Ben + Hannah's Wedding

My little brother, Ben, married his sweetheart, Hannah, last Friday. The wedding and festivities were fun, but I'm glad I have awhile until Phoebe is a bride.

We escorted Ben to his wedding in the family Suburban. Marissa took care of Ben's last-minute hair issues with her nail clippers.

 And then my mom took care of Hannah's last-minute hair issues. This was the first time I met Hannah - in the parking lot before the wedding, nervous and anxious, fussing over her hair.

 She was less anxious after the wedding. We took lots and lots of photos...

 ...and videos and more photos....

That night we had an open house near where Hannah's family lives. I think Ben is feeling left out because he doesn't have a beard and several of my other brothers and brothers-in-law are sporting beards right now.At the open house, Ben and Hannah did the traditional cake-cutting and cake-feeding. Hannah smashed it in Ben's face a bit and Phoebe thought this must have been an accident. She grabbed a napkin and ran up to the front to offer it to Ben. She got a big "Awwwww" from the crowd, then returned to me and announced, "I am adorable."

The next day was the Mars reception, which always has lots of food, an amazing cake by Uncle Dan (he doesn't just make doors), music, a wedding video, and lots and lots of relatives and friends. Scott had to work the day before, but got in the car after work and drove all night to be at the reception. Phoebe was happy to have daddy back and got a daddy-daughter dance. Again, here's to many years before we have to put on one of these mega-receptions for Phoebe.

M + T's reception

Wedding receptions in our family are always a group project. This reception was for my niece, the first of my siblings' kids to get married. While the craftiest of the jobs were left to my sister, my project was to put pictures in frames. Check. And slice one zillion limes and lemons, then de-seed them. Check.

 Uncle Dan made cupcakes and Asena helped sample them.

 Karyn put together a photo booth that kept the kids busy. Grandpa spent months putting together a wedding video.

The reception was held in a restored barn that miraculously had air conditioning (it went for nearly a week without power after a big storm came through, but power was restored the night before the reception!).

The food was awesome: vegan waffles, vegan toppings, vegan cupcakes. Yummy! I am glad I have many more years before I need to put one of these on for Phoebe.

Wunderlich wedding in Washington

My niece got married in Washington D.C. on Friday. Scott is working night and day in the ICU and Miss J is on vacation for two weeks, so I took Bruce and Phoebe and hopped on a plane to D.C. Thursday night. I packed plenty of bribery, electronics, and other goodies, but the kids did amazingly well on the flight. Phoebe was excited about being served apple juice and pretzels, and Bruce was excited about getting to play Angry Birds as long as we were in the air.

The wedding was wonderful, but afterward the heat was intense: 104 degrees. The few pictures that I posed for, I'm quite sure my eyes were squinted closed and I felt like my hair was melting. Bruce, Phoebe, my parents, and I drove back to Ohio that afternoon. Somehow we missed the huge storms that knocked out power to much of Ohio, Virginia, and Washington D.C.

Now we are hanging out at the Mars Resort awaiting Margaret and Tom's wedding reception this weekend, and Mars Cousin Camp the next weekend. More adventures to come!