Tuesday, February 12
Now, back to last Tuesday. When I was posting my blog that day we had had snow and then freezing rain. I did not realize how much snow we'd gotten until I went outside to do some shoveling. Ugh!! Miki and Ingo were also out there shoveling, and then when Dick got home from work he joined in too. They got the job done. Then the five of us (Dick and I, Miki and Ingo, and Kicki) gathered around our tiny kitchen table and ate the Southwest Quesadillas I had made. I made a lot, even some extra ones filled with leftover scrambled eggs and bacon! But we almost licked the platter clean!
Wednesday, February 13
I somehow took almost no pictures on Wednesday. I made sausage and pancakes, both blueberry and chocolate chip, for breakfast. Miki finished up everything for the wedding guest gift bags, including 5 Hershey kisses inside each of those boxes.
I made sweet and sour chicken and fried rice for dinner, and Anthony, Lori, and the boys joined us here.
Thursday, February 14
On Thursday morning we all were up bright and early, getting everything packed and into the vehicles. We left for Lancaster County shortly after 8 AM. It was a bright, sunny day and the ice-coated snow glistened.
Dick and I stopped in at Sam's place first to unload our stuff, then went to our favorite A & M Pizza in Manheim to FINALLY see Katrina for the first time in over ten years!!! Oh my goodness! I was just as smitten with her as I was when she was a baby! She is absolutely delightful! Her accent just melts me!! We had so much fun eating lunch with her and Miki.
After lunch Miki went back to Fred and Deb's where she, Ingo, and Kicki would be staying. I took Dick to his parents' house. I forgot to mention that his knee started giving him trouble on Wednesday, and by Thursday morning it was so painful he had to use a cane! We had brought our heat pad along, and he was taking ibuprofen. He was glad for the chance to just sit instead of gallivanting around with Katrina and me.
Katrina and I had the best time! Her boyfriend in Sweden asked her to get him some cinnamon fireballs. So we went several places in Lebanon in search of them, only to see later online that Walmart and Target have them in big plastic containers. But we were running out of time to go to either of those places.
As we drove, we had some heart to heart talks and plenty of laughs, even a few tears. It was so precious. The last time she was here in the states she was 15 in October 2008. Here's a picture from back then! Do you recognize these people?
Katrina was the first one to make me a grandma back in 1993. She got ALL the attention when they came over here that Christmas.
On Thursday evening we hung out at Fred and Deb's house. It was a great time. Some of Jess's family were there, also Fred and Deb's daughter Laura's family.
We slept at Sam's house that night.
Friday, February 15
On Friday afternoon we were at Jess's parents' house helping with last minute wedding prep. What a fun time!! Miki and Kicki were there, Katrina was there, Bjorn and Jess were there, of course Jess's parents were there, as well as her younger brother, Bjorn's dad Krister was there from Sweden, we were there. Everyone had jobs to do. Pictures to put into frames, errands to run, lists to coordinate, cakes to bake, chocolates to make, and more.
We were sent on some errands, and in our driving around we passed two of my childhood homes!
The rehearsal, at a church in Columbia, was held in the early evening, followed by a yummy meal of sandwiches and goodies in the church hall. Sam and Jenn and the kids were there too because Sammy was a ring bearer.
When we left the rehearsal I found out that Jeremy and Mike were getting close to the Airbnb in Lancaster City that they would be staying in with some good friends. It was his birthday, and I wanted to see him!! So we decided to drive to Lancaster before going to the Airbnb that we and Anthony's family would be staying in near Mount Joy.
We got to Jeremy and Mike's place about the same time they did. It was an amazingly redone city house!!! They were going to be going out with friends, so we didn't stay long. Just as we were ready to go out the door I remembered that I wanted a picture with Jeremy on his birthday. So I handed my phone to Mike to take a picture. We started taking off our coats, but when I looked down I remembered that the last time I had a picture taken in that top I looked so heavy. So I decided to keep my coat on for the picture. I looked up and Jeremy was doing the exact same thing!!! He looked at me and said, "Or maybe we'll keep them on and cover things up!" We CRACKED UP!! And there was no getting serious after that!!
Then we drove to the Airbnb that we and Anthony and Lori's family would be staying in. We got there about exactly the same time they did. What a wonderful house it was! So comfortable, clean, and beautiful! Four bedrooms, two bathrooms, living room, kitchen/dining room, and laundry. We loved it.
Saturday, February 16
Because the wedding was only starting at 2:30 in the afternoon on Saturday, we had a leisurely morning. Lori worked on my earrings. (Miki had already made my necklace,bracelet, and earrings earlier in the week, but I wanted the earrings reworked.) Hunter enjoyed the toys that were there. Dick used the heating pad on his knee. At lunch Anthony picked up some pizzas for us. Sam had to take Sammy to the wedding early to get dressed with the guys, so he dropped Jenn and Bianca off at our house. They got dressed for the wedding there too. Bianca looked SO CUTE!! I don't know why I wasn't taking more pictures.
The wedding was at a beautiful church in Columbia. Just the week before, Destiny had moved to the outskirts of Columbia with her mom!! Wow, that made it so much easier to pick her up than if she still had lived in Reading 45 minutes away!!
We sat in the front with Katrina. Miki was ushered in later and sat beside Dick. When I had Katrina take this selfie we had a photo bomber, hahaha!! That's Fred back there!
As we waited, I turned around and saw our family, and my heart was almost bursting. I just had to quickly stand up and take a picture of them. (Anthony and Austin hadn't come in yet.) The guy in the foreground is Fred and Deb's son-in-law Mark, Laura's husband. Their children were also in the wedding.
Here come Sammy and Payton, Mark and Laura's daughter.
This was Bjorn getting his first look at his beautiful bride! Very emotional. I love him so much.
Pastor Dustin gave a wonderful relationship message from Matthew 18 and 19.
Connor (Mark and Laura's son) and Sammy stood like little soldiers during the entire service. And it was not a short one either!
Saying their vows.
They took communion together after their vows. Bjorn's dad (looking on from the side) was his best man.
After the wedding a lot of pictures were taken. Here's one of Dick and me with Bjorn and Jess.
And this one is Bjorn and Jess with his cousins who were present. Except Hunter, who was acting like a terrible two at the time and refused to stand there, hahaha!
They did take a picture of our whole family, but I didn't think of asking someone to take it with my camera. So I don't have that one. I could have taken more pictures, but it is so rare for so much of our family to be together, and I just hated to miss any conversations and all the fun of being together.
From the wedding we went across the Susquehanna River to the lovely John Wright Restaurant. We drove across on the "old" bridge for the first time in years, looking across at the "new" bridge. Not exactly new anymore, haha! But when you can remember something being built, even if it was in your teens, it seems new, right?
And that's all for this post. The reception was fantastic!!! I'll write all about that in the next post.
2 comments:
Ah, heck. I was't there but I'm tearing up anyway. Jess was a beautiful bride and I LOVE that photo of Bjorn when he sees her coming down the aisle. The little kids are precious. Such fun and so much love and so many happy faces!! Blessings everywhere!!
Such a beautiful wedding! I love that Bjorn had his Dad as best man, and the look on his face as he saw his bride was priceless!
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