The Main Adventures: Mr. and Mrs. Brandon Winter!!!

This whole week has been focused on getting ready to celebrate my little bros wedding. I headed back home on Thursday hoping to be of some help with all the preparation, but came to find out that they had pretty much everything done by Thursday afternoon. I still headed up because I was very excited to see what had been all done to get ready for this big day. Oh my...what a beautiful site! I couldn't believe all the work they have put into getting that place in shape. My dad made 2 awesome signs, one is at the entrance to the driveway and the other is hanging in the barn, which was made out of a piece of wood 100 years old and came from one of the original hog buildings on the farm. My brother (with help of family and friends) had to clean out the barn, build a bar, rig up security lights, extra outlets, do landscaping, etc. I guess if you haven't figured it out yet...the reception was at the farm...in the barn! Yes, a true down home country bash! The bartender for the evening is the owner of the only bar in town, so he shut his bar down for the entire day and brought his own crew to the farm. The whole set up had to get approved by the state in order for him to do that. Steph and I checked it all out and then sat and chatted with Brandon and Jess for awhile that evening.
Friday during the day Mom, Steph, Brad, Jaxson, Holden and I all went over to Eldora to visit Grandma, Wendy, and Patty. We had a nice lunch at Pizza Ranch and then headed back home to rest and get ready for rehearsal. I was very happy when Heath and Alexandria arrived...it had been a couple days since I'd seen them. We all headed to Kamrar for rehearsal, which was really short and sweet. Then it was off to Pickles for supper. By this time our kiddos were past their bedtimes, so we ate fast and had to jet out.

Saturday was the big day! They had beautiful weather for it and were able to get a bunch of pics outside. The wedding was also short and sweet. Jaxson was pretty entertaining as the ring bearer...he was trying to get Holden to laugh the whole time by playing with the ring pillow. Holden was clapping and saying "yay" during the whole service also keeping everyone entertained. Heath, Alexandria, and I took off right away after the wedding since we were one of the host/hostesses for the reception. Heath ended up taking care of Alexandria while I helped get all the candles lit, tables uncovered, and lights plugged in. Steph helped me with the hostess duties while Heath kept Alexandria entertained. It was fun seeing tons of family, friends, and old neighbors that I haven't seen in such a long time. It was also very entertaining to see people's expressions and hear their reactions to seeing the barn. Many people have memories in that place and it sure did get the folks reminiscing. I know Grandpa Winter was looking down and very proud of all the work and pride Brandon continues to put into the homestead. The wedding party arrived on a horse drawn wagon with the Bride and Groom on the horses! After the wedding party all entered the reception, they offered free rides in the wagon for the kids, which they all loved! It was neat to see a bunch of people just walking around the farm...checking everything out. Brandon and Jess have like 3 tree swings placed around the farm and I saw people sitting in all 3 swings through out the evening. People were even walking up the lane, which was lined with lit Ball (Jess' maiden name) glasses. There were a couple campers set up out there, which housed a lot of family through out the weekend. It was truly a beautiful evening and a very cool reception. I have to admit I didn't know how they were going to pull it all off, but they sure did! It was wonderful!! Many people thought Brandon should just keep the barn like that and rent it out for events...I have a feeling that won't be happening. Although, I did have a cousin say that she wants her reception out there when she gets married and I think Brandon OK'd it! I guess we will see.
Today we went back out to the farm to watch them open up their gifts. Brandon also had a gift for Jaxson for being in the wedding...a go-cart. He was really thrilled about it, but I think it will be a couple years before he is driving it by himself. We didn't make it through all the gifts, little Miss Alexandria had had enough, so we took off and she was asleep before town.

It was a very beautiful and fun time! Congrats Brandon and Jess!!!