Marissa and The Brain

This is Marissa:

We met her last June when she came out to visit us with

The Brain.

This is The Brain: 

It isn't a straight on shot of him, but that's him.

He's awesome and handsome and fun and is great at chucking a jiles into the air.

In fact, Marissa and The Brain were excellent at toting our kids around wherever we were.

(Hope you don't mind the bum shot, guys.)

Our kids pretty much LOVE him, and now her.

Cuz, you see,

The Brain is my brother.

We mainly just call him Brian
since that's his name.

We got to see those two again last September in California.  This time we got to meet sweet Reed, or Reedy Reedster as Brian calls her.  She is Marissa's darling 3-year-old daughter.

(I love them and their foot-and-a-half apart-ness.)

They also came to visit us just after Christmas.  Marissa so wanted to milk a cow.  And she did:

(Nice locks, bro.  He did used to have some real ones for awhile.  Hahaha.)

It was fun having Miss Reed this time, too.  She jumped right in with our little wild bunch.

 Welllllll......

The place I'm going with this post is this:

The weekend before last, Weston, Zoe and I headed to Portland for the wedding of Brian and Marissa!

Woohoo!

It was so fun getting together.  All of my sibs, except for one sister (Wendy, who was really sick and a 2-day drive away) were there.  

In attendance from our family:  (just over half of us) Dad, Mom, Neal, Holly, Whitney, Sadie, Aidan, Brendan, Olivia, David, Drew, Julie, Aubrey, Brad, Ethan, Owen, Karie, Weston, me, Zoe, Mark, and our 2 cousins from my Dad's side with their spouses.

The ceremony was sweet, the reception simple and beautiful.

I would love to see the pictures that the photographer took.  Maybe I can some day, but these will have to suffice for now:

Weston and Zoe talk with Marissa's sister, and her baby (so cute and CHUBS):

Pictures of Brian and Marissa as babies, kids, teens, etc.:

The picture on the left is my family, the one on the right in Marissa with her 2 brothers (so cute):

Can you pick which one is me?  Holly, David, Wendy in the back; Brian, Mom, Dad, and Julie in the middle; Mark on Mom's lap; me in all of that purple  (My grandmother had made that sweater).  (I'm loving the color(s) of my bangs.  That is some major natural highlighting.  And I'm just remembering driving to get that picture taken - at Olan Mills.  The elastic on the pants were too tight and they were making my stomach hurt.  My mom let me sit on her lap in the front seat on the way there.)

New cousins!  2 of my cute little nieces, Livy and Reed (6 months apart):

My other 2 brothers flew in from far away.  Mark came from Hawaii and David came from Australia (27-ish hours each way) for the event!  

What studs!!

Me and Barkus (Mark), my little bro:

Oldest and youngest grandchildren, Whitney and Zoe (there are 26 in between them):

My 3 brothers, Brian, David, and Mark, with a little Ben action (shortest one) in the middle right there:

Ben (Joel Bennett - his first and middle name) was one of Brian's best friends growing up in Virginia.  He lives in Portland now, so he was super close to where the wedding was.  His sister was one of my bf's, but she is still in Virginia.  One of Ben's daughter's names is Elizabeth Bennett.  Isn't that cool?  She goes by Lizzy.  She is so cute, and has the sweetest dark red hair.

I love this picture of my nephew Owen and his dad, Drew:

My BIL Neal and Weston in an important conversation, obviously. 

David and Olivia:

  Both were super tired, but were party animals the whole time.  :)

Seriously, Dave had so much energy even though the days and nights are completely opposite in Australia.  He was probably the most lively of us all. 

Nephews keeping themselves busy during the reception:

Weston and I enjoyed a nice little break with just a baby.

The youngest and oldest of my siblings: Mark and Holly:

And also the tallest of their gender in our family.  

Marissa with her 2 baby nieces - and how cute, they're holding hands (can you guess which baby is heavier?):

The girls: me, Marissa, sisters Julie and Holly, Mom Mary Sue (we missed you Wendy and Diane  :(   ):

Other pix of the weekend:

Me and the brothers:

Sorry, Markus, I don't think that were quite ready to take the picture.  Yer still hot anyway.  Hahaha.  

I (absolutely!) ADORE these men!  They are so fun to be with.  My 3 older sisters were the first ones to get married, and so it was always me and the brothers doing stuff together (like unmarried me standing in the back with the unmarried brothers and the brother-in-laws in family pictures while my sisters were sitting in the front with their kids - funny).  It has been way too long, though.  

Brothers still on the favorite people list?  Check, check, and check!

And the sisters?  Check, check, and check on that one, too.

How could they not be with faces like these:

Yup, they are way too much fun too.  

Like so fun that you laugh so hard that your head aches.

That Julie!  She is such a cracker (as in crack up - funny)!

And while we were being totally juvenile with seeing our faces on photo booth, the men were gaming it up with some serious sequence:

Me and the Mumsie:

 Me and Pop:

Pizza the night before the wedding:

Ethan, Karie, Julie, Zoe

mother of bride, mother of groom

Little Karie (Julie's girl)

Dad with 2 of his granddaughters, Zoe and Olivia, and Aidan, the blur

3 of the 5 awesome teenager grandkids, Whitney, Aubrey, Sadie

We missed everyone that wasn't there with us!  

(Dave's bunch: Diane, Eli, Adam, Mary Alice; Wendy's bunch: Andy, Wendy, Natalie, Brian, Zachary, Landon, Sam, Ammon, Ellie; and a bunch of mine: Spencer, Kate, Ezra, and Jiles)

Oh please, please, please, can we all get together soon?

Wendy, I hope that you are feeling better and that no on else in your family catches your sickness!

 And CONGRATULATIONS, BARISSA (Brian + Marissa)!

We LOVE you!