Weddings Make Me Happy

Hang on to your hats, folks. You'd think it was my own wedding album, I have so many pictures.

Brian's cousin, Tricia, married Dave in Sarasota on June 28th. It afforded our family a fantastic opportunity for a vacation to beautiful Bradenton Beach nearby. The wedding and part of the reception were outdoors. Beautiful isn't the right word for it. It was perfect. Truly perfect and we had a ball!

Brian's brothers, Derek and Chris, and Chris' girlfriend, Rachel.

And, I was there, too!

The happy couple.

Sammie loved meeting the bride and followed her around for an obnoxiously long time and Trish was sweet enough to let her.

Brian's Aunt Mary on his father's side, the mother of the bride.  She's as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside.  When we told Sammie Aunt Mary would be there, she said, "Woohoo!"  She has that effect on people.

Trish thought of everything right down to the dino bites (ketchup already on the plates) with mac and cheese for the kids' dinners.  Chase's FAVorite!

The other happy couple.  

All my kids are in love with Rachel and they want her to be with them all the time.  And, so do we.

The newest baby in the family is Trish's big sister's baby, Ryder.  My kids love babies, so they each got a turn to hold him and Ava went first.  She did well until she started poking him in the eyes.

Doesn't Chase look like a natural?  He was rocking baby Ryder here.  What you don't see is when he rocked him too far the other way and the heavy-headed baby went all the way over, face first in the grass.  They didn't let us hold him anymore.

Pa and Ava have a special relationship.  Pa tells her to do certain things and she takes them as mere suggestions, so they have a long talk about it until he sees her way.

The wedding colors were hot pink, orange and bright yellow.  This is on the empty Chinese take-out boxes:  Because you've made our lives so sweet, please fill this box with your favorite treats.  They had huge containers of pink, orange and yellow jelly beans, salt water taffy and malted milk balls.  That was a lot of sugar for the ride home, but the kids loved it!

The ceremony was still in the heat of the day, so they'd filled this bucket full of cold, bottled water. After the ceremony, they brought out an identical bucket filled with games for the kids. Bubbles, frisbees, giant balloons and other fun stuff. Is she brilliant or what? Reminded me of our wedding reception. It was gourmet desserts for the grown ups and a special kids' table where they could decorate their own cookies and cupcakes.  

It was a perfect open space for the kids to play after having to sit still for 13 whole minutes!

I couldn't convince anyone to dance, so I started with Rachel!  After awhile they played a new line dance called the Cupid Shuffle (which I thought was the Cuban Shuffle for about a month) and Derek hopped right out there with me.  I wish I had a picture of THAT! 

Then Brian and I snuck in one swing dance which was the most fun of the night for me. Are my boys handsome or what?

At least Chase watched the girls from the view of the dance floor.

I'm so grateful we were invited to be a part of their special day.  My Daddy used to say that everyone should have a big wedding with lots of festivities and lots of witnesses.  It's about more than just the two saying "I do".  That one day is a memory to treasure for a lifetime.