the wedding rehearsal!

friday evening was the wedding rehearsal and dinner.
we couldn't do the rehearsal at the actual location, so we did it at the hotel where most of the family/wedding party were staying and where the rehearsal dinner was going to be.

my dad set up the hotel patio with all the sound stuff we'd need to practice.
my parents had 3 cars packed FULL of stuff to do all that needed to be done.
they are AMAZING. {that word doesn't even begin to cover it, but it's all i've got.}

our family. EVERY member of our family was SO excited! we left as soon as the kids got home from school to head over there. {it ended up being SUPER nice for us, the hotel AND actual wedding location were about 20 minutes from our house!}

not in birth order, but me and my siblings!
steve, hannah, me and phill

love this :-) how sawyer and levi are looking at bailey like she's nuts!

levi was VERY uneasy for the first hour or so. it was actually kind of nice...it's how he should be walking into a totally unknown situation with tons of new people. he wanted me and that felt good!

some of these pictures are from my parents friend, bob. he is a REAL photographer and did an amazing job! i'll put his name under his - they are the GOOD ones! :-)

{bob}

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i don't know what we were looking at...but it was clearly important ;-)

{bob}

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kate (hannah's best friend) and chris (one of john's brothers)

{bob}

this is my great-aunt bonnie (and her husband rex).

she is grandma's (my dad's mom) sister. and the only one of that generation to make the trip up here - it was so special to have her here!

{bob}

my dad was doing the job of like 10 people, and he was running around doing something when he was supposed to be walking hannah down the aisle. we got him in place :-)

{bob}

their pastor was so wonderful. 

the best man was john's other brother - mike

{bob}

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love this one! :-)

lincoln and sawyer walked down the aisle with this sign right before my dad walked hannah down the aisle.
it was hannah's idea. my dad made the sign and i painted it.

it was a GREAT rehearsal.
everyone felt great about how everything went.
and the dinner {that i have not ONE picture of!} was so yummy and special.
over an hour of toasts to an amazing couple {bailey even gave one - so super precious!}

pat took the kids home and i stayed and got to spend time with aunts and uncles and cousins, got to meet lots of john's extended family, and spent time with hannah and her bridesmaids talking and laughing and dancing :-)

pat was so kind to me this weekend. it was a lot to balance being a mom and being a sister (and daughter and friend!) to all the people i wanted to be those things to. he stepped up a LOT and freed me up to be sister FIRST and mom second. he's pretty great :-)