The Time in Between

The time in between Spencer and Joylin's wedding and Joel and Joanna's wedding was only three weeks and we had plenty going on!  On top of the wedding preparations for Joel and Joanna, the winter bug made it's visit and most of us were under the weather at some point during the three weeks.  Thankfully everyone was feeling back to normal in time to celebrate Joel and Joanna's big day!!

Our little cutie pie continued to smile through it all!

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Chantel and Amelia came from Ohio and Indiana two weeks before the wedding to help with wedding preparations and enjoy some Arizona sunshine!  One day we drove to Tucson and went to Mount Lemmon with Bethany.

Our little model baby <3

I don't have nearly enough pictures from when they were here, we had such an awesome time together I just forgot to take more!  The girls were such a help with wedding preparations, Amelia hemmed the bridesmaid dress sleeves and Joanna's wedding dress sleeves.  She also hemmed the mother of the bride's dress, Jenny's dress, and my bridesmaid dress!  Chantel did an amazing job lettering the Welcome sign for the guest book table as well as helping spray paint many pinecones gold for reception decor!  Both girls were such a help with Benaiah while I worked on the boutonnieres, corsages, and bridal bouquets for the wedding!

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The week of the wedding, Abigail and Grace flew in from Pennsylvania!!  What a blast--5 childhood friends, all 20 years old and all at the same house for a week!

We started Grace and Abigail's visit by inviting Joel and Joanna, Joylin and Spencer, Joshua, Jared, and Jesse over that night for dinner and games.  The next day we enjoyed a leisurely hike to the Grottos at Echo Canyon in the Chiricahua's.

We entered the Chiricahua National Monument and were driving up the road when we spotted this coatimundi!!  I've never seen one in real life before so it was very exciting to have one spotted and so close at that!

 

It was foraging for food along the side of the road...

We think it found some bugs to snack on behind this log.

The view up to the trailhead of Echo Canyon is just gorgeous.
I love this view of the mountain ranges to the east...

Benaiah enjoyed the hike from his perch in the baby carrier, kindly carried by Abigail :)

(Picture credits to Abigail)

Grace, Chantel, Benaiah and I

Amelia, Chantel, Grace, Abigail, and I

We had a beautiful day for the hike!

Now on to the BIG DAY!

Spencer & Joylin

The anxiously awaited day has come and gone.  They are now Mr. and Mrs. Spencer Cook and we couldn't be happier for the newlyweds!  I thought I'd share the pictures I have, though not many, maybe they will give you a glimpse into the day...

The day before the wedding, Joanna and I made a eucalyptus garland to go on the pallet backdrop on stage.  Joylin built the backdrop with the help of a few brothers and it turned out amazing!  

The Strite's had lots of half gallon ball jars from when they delivered milk in glass jars and Joylin wanted to incorporate them into the decorations somehow so we filled them with flowers and lined the isle with them.

Guest book table...

Joylin made a scrapbook with pictures of her and Spencer and then the guests signed the pages.

Here comes the Bride!

"the kiss!"

These were the centerpieces at the reception.  The little boxes on the tables were filled with pretzels for guests to snack on before the meal was served.

This picture is from the night before the wedding.  There was a jar of sugar and a cute pitcher of cream by the coffee.  The drink dispenser was filled with water and there was a dish of lemons where the tongs are.

Gift table 

(picture also from the night before)

Joylin wrote the Menu sign... all the food was delicious.  

The sauces for the spaghetti were homemade and oh so yummy!

The breadsticks from Olive Garden were enjoyed by all, especially Benaiah! :)

The backdrop from the church was transported to the reception hall and the middle section was used behind the couple's sweetheart table.  We also added the "C" at the reception to stand for their last name, Cook.

 Speeches were given by the Dads, Best Man, and Maid of Honor.

The two side pieces of the backdrop were set up behind the cookie bar and the Love is Sweet banner was added.  Since the Strite's have a dairy farm it was only fitting to have fresh milk along with the cookies on the dessert bar!  Jessica, Joylin's older sister, made 50 dozen cookies the week of the wedding.  5 different delicious kinds were enjoyed by all, peanut butter, chocolate chip, chocolate krinkle, ginger snaps, and oatmeal raisin.

Joylin also wrote this sign for on the dessert bar...

The happy couple!

They are enjoying a honeymoon cruise and will be back in two weeks for Joel and Joanna's wedding.

Stay Little Forever, Please!

Our little man is growing like crazy!! He is now eight months old, has cut his two bottom teeth and is working on the top two.  He crawls everywhere, pulls himself up on everything, gets into all the cabinets and drawers, and still gives the best grins!!

One day he was playing with his toys and got really quiet, I looked up to find him sleeping like this!

My little helper taking down the Christmas tree...

 He loves riding along in the backpack carrier we have for him.

He always crosses his feet when he is sitting on the floor or in his car seat.

The new calves at Golden Rule Dairy were just his size... they were just as curious about him as he was of them!

A Bridal Shower for the Future Mrs. Wilson

Joanna will be getting married about three weeks after Joylin so we threw a bridal shower for her last week!  We went with more of a garden, springy theme to make it different than Joylin's shower.  The menu was a salad bar with a lot of toppings, pickle pinwheels, and sweet pickles, with cupcakes, heart rice krispy treats and dipped pretzel rods for dessert!  My sister, Hope, flew in to help and Juliana came to lend a hand the day before.

Juliana made the favors.  

Individual jars of vanilla lavender salt and sugar scrubs.

(I don't have a picture of the guests enjoying the afternoon but it was around the same amount of ladies that were at Joylin's shower...)

This is the backdrop I put together for Joanna.  The "W" initial stands for "Wilson", which will be Joanna's married name.  I had a few fake flowers around so I put together the floral arrangement for above the W.

The salad bar...

Aunt Sharon and her girls made these perfect desserts!

Juliana and Hope helped me make cupcakes.  We used the desserts and favors as table decor...

I had a "Find the Guest" game for the ladies to do while we waited for everyone to arrive.  

We also played the game, "He said, She said" after everyone ate.

She got lots of nice household items from the ladies!

Joanna and her mom and sisters :)

Congratulations, Joanna!  We sure are going to miss you around here!

The happy couple :)

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A Winter Themed Bridal Shower

Wedding preparations are in full swing for not one, but TWO of my sister-in-laws.  Both of the lovely brides-to-be will be moving to the great northern country of Canada in less than two months!  It will be very sad to see them go, but they have found wonderful men so I know they will be happy in their new life!

Joylin will be the first sister-in-law to tie the knot so we threw her a winter themed bridal shower at our house.  Lillia, Hope, and Joy actually got to come for a few days before to help me decorate and prepare for the shower.  Aunt Sharon was so kind and offered to help so she made a soup and Shalom made delicious herb dinner rolls.  Hannah and Joanna also made delicious soups for the meal and then I took care of making a salad.

We set up tables for the ladies to eat at in our living room.  I used blanket scarves as the table runners, evergreen sprigs from my in-laws trees were part of the table scape, and Justin so sweetly made the log candle holders for me!

We also had seasoned pretzels in brown paper bags on each table for the ladies to snack on.

Since we tried to go with a more wintery theme, I thought a hot cocoa bar would be something fun for the ladies to enjoy.  I found a recipe on Pinterest for hot chocolate in the crockpot and I will be doing it again!  It was so easy and yummy.

Juliana made the delicious cake for dessert.  Berry vanilla cake with lemon buttercream icing and strawberries and raspberries to top it off.... it was superb!!

She put berries in between the layers of the cake so every bite was a delicious combination of all the ingredients!

A close up of the cocoa bar toppings... caramel, white, and regular chocolate chips, marshmallows, whipped cream, sprinkles, and candy canes to stir it all together!

Natalia and Benaiah with the bride-to-be and Jenny :)

(We are all so excited for Jenny's little one to arrive in March!!)

I wrote little tags to place in front of each soup choice...

We had the soup served and ready for the ladies to take so the food line wouldn't take too long.

After lunch and dessert we had a few games to play...

We had two games.  One was a game where you had to circle the choice you thought the bride would pick and then on the other side you had to pick which answer you thought the groom would chose.

Comment below which choices you think they picked!!
(you can copy and paste this to make it easier 😄)

sleep in late or get up early?
live in the country or live in the city?
cook dinner or do the dishes?
travel the world or explore locally?
own a dog or own a cat?
walk the beach or hike the mountains?
coffee or hot tea?
cookies n cream or raspberry ice cream?
stay at home or go out?

We also played the "I Love You" game where they had to match the language with the correct translation.  Two of the ladies who participated got all ten correct!!  How many can you get right? 😄

 Opening gifts... everyone was so generous and Joylin received many nice things.

A lot of the gifts Joylin was given were very useful things like warm winter boots, a scarf set, alpaca wool socks, etc.  She also received a few household items as well! :)

Joylin with her mom and two sisters.  

Jenny had already left before we got this picture :)

For the backdrop I used half of our ping-pong table and draped navy fabric over it.  I used a string of icicle lights and then I cut out the "C" from a piece of cardboard and painted it red since Joylin's married name will be "Cook".  I used two large evergreen sprigs from my in-laws trees for the top and then I placed a faux evergreen bunch with white berries and glitter in the middle to tie everything together.

The favors were mini pies that my sisters helped me make the day before the shower.  We did apple, cherry, and peach pies.  I had seen the idea on Pinterest and thought it was really cute and a yummy favor idea!  (What would I do without Pinterest?! 🙈)

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Congratulations to the happy couple!  

We love you both and are so excited for you to begin your life together!  

We will miss Joylin, but we know Spencer will take good care of her :)