Yakima River Festival 2011

The young people stayed in tents on the river

What's this about the Yakima River Festival? Just kidding--I'm titling my post today that way because we had all the ingredients of a festival---great food, BBQ chicken and ribs, music, festivities, lots of people, tents and dancing! AND, it took place on the Yakima River shoreline. But today was really all about my youngest brother Charlie's wedding, and what a beautiful wedding it was!

The scene was at the river cabin of Charlie's good friend John and Kris's sister....they have a beautiful house on the river and it was the perfect setting for a summer wedding. White paper lanterns hung from the trees, Charlie's fiancee, Kris, made an arbor decorated with baby's breath to say their vows under and the tables were decorated with vintage linens and plates. Kris's dad is a grill meister extraordinaire, and along with help from his son, Josh and my brother, Bill, they did a fantastic job cooking the chicken, and boneless pork ribs. Friends made fantastic salads to help feed the guests that numbered over 100. Delicious!

the grill meisters

Kris and Charlie's girls walked in with their family's beloved dogs on leashes, and then Charlie and Kris shared their vows....It was obvious that Charlie and Kris are very very happy together, and that both families are very happy they found each other. T

The weather was perfect...there was a slight wind rustling through the trees that kept the bugs away, and temps were in the 70's....The table were decorated with mason jars with roses and many photographs of Kris and Charlie throughout their engagement....

We had lots of fun dancing...I got to see my sister and her husband dance, something I've never seen. Somewhere my oldest brother found a Bob Marley type of headgear and brought it out and placed it on Charlie's head. Well, that just brought out Charlie's ham-it-up side even more, and we just laughed and laughed at this antics...Well, maybe they were laughing at mine, too! The young people had fun, and the older people had fun! I think my young nieces were surprised that Aunt Jeannie could get out on the floor and boogey! And that I even knew how to do the Cha-Cha Slide! (Those girls didn't know how to do the cha-cha, however! I turned around to see what they were doing and they were just all wiggling and shaking their cute little butts!)

Silly Charlie and silly me!

All the families and friends pitched in to help from making grocery store runs to decorating, to making salads and getting ice.....and when it was all done, we came together again to help them clean up so they could rest and relax.....Here are Kris and Charlie placing their rings....

There was so much love and joy radiating everywhere, it just made my heart so happy. Charlie got choked up several times and so did we as his family....I had tears of joy from laughing so hard and then tears from having to say goodbye to my family as they scattered, but I know I will see them again, probably more so now that we are traveling the country....Here are a couple of photos sharing the joy of the day.....

It was wonderful for all of my four siblings to be together today...we traded more stories, and more anecdotes about our childhoods...since we are all spread out over the country--Massachusetts, California, Michigan, Washington and Indiana, it's hard to get all of us together at one time. Not everyone was able to be at the family reunion a couple of weeks ago, so the wedding yesterday was where we all came together. We got some great photos and reestablished our connections with one another. I got to talk to my nieces more and got to know them better, and their friends as well. Our family is the kind of family that doesn't do very well with phone calls or emails, or remembering birthdays but when we come together, the love just comes pouring out. We KNOW the love is there.....It was hard to say goodbye to everyone today, the day after the wedding, but we know we will come together again, hopefully for a happy occasion, and not a sad one.....

- August 6, 2011

And I just want to say a very public thank you and I love you to Eldy, who drove 1300+ miles from Washington to Arizona the first time so I could see my family at the reunion in Arizona, then 1300 miles BACK to Washington again, killing our fuel and monthly budgets so I could be with all my brothers and sister for the wedding. Thank you, honey!