A Perfect Outside Wedding in Idaho

This past weekend I had the wonderful joy of attending my cousin, Kristen's, wedding in Idaho! Brent and I decided that I would head out there without him, since he's in a new job with no vacation days just yet, and plane tickets are expensive. I will say that I hope it's a long while before I'm gone from my love again. I sure missed him!!!

I was able to get out there on Thursday, flying the second leg of the trip with my mom and dad. We got our rental car at the airport in Spokane, then went to Chili's for lunch. {Side note story: A funny thing happened there, when I walked in the door, I was greeted by "Hi Kari!". Lo and behold, one of my teammates from my Africa trip, who lives in the Seattle area, was there in Spokane (about 5-6 hours away) at a convention. It was so fun to see Ken again! Brent thinks that I know almost everyone in the world, so he thought this story just proves his point a bit! :)}

We got to Moscow, Idaho in time for dinner with my family there, and then some of us were invited to a shower for Kristen. It was fun to meet her new family, and to meet some of her friends as well. We've heard a lot about each other, so that was fun to meet in person! And, you might remember last summer Kristen and her friend, Merilee, came to visit me in California. So, it was great to reconnect with Merilee again! Funny to think that last summer we were all single women touring around Southern California, and now all three of us are married!

On Friday we were able to help with lots of wedding stuff, and of course it was all mixed in with perfectly wonderful times of visiting with Barb and Gary's family. That evening, we were really blessed to get to attend one of Heather's concerts! She's an extremely talented musician (remember the violinist at my wedding?!) and that night we were able to enjoy her singing with her choir at school (the University of Idaho). It was a jazz concert, and I can't even begin to tell you how much fun it was!!

Saturday was, of course, THE WEDDING DAY! It was perfect weather (sunny and beautiful during the day!) in a perfect setting (a great little hobby farm owned by some friends of theirs). Like a description of it that I read on Facebook, "it was beautifully simple and elegant all at the same time." It was everything that Kristen and Josh were hoping for!

I have quite a few pictures that I plan on uploading to Facebook when I get the chance, but thought I'd post just a few here so you can get a head's up of what the day looked like. Just perfect!

The bride with her parents:
The bridal party:

My beautiful cousins, Heather, Kristen and Tim:

The Perfect Pair, Kristen and Josh!

The stunning bride!

It really was a perfect day! It was cold by the end of the evening, but the heaters they rented were a great idea. The food was great, the dancing was fun (my uncle and cousin even took me for a spin on the dance floor!), and everyone in attendance just couldn't stop smiling at this lovely couple! You know, I've heard before how you fall so much more in love while attending a wedding, and now I know how true that is! I know there will be many times in life I'll be away from Brent (either every other night while I'm at work, or quilting retreats, or while he's off hunting, etc.) but I don't ever want to go to a wedding without him again. I missed him so much it almost hurt!!! It was good to talk by phone all weekend, though, but of course it's not the same.

On Sunday morning, we went with Barb and Gary to church, then back to their place for a perfect steaks-on-the-grill dinner with their family and Josh's parents. Then we looked at wedding pictures and videos, both mine and Brent's, and Josh and Kristen's! Don't you just love the quickness of modern technology?!

After the standardly long midwest-goodbyes, Mom and Dad and I headed back to Spokane. They dropped me off at my dear friend, Ingrid's place so I could hang out with her and her family for the evening. It was great to see them again as we always have such a fun time together! I love the perfect friendships of kindred-spirits. Even if we only talk once or twice a year and see each other every two years or so, we're able to pick up right where we left off! I sure wish it could be more often than that, but those kinds of friendships are definitely life-long ones!

Monday morning I woke up bright and early to hop on my plane, and let me tell you, I could hardly wait to see that hubby of mine! It was a great reunion again in Wisconsin!

Except for missing Brent, it really was a perfect weekend!