pre-wedding madness

Last month was one of the busiest and most fun that I've had in quite awhile. That's because it was wedding month!!! Yes, for those who didn't know, my little sister sydney has abandoned her maiden name of "schindler" and is now an official "sherwood". In some ways it's strange to think that she is married now, but mostly I'm just happy that she is settled and entering this next exciting phase of her life! Of course, we all know that getting married young isn't something thats very shocking to me.. Syd is already 21-- I was 19 when I tied the knot ;).

Now that the wedding is over and life has gone back to normal, I figured it was about time I start updating my blog on all of our adventures! This post will be all about the pre-wedding acticities of those couple weeks. I'll get to the actual wedding day next time.

Around 4 pm on July 10th, my parents rolled into town with their van packed to the gills. They had hauled out all of Syd's virginia wedding shower gifts, presents for the little boys, and all the decor and trimmings to make the wedding go off in true Schindler fashion. Syd had arrived the week before to get a head start on her own last minute errands, and so she drove up to the Salt Lake Airport that day the get Jessica and Sawyer (Nate came a few days before the wedding--Dental School doesn't allow for weeks and weeks of free days ;) ). So by 7 pm that night, the schindlers were under one roof, and project wedding was underway! The week was consumed with running errands, assembling party favors and sewing endless table runners--to name a few things. But we were all together and felt so joyful preparing for the big day! We managed to squeeze in a few non wedding activities, and just had a blast being in each others company. Unfortunately, I left the picture taking mostly to everyone else, so I've had a time of it tracking down pictures. Here are the ones I do have, and I may end up posting up more as I get them.

We had a fun filled bachelorette party one night at PF Changs. The food was delish, and the conversation was fabulous. It was a great way to send off Sydney into married life!

Ok, so my last post I announced that we are going to be having a girl, but I never took the time to write about my experience in finding out. I actually found out at 17 weeks instead of the more traditional 20 weeks. My parents were in town and we decided it was worth paying for an extra ultrasound so that they could be there for the big reveal! So one afternoon, my parents and Jake and I piled into the van and drove up to the ultrasound facility. We met up with Wesley who had just gotten off work.

With my heart beating right out of my chest, we marched into that office. I pulled up my shirt, let the man put some goo on my tummy, and we were off! For those who didn't know, Wesley and I were really hoping for a girl. Although it would've been so nice for Jake to have a brother, I've just felt so strongly that he would do really well with a sister! (Plus, if I'm being completely honest, I've also been daydreaming a lot about bows, and pink, and flower headbands, and frilly bum underwear.) After a few minutes of prodding my tummy with his ultrasound wand thing, the doctor announced that he could identify the gender. And then he typed three wonderful words across my baby's ultrasound picture--"it's a girl".

I sat frozen for just a second, and then began badgering him. "are you sure?? is it because you can't see a thingy?? or is it for sure a girl?? show me the part!" It was probably a bit rude of me, but he patiently showed me his findings until I was satisfied. At this point I said something so ridiculous. With tears in my eyes, I looked at that man and said "OH!!! BLESS YOU!!!!"

It was such a wonderful experience, and I'm so happy that my parents were able to be there with us. Thanks mom and dad, for coming! (and for paying for that ultrasound;) ).

After the appointment, we stayed at the mall for awhile and let Jake run around the playground, and Oma and Opa even took him for a train ride! It was an awesome day.

Jake loved having so many people in his house. Everywhere he looked, someone was willing to play with him!

One afternoon we left the kids with the men and took off for a relaxing pedicure. We actually went to the Acaydia school under the Wells Fargo building in Provo, and it was a wonderful experience. I'll never go anywhere else again for a pedicure, as long as I'm living in utah :)

The day before the wedding we got together for a casual lunch at the Pizza Factory with the Thelins. It was so much fun getting together with our side of the family in a more relaxed setting. I loved having the chance to catch up with all my cousins, and it was awesome to see the little kids run around together a bit. I didn't get any decent pictures, and I can't believe we didn't take a group shot!!! But I do have a couple with the 4 kids that were able to come to the lunch.

Boyd wasn't too excited about posing for those particular pictures. But still, what cute kids huh!?

Last thing I want to write about is actually from the day after the wedding. We met up with Jerai and her little boy and my aunt and uncle at the Scera pool. After the whirlwind wedding day, it was so nice to chill out at the poolside for an afternoon! Here are just a couple photos from that.

Next post, I will write all about the wedding day. til then, cheers!!!