Wedding Weekend

For Labor Day weekend, we headed to Tri Cities, WA for Ben's youngest brother's wedding. We were super excited to stay with Ben's sister Meredith and her family while we were in town. They were gracious hosts and we had a lot of fun.

Mitch was excited to get to sleep in the same room with cousin William. We put the boys to sleep in different beds, but when I came in to check on them later, William had crawled into Mitch's bed. So cute! Nothing cozier than sharing a twin bed!

Saturday, September 1st was the wedding day. The wedding wasn't until 2:00 p.m., so the kids had all morning to play outside in the sun before it was time to get ready.

The bride and groom got married in the Columbia River Temple and were sealed for time and all eternity. It was a beautiful session and I always love hearing the sealer (the man performing the ceremony) pronounce that very phrase- "For time and all eternity." I am so grateful for our knowledge of eternal families and that a marriage and a family do not end at death.

Pictures were taken on the beautiful temple grounds immediately following the ceremony. I didn't take any pictures there, but lots of cute and memorable shots were captured by the photographer.

Rhiannon, the gorgeous bride, forwarded me this picture taken at the temple. Gotta love my sweet Lexi girl.

The reception took place later that evening at Ben's parent's house in Pasco. It was a beautiful day and was perfect weather for an outdoor party.

The kids enjoyed all the yummy food.

Baby Preston scores a pineapple slice!

Chloe and Stella were so cute at the reception- they took it upon themselves to be table servers. They went around to each table and asked if they could throw away their garbage or bring them anything else to eat. I see two little waitresses in the future.... :)

Marcus and Rhiannon, getting ready to cut the cake. Aren't they such a cute couple?

We were all waiting for some "cake smashed in the face" action....

But they were nice and didn't do it. Darn! :)

Lex spent a lot of time with favorite Aunt Bethany!

This same weekend, 9 years ago, Ben and I had one of our wedding receptions in this very backyard.

September 6, 2003

The guestbook/sign in table.

Little Leah

The 3 Andros Brothers (or really it should be the 3 Stooges. These 3 turn into children again when they are together).

Ben and I with the happy couple. I didn't know Lexi snuck into the photo until I saw the picture today.

After the reception, the love birds opened gifts. Marcus had told me the week before at the beach that he loved Peanut Butter M&M's (who doesn't?) and that Rhiannon's favorite was Preztel M&M's. Being a fellow M&M lover, I thought it would be fun to supplement their gift with His & Her M&M's. Chocolate is really what a long, happy marriage is about. Am I right?

Ben kept a close eye on all the gift being opened, scouting out which ones he could try and sneak away for us. With a lot of cute gifts being personalized with "Andros Family" it was really tempting to snag a few of those, seeing how they would go perfectly in our house!

The gift opening audience

When all the gifts were opened, it was time to say goodbye to Marcus and Rhiannon, who were heading back to Rexburg, ID the next day (they both attend BYU-I). Lexi willingly gave the groom a big kiss.

And one for Rhiannon, too!

Not to be outdone, Leah puckered up too.

The next day, we attended church with the Taylor family. Our kids were excited to be going to church with their cousins. They loved that Aunt Meredith and Uncle Dave live within walking distance of the church house.

How fun would that be to do all the time?

Before heading home, Ben and all the men in the family, (including Ben's 2 uncles who flew in from back east for the wedding), went out shooting Monday morning. Men and their guns.... And I am just now noticing that Dave in them middle is the only one pointing his gun at a person. I'm a little concerned about that... :)

We had a wonderful weekend- a beautiful couple, a beautiful wedding and lots of family to visit with.