her wedding day.

we're definitely recovering from a wedding weekend over here. today i'll be doing laundry AND returning that beautiful wedding dress to the wedding dress rental place. 

the day was full of family, friends, and some good food afterwards. 

mr. and mrs. rydalch. in the flesh.

we even had a birthday party in the parking lot, fully equipped with mrs. backer's cupcakes to celebrate chandler's big 2-4. 

as the protective big brother, deven thought he ought to leave with the newlyweds. he didn't actually get in the car. but it made for a good laugh. then brooklyn cried. she didn't want her auntie googs to leave. so sad.

the happy couple is on their way to cali-forn-i-a. can't wait to hear about the adventures. then get them moved into their new home where they'll live like five exits from me! wahoo.

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then, there was a little 'girls weekend' action. it was thrown together last minute but dang fun. we squished fourteen of us into a condo that sleeps eight. so... all of 'daughters' slept on the floor. there were bodies everywhere. but we totally loved it.

 (i slept there)

i really have no pictures to document our girls' trip. there was too much fun to be had. we shopped, lunched, stayed up too late, and visited as much as we could. 

/the picture below is us flipping a coin to decide where to go to lunch/

/we ended up at maxwell's. good food. lots of waiting/

/waiting out the storm in the car after shopping the outlets/

whoo... and that was the wedding/weekend in a nut shell. this girl is tired. and i can't be. mounds of laundry are calling my name.

h a p p y  m o n d a y 

reception.

last night was 'the reception'. it was down in oakley so you can guess we got home nice and late last night. i'm definitely still recovering.

anyway...

it was beautiful. the decor just screamed kayla. she was involved in every detail and it showed. the refreshments were soft pretzels and all the toppings and a blue drink that was seriously way good. 

it was fun to visit with family and friends. they had a great turn out with a lot of community support. 

but today is the BIG day. we'll all meet up again at the salt lake temple later this afternoon and then have dinner catered up at the u. it's going to be another exciting day.

/enjoy some pictures from the night/

(my favorite part - i loved seeing everyone's wedding pictures) 

/kayla is a gorgeous bride/

/the moms cutting up the cake to share with everyone/

^ and a happy birthday to that guy. we sure love having him in our family.

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congratulations kayla and judd! the best part is still coming! see ya'll at the temple.

ANNNND...


a happy 1 YEAR anniversary to my brother and his wife. i love you guys!

so proud.

remember how it's wedding week? for my sister that is. well, it's in full swing and the rest of the week is going to be crazy busy. Last night was endowment night at the jordan river temple. so awesome to be there with my siblings (minus 1), parents, and grandparents. 

kayla was beautiful in white and i couldn't be more proud of her. i love her and the choices she's making in her life right now. she just glows. maybe that has something to do with her getting married in two days. two days. i can hardly believe it.

we can't wait to make judd an official part of our family. always and forever. that's a long time to be stuck with this weird crew. but i'm guessing my sister is worth it.

afterwards, we stuffed our faces at village inn. i swear nothing makes me more hungry than a session at the temple. why is that? i definitely had to put on my fat pants for the ride home. no joke. i did. food is wonderful and terrible all in the same breath. thank goodness my dress for the wedding is nice and loose. what a wise decision i made there.

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congratulations again kayla. i love you with all my heart and soul and so so proud to be your big sister.

XOXO

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and one more of the happy couple.

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and a HUGE thanks to my baby-est of sisters for watching brooklyn all night long so that james and i could be there for kayla's special day. brooklyn loved getting ice cream and watching movies with you. 

love you hay!

some wedding stuff.

last night i went with my sister (who gets married in two weeks) to her final wedding dress fitting. i'm dying to show you pictures, but obviously i can't. i'll post pictures of her in her dress as soon as i possibly can. for now, you're just gonna have to see some of her in her regular clothes at her bridal shower this past wednesday night.

it was given by judd's mom and aunts at his aunt and uncle's home in oakley. beautiful. even though the evening was a tad warm, it was so fun to celebrate kayla (and judd). his mom/aunts/cousins did a bang up job on the fun decor at the shower. they were so sweet and totally tried to have it match her reception colors and theme. kayla loved it!

whitney, baby liv, and i were there to represent the holmes clan. my mom (and dad) was in lake powell having a blast with her siblings and their spouses, haley was walking her fair pig and doing other high school stuff, and kenz was being a responsible adult and taking care of some business for work. so whit and i took it upon ourselves to eat as much dessert as if the others were there eating it with us. the spread was amazing. i'm really wanting to hunt down a few of those recipes. yummy and cute.

the new couple got spoiled with gifts. there were definitely a few things i wanted to hide and keep for myself. not even kidding. the shower was an open house, so there were no structured games,  but kayla got to play that bubble gum game where you try and guess what your fiance said and if it's wrong you put a big ol piece of gum in your mouth. she got about half of the questions right and ended up with a huge honking piece. it was a good laugh for everyone. kayla just tried not to throw up. great entertainment. 

kayla is marrying into a great family. it's obvious that they love her (almost) as much as we do. the same goes for judd. we just love the heck out of him. the three of us here at cream gables can't wait until they're living just a few exits away from us. we'll be spoiled this fall to live right between those two and dev & kenz. party at our house. right guys?

h a p p y  f r i d a y

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and don't forget to enter the tiny little giveaway in this post... thanks to those of you who commented or emailed. i appreciate it more than you know!

/also, can i just say how glad i am that brooklyn's well check ups are a year apart now and not every couple of months. i think i've earned a few years back to my life not worrying about them so often. she goes in for her check-up today and she was to get 1 shot. i'm feeling like i did a year and six months ago. worried/stressed/sad/grateful/... ya know. all that./

the dress.

we're planning a wedding over here. and it's fun. even with it being the third sister in our family to plan a wedding, it's still exciting. 

we've done the wedding dress shopping and scored at this fun little place...

so far, we've all rented our dresses and that's turned out to be awesome. cheaper than buying, and then we don't have a dress lying around wondering what to do with it. we have detailed pictures of our dresses and that's been good enough for us. i would totally recommend this place!

it was a fun girls' day and judd's mom even joined us. the more the merrier we say. kayla looked gorgeous in every dress but she eventually narrowed it down to two, and after a lot of agonizing over the decision. she picked one.

and no you don't get to see a picture of it.

not yet.

kayla changed behind this black curtain and got to be 'revealed' in each dress. we loved it. lots of oohs and ahhs. so entertaining for us.

i love being able to do these kind of things with my mom and my sisters. i feel so blessed that i get to have them in my life. and let's not forget brooklyn and olivia. they added to the fun and had fun at their first wedding dress shopping experience. for the most part.

more wedding updates to come.

h a p p y  t h u r s d a y