wedding time!

getting ready for the wedding was a little challenging because i needed to have various family members at various destinations at different times. and i needed to get ready too! the best news was that the temperature was only forecast to get up to 82 instead of the 96 degrees forecast earlier in the week - and the rain was done for the day.

so i dropped madelyn off at the bride's cabin to get ready with the girls (she was given a monogrammed robe to wear too) and then went home to fix my hair (i was pretty proud of it, i must say, and amazed that it held all night) and get dressed. then back to pick up madelyn. we loaded up all of the boys' gear (you do not dress little boys in white pressed shirts any earlier than absolutely necessary) and got ready to head over to the farm for pictures. matt and papa showed up - from golfing - just as we were leaving so we waited for daddy to take a quick shower and ride with us.

and then we waited. things were a little behind schedule and the kids weren't really needed until just before the service. oh well. i brought things for them to do. we knew that the house was full of antiques (which is part of why we had not stayed there), but we learned that kids aren't allowed to stay there. we were on high alert kid duty for a few hours during the wait.

look at these cuties!

mason was pretty excited to be carrying the ring box. he did not actually carry the rings for the wedding, daddy had them in his pocket.

and then things started to get a little rowdy...

maddux played with the camera for a while

 ... so mommy broke out the big guns - doc mcstuffins on my phone.

go time! i left the kids with daddy and the wedding planning before going to take my seat. manning lost it when it was time for matt to walk nana down the aisle to her seat. matt had to carry him to me. the wedding planner even apologized to me because she had to try and pry manning off of matt with no success.

mason and maddux held hands to walk down the aisle. so sweet. the girls had no trouble getting down the aisle. madelyn helped savannah to her side of the aisle and then came to sit with us. the service was lovely.

now for a few more waiting and pictures with the photographer.

now it was time to party! they had a food truck drive up for appetizers during the cocktail reception - very yummy. the kids were so excited to have a soda from a glass bottle. i thought that they could use the sugar/caffeine kick to make it to the end of the reception. they thought that it was a good idea too! 

they posed for this picture without being prompted for all of the family friends gathered around. the cutest part was that they had their arms around each other too. i just didn't have my camera yet.

the bride and groom were introduced from the hay loft and then danced their first dance up there .

madelyn quickly found a friend - allie

finally a picture of shannon!

papa and his brothers, dennis and kent.

flowers from my little man, manning.

 matt was nervous, but his best man speech was fantastic!

i think that at least half of the photo booth pictures are of our kids, with and without the awesome shannon, but matt and i got in there too. (the ones with just manning's head might be my favorite.)

the kids were a hit on the dance floor too.

double-fisting some cupcakes

 some of the bridal party taught mason how to dip allie. they were so cute.

papa and nana hit the dance floor too!

after the bride and groom made their exit, we snapped a few last minute pictures before calling it a night.

mr. earl wrestling some g boys.

finally realized that we hadn't taken a picture together yet!

mason asked for a picture with me.

it was a fantastic wedding! many happy years to derek and ashley! love.