Steph and Ben's Wedding

7 people in a hotel room!

Rehearsal time, that's alot of snow

Stephen cried while walking down the aisle

Jongsma family 

With the best man

Ring bearers enjoying their rings

Beautiful ceremony

Little flower girl

Pretty flower girl

Aunt Beth, Grandma and Megan

Dancing for their 40th anniversary

We flew to Denver on a Thursday morning and were back home by Saturday evening.  I think we were on the ground in Denver for 48 hours- and an awesome 48 hours it was! We had a smooth flight to Denver and went to pick up our rental car.  We waited 1 1/2 hours before we got the car.  We had reserved a car, but they had serious issues at this place.  The line was ridiculously long and they were giving people behind us in line their minivans first.  Nate was giving a piece of his mind to any employee that walked by.  Sitting in a parking lot with tired, hungry kids was so great.  There was another family with 5 kids there and we connected easily with them.  Unfortunately I missed the bridesmaid lunch with Steph. But, the rest of the weekend was glitch free after the car debacle.

We spent some time at the hotel and then went to the rehearsal.  I don't think any of us were prepared for the snow, ha!  The kids had fun throwing snow balls at each other and threatened Ben and Steph that they would throw snowballs at them after the ceremony. Stephen was not a fan of walking down the aisle.  (For the actual wedding Nate told him to just look at Mommy up front and walk to her.  It worked and he practically ran down the aisle to me.)  After rehearsal we went to Ben's parent's house for supper.  They have a trampoline and the kids were happy.  We ate all of Steph's favorite foods for the rehearsal dinner. It was a fun evening of meeting Ben's family.  

On the day of the wedding, I went off to get ready with Steph and the other bridesmaids.  Nate and the kids went for a hike.  It was nice to spend the day with Steph and share in her excitement.  She was so beautiful.  And watching Ben's reaction all day was fun.  I think he cried the most during the ceremony. The ceremony was beautiful and meaningful. They wrote their own vows, had their parents pray over them and took their first communion together.  Their love for Jesus and each other was apparent.   Lexi and Keira were pulled in a wagon by Caleb.  Julia and the other flower girls threw rose petals and looked very cute.  Caleb and Isaac pulled the runner down the aisle, looking very handsome.  Nate got all the kids where they needed to be and kept them entertained during the ceremony.

And of course the reception was the best party ever!  The kids LOVED the candy table.  I got to toast my sister and tell her how much I love her and Ben.  The food was great and the dancing was off the hook.  Nate and I didn't get to dance together which was a bummer, but we had fun dancing with the kids.  We didn't shut the party down, but we almost made it to the end!  We were an exhausted, but happy family heading back to the hotel.

The next morning we relaxed around the hotel and swam in the pool.  We ate an early lunch, put the littles down for a nap while Nate and the older ones went for a hike.  We then packed up, got to the airport and headed home.

We love Steph and Ben very much and pray God blesses them with many years together!