were so beautiful. It looks great in the pictures, but was absolutely stunning in person.

We were going for the Twilight look!

Once we were done with bridal party photos (during which I was desperately trying to pull my heels out of the dirt and keep the twins from getting mud on their dresses), Jake picked us up and we lined up for our walk down the aisle.

Then, we waited…and waited…and waited. Apparently, the bridal party had been locked out of the cabin and someone ended up having to climb through a window to unlock the door and get everyone their keys so they could get to the ceremony. I think Sarah may have been left behind at some point as well, but I’m fuzzy on the details!

Meanwhile, we hung out on the deck and prepped the girls for their grand entrance. Once again, a huge thank you to Aunt Annie for making the girls’ adorable satin dresses and finding the fur boleros for me! They worked out perfectly! I bought the sashes off Etsy and had the girls’ Cinderella shoes custom hand- made by Bitsy Blossom.

I recall Mommy saying something about throwing flowers?

And don’t touch the fire. And don’t trip. And don’t get our dresses dirty. OR ELSE.

The guests waiting below asked for a sneak peek of the girls, so Jake obliged.

After obsessively refreshing the weather app on my phone for the past week, we were all so relieved it didn’t end up raining, although it certainly looked like it would, up until the very last second. Even the wedding coordinator had a doppler weather map pulled up on her phone in case we needed to move the ceremony inside imminently.

Finally, the rest of the bridal party arrived in one piece and it was go time! A huge thank you to Allison for taking pictures on her phone. I’ll post more once we get the photos back from the photographer.

Poor Dustin (Mike’s brother)– I told hold him he was responsible for making sure the pregnant lady didn’t fall. As a Marine, he was up to the task and performed admirably!

The girls were acting silly while waiting for their big moment, but once it got there, they acted really shy! Jake had to prod them along and then basically pushed them down the aisle.

Seeing the girls walk down the aisle with their twin cousins, Eleri and Rhys, right behind them was too much!

The girls refused to look at anyone!

Despite all of our practice sessions, no flowers were actually thrown out of the basket.

They made it without screaming and running away! Success! Once the girls got to the end, they didn’t know quite what to do next, so they started running around in circles right in the front, laughing and chasing each other. I hope someone caught that on video/camera!

Cousin Jack looked so handsome as ring bearer.

Here comes the bride!

Toby, the officiant, gave a very heartfelt sermon about remembering our wedding vows beyond the wedding day and into day to day life, most of which I couldn’t concentrate on due to the girls wriggling in their seats and chattering loudly.

Eventually, Jake had to ~~escort~~ haul the girls away.

Nooooooo! I want so stay!!!!

With the girls out of the picture, the rest of the ceremony was lovely!

In lieu of writing their own vows, Sarah and Mike had put together a remembrance time capsule in which they had written each other letters, and will then open at their five year anniversary. Precious! The officiant explained all that, and then it was I Do time.

Thankfully, both said the magic words!

Mazel Tov!

Right after the ceremony, we attempted to take family photos, during which S and A were extremely uncooperative. I will be shocked if a single one comes back in which they are looking at the camera and/or not looking like this whole ordeal was pure torture.