Vacation to Oregon pt 3 ~ Wedding Day!

It's fitting that I finish off the last of my Oregon trip posts on June 18th...Diana's birthday! Happy Birthday my sweet sister. I hope your day is truly magical...your first one as a married lady!
Enjoy~


May 20, 2012.

The day had finally arrived. 10 months prior Stephen Terry Andersen got down on one knee to ask Diana Grace Ryan to marry him. She said yes. Many many months of planning, emails, phone calls, appointments, scheduling all lead up to this moment.

 Today was finally here!

I woke up with such joy and excitement in my heart. My baby sister was going to be a bride! A beautiful, gorgeous and pure bride who had waited for her groom. Those that know me know I'm a true romantic at heart. I love godly, Christ~exalting relationships that end in marriage. It thrills me when we receive an invitation in the mail to friends' weddings.

But it takes on a whole new level of wonder and bliss when it's one of my family members. When it's a Ryan wedding. And when it's my sister. 

There's nothing quite like being the oldest sister who has been there for so much of her life. Who was the meanie who pushed Diana towards the drain when we took a bath as kids because she was afraid of going down it as the water drained out...so horrible that I wanted to see the fear on her face. {to this day...I hate that that was me!} I was the sister who picked on her endlessly or knew which buttons to push that would make her fly off the handle. Diana was the baby of the family for 9 years and she knew just how to get her sisters in trouble. Like doing crazy antics at the dinner table to get me to laugh which would invoke a stern admonishment from our parents. Diana was a spitfire back then! Or watching with eyes bugged and a gasping mouth as she'd have a meltdown at the table because she didn't want to finish her food, followed by stomping all the way up the stairs and slamming her bedroom door. But I also noticed the Lord changing her heart to tenderness as she got older, her way of being open, honest and vulnerable to me when she would struggle with things or be passionate about something. Being told that you are your sister's role model...for good or bad...is humbling and many times had me examining my heart and motives for why I do what I do. I want to be a reflection of Christ to her!

I guess all of this just shows you the extra amounts of emotion that went into this day. My sweet sister was grown up now; ready to be a wife, ready to commit herself to Stephen for all the days of her life.

So...like all brides and bridesmaids do...we took lots of time to get beautiful for such an occasion!

{pictures by Jen Howell and Amanda Bacon}

And who better to document the event than our husbands! ;)

Next, time to help the bride with her dress and take some pictures...

{picture by my sister Kelly Turnage}

Simply stunning!

My cutest little sister Elise...Diana's flower girl!

Beautiful Cathryn, Diana's matron of honor.

From here we drove to the wedding site for lots of before pictures.

{spying on them from far away 

while they took their "alone" pictures}

All of Mama's girls...

My sweet Grandmom and Great Aunt Mary...

the fact that they came from so far away really blessed Diana!

Love Stephen's smile while kissing his bride. :)

All the sisters together!

Dad and his daughters...all 5 of us!

What followed next took me completely by surprise. Up to this point things had been a flurry of events. Lots of going here and there, doing this and that and spending time with family and friends with all the celebration intermingled didn't allow for processing what was happening. So, it all hit me like a ton of bricks as I started walking down the isle. I did my best to compose my quivering chin and to smile {looking down} as I walked towards Diana's groom. Stephen was beaming ear to ear; eagerly waiting for his bride! Probably one of my favorite glances as a sister. 

I took my place next to my sisters and watched as my Dad walked a smiling, tearful bride towards the alter. Then, the water works started. And I guess I wasn't the only one. Jen captured this shot.

Diana and Stephen's ceremony exalted Jesus Christ; their personally written vows included. They poured out their hearts to one another, promised to love and cherish each other and to make Christ glorious in their lives as husband and wife. What pure joy! 

Pouring of sand, taking communion for their first act as husband and wife, a sweet kiss and then introducing Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Andersen. As much as Diana and Stephen are serious and intentional about their relationship with Christ, in the same way they love to laugh, get crazy and have fun.

Let the good times roll!!!

{dancing back down the isle}

{First Dance}

Sweet story about this next picture...Back when I was 10 and living in our old house in Alaska we moved next door to an amazing Christian family. During that time they had a baby girl and you would have thought she was mine. I loved Bekah...every day without fail I'd go over and ask if I could play with her, take her for walks or carry her all over our two yards. She was my living babydoll. I even had my first babysitting experience earning 25 cents an hour to watch her. Money or not I loved every second. Fast forward 18 years...that baby met and held my baby during the wedding and Allie loved her just as much. Really really blessed me to not only see Bekah again (they moved not long after her 1st birthday) but for her to love on my daughter too. :)

{Saying goodbye to the newly weds}

Diana and Stephen, God's richest blessings on your new life together. It is our prayer that every day you continue to love Christ more deeply and passionately. With your hearts surrendered to Him and His Word, I know that there is nothing you cannot endure or withstand. May the glories of the Cross drive you to humility and forgiveness with one another. May He be your stronghold, the Love which your love for each other comes from and the sustaining power to protect and guard your marriage. 

We love you both!!! ~ Matt, Ashley, Reese and Allie

Oh so soon!!!

I can't WAIT to see these dear and precious faces in only 5 days. Count them...on one hand or one foot...not 6, 7 or 8 days but 5 fast-ly approaching days! Eeeek!!! To say I'm excited is an understatement. 

Some of these faces {like dearest Jenny Lee Howell} I haven't seen in 5 1/2 years. It just kills me to think of everything that has happened in that amount of time. BUT what a gift that we finally get to see one another again...and have memories like this...

For my Grandmom to meet Allie. This picture was taken back in January of 2011 when she met Reese for the first time.

To hug my sister and brother-in-law who I haven't seen since Christmas of '09 and for them to get to meet both of their nieces!

To hug and squeeze this friend {Amanda Bacon...who just so happens to be Jenny Howell's sister} who I'm so excited to get caught up with and have at least 1 uninterrupted hour of chatting while she does my hair.

To see these sweet faces that we haven't seen since December...

To hug and catch up with my adventurous sister and brother-in-law who just got back from a trip to Ireland {this pic was taken during their trip to Utah}...

And finally...the reason for all of this wonderful family/friends reunion in a mere 5 days...

To witness two becoming one. Moving from a life of singleness to marriage that would imitate the relationship Christ has with His bride, the church. Watching as my little sister commits herself to the love of her life, vowing to be his wife for the rest of her days. 

Friday can't come soon enough.

Get-a-way weekend!

Matt and I are still floating from a wonderful anniversary weekend away. I didn't realize until after we got home, just how much we and our marriage needed the time spent apart from our girl. We went a little farther from home than I was at first comfortable with but since Reese did such a great job with her Marmee and Papa, it put me at ease.

Matt took Friday off so that we could have a noon departure and enjoy most of the day together. This is the beauty we drove up to in Anaheim (Disneyland area for all you out of state friends).

We literally felt like newlyweds checking into this place and realizing that we didn't have a diaper bag attached to our shoulder, weren't lugging the pack-n-play up the elevator and there were no limits because of a nap and feeding schedule. It felt so strange to drop our bags in our room, head right to the lobby, pick up food from Starbucks for this prego mama and then to wait for the shuttle to Disneyland. It was pure bliss just to sit on the bench and whisper in each other's ears like we were head over heels high schoolers. Having a child made me appreciate this time more than I ever did during our many get-a-way weekends as just the two of us.

Such a cool store! We walked all through Downtown Disney and Matt being the Lego lover that he is, had to stop in. I didn't realize how much more besides boxed sets of Legos was in this place. The Lego Woody and Giraffe were so amazing!

Because this trip was to celebrate our 4th Anniversary we splurged a bit and went out to eat at Bubba Gump Shrimp. I love this place. The food is incredible, the staff were so friendly and helpful and our time and conversations were without distraction.

Ha! Matt had me pose for this one b/c I was looking through the amazing drinks and found the one I would have ordered that night had I not been pregnant. Oh well...just another reason to one day go away again. 

Once dinner was finished we headed to Cheesecake Factory to have dessert. I made sure to leave room...even though my shrimp was to die for. We split the Chocolate Tower Truffle Cake. I forgot to take a picture of this incredible masterpiece so here's one I found on Google. It just doesn't do it justice. I slept terribly that night (what a bummer...my one chance to sleep without interruption) because of all the caffeine that must be in this thing. But literally I'm drooling just thinking about how good it was.

Beyond all the amazing things we did and food we ate, it was just great to sit and talk, pray, talk about this next year coming up, the changes that we will go through again and reminding ourselves or where our strength and help come from! "My help comes from the Lord, maker of heaven and earth." Psalm 121:2 Through our time away we decided to start reading Wayne Mack's "Strengthening Your Marriage." We've been enjoying that the past couple of Wednesday evenings and are excited to see what God will be doing in our lives and marriage through that study.

And lastly...what would a blog post be without pictures of Reese? She had a great time playing hard with her Marmee and Papa...even slept the whole night for them! Made this mama extra thankful and proud! (Pictures courtesy of Marmee)

Thank you again, Ray and Missy for watching Reese for us. We had a wonderful time getting away and that was all because of your kindness to us!