Ethan loved going for stroller rides with his big cousins. Sorry about the girly stroller, kid.The rehearsal..... Ryan and his beautiful bride, Ashley. Her brother, Ryan, officiated. (He graduated with me.)
My brother Nick and his wife, Angie at the rehearsal dinner.
My brother Adam and his wife, Lora at the rehearsal dinner. The San Francisco kids.
Daniel and I. Color coordinated. I swear, I did not plan that. But we do have a tendancy to do that for weddings and other fancy occassions.
My cousin Kyle and Daniel. Any single ladies out there interested in a tall, red head with a North Dakotan accent, a wild side and a love for traveling?
Cousins - Avery and Isabelle
Isabelle walked down the aisle with Grandma and Grandpa. I was told later that it might have been a good thing - Isabelle kept Grandma occupied and didn't give her much time to think and cry about her baby getting married.
Ryan did a great job officiating. It was a cool message about how God has chosen your mate for you; they are your gift, someone to complement and complete you.
The boys - Grant, Nick, TJ, Nick Steffes, and Adam
I later realized this was the best picture I have of the bride and groom together from that day. Man, its hard to take pictures when you have 2 kids to look after!
My parents.....celebrating 39 years of marriage that day too!
The scene.
Grandma and Isabelle. Someone's getting sleepy.
Me, Ethan and Daniel. Who knows where Isabelle was at this time...playing with the cousins, probably. Ethan was attached to my hip the entire night. Stranger danger setting in, I guess.
Later in the night, after the crowd was fed, the toasts and all the fomalities were done it was party time. It got cold that night - 46 degrees! In August?? Only in northwest Iowa.
After hours....only a few of us stayed up way later than we should have, braving the cool air and drinking all the leftover alcohol we could find. Those are the best moments, spending time with relatives from out of town that we don't get to see often enough, staying up late talking and remembering relatives and other events where we have done this same thing. Mom, Dad, Daniel and I, TJ and Erin, Nick, Adam, Uncle Matthew, Aunt Gaye, Aunt Becky, Aunt Debby, cousin Kyle....maybe we can do this again at Courtney's wedding in June.
Bennett was a trouper, that kid knows how to close a party down! Takes after his dad.
Breathing a sigh of relief....all went well and now they can relax a bit!
Ethan made a new friend, Jordan, Ashley's niece, the next morning at the gift opening.
Gift opening under the Big Top.
Mommy and Ethan - Daddy in the background. Everyone is bright-eyed and bushy-tailed...maybe not Daniel....those dark glasses are deceiving!
Everyone was together so we also had a little birthday party for Avery, 5.
Isabelle loves to have her cousin Bryson driver her around the farm in the gator.
This was the other motorized toy of the weekend. A scooter we borrowed for my 90 year old grandpa to get around in. The kids got a hold of it as soon as Grandpa left the wedding..and were tearing around on it all night! It was so funny, I would be talking to someone and then outside the tent, I would see a silhouette of this scooter and 3 little boys flying by! Sure hope its rightful owner doesn't notice the shocks are a little off now.
Isabelle got in on the fun on Sunday. Bryson was happy to chauffeur her around on the scooter.
The farm looked amazing. Absolutely beautiful. A lot of time and hard work by my parents and brothers was put into it and it really paid off. It was so fitting to have the last Smith wedding at the farm, given all the other parties we've had out there. The sherriff even drove by earlier in the week....ha! I don't think we've been on their party radar since the 90's! 
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