August 18th
Our night at Kate and Mike's house went by way to fast. We always love staying there! The next morning we loaded up our luggage as well as the wedding stuff and headed to Colorado. The trip seemed to go fast since we were marking the hours in terms of movies. The older boys were lost in time with their ipod games. When I put on Tangled I noticed that Levi, Derek and Justin had all set their ipods down and were just as mesmerized by the movie as the little boys were.
There is no shortage of crazy when traveling with the Edwards Boys!
The reception in Colorado was beautiful! Jill had everything under control when we got there and all we needed to do was smile and meet people and, according to Nathan and Hyrum, eat cake and ice cream. Again, Cory, Meg and Katie took in the little boys and it was a fun party for all of us.
Unfortunately, my camera died and I only got a couple of pictures at the reception.
And then I got one with my phone.
Nathan was a very entertaining door greeter.
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Rexburg, Idaho
August 25th
In preparation for the casual backyard reception that Erika wanted I used my new skills gained during a couple of late night training sessions with Sarah d'. I figured that if we could get through the 50 or so t-shirts that we did for her family reunion that the fifteen t-shirts that we needed would be a breeze. Sarah cut all of the contact paper for us and then I passed my crafting knowledge on to each of the boys. I had initially planned to get it all done with Sarah but the boys were excited to do their own (and some of the Hellbusch) t-shirts. Everyone wanted to do Ron's t-shirt (Bret's dad) because it said "Give 'em Hellbusch" and they thought it was pretty cool.
The idea of the t-shirts is that ours had our nicknames from Erika on them. Bret's family each chose what they wanted their shirts to say. Even though Aaron, Cory, Megan and Katie weren't going to be here we wanted to do shirts for them.
I was very excited to do the treats for the reception. Erika and I spent hours pouring over Pinterest to find exactly what she wanted. My stubborn nature took over and I turned down all the help offered to me by friends. It's not a secret that Erika has pretty much pushed me away for the last 4 years and I was thrilled that she wanted me to do this for her and was spending time with me to plan it. I wanted it to be all from me. However, I misjudged how long it would take for me to pull off the whole thing and I didn't count on having a major headache on the days leading up to the party. Still, I determined not to let anyone know how I felt physically because emotionally I was so ready and willing to do it all.
Kara saved me. With the party set for Saturday I had all the arrangements for backdrop, dress, tables, chairs, dishes and foods all planned but when I started making it all, still wanting it to be fresh for Saturday, I realized I was in over my head. Still, my stubborn self wanted to do it all. I don't know if Kara read more into our phone conversation than I thought I let on but she decided to come a couple of days early. I could not have pulled it off the way I had wanted to without her help.
She helped me finish the 200 cake pops and 200 truffles, which could be done a little early, and then she saved me from my own insanity as we did all of the other treats. She even took random pictures like me doing my hair shortly before it started. Most of Saturday morning was a blur because my headache was so bad and I had pretty much overdosed on anything to numb it and was still hiding it from as many people as I could.
Little did I know that Heavenly Father had things all arranged to save me from my own stubbornness. I had a general idea of how I wanted the tables set up and the backdrop done but by Saturday I had to let go. I needed to let those who had offered to help to completely take over and they were so great to run with it. I wanted to hug Kara, Sarah, and Michelle and bawl my eyes out when they came to my rescue. But, I had shut off emotions at that point and determined that I would do everything I could to make it a perfect day for Erika. That probably translated to a lack of appreciation for Kara, Sarah and Michelle but I sincerely love those girls and am so thankful for them! They saved the day, the party and my stubborn hiney.
Sarah showed up earlier in the day with a smoothie, which I think was the only thing I ate besides meds and a few vegetables that Kara handed to me throughout the day. Sarah and Kara put together the tables for the desserts, smores, drinks and gifts. They made it look better than I had imagined in my head. It all looked so pretty together!
When Michelle randomly called to see if she could come over early to take pictures and begged to help with set up I realized that I was not in charge at all and offered a prayer of gratitude accompanied by a few tears.
Derek used his carpenter skills to get the backdrop to stay up standing on uneven grass and fighting the Rexburg winds. Michelle worked her boutique magic to make it all come together.
Derek cut and sanded the cake top puzzle couple
I made the cake, including free handing all those chocolate puzzle pieces
Grandma Fullmer made the beautiful bouquet
Crochet Bouquet made by Michelle Ray
Skittles and containers provided by Sarah d'
Kitchen cake put together by Kara and Kimber
The idea behind the back drop came from a poem that Erika wrote her freshman year called "Picture Perfect". It was written out of desperation to be who she is while others expected her to fit into the perfect picture frame that society had created for her. When Michelle told me about doing a trash-the-dress photo session I had to have her explain in detail what that was. I knew immediately that it would be perfect and from there the backdrop idea blossomed.
The formal side is what everyone expects. The beautiful white dress, the temple, a formal ceremony. She did want that part and it turned out as princess as she wanted it to be but it did not reflect all of who Erika really is so she wanted her wedding party to show off her relationship with Bret and the fun people that they are. The fun side covered that. The thrift shop dress and suit after the paint party, the crochet bouquet, the puzzle picture, the kitchen cake and the colorful Skittles all seemed to showcase the unique, spontaneous, colorful kids that they are.
Some of my favorites . . .
It was so nice to do the whole party in jeans, t-shirts and barefoot!
The boys each loved their shirts and still (5 months later) wear them frequently.
"Sup Shorty" and "Mornin' Lil' Bug" can be heard whenever Derek and Levi wear their shirts and "J-Man" is used on a daily basis. That's just who Justin is right now.
When Erika shows up in her wedding party t-shirt she is greeted with a loving "hey there, Mrs. Hellbusch".
Instead of cutting into the cake (they didn't want to eat it then because they had been snacking on the party goodies) they decided they needed something a little less sweet. There were some leftover chicken nuggets from when we fed the kids before the party started (thank you Kellie and Kate for thinking of that and making sure my little boys were fed).
So, to top off the party and complete the backdrop theme
Hyrum was the after party.
While Bret and Erika opened gifts, Hyrum danced around with his ribbon "bra bras" (we have yet to figure out where he came up with that). He did a slinky dance and kept singing "miracles happen" from Princess Diaries. The fact that he had been eating sugary treats throughout the part, had not had a nap in days, was wound up playing with cousins and it was close to 10pm probably had something to do with this random show of entertainment.
After several hours of coma like sleep, a hangover day to let the drugs run their course through my body and some quiet time in my brain, my headache started to clear. Erika came in and gave me a huge hug and thanked me over and over again for the party. It was exactly the backyard neighborhood party that she had hoped for while still showing off a little of the wedding side of things. The headache, chaos, stress, strain on the budget and all other inconveniences of pulling it all together were immediately washed away as I spent time listening to Erika relive the entire past week and telling me all of her favorite parts.
I think my heart "grew three sizes that day".
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