Showers

Erika's Bridal Shower

August 2nd

Erika has watched her brothers attend d'Evegnee parties, seen pictures of d'Evegnee parties and heard her mom admire d'Evegnee parties so for her bridal shower she really wanted a Sarah d'Evegnee party.  It was even more than she expected and was a perfect reflection of Erika.

When we got the invitation in the mail Erika was so excited because it completely fit her personality.  

The food was fabulous!  

The way Sarah had the party set up was perfect for Erika.  She doesn't like to be the center of attention and have all the focus on her and she was worried about giving the right reactions to the gifts she would open so when Sarah told us how it would work it took the pressure off of Erika.  We played a game that let us learn about each other, from each other and give our gift to Erika.  It broke it up with laughter, a few tears and included all of us as the spotlight and Erika was able to really enjoy it.

We all left with a party bag.  Our favorite was the bookmark that Sarah had made. 

Thank you, Sarah!!!

Kate's Baby Shower

September 1st

During my planning time for the wedding I would have these overwhelming moments that would temporarily suck the fun out of it.  My refreshing relief was in planning a baby shower for Kate and Brooklyn.  It gave me a different set of colors and ideas to pour over and the excitement over a baby girl for Kate was just the mental and emotional high I needed to get back into party mode.

I had so much fun doing a full set of monthly onesies for Brooklyn, cutting out and gluing small pieces for the invitation, making a diaper motorcycle and planning the game, prizes and food.  It felt great to have fabric and paper crafts scattered all over.

The food was delicious!  We could not go wrong with Zuppa salad, a personal made Panini and fruit.  The game was fun!  Baby Bunko got everyone talking, playing and laughing.  The gifts showered clothes, diapers and baby essentials over Kate.

I love this picture!  It looks like Kate is wearing the outfit and she is so tiny.  Completely opposite of how she felt only a couple of weeks before Brooklyn's birth date.

Baby Brooklyn

B & E . . . the Receptions

Thornton, Colorado
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.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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.

The "formal" side of the backdrop
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

The "fun" side of the backdrop
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 . . .

We had disposable cameras for the kids to take their own pictures with and Korben took that job seriously! We loved watching him push his glasses down so that he could see through the camera to take his pictures and since we had an extra shirt for him he fit in as our backup photographer.

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".

 I have no idea where Erika learned to frisk her man's booty


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

they have pictures of feeding each other chicken nuggets instead of the traditional cake.

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".

B & E . . . the Wedding Day

(That's Bret & Erika, not breaking and entering)

August 16th, 2012

I have put off writing about this day because I cannot form an adequate sentence to describe the beautiful experience that it was.  Even if I included all 904 pictures the blessing and emotions of the day would not come through.  And, how am I supposed to select only a few pictures to include in the family album?

Watching my daughter marry someone that is so good to her and for her and who brings out the very best in her was most definitely one of the top highlights of my life.  Witnessing their marriage in the temple was a magical moment as they, through covenants made to each other and to God, became their own eternal family unit.  I have never seen Erika so calm or peaceful (no bouncing leg, twiddling fingers, playing with hair or fidgeting). 

Erika went to Utah a couple of days early to meet up with Bret and his family.  They had to get a Utah marriage license and also wanted to meet up with Mike and Kate to have some pictures taken while the temple grounds were a little (or a lot) less crowded.  Poor Bret had been driving all day long from Colorado and then had to put on a suit and look awake for pictures.  

Thanks, Mike and Kate! 

Erika stayed with Mike and Kate for the couple of days leading up to the wedding.  Kate worked her girly magic on Erika's thin straight hair not only once but twice!  It took hours on her feet which couldn't have been very good for her swollen feet, puffy hands, bulging belly-button hernia or her eight-month-pregnant body.  She paid a big price to spoil her niece on her big day.  

I chose this picture knowing that Kate is a bit sensitive about pregnant pictures (the rest of us think she is one of the most adorable pregnant women ever!) and because I love Erika's expression....."I'm getting married today!!!!"  We heard that several times that morning.

While the women worried about hair and clothes and the actual time, the boys were good to entertain themselves.  No stress on their part.  Put on their "church" clothes and get in the car.  Easy peasy.

It was a really good thing they had their individual time for pictures a couple of days earlier because the day of the wedding was beyond crowded and crazy though all of it was a joyful crazy.  When they chose to be married on a Thursday we thought it would be less crowded than say, a Friday or Saturday.  Evidently, it doesn't matter what day of the week it is at the Salt Lake Temple.  They had over 100 weddings scheduled for Bret and Erika's special day (it was exactly nine months from their official first date).

We did have a few minutes for some family shots but not a whole lot of time to pose or chat while having pictures taken.  

After a few group shots and before we were shuffled off the stairs for the next group, Michelle was able to catch a few candid shots.  One of my favorites is of LeRoy and Erika. 

He has given her a goodnight on the forehead since she was a baby, clear up until the last night that she lived at home.  As he gave her this kiss he was completely choked up with emotion.  The last month had been hard on him emotionally even though he was excited for her and completely approves Bret.  After all, she is his little girl.

As we were looking through pictures a few days later, the one of Levi and Erika seemed to capture the highlight of my day.  It was wonderful to be in the temple with Bret & Erika.  I don't want to take anything away from that experience.  But, that joy was multiplied as we met up outside with all of our kids . . . our eternal family. 

We weren't sure if Levi was going to come to the temple or to Colorado for the reception with us but when Erika personally invited him he decided to come to all of it.  When I saw them hugging and laughing like best friends, I couldn't hold my tears back any longer.  What a beautiful moment to see my children love each other and cheer for each other and support each other.  

Most of the group headed to the park where we were going to have a picnic while Michelle, Bret and Erika stayed a little longer to get some pictures.  Kara stayed behind as moral support for the mother of the bride. (Really?  I'm the mother of the bride?) I stayed to pack the camera bag for Michelle and to help Erika change out of her dress once pictures were done. Grandma & Grandpa Fullmer were our designated drivers . . . I was to drunk on happiness to drive in Utah.

It was pretty obvious when they were ready to be done with pictures

Then it was time for a picnic.  

Bret's parents had Cafe Rio catered for us at the park.  The food was great, the company was the best!  We already knew that we liked Bret's family but after having some playtime together it was like we had known each other for years.

Cory had his skateboards with him and was so patient to teach Nathan and Hyrum.  They followed him around the entire time we were at the park. Megan and Katie stayed close by to offer hugs when they scraped their knees and fingers.  When it was time to leave the boys didn't want to come with us.  They wanted to go with Cory, Megan and Katie.

After our early dinner we all went our different ways with plans to meet up in Colorado the next day.

We headed over to Kellie's to play in the pool for a while. The boys had a great time!

  

Nathan finally got up the courage to put his face in the water and was even able to stay underwater for a record 8 seconds.  Not bad at all for a boy who is afraid to have water even splashed in his face in the tub.

Hyrum loved jumping in the water to Kellie.  He isn't afraid of water at all and actually had to be rescued as he bobbed up and down in the water, not realizing that he had gone deeper than he should have.

Derek and Justin had fun goofing off with their cousins (sliding off the sides into the water like a walrus) and took turns watching out for the younger kids. 

By the time we got to Mike and Kate's for the night we were completely worn out!  

It was perfect day!