My little sister got married August 23rd! She met Brandon at college a few years ago, but he is from Portland so they dated long distance for quite some time. Brandon moved to Sioux Falls just a year ago and they got engaged last November. He is a wonderful addition to our family and I know he will take great care of my baby sis! Both Hattie and Brandon are taking nursing classes (from separate schools) and they work together on the oncology/transplant floor at Avera.
The kids and I drove to Sibley the Saturday before the big week got underway. I've made the trip solo a few times since we've lived in Coralville and I'm getting smarter each time! This time I packed lunch AND the potty chair so when my potty trained 2 year old needs to go potty, we just stop wherever and do both! There just aren't too many great spots to stop along the 5+ hour drive and when you gotta go you gotta go!
The picture below may look like I'm about to run over my precious babes, but in reality, I was just trying to keep Jace somewhat in the shade.
I then had Ruby run up and down the ditch a few times before we loaded back up for the rest of our drive.
We arrived in Sibley Saturday afternoon and the next few days were filled with wedding festivities. But we had plenty of time for play too! I took the kids to Sioux Falls on Monday where we met up with Hattie and my friend Julie and her little girl and took a trip to one of Ruby's favorite places...the zoo! She loved being back at the zoo! We were also able to see Hattie and Brandon's new house.
My parents took Wednesday off before the wedding and we drove to Sioux Falls again to accomplish more wedding stuff! We ran errands and delivered things to the reception hall. We drove back to Sibley that night and drove back to Sioux Falls again on Thursday. We spent Thursday morning decorating church, and the afternoon was spent getting manicures and pedicures! Even Ruby got to join in on the fun! She has always loved getting her nails done and she was very serious as someone new painted them for her! But she did great and was quite proud of the finished product.
The rehearsal was that night and Paul arrived just in time with his parents, who were life savers on Friday taking care of Jace!
Hattie had five attendants: three girls and two boys (Kenny and Paul). The boys missed out on this picture!
Hattie with her two flowergirls. ;)
And then Friday was here! What an amazing day! Hattie told us later that a couple times she wondered to herself about what was going to go wrong....and nothing did! It was a relatively HOT day but besides a few pictures we were able to spend most of our time in the wonderful air conditioning! Ruby went down the aisle like a champ! When her flowers were gone, she announced, "they're all gone!" She stood by me most of the time... besides the five minutes where she had to leave to go potty...go figure! I literally took her 10 minutes before walking down the aisle! Luckily, a sweet family friend came to the rescue and took her to Grandma Ruth. And of course, she wanted to come back to stand by me. Fortunately, I don't think she made too much of a distraction as Brandon didn't even know until a week later that this had happened!
Paul doesn't remember what they were talking about here, but it definitely is one of my favorite pictures from the wedding.
Jace and Tate (our nephew) in their matching outfits!
Our little flower girl didn't last too long at the dance. She was exhausted from the day, and the entire week as well! But she did great and we were very proud of her.
We had a fabulous week with family and friends, and we wish Hattie and Brandon a lifetime of love and happiness!
