i have a brother in law!

katie got married on friday! it all went relatively well. thursday, we had the rehearsal at our church and then dinner at mom and dad's. kevin's friends in australia made him a video which was very touching; even he teared up!

friday morning, hannah and i headed to the mall to find some shoes for oliver, a task made slightly more complicated by the fact that he was at day care and i did not know his shoe size. i did pick up some navy blue sandals that happened to fit, so score on that one. we then went to get our hair done, and let's just say, hannah's was waaaay better than mine. thank god i had a hat! i can't
believe i paid for this girl to put bout 90 lbs of products in my hair and do precisely nothing else to it. at the salon, we learned that one of the bridesmaids was sick, but katie's friend jessie's sister, mill, was going to fill in. mill was a TROOPER!!! we jetted home to get dressed then over to mom and dad's to hop in the limo with katie and the other bridesmaids. then it was off to the botanical gardens for the ceremony!

the ceremony was in the rose garden, and the weather couldn't have been more perfect. katie and kevin both started crying as she came down the "aisle", and we all almost lost it. oliver was, of course, the cutest ring bearer ever, and had everyone charmed. he had taken a long morning nap, and a 1 hour afternoon nap, waking up right when bryan arrived to pick him up. so he was in a pretty good mood. by the end of the ceremony, he was hot and tired out, though. bryan whisked him home but, sadly, could not get him down for another nap. after pictures of the wedding party were done, hannah and i headed home, where i put oliver down for the night. had i been smarter, i would have hired a babysitter to stay home so bryan could come to the reception, but alas, i was not.
hannah was an adorable junior bridesmaid, and looked very grown up. she had a lot of fun being in the wedding. she and shannon's boyfriend, david, also finally got to meet each other. the bridal party took quite a shine to david, as well. they think he is quite a catch (and i would have to agree with them - way to go shannon!!).
all in all, minus the sick bridesmaid snafu (which mill fixed awesomely), the ceremony couldn't have gone any better.

hannah and i attended the reception, which was at the hilton on the river. i stayed up way past my bedtime, but it was so much fun watching hannah, i couldn't resist. as the matron of honor, i had to give a speech, and i have to say, i nailed it! i made everyone cry. yay for me. we had some prime rib for dinner, and wedding cake with a champagne mimosa filling (which was delicious even if it wasn't square like it had been special ordered). the girls danced, danced, danced. mom even danced! eventually hannah got pooped and we headed home.



additional pics in the wedding gallery.

sadly, oliver did not sleep well that night AND woke up for the day at 5am saturday, so i was pretty dang pooped. hannah missed her flight out saturday morning. oops. the airline had moved it up about 45 minutes about a month ago, though we did not have an updated itinerary and thusly forgot. bryan got her out on a flight yesterday afternoon. she was glad to have an additional day with us!

saturday, we headed to the outpost to do some grocery shopping. we're still getting used to how we're going to shop there, but we picked up some delicious items and had a lot of fun doing it. we're almost giddy to be back to cooking again, i think.

so i have some dinners to catch up on:

last monday, we had the sisters over for a pre-wedding sister's dinner. we grilled pork chops (from the outpost, so they were hormone and antibiotic free AND local), and i made a mexican style bbq sauce, which ended up pretty spicy and delicious. we also served pasta shells tossed with olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper, and topped with nasturtium flowers. we grilled some zucchini, yellow squash, and peppers from our garden as well. we served that with a lovely bottle of wine, and dinner was a big hit.

tuesday night, bryan marinated lamb chops (again, local, hormone free, antibiotic free) in a chimichurri of sorts, with white wine, onion, garlic, thyme, and parsley. he grilled these, and served them along with grilled zucchini and yellow squash from the garden, mashed potatoes, and sauteed buttered radishes from our csa. it got me to eat lamb, so, bryan, ftw. the warm, buttery radishes were also a nice departure from the normal raw variety.

saturday night, we had one of my favorites - spaghetti and meatballs. bryan made AWESOME, tennis ball sized meatballs. i made a red sauce and super buttery garlicky bread.

sunday night, adrianne came over to learn how to make pesto. she and bryan made a pesto with basil from our garden. mom and dad came over, as well, and we served the pesto with penne rigate, fresh italian sausage (made at the outpost with local, natural pork), cauliflower from our csa, a garden salad with romaine, radishes, and cucumber from our csa and carrots from our garden, and leftover garlic bread from the rehearsal dinner that mom brought. it was delicious. oliver got to try pasta and cauliflower. he LOVED the cauliflower; i can't wait to tell hannah, who detests it!!

bryan and i have some more delicious dinners planned for the week. tomorrow, we may do jerk chicken with shannon and david, provided david is still in town. we're planning in doing some burgers and beet chips (with beets from our garden). fish tacos are also on the menu. i came up with an idea for an indian fish fry: fried sole with curried mayo, potato salad with cumin coriander lime yogurt dressing and scallions, and roasted golden beets. i'm looking forward to that one.

other than that, i plan on cleaning the house and attempting to relax. like that ever works out for me. :)