Wedding Central

This is what the front of our refrigerator has looked like this summer:

We've had quite a few weddings to attend in addition to my brother's wedding in San Diego.

On Troy's dad's side of the family, he has 78 first cousins. Weddings are a frequent occurrence. But on his mom's side, he has two cousins. And they are brothers. And they got married within two months of each other.

The first wedding took place in the Logan temple, so we left our Disneyland trip a day early back in May to make it on time.

This bride planned out every last detail for her vintage inspired wedding. It was the most well thought out, incredibly tasteful display I've ever seen. Go check it out here. Seriously, you'll be blown away. Even her dress was handmade.

Troy's next cousin was married in the Bountiful Temple. We were able to attend the marriage ceremony but missed out on the reception because we had Wicked tickets. We heard they rowed away in a boat after their party instead using the traditional car.

And then there's our dear friend Jimmy. We've been waiting for this guy to get married since our first year of college together. It was worth the wait for him, because his wife fits him perfectly. They've come out to visit us a couple of times in the last few years, so we were happy to give our stamp of approval. Jimmy is the one that takes credit for hooking up Troy and me, so we obviously owe him our gratitude.

We made a little pit stop at the Denver temple before continuing on to Michigan.

Troy was honored to share in Jimmy's special day.

These guys have been troopers as they've been carted around from reception to reception. As long as there are bells to ring, candy to eat, pools to play in, and items from centerpieces to stick on their heads, they are happy campers.

Tonight will be our final wedding celebration of the summer - my brother and his wife of one month are bringing the love to Michigan for another reception!

And They Lived Nashly Ever After

On June 30th, 2012, my baby brother got married.

And since I only have one sibling, you may get a little carpal tunnel in your fingertips as you scroll through the highlights.

Jorden and Aubree were married in the San Diego temple.

It was a perfect 72° day in Southern California. The mid afternoon sun didn't make for the best pictures, but you can tell by their expressions that they didn't care one bit as they walked out of the temple.

Aubree is one of 12 siblings, which meant that the bride's side of the family was significantly larger than our side.

Nash attempted to hijack some of their pictures.

And then Blake joined in with the "drum beating."

And then Troy, being the good example he is, joined forces as well.

We decided it was time to distract the boys away from the main pictures. The temple grounds and the gigantic purple flowers were so beautiful I could hardly stand it.

But nothing works better than the nie-night for distraction.

Taking the nie-night away results in a struggle.

So, I took a lot of pictures of Blake while Troy and Nash battled it out.

Troy's opinion of taking pictures.

But I digress; back to the bride and groom.

Nashy got absolutely covered in dirt in between the wedding and the reception. I predicted this would happen, so I brought another fresh white shirt with me, all ready for him to change into.

The beautiful backyard reception started with a poolside ring ceremony.

Let me tell you how tempting that water was.

Blake stuck centerpiece jewels on our foreheads.

And Nash eventually recruited a friend to splash in the water with him. Thus, white shirt #2 was also destroyed. Shockingly, no one fell in the pool.

Modern bride and groom, updating their statuses during lulls in the receiving line.

Blake captured their first dance on my phone. He loves to take pictures.

My friend Sarah and her family drove from Arizona to surprise Jorden (and us) at the reception. She spent a summer with us when we were younger and it was so great to see her.

We topped off the night with a little dancing.

And then they were off.

Since getting married, my brother landed a sweet job, as a Skycam camera pilot for ESPN and ABC college football games. He recently attended a training in Texas with 11 other qualified applicants for the job. Out of all the trainees, he received 1 of 2 positions. Not that anyone was surprised. We are excited to see where this launching pad takes him, and so happy that he now has a wife to share his journey.