{ Goin' to the Chapel }

I have three younger brothers. Last weekend, the middle brother {Emery} married his sweetheart, Becky. Emery operates heavy equipment for a "mobile unit" of a rock crushing company, meaning he travels all over Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and sometimes northern California running gigantic machinery at rock quarries. Becky lives in central Oregon, and their wedding was held in Bend, a lovely city in the high desert of central Oregon.

Mike and I drove down on Thursday to have a little extra time with the fam. Aside from accidentally going into Portland {instead of around it}, we had a fun little 7+ hour road trip--not nearly as lengthy as the 9+ hours of solid drive time it took the folks from Idaho!

People, let me tell you: Bend is cold. Beautiful, yes; sunny most of the time, yes; frequent little snowflakes drifting down from the occasional cloud even when it's sunny, yes; and cold! None of my winter coats fit, on account of Miss Peanut, and because it's pretty springy where we live, I was not about to buy a maternity coat I'd only need for a couple days. Once we got to Bend and the daytime temps stayed in the 30s to low 40s, I may have second-guessed that decision!

Together with my parents, my other two brothers Joe and Obie, Mom's friend Sharon, my cousin Christy, and Josh {Emery's best man}, we stayed at a huge, gorgeous rental house in west Bend. It was so spacious and comfortable and perfect for our crowd. All of "our people" who came to the wedding {15 total} spent a lot of time hanging out at the house--there was plenty of room for all, plus a pool table downstairs and a hot tub outside. {Mom ended up being the only person who took advantage of the hot tub, unfortunately!}

The kitchen is always the center of activity!

Mt. Bachelor, seen from the end of the street our house was on

View from the top of our street--see the Three Sisters on the horizon?

The first night we had dinner at the Deschutes Brewery Pub. The one thing Mike really wanted to do that weekend was tour the Deschutes Brewery, which is headquartered in Bend. {All the guys went on the tour on Saturday afternoon, after the wedding, while the girls drove to Sisters and poked around girly shops.} Here is Mike enjoying a beer at the pub.

Friday was pretty low-key. Here Joe, Sharon, and Mike are making hamburger patties for the wedding reception. This photo was taken just before Mike and I took a nap. We were worn out from all the, you know, chillaxin'.

Emery spent Friday night at our house too. We played Skip-Bo, and he won every time. We weren't even trying to let him win out of respect for his impending nuptials!

Saturday morning was mild and sunshiney. I managed to cut my left ankle and my right knee whilst shaving my legs that morning. Both of which injuries were clearly visible below the hem of my knee-length dress, but luckily Mom had band-aids and everything was nice and unnoticeable by wedding-time. {That's what I told myself, anyway. At least I can blame these injuries on a) hurrying, and b) the awkwardness of working around a big belly...not just pure lack of skill.}

The wedding was at Hollinshead Barn, a lovely renovated barn in a park. Lots of natural wood, the perfect rustic setting for a country wedding.

Deep breaths...don't lock your knees...

Obie was a groomsman

Joe was also a groomsman; Christy was one of the bridesmaids

The kiss

Mr. and Mrs.!

Grilled hamburgers and hot dogs for the reception!

Mom had the cutest aprons and chef hats made for the grill crew: Becky loves sock monkeys, so a friend of Mom's embroidered sock monkeys on the aprons.

Cutting the cake--it looks like they're going to be nice to each other!

I guess not...

It wasn't 'til we got home and I downloaded my memory card that I realized how few photos I took. That makes me sad. I don't see my dad and brothers dressed up very often, and they all looked really sharp!

After we sent the lovebirds off on their honeymoon--a night in Portland, followed by a week or so in Hawaii--the rest of the day was spent relaxing with family and friends. The guys toured the Deschutes Brewery while the girls went to Sisters. We met up for dinner, then spent the evening at our rental house, talking and laughing 'til everyone literally fell in bed!

Sunday was Easter; we were up bright and early to clean the house and head home. Mike and I had debated what to do--it just feels wrong not to go to church at all on Easter--and decided to attend a church in Bend that is part of our church's church-planting network, then drive home. After saying goodbye to everyone, we had some time to kill before church, so we went to a park along the Deschutes River.

The river is so calm, it seems more like a lake

Lots of pretty houses

It. Was. So. Cold.

With the help of a Bella Band, still wearing pre-pregnancy skinny jeans--yay!!

The only photo I got of the two of us all weekend!

Happy Wedding + Happy Marriage, Em and Becky!!