Leah and Bill's Wedding!!

What a week we had last week - starting with a wonderful, crazy, beautiful wedding weekend for my gorgeous sister and amazing brother in law!  It was a weekend full of twists and turns, so I'll narrate through pictures....

After quite the week of packing and preparing, we took off on Friday morning around 10am.  The kids did pretty well in the car for the first part of the trip but got a little antsy towards the end.  Taking into account that we had some errands to run before we even left town and hit some traffic, we did pretty well but it took us 7 hours instead of the 5 we expected.  In any case, we finally made it to Stone Manor - a beautiful Bed and Breakfast in Lovettesville, VA (a perfect town in which to get married, we thought!). 

Kylie was happy to see Papa!

They had chickens there and the kids had a blast feeding them!

Spencer, one of the owners, showing Noah how to feed them

Noah helped Leah put out the 7 layer dip  :-)

Leah and Bill had prepared all sorts of food for a cookout for all the guests.  There were 17 of us - all immediate family - staying there.  Bill's family was so nice and we all got along so well!

Assembling the kabobs

Friday was also Waylon's (real) birthday - although we'd celebrated so much the week before so I think he and I both kept forgetting!  :-)  (The kids and I did give him a card before we left that morning)  Anyway, my parents gave him a washer toss game so we played that some.

Kylie loved it.  :-)

The chefs

The bride and her parents

We gave Leah and Bill a cool sign with their last name on it.  I was really excited about giving it to them.  The kids look thrilled, don't they??  :-)  I think they were getting tired.  This was the beginning of several late nights throughout the week for them!!

All was running smoothly until about 11 pm when the power went out.  None of us had any idea it was raining or was even supposed to rain that night!  We heard some crazy wind and rain but it only went on for about 15 minutes and then the storm had passed.  We laughed it off thinking the power would surely be on by the morning and enjoyed a candle-lit evening playing cards.

Kylie slept through the whole thing but Noah woke up to tell us that the power went out.  :-) They were sleeping on the couches in our HUGE room.  Leah and Bill decided to give us the biggest room because we had the kids in with us (theirs wasn't too shabby either though).  We even had a kitchen in there and a couch in the bathroom!!  :-)  We had the option of blowing up a mattress for the kids but they thought it would be cool to sleep on the couch....

Adorable!

Saturday morning, we woke up to a hot house, still no power and worst of all -- no water!  Because the house had a well, we didn't have water.  Luckily, they had an outhouse with 'green compostable toilets' so that was great.  We started looking on our phones and realized the gravity of the situation.  Power was out for over 1.5 million homes in the area and they were saying that it could be a week before power was restored!!!

So first thing in the morning, Bill took charge!  The owners of the Bed and Breakfast had a small generator, but they couldn't get it set up and there was some trouble with it so Bill went in search of a bigger one that we could hook up to the well to at least get water.  He finally found one and had to go back to the DC area (an 1.5 hr drive) to get it - and he had to borrow a truck from the Bed and Breakfast owners' friend so he could tow it back.  He took off to get that with his brother in law, Bud, and the rest of us packed lunches and took off to the Shenandoah River to have a picnic and cool off in the river....

Bubbles before we left

 When we left, we realized there were trees down everywhere and a mess all over the area!

Picnic time!

Leah getting the latest scoop from Bill

Waylon relaxing

We swam in the river - and because Leah and I weren't sure if we'd get a shower later, we decided to wash our hair in there, too before we left!!!  :-)

Noah showing Aunt Leah his swimming skills

Just a typical fun day at the river!  :-)

Grammy and Noah

Papa and Kylie

With the bride on her wedding day!  :-)

Noah had fun with Bill's other nephew, Jacob

Bathing beauties  :-)

Just before we were getting ready to leave, the ice cream truck came - the kids were thrilled!

Just as we were getting ready to leave the river, Leah got a call from Bill saying he picked up the generator after several other issues including - but not limited to - arriving after the place closed and barely making it in and not having the correct hitch on the truck - I hear that there was a blowtorch involved here.  However, while they were on 495 (the Beltway around DC) the retread on one of the tires came off.  They attempted to change the tire but couldn't get the lug nuts off!  When they finally decided to limp it back on the tire they had, they couldn't start the car!!!  It was one thing after another.  Apparently, after a few attempts, the truck started and they finally made it home by 4:00.

But the trouble wasn't over - actually getting the generator was just step one.  Getting it actually set up and running was a battle in itself. After lots of instruction reading and set up, a call to an old family friend, Paul VanFossen and two electricians helping, they finally got the water running at 6:15 - 45 minutes before the ceremony was supposed to start!!!

This photo was taken 3.5 hours before the ceremony started.  Still smiling!!  I think the best caption here is 'All you need is love'

Talking to Paul

While we were waiting, set up began for the ceremony.  It was a beautiful venue!

The photographer (a friend of mine from high school) arrived and we ran through the ceremony an hour before it was supposed to start.  It was pretty comical because we hadn't even begun to get ready!

Love this shot with the sunlight coming down

At 6:15, Leah and I were getting ready to go dump some water over our heads and attempt to look decent when the water came back on!!!  Everyone was ecstatic and scattered to get a quick shower before the ceremony started.  There were only a few outlets and lights working in the house and one portable A/C unit set up in one room downstairs.  But we didn't care as long as we had WATER!  :-)

My handsome boy all ready!

Leah drying her hair in the one room that had a working plug!  :-)  I love this shot - seems like it's completely normal for all the guests to watch the bride get ready!

The photographer and my friend from high school, Don

Me and Dad before the ceremony

My three favorite guys   :-)

Shoes going on

Noah sneaked a peek of the bride before the ceremony.  He knew it was a special day for her and was extra loving.

Here comes the bride

You'd never guess what had happened that day.  Looks like a completely normal wedding!

I did a reading (as did Bill's sister, too)

Noah got to help out with the rings during the ceremony (and Kylie was a flower girl, too!)

Happiness!

Love

The Parhams with the bride and groom

Cute family, huh???  :-)

Love my dit!

 The owners of the bed and breakfast did a great job making a very nice dinner for us after the ceremony.  It was completely candlelit which really made it romantic!  So beautiful.

Kylie had fun  :-)

Toast time - several other people did one, too.  Lots of love around that table.

Happy parents

Later in the evening - we are a little shiny  :-)  It was hot!

I put the kids down in the one room that had the portable A/C unit set up.  It was right next to the dining room with no door but they were so exhausted, they didn't care..... apparently, neither did Waylon!!  :-)

And a perfect last picture of the night - the bride in a headlamp!  :-)

Because of the craziness of the weekend, we didn't get quite as many pictures as we had hoped but Don did a great job capturing every moment of the ceremony and dinner.  You can see those pictures here if you'd like!

The next morning, we had a great breakfast and packed up and took off to the lake for the next adventure!  Stay tuned for that!!