Penny's Wedding Part 3 - The Ceremony

So we made it down to the ceremony in good form!  I held Kit as long as possible to help keep him happy.  The wedding party hid back behind a wall of bushes until it was our turn to walk down the aisle.  Penny and Dad stayed behind in a truck until Johnathon was up at the arch so that he wouldn't see her too soon..

GUYS!!  Trying to snap a few cute pictures and this is what my boys do!! Both of them! *cue eye roll*

All you can do is laugh.... At least the rest of us clean up good!

This is kinda long but here is a video of everyone walking in.  We were all worried that Kit would either cry his way down the aisle or Gunnar just wouldn't even send  him because he was crying.  Well we had a little family prayer right before and Gunnar prayed for grace and peace for Kit and he did great!  Jaxson however did cry his way down the aisle! He had been great, happy, and awesome all day so it was a big surprise!  Sara and I were standing up at the front just laughing because who would have guessed?!  He was perfectly fine and happy and then RIGHT before he went down the aisle they made him stop throwing rocks and he lost it.  It will make for a good memory though! Penny's dress was gorgeous and she wore my mom's veil but had it shortened so that it wouldn't touch the ground. 


The flower girls were my cousin Trait's daughter Lilah and Johnathon's niece Azaylah and they actually scattered the flower petals down the aisle!  Third time's the charm!  Neither Sara nor my flower girls actually scattered the petals!  haha so yay! Go Lilah and Azaylah!  They seemed to become good buddies and spent a lot of time dancing together at the reception!

It was such a beautiful evening and the mountains were so beautiful and rugged! 

Gunnar took the boys back behind everyone and just let them play during the ceremony.  There was a speaker and mic so he could still hear the ceremony thankfully. 

I think Monte thought Aunt Penny's wedding was the best thing ever!  He got to be important and carry in the rings then play with dirt and rocks!  What could be better?!

I obviously could not take any pictures and Gunnar was busy trying to keep kiddos quiet so I had to ask around to get some pictures to post.  My cousin Trait took this one and I love it!  Sara made that bouquet...swoon! I might have teared up a time or two but the best part was catching my brother tearing up too!  He and Penny are best friends and I think it hit him a little hard that he's giving away his last sister in a way. 

They performed the traditional vows and also write their own.  They both cried.  It was pretty great! 

They had Austin play guitar while they gathered and prayed together with some family members.  Often during this part of weddings everyone else is kinda bored but at this one you could look around at all the mountains and scenery! 

Annie sent me this picture and I cracked up when I saw it!  Operation "please be quiet" going on over here! 

The media crew, Logan and Collin, were on their A game!!

Mr. and Mrs. Johnathon Nichols!

After the ceremony we took all the pictures.  Monte got really into it and said "cheeeeeeeeese!!!" About 50 times too much even when it wasn't his turn!  Jaxson got happy and had fun playing and taking pictures!  Poor Kit finally got his Mama's attention for good the rest of the evening! 

Penny's Wedding Part 2 Getting Ready

After a great night sleep, from BOTH boys, WHAT WHAT?! Apparently Jaxson slept great too!  The next morning at breakfast, Sara and Wyatt, and Gunnar and I kept saying, "It was just so great that they slept all night, I can't believe they slept all night!"  The wind had calmed overnight and the next morning was cool, calm, clear, and beautiful!  The boys had fun exploring the cabin and looking out the window. 

Sara and Wyatt had an adjoining room and the boys opened the door pretty much as early as possible and had fun going back and forth.  Apparently Adeline's hat was quite fascinating. 

This was RIGHT outside our cabin door. 

Thug Monte heading down to breakfast! 

Gunnar and Monte heading down to breakfast! 

I didn't really think to take pictures during set up...oh well.  We met on the patio after breakfast and got to decorating.  Copper, cactus, succulents, glassware, and stoneware were all used on the tables. 

About half of us got busy decorating tables while the other half went into the bunkhouse to make bouquets.  I oversaw the decorating as bouquet making is not my strong suit!  It went pretty smoothly.  Some of our friends were there and helped! We sent Jake to find us some cacti for some of the jars, Thanks Jake!  

Sara and Annie oversaw the arch decoration. The fabric Sara used had sentimental value.  Some of it had been my grandmother's, some of it was from Sara's wedding, and I can't remember what the rest was from.  I'm always a fan of decor with meaning or a story behind it!

Gunnar, Wyatt, and Jake, had all the boys and just mainly let them play as long as they were happy.  There was a big bucket of rocks we were using for decorations and they spent A LOT of time digging and playing it that!  After a while they got restless so the guys took them down to a little pond to throw rocks into the water! 

The weather was beautiful, a little cool, so it was a great day for them to play outside!

After decorating, we headed to get ready.  Didn't get any pictures of that as it was kinda a mad scramble!  It was fun though hanging out with all those girls and helping Penny get ready!  She was slightly giggly and silly but overall pretty calm for it being her wedding day!

She opened a gift and letter from Johnathon Aaron and about cried her eyes out.  Apparently his letter was very meaningful, and let's face it, from this point on she was pretty much crying or close to crying! hehe

Getting ready for a Original Family picture....Check out those mountains!

The Originals!

Next, we headed out for bridesmaids pictures!  They drove us out past everything to this really awesome spot where the mountains provided a great background!  Getting Penny and her dress all stuffed into the truck was kinda an undertaking!

Behind the scenes! We were taking individual bridesmaid pictures and I happened to go first so I snapped some pictures of what was going on behind the camera!  Also, a tulle dress in the middle of the desert where every single plant has thorns of some kind is slightly challenging!  haha

Gunnar had taken the boys to the cabin for lunch and naps.  If you haven't noticed from the pictures yet, this place had a lot of  DIRT!  The boys were wearing WHITE shirts so the plan was for Gunnar and Wyatt to bring the boys to the bunkhouse right before the wedding started so that Sara and I could help dress them and keep them clean at least until the ceremony was over!! Sara and Gunnar both snapped a few pictures of the chaos that ensued getting them all dressed and ready!!

Poor Kit had had a rough day and needed his Mama which wasn't an option much of the day.  I decided to hold him for as long as possible right before the ceremony promising him that as soon as the ceremony was over I would be his as much as he needed.  Not that he understood me but he did get a little mama time!

Monte was not so sure about this whole boutonniere thing!

Aren't they SOOO handsome!! We gathered together as a family and prayed that Kit would be ok for the ceremony and the Lord would bring him peace. 

Monte was all about the whole ring bearer thing!  We told him that he was going to carry the rings to Mama for Aunt Penny and he took it very seriously!  He actually got to carry the rings too!  Tied VERY tightly to my grandmother's bible!

Monte loves his Granmolly!