Going to the chapel.... Steve & Liz's Wedding Weekend

Uncle Steve and Elizabeth are going to the chapel and going to get MARRIED!

 

So we went on a long road trip to Kansas City to celebrate our uncle and soon-to-be aunt with all our families.

 

Thursday: Two days until the Big Day!

 

We made it to KC and got to visit Uncle Steve and stay in his house.  Right across the way was a huge park and playground, so we spent the afternoon playing football and swinging at the park with our Aunt JuJu.

 

 

After playing, we went over to see the "new" house where Uncle Steve and Aunt Elizabeth would be living in after the wedding.  It is such a beautiful house, with a big back porch and even a swing set for their nephews and nieces to play when they visit!

Hanging at the new house

We found some kids who love the backyard

 

After the official tour of the house, we got to sit together in the living room and give the happy couple our wedding gifts and a house warming gift.

Our soon-to-be Aunt Elizabeth and Uncle Steve - they are such a cute couple!

They loved our house warming gift!

 

and they loved their little helper who brought over gifts (well the ones she could actually lift)

I was pretty proud of our wedding gift, mostly because it required planning ahead (something I seem to always want to do but never achieve in the craziness of our lives with children) as it was hand made just for them.  Plus, I just think its an amazing reminder of one of the biggest days of their lives that they can see every time they walk in their home.  Just my take - I am biased hehe!

 

 

After gifts we played and took a few more pictures before heading off to eat dinner together.

 

Kins wasn't nearly as excited about pictures as we were (typical)!

 

Dinner was at this pizza place near Uncle Steve's bachelor pad.  We got to meet up with Uncle Marky and Aunt Rhi-Rhi!!!  Given the crazy that occurs the days leading up to any wedding, it was such a blessing to get to eat dinner together as a family and just enjoy being together.  Only thing missing was Aunt Liz, she joins us on Friday.

 

And I, of course, had my camera ready to snap some shots of us together.  It was a fun, relaxing evening together.

 

Friday: One Day until the BIG DAY

 

So I might not have mentioned, but not only did we get to witness the wedding of our Uncle/Aunt, half of us were going to be standing up at the alter with them during the wedding.  Daddy was to be one of Uncle Steve's groomsmen, AJ was the ring bearer and KK was a flower girl.  After playing at the park, enjoying the beautiful fall weather and playing in the falling leaves that were everywhere, eating some KC BBQ with the family and resting a little bit, it was time for the rehearsal!

JuJu and KK working the aisle

Oh no - somebody not only thinks she should be rocking this aisle... she also wants to model her dress without the sweater.

Not sure how but we got this awesome family shot!

I just love this little face!  She's my trouble but I love her so much!

Rhi Rhi - my other half for the church portion of the festivities tomorrow!  Whatever happens, with her around I know I will be laughing :-)

 

After practicing for the ceremony, it was time to celebrate and gather together for the rehearsal dinner.

The happy couple - they were so calm and just glowing all night!

The flower girls together

The younger half of the wedding party!

 

Uncle Steve and Grandma

Kins was so sweet during the entire dinner - she loved coloring with her daddy

Marky and I did a selfie - not easy with a big camera

The woman of the family with our latest addition Elizabeth

Uncle Steve and Elizabeth were so sweet about the kids being a part of the wedding party!  AJ loved his Ninja Turtle gift and KK loved her personalized bag and girly treats.  Very thoughtful gifts! 

 

After eating and enjoying cheesecakes for dessert, it was time to get back to the hotel to rest up.  6 am was going to come very fast!

 

Saturday: it is the WEDDING DAY!!!!

 

So the BIG DAY HAS ARRIVED!  And it arrived early!  Before we knew it, we were up and getting dressed for the morning wedding ceremony.  Our alarms went off at 6am and we were dressed and in the car by 7:30am. so we could arrive in time to finish getting the kids ready for pictures before the 10:30am ceremony started.  Talk about a fast morning!

 

Side blog: As a mommy having your kids asked to play a part in such a special day is a JOY.  That your kids are special enough to take a role in one of the biggest days of your life.  And then as the big day approaches, that joy is shared with a little bit (or maybe A LOT) of apprehension and nervousness as you begin to do all that you need to do to get children dressed up, present and happy for a full day of wedding activities.  Add a nine hour road trip, sleeping at three different places prior to the wedding day, the loss of your husband helping as he is in the wedding, and a toddler in the throws of the terrible twos and you might just cry.  Or consider picking up a glass of wine more than you normally would.  How would you get everyone ready and presentable that early in the morning?  How will you bribe the kids to smile through a million pictures and then get them to stand quietly and sweetly for 30+ minutes in front of a crowded church?  And keep the toddler happy and quiet too?   These questions arose in my mind so much in the week before the wedding.  I will just say there was a lot of praying for God to take over those worries and help us through it all, and a little bag of bribes packed in the car so we could make it. 

 

I promise, the JOY and excitement of the wedding completely make all that worry and planning totally worth it.  And it is times like this that I totally embrace my OCD planning type A personality.  It helped us so we could focus on the fun of the weekend and not the stress of forgetting or not planning for something.  That, plus an amazingly super calm bride and groom and some awesome Aunts and Uncles who helped with the kids whenever possible. Love you guys!  It turned out to be one of the best days.  Here we go:

Kins was immediately happy when we got to the church... donuts and dancing around the room as everyone got ready around her.  What's not to love when there is a donut in your hand?

Me trying to get a full picture of her pretty dress... she was yelling "no" at me and kept twirling around humming at her donut.  It is the little things in life that bring joy, am I right?

Despite my attempts to get KK's hair to curl tightly, by the time we arrived at the church my efforts were drooping.  Thankfully, the sweet women who were preparing the bridal party made time to fix her curls for us!  Wow she looked beautiful with her hair all curly:

I will take another moment to just appreciate my efforts at getting this girl wedding party ready after her choice to get a neon orange cast just weeks earlier.  After many suggestions of using ribbon and tulle and other items, I discovered that a simple (yet finely woven) ivory sock at Target was the key.  It fit perfectly, matched perfectly and was actually comfortable for her and there was no risk of it coming undone during pictures or the ceremony.  Yes, there were some eye rolls when I said I am using a sock... like I took a short cut or can't be creative enough.  But I think the following pictures will prove even more how genius and simple my plan was, as you can't even tell she has a cast on and she was so happy with the results :-)

 

Liz, JuJu and KK - they look beautiful!!!

One of my favorite pictures!

The younger set - ready to party after this ceremony!

My beautiful babies!  All dressed up :-) This makes me so happy!

It was such a beautiful day outside!

So the bridal party went to take some pictures outside

Kins and I decided to follow to enjoy the morning sunshine and relax a little bit.  At this point the kids are doing amazing.  KK was awesome about encouraging the other little flower girl to finish getting dressed and took her under her wing for the morning.  AJ was smiling and having fun with all the boys.  I was already proud of how the kids were just going with the flow and doing all that was expected of them, so it was in this moment that I just got to soak in how much fun it was to take pictures of our family together, looking so beautiful.

And Kins took this moment to wander around and play without being asked to "cheese"

But I might have sneaked an extra smile out of this sweet girl anyway

After that break, we were headed back inside for a few formal pictures.  As you can see, Kins also believes she is a big girl and a part of the wedding party.

So as the pictures were wrapping up, I thought I would sneak in a family picture.  Little did I know that Kins was not all about that.  See the picture below.  It was one of seven in which she purposely was hiding her face... I just love TWO.

 

But we did manage to get a family shot:

I was just holding her hand and she was on the verge of protesting "NO" rather loudly as this was being snapped.  Oh well, we look good and we captured that our family was there together :-) Mission accomplished!

 

As you can see, I had fun being the unofficial family photographer!  I didn't want to miss any chance to group us together - I mean did I mention how great we look?  And we are all together? 

I did get a few pictures with me in them (I looked pretty good today too if I say so myself)

So Kins thought if Mommy is in a picture, she should be big and pose too!  Love that stinker!

These two have always had that special relationship - I love this picture!

Married 11 years and one week today... yeah we still got it :-)

KK loved her flower bouquet and AJ was ready for the show to start soon...

 

And before we knew it, it was time to go back to the rooms and prepare for the ceremony.  After getting KK settled and ready, I checked on AJ to make sure all potty breaks happened and everyone was ready to roll.  I wanted to be sure we didn't have any "I have to pee!" whispers happening at this ceremony like it did at Uncle Marky's (oh boy)!  Then with my sleepy Kins and my arms full with camera and bag, I went to take my seat and pray that all would go smoothly in the 40 minute ceremony. 

 

And it did!  What a beautiful ceremony!  Elizabeth and Steve were just glowing and so happy!  Before we knew it, they were hitched and kissing to make it official (much to AJ's dismay) haha :-)

 

Now it was time to PAR-TAY!

But first a cute picture with Aunt Rhi-Rhi

and then a SILLY ONE

As we waited to ring our bells for the bride and groom, I looked over to see AJ holding hands with the flower girl... this was new :-)

And here are the beautiful NEWLYWEDS!!! 

 

We gathered the kiddos and headed to the reception to eat, drink and just celebrate the day!

 

Poor Kins was so sleepy after being so good all morning, she napped in the stroller while we lunched.

Forget pretty smiles, we want CAKE!

 

 

So yes, you see AJ with Ninja Turtles on the table at the reception. 

 

Can I just take this moment to praise my children on how amazing they were today?!?  I mean, they blew my mind.  We were up at 6am and then at the church for hours taking pictures... then standing quietly and still for 30-40 minutes in front of a very silent church.  They behaved and did all they were asked and then some.  Never did they cry or pout, never did they throw a fit.  They were A-MAZING.  I say this as their mommy, who loves them so much but knows that perfection is fleeting and all kids have moments, especially mine when hungry or tired.  I expected at least one meltdown or fit, at least one cry at having to take one more picture and pose a certain way in the uncomfortable shoes/tux jacket, etc.  But there wasn't one incident!  And even at the reception, when other kids were running around with their wedding clothes being thrown off, my kids stayed at our table the entire time.  Now AJ might have decided the "sewer lair" was under our table and played there for over an hour... and KK might have had about five glasses of sweet tea and was giggling in excess with the sugar high.  And Kins would not give up that baby lovey after the ceremony for anything in the world.  But they were soooo good!  And I just wanted to take this moment not to brag like I had anything to do with it, but to just show my pride in them and how remarkable they were today.  They surprised me.  I love my kiddos!

We had a pretty awesome table and it was fun to relax and chat together!

The sisters of the family!  It's official!

 

And here they are: the bride and groom!  With AJ and his classroom bear (he was doing a school project about his weekend).  Steve and Elizabeth, the wedding was beautiful and we are so so so excited to have Elizabeth as our sister/aunt!  We love you guys so very much!  I hope you thought the day was as perfect as we did :-)

 

After the Wedding:

Between a TCU football game and the World Series, it made prefect sense that we would "relax" after the wedding festivities to some sports and some down time together.

 

And we did!  After a TCU victory, we went to dinner with the entire family (minus the bride and groom of course) and walked around downtown KC.  Despite the long day for everyone, dinner was fun and we were able to stay awake for the Royals game together before calling it a night.

 

Sunday: The long road home

 

Sunday morning we woke up and faced a nine hour drive home... but we got to have breakfast with our grandma and aunts before hitting the road.  Nine hours later we arrived, weary but happy.

 

As you can see, AJ was pretty happy to get out of that car.  I am going to admit, I am tired and probably not painting the picture of how much fun we had and how special the wedding was - sorry.  I hope the pictures paint the story for me.  We love getting together with our family - the kids love spending time with all their aunts and uncles.  I am not sure if blessing is the word, but I always feel so blessed after spending time with this family.  It just seems like our time together is always joyful and filled with laughter. 

 

Congrats to Uncle Steve and Aunt Elizabeth!  Love that our family just grew by one more awesome Aunt!

 

Sweet dream's Y'all!