Joel & Emily's Wedding - August 26, 2006 - Heritage CRC in Kalamazoo

I think I can now consider myself a professional bridesmaid at this point...(at least for this summer) since being in my brother Joel and Emily's wedding this weekend was the third one of the month that I stood up in. It was a lovely day, and here are the pictures to prove it:

All Dressed Up

Here we are all color-coordinated and everything...but we couldn't get a good picture of the 4 of us no matter what we tried. This is one attempt and another one is below.

Another attempt at a family picture

How cute are these 2?

Don't they clean up well?

J&j

I kind of had the perma-smile thing going for all the pictures, sort of like I had on our wedding day.

Joel & Emily

Since it really was Joel and Emily's day, not ours...there really should be some pictures of them. So here are a couple.

Family Picture

The original 7.

Bigger Family Picture

And now there are 24.

Joel & the flower girls

Megan & Sarah the flower girls.

Jack & Sarah

Wedding Party

The entire wedding party. Yep, there were a lot of people.

Reception at WMU Fetzer Center

Reception Time.

Still Perma-smiling

The perma-smiles are still there. (but Jamie started to get cranky soon after this point. It was a long day!)

Fishy crackers at the wedding reception?

Of course, Dawson wanted nothing to do with the food, so he poured himself a plate of fishy crackers for dinner.

Dawson on the dance floor

Dawson tearing up the dance floor with Jack & the other kids. (Athough, when the dancing portion started, he was too scared of the loud music to show off his moves.)

More Dancing

This one is just funny because I think David is laughing at the fact that my parents are actually dancing.

Rehersal

Here are some pictures from rehersal, since I don't have any actual ceremony pictures yet. This is what happened, just picture a white dress, some red dresses and black tuxes instead of what we are wearing. (Also, the guy I walked down with is one of Joel's friends Steve...not a long lost family member that you don't know.)

Happy One Year Anniversary to our Blog!
One year ago, in August, we started this Blog. (Just before Jamie was born...hard to believe, she is going to be one soon also!)

Vacation in Cadillac, MI

A week of vacation on Lake Mitchell has come and gone. Here are the pictures to prove it: (keep checking back for more, as I get time to add them.)
Also, if you look back at the August 2005 archives (link on the left) you can see last year's vacation and how much everyone has changed since then.

Entertaining Jamie

The kids (& aunts & uncles) kept Jamie pretty busy.

Mmmmm....

Mmmmm....watermelon!

Naked baby

Here is the difference between David and me...he hides behind the naked baby so he doesn't have to be in a picture, and I just smile like a dork.

Dawson & Jamie's favorite activities of the week

Dawson's favorite thing to do was use the fishing nets to pull up mud & seaweed. Jamie had a great time pushing this wagon. (she is so close to walking on her own!)

Another fun activity

Here is another activity that Dawson enjoyed...but something doesn't seem right about this. Hmmm??

Dawson on a boat ride.

Dawson wasn't all that fond of the "fast" boats.

Slower Boats

He did, however, like the slower boats like the kayak & paddle boat.

David Skiing

Look, David can still ski, and his shoulders didn't pop out!

The many faces of Dawson

Just a couple of Dawson's many expressions. (by the way, thanks to my sisters & parents for taking a lot of these pictures...so that I didn't have to.)

All 12 kids

Here are all 12 cousins. (See the family picture below for their names.)
Dawson & Jamie had a blast with all of them. They kept each other entertained all week.

Fire

It's not vacation without a fire and some liquid entertainment.

This is what Jamie did for some of the week because her ear hurt and her teeth are coming in, and she didn't like being passed off to people other than mommy or daddy. It's tough being 11 months old.

That's better.

A happy moment.

Mime?

Look, I'm in a box.

Everyone

Here is everyone that was up north for the week. (JOEL & Emily are missing because they were back home preparing for their big wedding day.)
I'll list everyone and their respective families by color. (The people listed in all capital letters are my immediate family. Their respective spouses are either above or below them in the picture.)
Top (from left): Chuck, JOHN, DAD (JERRY), Mike, David, Dawson
Middle: JULIE, Kim, MOM (TRUDY), JENNIFER, JANET, Jamisen
Bottom: Cassidy, Taylor, Katie, Megan (on Katie's lap), Sarah, Jonathan, Kelsey, Nathan, Emily, Jackson

Vacation pictures are coming...

There are a lot of vacation pictures from our week up north coming...I promise! Keep checking back. =) It's going to take some time to get them all up - in between doing all the laundry and getting us back into order over here.

Janet's busy weekend before vacation

The weekend before we went on vacation up north, was a busy one for me. A few of my good friends had major milestone events that I was able to participate in.

It all began with Candace & Brent having their baby girl on July 31...I didn't participate in that one, I just saw the baby a few days later =). I went to visit them on Thursday on my way to Holland to be in Mary Lou & Todd's wedding.

Thursday night was rehersal for Mary Lou & Todd's wedding in Holland, then Friday was the wedding.

Friday night I drove home back to the east side of the state & was in Rochester Hills in the morning on Saturday to be in Chris & Ryan's wedding that night.

Then, Sunday we drove back to Kalamazoo to pick up the kids and drive up north for vacation (those pictures to come soon...stay tuned.)

I'm not sure how many miles we drove in the last week & a half, or how much we spent on gas, I'm a bit scared to find out...but I had fun, so it was worth the hassle of driving!

Jordyn Rae

Congrats to Candace & Brent on their beautiful new baby girl, Jordyn Rae (July 31). I got to visit them on my way to Holland for Mary Lou & Todd's wedding.

Mary Lou & Todd's Wedding

Friday, August 4 was Mary Lou & Todd's wedding, in Holland. (Mary Lou used to work with me and was a college roomate.)

Congrats Mary Lou & Todd!

Congratulations to the new Mr. & Mrs. Todd & Mary Lou!

Chris & Ryan's Wedding

On Friday night I drove back to the east side of the state, and Saturday morning was at the salon getting my hair done for the 2nd wedding of the weekend.
Saturday, August 5 was dedicated to my college roomate Chris, & her new husband, Ryan.
They had a beautiful wedding and a fun reception...I was just sad to have missed to rehersal on Friday night since I was in Mary Lou's wedding at that time....but I think I did o.k. in the wedding. (right Chris?)