wedded bliss #2 and then some

Aaron and I were blessed enough to be given another wedding ceremony and reception in California by his parents. Their community in Terra Bella is so close and since we got married so quickly and many people were unable to attend, we just had ourselves another one for everyone there! We were out there for a whole week and got to make many more memories with his family than just the wedding. Here are a few of my highlights.

The celebration weekend started off with a Baby Shower for Ashlee, Aaron’s sister. She is having baby Helen in October. This shower was such a joy for her being that she lives in Alaska and wasn’t sure she’d be able to have one. I’m so glad they pulled it together for her!

three generations of Tritch/Schultz women

proudly showing off her bump!

After Friday’s fun, it was time to get the house ready for the wedding reception! Aaron’s parents live on top of a hill right at the base of the foothills of Sequoia National Forest. It is beautiful. Its so hard to explain, so hopefully these pictures do some justice. Everyone pitched in to set up chairs, tables, decorations to make it wonderful! Even when Em and I went off to get our hair/nails done, the family worked hard. Thank you!!

one of the few decks Aaron's dad has built on the property, overlooking the valley and the citrus trees

only a few more hours and we'll be married...again!

Finally, it was time to head down to the ceremony. I can not express how much fun it was to get back in my dress! I love that thing. And thank God it still fit! There is definitely something about being in a wedding dress that transforms you. I wasn’t the girl who spent years dreaming of my dress and planning a big fairy tale wedding (duh) but putting that thing on had a princess affect on me. I’m not gonna lie, I loved it.

walking down the aisle together!

We didn’t have the exact same ceremony as before, though we tried to keep it as similar and keep all the important parts. Aaron and I walked down the aisle together to “All Creatures of our God and King”, which was the same, but walked out to “Earth and All Stars” which is Aaron’s favorite hymn. We also sang “How Great Thou Art” with the congregation. My favorite part was reciting our vows to one another again. They are awesome. I need to write them on the wall of our bedroom, our living room and the steering wheel of our car to remind myself of them constantly. Here they are:

“I, ______, take you, ______, to be my wife/husband, and these things I promise you: I will be faithful to you and honest with you; I will respect, trust, help, and care for you; I will share my life with you; I will forgive you as we have been forgiven; and I will try with you better to understand ourselves, the world, and God; through the best and worst of what is to come, and as long as we live.”

After we left, it was time to party! The whole town came out it seems, even these two sweet girls I met. They are Trinity and Aurura, Aaron and Alex’s cousin’s children, or something. All I know is they are adorbs.

sweet sweet girls lovin on Alex!

Em was there!

Aaron and I both commented that this wedding had special meaning to us. Though we’d been married for 6 months already, it almost felt like this wedding was more of a catalyst of change than our first. The wedding marked the beginning of our transition out of New Orleans and to Colorado. This wedding seemed to complete the transformation of us to a married couple, one that was living on our own (we love you rooms!) and one that was making a way as a couple. Of course we loved our New Orleans wedding and nothing can take away from how amazing and special that one was, but I’m glad this wedding had some more significance and meaning to us than just doing it again. So, thank you to Yoli and Andy for putting this together for us and thank you to everyone who made it!

Sunday morning, the whole family was off to San Francisco! San Francisco has always been a Schultz family “vacation” spot. The boys would hop in the trucks and head up early in the morning for Giants games. There was usually a stop at Chowders on Pier 39, which we did and it was awesome. We did a little sight seeing around Pier 39 before heading to the Golden Gate Bridge.

pier 39

 

Golden Gate

It was freezing up there! The wind was whipping around like crazy, so I’ll spare you the pictures with hair in our faces. It was beautiful though. From there, we said good-bye to the family. Aaron had booked us a hotel in the city and we were going to stay another night and head to Napa the next day. Romantic, right?! He’s quality. We ate at a great Thai restaurant that night and the next morning drove up and down the famous Lombard Street before heading up to Napa.

 

Lombard Street

So, once we got to Napa, Aaron let me pick the winery we’d go to. As always, I pulled out my phone and got on Yelp for some guidance. When I saw “amazing photo gallery” as one of the comments for Mumm Napa, I knew that was the one. What I didn’t know was that it only made Sparkling Wines. At first, I think Aaron was a little disappointed, but they were super good and the view was amazing.

Mumm Napa, sparkling wine

 

The best part of the whole trip though was a complete surprise! After touring the photo gallery, which featured Ansel Adams, we headed over to the gift shop. Here I am just browsing around and I notice a framed sheet of paper with some writing. Well, didn’t you know that Mumm Napa was the sole provider of the Champagne the Giants drank after they won the League Championships and the World Series this past October! The Giants are a huge part of Aaron’s life and have become special to our relationship. It almost rivals our surprise meeting of a Saints coach and wearing the Superbowl ring from our engagement! Ha!

Giants' Cody Ross celebrating with champagne from Mumm Napa

So, that was our week. It was so fun and relaxing. I loved hanging out with Aaron’s family, especially getting to see Ashlee and Francis. Hopefully we’ll get to see everyone again soon!