Dancing the Night Away

The DJ did a great job of getting everyone on the dance floor--and keeping them there (: I had so much fun dancing with all of the "Stormies"--there were 8 of us at the wedding all from the same high school volleyball club team! Most of us went to Las Vegas in April for Kari's bachelorette weekend, but we hadn't all been together for eight or nine years...possibly since my wedding! We all had a great time together. Not much has changed since high school, everyone was still as goofy and crazy as ever! To carry on the tradition, Renee had the DJ play Summer Lovin' from Grease for us to dance & sing to. (: Here's a picture of us all together:

Melissa Owen, Dr. Leslie Carey, Renee (Purdy) McKenna, Tamarah (Allen) Sato, Kari (Conklin) Harrington, Danielle Owen, Jaimi (Gregory) Pichler, and me, Gretchen (Hecht) Ruddick (:
Melissa, Les, me, and Jaimi

Me, Jaimi, Melissa, and Kari

Tam's husband, Justin, dancing with their daughter, Grace (:

View from our table...

I just had to get a picture with the beautiful bride!

The Bride and Groom dancing with their parents as the reception came to an end.

The Reception

Everything was decorated beautifully and SO creatively! The reception was inside the Great Hall and each table was named after a landmark in eastern Oregon. Our table was the South Sister...and I'm pretty sure we had the most fun!

Me, Kari (Conklin) Harrington, Karlin Conklin (Kari's Mom), Melissa Owen, Annette Owen (Melissa and Danielle's Mom), Danielle Owen, and Tamarah (Allen) Sato with her daughters, Kira and Grace.
(Josh was taking this picture and I'm not sure where Tamarah's husband, Justin, was...but he was at our table, too.)

There was a candy buffet and open bar available throughout the reception.

We all sat down to salad and bread, and then dinner was served shortly after. Josh had salmon and I had stuffed chicken with yummy mashed potatoes...it was all very delicious!

Renee and Jeff cutting the cake

The father of the groom performed a tap dance! He told a story about how he spent hours and hours dancing his colicky baby boy to sleep during the first few months of his life. (: He said he felt honored that Jeff asked him to dance at the wedding. It was very sweet and he did a really great job!

Renee's parents giving a toast.

The Bride and Groom's First Dance

The Ceremony

We spent the first part of the day on Saturday laying out at the pool...and swimming a little. I'm so used to having to be in the water the whole time with the kiddos, which is fine, but it felt nice to get to lounge around and talk with Josh. We didn't have to be at the wedding until 4:00, so we were able to relax and take our time getting ready.

Here I am in my role as the guest book attendant (:
This view of Mt. Bachelor was the backdrop for the ceremony.

The wedding was beautiful! Renee and Jeff did an amazing job of planning out every detail. There were so many things that made the occasion extra special!
Dwight walking Renee, his first-born daughter, down the aisle.

Dwight also got to lead the couple in their vows and officiated the ceremony!

Pouring of the Unity Sand
Introducing Mr. and Mrs. McKenna!!

The Happy Couple

Another Happy Couple (:

Our Condo

On Friday, Josh and I spent the whole day together...just the two of us...while some of the wedding party went golfing and the bridesmaids got pedicures. We drove to Bend to check out granite colors for our new house at Intrepid. They have a big warehouse with a huge selection of granite slabs, so we were able to do some planning for our kitchen and bathrooms. From there we went to the Old Mill District to eat lunch and shop a little. It was so nice to be able to be spontaneous and not worry about getting back to the kids. We ate ice cream and sat in the sun...then decided to go to a movie (Get Smart).

Here are some pictures of our condo:
We stayed in the Wildflower Condos in Sunriver where we were within walking distance of the pool, the shops, and the wedding location (the Great Hall). It was very nice and peaceful!
The living room
Bedroom

Cool circular soaking tub (:

Anniversary/Wedding Weekend Recap

I've been trying to sit down and blog about our weekend for a few days now. We had so much fun and took way too many pictures--and now I'm struggling to condense it all into a few posts and actually come up with the words to write about it. So, here it goes:

Thursday, July 10th was our 9 year wedding anniversary! We celebrated by going to Sunriver for the weekend, which also coincided with Renee and Jeff's wedding and all the festivities surrounding their big day. My best friend, Jaimi, flew into Eugene from San Francisco on Thursday morning and we spent a few hours with the kids before driving to Sunriver. Jaimi's last visit was just days before Griffin was born (she was planning to be there for his birth, but he didn't cooperate), so this was her first time meeting him in person (: We got all packed up and left the kids in the loving hands of Grammie and Grandpa (Josh's parents) for 3 nights. Well, they first spent the afternoon with Aunt Katrina and Finley until G&G got off work. We hadn't been away from our boys for more than two nights at a time, and it had been 2 years since Josh and I had been away on our own (without kids or high schoolers!). It was a much needed vacation for us!

We arrived in Sunriver just in time to get Jaimi to the wedding rehearsal at 4:00. She was a bridesmaid and I was the guest book attendant. I didn't have to be at the rehearsal so Josh and I got a snack and checked into our condo during that time, and then we met up with the wedding party for the rehearsal dinner. Jeff's parents reserved a restaurant called Marcello's and graciously hosted all the drinks, dinner, and dessert! Everyone had a great time visiting with friends and family of the bride and groom--the excitement grew as the evening went on!

On to the pictures:

Josh and I-
Celebrating 9 Years of Marriage!
Dr. Carey and Jaimi
Leslie graduated from medical school in May and just started her residency in Ventura, Ca.

Les, Jaimi, and I

Jeff's mom, Jeff, and Renee standing as Jeff's dad gave a toast.

Me, Jaimi, Renee, and Leslie

The Sheldon Stormies

Renee and her Dad

Dinner with Friends

We got to go out to dinner tonight at Sushi Domo to celebrate Jill's birthday! The Fullers share our love for sushi and we all had been craving it for so long! It was so yummy and well worth the wait (;

This was Aaron and Lindsey's first time trying sushi! They were very brave...and ended up finding some rolls that they liked (:

I just love the colors and presentation!

Happy Birthday, Jill!!

4th of July

We spent the day hanging out at the pool where the Bensons were house sitting. Our neighbors, Karl, Shaun, and Konnor, came along with us (we all rode our bikes there), and we joined the Bensons and Chases for swimming, BBQing, and fireworks. The Fullers and Alverts were there for a little while to swim, too.

This was Josh's first time in the pool this summer. The kids loved getting to play with Daddy in the water--he's so much fun (: Griffin was so comfortable and confident in the pool! He floated around with only water wings on and didn't want to be held (: However, he swims with his mouth wide open so kept getting big gulps of water when he wasn't expecting it. So, besides several big coughing fits, he loved it! Ronan did a lot of swimming without water wings. He can stand up in the shallow end and swim underwater to the steps & back. He hasn't quite figured out how to tread water and swim with his head above water, so he stays close to the edge of the pool and the steps.
Griffin warming up after swimming.
Becca, Robin, and I just moments before Robin jumped in the pool to rescue Sadie!
They were floating around on this floaty, then Ronan got out of the pool and as he was trying to get back onto the floaty (in the deep end) he sat right next to her and they both fell into the water. Becca and I saw it happening and I went to the edge thinking they would both pop up on their own. Ronan did, but Sadie kept going under...and before I knew it Robin jumped in and got Sadie. It all happened so fast! Sadie was pretty scared, but thankfully she was just fine.
Once we finally got the kids (including Josh!) out of the pool we ate dinner and let the kids play while we waited for it to get dark.
Ryan, Sadie, Ronan, Griffin, and Ben
Our Family
(Griffin- 19 months, Ronan-so close to being 4)

Ronan and Sadie were inseparable! They love each other and play so well together. (:

Robin and her mom, Betty.

Watching Mark get the fire pit ready to make s'mores!

The Turanskis got there just in time to roast some marshmallows and watch fireworks.
Kelly with Eli and me with Griffin

We managed to get all the kids to sit on a blanket while Josh and Aaron lit some fireworks. Can you believe that Sadie is the only girl out of four families represented here! It's crazy!
Sadie, Tyler, Cohen, Ben, Luke, Ryan, Ronan, Griffin, Eli, and John

Almost all of the fireworks were smoke ones--not too exciting for us adults, but still entertaining for the kids (:

We all left around 9:30 to go to Alton Baker park to watch the big firework display at the Art & the Vineyard Festival. We were hoping to meet up with the Henrys and Williams', but the fireworks started as we were crossing the footbridge to get to the park, so we parked our bikes on the bridge and watched from there. We had a great view! It was the perfect ending to such a fun-filled day!

If you want to see more pictures you can check out the photo album on the left hand column of the blog (: