4 Years of Wedded Bliss!

As my and Jeromy's 4-year wedding anniversary approaches (October 6th), I find myself reflecting a lot on our special day 4 years ago. So in honor of that, I present you with Our Wedding ABCs! (Thanks for the idea, Melissa!)

Attending: We had around 180 or so family and friends with us to share our day. People traveled from as far away as Denver, Boston, and Seattle. What a blessing!

Bridesmaids: I had 4 bridesmaids - Jackie (matron of honor), Kirstyn, Rachel, and Susan, and a junior bridesmaid - my new sister-in-law, Gracia

My wonderful bridesmaids

Catering: The food was done by the chefs at the hotel. We had crunchy pork chops - delicious! We were lucky enough to have my cousin T.J., who is a chef, make our wedding cake!

Dress: I got my wedding dress at the Brides of France. It was simple, understated elegance. Perfect!

Engagement: Jeromy proposed on a cold downtown night at the Holidazzle Parade, as part of an annual Christmas-time date we have. The proposal had been a long time coming, but he still managed to surprise me! We have fun "reenacting" our date every year now!

Flowers: Our flowers were done by a woman named Christa. She does a business on the side (she worked for the Osseo School District for many years), operated out of her basement. You might think that sounds sketchy, but the flowers turned out beautifully! Being married in the fall, we loved incorporating all shades of oranges, yellows, reds, and rusts into the bouquets (and by we, I guess I really mean me...I taught Jeromy the phrase, "The color of the flowers pop against the bridesmaids' dresses."

My dress and our beautiful flowers

Groomsmen: Jeromy had 4 groomsmen - his brother Ethan (best man), and college friends Aaron, Tom, and Adam. We also had 2 ushers - Marshall and Nick.

Jeromy, his groomsmen, and ushers

Honeymoon: Unfortunately, a fancy honeymoon was not in the budget (some day, I hope). We headed up to Grand Marais, on the North Shore. It was beautiful, and we had a wonderful time. Funny story: neither one of us packed a jacket, because it was so hot the weekend of our wedding! We left the Cities when it was around 95, and it was in the 40s and 50s all week in Grand Marais. Needless to say, we were a bit chilly!

Our favorite picture from our honeymoon

Invitations: I absolutely loved our invitations! We used the art that our friend Marva created as part, and our crafty friend Bethany helped create the concept and the actual invitations. They were chocolate brown, tri-fold, with pockets for the RSVP, directions, etc. They were a bit putzy to make, but were so pretty!

Justice of the Peace: As many of you know, my mom is a pastor. One of the most special and memorable things about our wedding was that my mom did half of the service (which included giving the sermon). It was so amazing to have her be such a big part of our ceremony! Pastor Paul, the other pastor at our church (whom we are also close with) did the rest (which included the vows).

My mom in action during the ceremony

Keepsakes: I assume this means favors? Mary, my mother-in-law, made cute little brown satin bags. We put little ziplocs of apple cider mix in the bags. Again, we used Marva's art as little tags to decorate the bags. The cider was so good! People actually commented on how much they liked it months after our wedding! Yum!

Ladies Night: I had a great bachelorette party. We went out to Pizza Luce downtown (sooo good), and then went to Acme Comedy Club. They decked me out with a sash, veil and ring...too fun!

Music: This was another very special and meaningful part of our day. Jeromy's Uncle Bill, who was the organist at Luther for a long time, played the organ for our wedding. We had lots of favorite hymns in the service. Pastor Paul sang a beautiful wedding song he wrote. Also, the music we randomly chose for the processional was the music that my parents listened to when my mom was pregnant with me, and when she delivered me! How special!!

Newlyweds: I'm not sure what this means...we're not newlyweds any more!

Old, New, Borrowed, Blue: I carried my late great aunt's handkerchief (she always had handkerchiefs) during the ceremony, my dress and shoes were new, I borrowed the veil from my matron of honor, Jackie, and I was wearing blue underwear! ;-)

Photography: We used Kay Michael photography. We were blessed with an absolutely gorgeous (albeit sweltering) fall day! I love that there were such vibrant fall colors for our pictures!

One of our favorite pictures - look at those fall colors!

Question Popping: As in proposal? That was already covered under "Engagement." Jeromy totally caught me by surprise, to the point that I actually pushed him away because I thought he was joking. He had to assure me he was serious, at which point I responded with a resounding, "YES!"

Reception: We had our reception at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Bloomington. The room was decorated with tulle and lights, and pretty fall centerpieces. We had a huge jazz/swing band for the music, which was quite a hit!

Our awesome band...it was a bunch of cute old guys

Shoes: I had typical wedding shoes....white, strappy, with little rhinestones. If I were to do it again, I would get fun shoes instead. A splash of color when anyone sees them, and something you can wear again (that's my tip for all soon to be brides out there...)

Trash the Dress: I don't think I could trash something I paid so much for... I got it cleaned and it's tucked safely away in a box. Sometimes Jeromy asks me what I kept it for, and what I'm going to do with it. I don't know, but it didn't feel right to ruin it or get rid of it...

Unique: I think there were lots of little unique, personal touches to our day. Mostly in the way that so many special people contributed their time and talents - art work done by Marva, invite help from Bethany, music from Uncle Bill, my cousin T.J. made our wedding cake, my mom doing part of the ceremony. We were blessed to have so many people help and make our day unique!

The beautiful art that Marva did for our wedding

Vows: We took bits and pieces from several different vows, and put them together to create our own:
I, Jeromy/Rebecca, take you Rebecca/Jeromy, to be my wife/husband from this day forward, to join with you, and share all that is to come. I will love you, honor, and support you and be faithful to you, all the days of my life.

Wedding Woes: Although there were some stressful times during the planning, everything went very smoothly overall. Things went off without a hitch on our wedding day.

X-Rated: Ummmm... anything "x-rated" is between me and Jeromy ;-)

Young Children: We loved having lots of kids at our wedding! We both have young cousins in our families who were present. Jeromy's brother C.J. and our niece McKenzy were three when we got married, and served as our ringbearer and flower girl. They were so stinkin' cute!

McKenzy and C.J., flower girl and ringbearer

Zzzzzzz: We had a beautiful suite in the hotel that our reception was held at. It was wonderful to be able to just go upstairs after the reception. We were tired after a long, wonderful day!

One Month!

Dear Linnea,

I can't believe you are one month old! The last few weeks have gone SO quickly, and yet we can hardly remember what life was like before you arrived! Your dad and I are adjusting well to life as parents, and really enjoying watching you grow and change. Here are some happenings and highlights of your very first month:

You had jaundice...
Because of this, we had to stay in the hospital a little longer than planned. Your dad and I think that your jaundice got bad because you were born tongue-tied (the membrane that attached your tongue to the bottom of your mouth was attached too close to the tip, limiting the mobility of your tongue). They fixed this at the hospital, but it still took several days of treatment at home for your jaundice to get you better. Since then, however, you've been very healthy! YAY!

You had lots and lots of visitors...
Everyone was so eager to meet you, and hold you, and love you up. Your dad commented that he wishes we could bottle that up, or have some way of showing you this when you are 13, so that you know just how loved you are - even before anyone really knew you! That is unconditional love, baby!! Visits have included several from your Grandma and Grandma Weaver, Grammy and Grampy Hommen, uncles and aunts, your WOWZA aunties and uncles, and lots of other friends and neighbors. People have been so generous - bringing you gifts, and bringing dad and I food, so that we could focus our attention on you!

You went lots of places...
We've SO enjoyed taking you places, and have tried to do so as much as possible. So far you have been to: the St. Paul Farmers' Market, several restaurants - brunch with the Carlsons, Leeann Chin with Mom and Dad (you slept the whole time), pizza several times - once with Grandma and Grandpa, once with your aunts and uncles, and cousin Lille, and once with some of your WOWZA/MANZA aunties and uncles. You also went down to St. James to meet your great-grandma Broste. Wow, did she love you! You did really well there, and in the car on the way there and back too! You've been to church a couple times too (your grandma really likes showing you off at church!). We have had so much fun, and look forward to the days that you are more aware of the places we go and the people we see!

You've grown and changed a lot too...
At your "well baby check" when you were a little over a week old, you had already gained your birth weight back, and then some! At last check, you were 8 pounds, 1 ounce (51st percentile), and 21.5" long (92nd percentile). You are a healthy, growing girl!

You are, and have been from birth, VERY strong! When you were just a few days old you would lift your head up, and you continue to do so...becoming more and more sturdy with it. You love lifting your head, and craning it around, taking a good look at the world!

You also can roll a bit! We have put you in your crib on one side (you like laying on your side). We'll come in a few minutes later and you'll be on your other side! Wow! We think you'll be an early mover...you are clearly a woman on the go!

We have noticed that you have become MUCH more alert. When you are awake, you focus really well on people's faces. You have big, bright eyes. (We are still trying to figure out what color they will be. They seem to be getting lighter...maybe you'll have your dad's eyes?) You look at things with such curiosity. We just love it! You make LOTS of cute faces, and we are certain that a real smile is just around the corner! We can't wait!

You are still wearing mostly newborn and 0-3 month clothes, although some 3 month clothes are starting to fit. You are wearing newborn diapers, but we think we will transition to size 1 very shortly.

You have had a couple nights where you have almost slept through the night! Typically you are down for the night around 10, and then up between 1:30 and 2:30, and then again between 5:00 and 6:00. The time varies a bit, but you are definitely becoming a better sleeper!

We are so thankful for you, Linnea! We have loved getting to know you, and watching you grow and change this month. We look forward to all that is to come!!

Love, Mom and Dad