Wedding number 2 of 2.

My second to youngest sister got married in Los Angeles on Friday.  I am trying to think of the right adjectives to fully convey just how beautifully ethereal it was.  As is typical with Rachel, every detail had been painstakingly attended to.  

The Location:

The Table Settings:

The Flowers!!

The hot chocolate station, in it's beginning stages.  How I didn't get a final photo of this one, is beyond tragic.  This station was the talk of the town that night.  That hot chocolate will go down into Earnest Family hot chocolate history, it was so amazingly delicious!  My girls basically stood by this table all night long waiting for it to "open."

The cake table in front of the wall of ribbon:

The entrance table and vintage yo-yo quilt:

It was all so elegant and enchanting.  And I haven't even mentioned the food (or the crepe station!).  But what always ends up being the most meaningful is the time spent with family, that we don't see often enough.

The 5 and under crowd:

The meeting of the Minds:

Hanging with Grandma:

Getting a hug from Grandpa:

And getting to watch all seven of these boys realize a little bit more what it means to call a guy "your cousin":  

Is there a limit to how many photos can appear in one blog post?  No, no there isn't, I say!  So I leave you with just a few more.  Other than the general fun of watching Jonathan Canlas create photographic magic on Rachel and Ken's big day, we also got a little take-home souvenir from him when he busted out the polaroid:

We will seriously treasure these gems forever!  Perfection.

I almost forgot.  You know what this means, there is only ONE wedding remaining:

CZ all eyes are on you.  No pressure or anything!  Kisses.

-The End.

P.S.  Ken, I'm so sorry you did not appear in a single one of my photos.  I will make it up to you upon your next visit to us as, The Fitzgeralds.  You made for a strikingly handsome groom.  All the best.

Wedding number 1 of 2.

Have you ever been to a wedding reception with a bounce house?! Until this weekend, we hadn't either. But now that we have, the bar is set pretty high for these kids.

Of course if you had 25 nieces and nephews on one side alone...

...and over 35 when you put the two families together,

You might consider the addition of a bounce house nearly essential! (And yes, in case you predicted it, we did end up with one kid at the ER before the night was over.)

Chelsea and Taylor's Carnival themed wedding reception, with their teal and red color scheme was pulled off to perfection.  Complete with a popcorn machine, cotton candy station, and hot dog man.

A self-serve candy station for all to enjoy and take as a parting gift on their way out.  

Or to enjoy mid-party.  Whatever suits your fancy that evening.

Did I mention the balloon lady?  She entertained young and old alike as well. 

Dancing with her dad was the highlight of the evening for Ruby.  She was so moved by the beauty of the night that it was enough for her to declare to me that she hoped her wedding would be "just like this one!".  And that of course, she would be marrying daddy because she loves him so much. 

 

And still somehow despite the 194 pictures I have just sorted through,  I still don't feel like any single shot can capture the love and happiness that is nearly tangible the whole time we are all together with our cousins and family.  It was a beautiful occasion, and we are so grateful we got to share in a bit of their happiness:

 

Happy new life Chelsea and Taylor!  We had a blast. 

P.S.  Honorable mentions go out to the grapefruits which had fallen off the trees and entertained the kids at the temple:

And the cake topper, handmade by Aunt Brooke, which was so darling I can't stop thinking about it, and probably deserves a blog post of it's very own, I love it that much!  

And that's a wrap.  4 days and counting until wedding number 2!  Stay tuned...

Sweet Releif It's November!

I don't think it's much of a secret that I'm not a huge fan of Halloween.  I'll go ahead and blame it on Darin.  He won't dress up.  I told him yesterday, that I don't think I've ever seen him in a costume.  He responded, "Yeah, that's because you've only known me as an adult!"

Or maybe I should say it's our disregard for Halloween that is one ingredient to the recipe that we like to call, "Marital Bliss".  Email me if you need to know what the other ingredients are.  

The happiest part of Halloween 2010 I think were the "Trick" and "Treat" pillows that decorated our family room for the month of October.  I really think that was the highlight. 

Of course, kids make every holiday more fun, and probably I'll miss it when no one wants to get dressed up and canvas the neighborhood for candy.  And it's true that we met some of the nicest neighbors we never knew that we had, while walking about the neighborhood on Sunday night.  And it's also true that if one must celebrate Halloween, one should really do it in North Carolina.  I think Jane didn't even have socks on, and Ruby wondered why I put a turtle neck on under her thin cotton dress, because it wasn't even cold.  Oh yeah, you read that correctly, it wasn't cold here in the South.  So for hospitable Southern neighbors, and a gorgeous fall night walking about the neighborhood, Halloween wasn't all bad. 

Oh yeah, and I loved being the chaperon mom to these two festive ladies on the obligatory pumpkin patch field trip:

But after the exhaustion of class parties and wardrobe drama, and a night at church for the annual trunk-or-treat fun, can you blame me for wishing it was all over when Saturday rolled around?!

Instead we all attended Henry's final day of his intensive basketball training camp, getting him ready for the up coming city league.  Can't say that Henry loved being woken up every Saturday morning since school started, but we can definitely say that his skills have improved, and for that it was totally worth it.  

After we got back from basketball, and breakfast, and after Darin and I took a long early Saturday afternoon nap, we knew that we could not squander away anymore of the most perfect fall day.  It was decided that the rest of the daylight hours had to be spent outside.  Thank goodness for the never ending supply of forested trails around the house.  Armed with candy from the night before and a few water bottles, we got lost in the woods,

watched the boys race across a bridge,

and generally meandered...

Until we admitted that we knew how to get out of the woods and onto a dirt road that would take us back home!

Which I decorated with graves, just so you know I'm not totally against holidays that bring families together.  Even if one of the major reason we took the hike in the first place, was to avoid carving pumpkins!  Don't tell the children.  I don't think they minded one bit, and if carving pumpkins is just one more way to try to bring families together, getting lost in the woods gave us plenty of time for togetherness.

Anyway, maybe I wouldn't have to hate Halloween so much if Darin would just embrace the true spirit of the season with me:

There is always next year...

Welcome November!  Darin is glad to see you. 

P.S.  In case you needed to find more ways to spend time at your computer, have you gone to Picnik for photo editing?  It's kind of fun.  Or at least I thought so, as you can tell.