Wedding Day! - Video

Kenna, getting her hairs did. I canceled my hair appt to watch another bridesmaids baby while she had her LONG hair done, since the appt's were for 7am, and we lacked other babysitting options - last minute she decided not to bring the baby, oh well! I did my own hair, and it looked alright! Whew!

Gorgeous decor. I have one hanging in my house now! - But I removed the birds:-)

Meghan was the Maid of Honour

Ann was the Matron of Honour

Ring Bearer /Master, and Flower Girl. They did an absolutely perfect job!

Cute as can be. Kenna's hair does NOT hold curl well (hence a professional job)...but it was already starting to "unglue"

Grey, watching from the audience, and not too happy about it, apparently:-)

Here comes the Bride!!

"First Kiss"

This was Brooks' ring bearer pillow. They aged a Bible, (mostly by dunking it in water & tea staining it), and sanded the cover etc. It was sooo cute!

The Great Flower Debacle. Wedding was at 12pm, around 11am, we pulled out the flowers dropped off by the florist to distribute and take some pictures etc... there were only 3 bouquets, 1 for the bride, 1 for the matron of honour, and 1 bridesmaid. NO WAY. Call the florist - they claim only 3 were ordered. This cannot possibly be the case, as the price she paid would definitely reflect 7 bouquets ordered, not only 3. Regardless, all we had was 3. We asked the florist if we could have something, ANYTHING that would kinda match...NOW. A lovely guest drove to the florists, and they whipped up 4 more bouquets for us! She got back as quick as she could, and the wedding only started about 8-10 minutes late. Impressive!! This bouquet was mine, and was a "last minute" one:-) Lauren, Ann & Meghan got the original ones, which were slightly different, but not enough to notice. Crisis adverted!

Bolger family picture

The table decor and over all ambiance was wonderful. It was the perfect execution of a vision. Everything looked even better than imagined!

The cake!! It was made by my friend, Sarah, and it was truly stunning. She is not a professional at all, so it was especially phenomenal, I thought. I think it was the best cake I've ever tasted, it was white chocolate cake with vanilla and raspberry butter cream. Recipe on her blog!

Grooms cake! Dale plays the drums, so this was perfect! This was made by another friend, Heather, and she is also not a pro...IMPRESSED. Wowsers.

There were also gluten and sugar free cupcakes made, for those with dietary restrictions

Dad & Mom Bolger

First Dance

Eating the cake!

The advice tree. Each table setting had a little tag on it, (with a bird on there, of course - I made them, haha!:-) And all the guests wrote a piece of advice or encouragement on them, and hung them on the tree. It was really pretty!

Putting his advice on the tree

Dancing! These two were hilarious!!

Here is a video of key moments of the day! This includes a portion of the song I sang - no vows though - you couldn't hear them from where Brian was sitting. They should have been mic'd a bit or something.

Fun & Faces

Well, the wedding weekend is nearing it's end, and I've got to get pictures sorted out to share! A few good friends and family members came into town, and it's been sooo fun to see everyone again. Lots of partying going on around here:-) Here are a few pics to whet your appetite. We got some video footage too!! Stay tuned...

Rehearsing. In the end, we decided to have the whole wedding on the main level and not up the stairs on the stage. The stairs were a little too steep for Lauren to navigate comfortably, coming off her surgery and recovery.

So much discussion was needed to go over all the little details of the day. Every one involved poured their heart and soul into it!

Jacob & Ann. They traveled in from Chicago on Tues (I think...the days are running together, big time!). It was very helpful to have the extra help in preparing, and so nice for the sisters to get to spend a bit of time together

Speaking of sisters! Lauren, Meghan, & Ann

Practice makes perfect:-)

Watching us rehearse. Apparently, we were really hard to see:-)

Walking out...for fake

Good friends, the Franks, traveled down from NY

Uncle Bill & Aunt Jonne. Billy is Dad Bolger's brother. It has been 5 years since we've seen them last, which is waaay too long. They are wonderful people and we thoroughly enjoyed our time with them. Uncle Bill has recently had a kidney transplant, so it was a real blessing that they were able to attend.

Aunt Eileen, and Cousins Gina & Julie. Eileen is Mom Bolger's sister

Jesse & Abigail Frank, (bro & sis). So glad they could come down from NY!

Denise. Another family friend from NY. Many/most of these picture were taken by her...I was pretty busy, and wasn't able to take many pics!

Bridesmaids, and friends. Lindsay, Meghan, and Crystal

Heart Songs

Well, I thought I'd highlight a few old favourites from when I was a teenager. Diamond Rio.

I think I like a little drama in my music:-) There are so many happy songs out there, but I always like the sad or depressing ones. I've heard these particular sad songs a thousand times over.

I love this first song, because of the tune, the harmonies, the vocals and the lyrics. It's a sad song, but one with hope in it too, and I like that. It's my all time fave Diamond Rio song.

"...Not a day goes by that I don't curse myself and all my sins. But I need you to hold on to, while this part of me is dying. Though I haven't kicked the demons that haunt me, I'm trying" I'm Trying - Diamond Rio with Chely Wright



This next one is sad one too...but a perfect country song from start to finish

"And I bless the day I met you, and I thank God that he let you lay beside me for a moment that lives on. And the good news is I'm better for the time we spent together, and the bad news is you're gone" You're Gone - Diamond Rio

Hair

Hair. He has lots of it, and it's adorable. But it always comes time for a cut:-)

 Drinking milk on the morning of the cut

Eating lunch, on the day of the cut.

Love the curls. I hope they're not gone forever!

Long

Smile!

And it's going, going...

Check back soon for the adorable results:-) *I have yet to get a good picture of it...oh the suspense!

Fun Filled

We had a busy and fun filled weekend! Kick it off on Friday night with the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics. We had special Cokes to commemorate the event, and let the kids stay up until after Canada had gone by in the parade of nations.

I love the beginning, where the children choirs from the 4 isles of the UK sang hymns (and Danny Boy, not exactly a hymn) what a great way to kick it off! I loved the opening line, quoting Shakespeare, "Do not be afeard, the isle is full of noises", and I enjoyed the Mr Bean routine, the forging of the rings, and the Queen as a Bond girl too:-) Some of the other parts were too weird and strange for me, but overall it was enjoyable. I really loved the torch at the end, how all the leaves carried in by each nation lit up and were raised to become one giant torch. Unique and cool.

Let the games begin! We love to cheer for both Canada and the US, and only have conflict when they are against each other:-)

Then on Saturday morning I had a baby shower to attend (the nautical cake), and Sat afternoon we traveled 2 hrs to Midlothian/Richmond area to visit our friends that have just moved away (military). Kenna made them a card. To: Sam, Hathr, Grase and Libbe. She actually didn't do too badly, considering she didn't ask for help:-) (Heather, Gracie & Libby, in case you couldn't tell)

Feeding his bunny. He has an active imagination

BLT's for lunch. Pinterest idea...perfect!! It works!

Heather did my nails for Lauren's wedding. The thumbs have a pretty design she drew on there!

The primary purpose for the trip was for Brian to build a deck for their hot tub, at their new house. The secondary purpose was hang out and see their new place! We adults had a great time, and the kids had a blast! They were so busy playing in fact, I didn't get any pics of them! For shame! But we'll be back often, I'm sure!

Getting it all squared up and level in the HEAT of summer. Fun.

Taking a break, watching the clouds roll by with Daddy

Brian and Sam, more breaks. It was excessively hot on Sunday, but even will all their breaks, they were done building it by about 2:30 in the afternoon

Ahoy, It's A Boy - Recipe

Good friends of ours are having a baby, and it's a boy! While I was not in charge of planning this shower, I was asked/tasked with making the cake. The theme for the shower was nautical/Popeye, since Baby's Daddy is in the military. I did my best to oblige with keeping in line with the theme!!

Making cut outs from gum paste. Using cookie cutters and edible food spray for the gold anchors.

A close up. It's done!! The TOP LAYER was 8 inch french vanilla cake, vanilla butter cream, and one layer of black raspberry filling (4 cakes, 2 buttercream layers and 1 fruit filling layer). The BOTTOM LAYER was 12 inch red velvet cake with cream cheese icing (2 cakes, filled). It was really good!

CREAM CHEESE ICING - Recipe from Buddy Valastro (the Cake Boss)
2 pkgs (8 oz each) cream cheese, at room temperature
8 T unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 1/2 C icing sugar, sifted
1 t vanilla extract
pinch of salt

In stand mixer with paddle attachment, beat cream cheese and butter at medium speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Add sugar, vanilla, and salt. Blend on low speed for 30 seconds; beat on medium high speed until fluffy.

All done!

Cute! It turned out so well, I thought!