Post Christmas - New Years

The day after Christmas I left my adorable hubby for Washington. I wouldn't have gone home but my best friend Alyson got married on the 27th and I wouldn't miss her wedding for the world. But being home was great, as always, and it was so much fun seeing my mom and my brother, wife and kids. I don't get to see them very often and so it was a fabulous trip. 


I got into Spokane around noon, drove up to Tri-cities with my mom and sister-in-law and then headed to the store to get prepared for the bachelorette party. I was in charge. It was a lot of fun. It was pretty last minute and it felt kind of thrown together, but I think everyone had a lot of fun. We had Alyson blushing and everyone laughing. I had a side ache from laughing so much. 


Alyson had to answer a bunch of questions about the wedding night and the honeymoon that I had Nathan answer. Needless to say, he didn't spare any details in his answers and I think some of the questions and answers really shocked Alyson. I didn't take a lot of pictures, which bums me out, but enough to get the point. 

[the drinks were amazing. good thing my mom knows what she's doing in that department. haha]

[each person brought a pair of panties or piece of lingerie for Alyson and she had to guess who brought what. She did pretty well!]

[Starting to get embarrassed...maybe?]

[love her!]

[Alyson and her sisters]

The next day was the wedding. Alyson was so kind to invite me to the sealing. It was amazing. It was seriously such a beautiful wedding. Seeing how happy they were together kneeling over the alter, hand in hand, reminded me of the day Josh and I were married and how exciting it was. It reminded me of the promises that we made that day and how important those promises are. I am so happy to be married to the man I love and I am so happy for Alyson and Nathan. I know they are going to be so happy. 

After the sealing I changed into my bridesmaid dress and we headed outside to take pictures. Alyson had Devan Squires as her photographer who was incredible. She has posted some of the pictures and they are amazing. She is very talented and the day was just gorgeous. We were somewhat freezing, but you could never tell in the pictures! 

[Photo belongs to Devan Squires]

Here is the link to the photographer's page of photos from their special day:

http://www.squaresofpaper.com/Devan_Squires_Photography_Tri-Cities/Alyson+Nathan.html#1

After taking pictures we headed to the reception hall. It was gorgeous. We spent the next couple hours before it started getting everything set up. Alyson's decorations were beautiful! She is such an artist and you could totally see her artistic abilities reflected in her reception. It was so pretty. 

The happy couple...and me!

[the ceiling]

[some of the bridesmaids]

[the guys]

[centerpiece]

[doesn't she look beautiful?!]

[my favorite part of this picture is the way Nathan is looking at Alyson. So precious!]

[first dance]

[Daddy/daughter dance]

[Ben and Jacob Walley and Marshall Merrill wrote and performed a song for Nathan and Alyson. It was really sweet]

[more decor]

The rest of the week consisted of time with family. I got to spend a lot of time with my mom and a lot of time with John and Sara and their kids. It was a great week. 


One of my favorite pictures from the week...one of many (like 45). 


Me and Eva. 





She was my little friend all week. It was adorable and I couldn't get enough of her cuddles. 


I also spent New Years Eve in Washington. I spent the countdown on the phone with my hubs but we spent our evening over at John and Sara's. They let the kids stay up until midnight (Eastern time) and celebrate. We ate delicious food and spent the night talking and just having fun. 


Thanks for such a fun visit mom! I had a blast of a week. 


I got home on New Years Day. While it was fun to be home and be with family, it was great seeing my hubby after the week apart. We really, really missed each other and have decided that being apart (even for a week) is not for us. Nope.


:)