Family wedding round up

We were privileged to attend Dada's cousin's son's wedding. Haha. His name is Charlie, and his parents are Sherri and Doug. Sherri has been one of my besties for a long time, and she won't mind when I tell all y'all that she's a farm girl at heart. Usually in jeans and a T-shirt, or her pink hoodie, she is effortlessly beautiful makeup free, sun in her hair, a smile on her face. Here she is in fancy dress, with a fancy hairdo, and sparkly makeup to emphasize her loveliness! We were all so excited to come help them celebrate!

The lovely bride, Trisha, is a new friend. I've only had the opportunity to hang out with her a handful of times, so I'm looking forward to getting to know her more in the future. Her father passed on seven years ago, so her brother escorted her down the aisle. I thought her face here captured all the feels of a wedding day- that tidal wave of emotions.

Charlie, the tall groom on the right, and his big brother Michael who officiated and did a wonderful job!

Jana, I got this photo specifically for you. I love how the little girl is soaking up every single detail of Trisha's veil and train!

The groom's beautiful sister, Katelyn, was among the bridesmaids. It was great to hang out with her at the reception; she's been a traveling nurse for awhile and I never get to see her!

It seemed everyone was so excited for this wedding to happen. Charlie has loved Trisha for many, many years. It was beautiful to see everyone's happiness on their behalf.

So off we went to the reception where Shenanigans ensued.

Yes, Tino attended though I realize now I forgot to put him on the RSVP. Good thing he doesn't eat much.

I told Dada that he, Liam and Lizzie should go photobomb the bridesmaids as they were all in the same soft purple shade!

Michael and Doug giving their speeches. It can be nerve wracking but they both did an excellent job. I very much enjoyed hearing more about Charlie and Trisha, especially the story of how Michael and Trisha were in the same gifted class while Charlie faked a learning disability so he could go to the special ed class to play with the toys!

Mother-son dance with his sweet Mama. She looked absolutely gorgeous.

We sadly didn't get everyone together, but we scraped up some family members for at least this picture! So good to see the Indiana crew- we missed our Maryland fam!

The handsome fella on the left is Pap, Dada's Dad. His sister, Aunt Evelyn, is the groom's Grandma, and her husband Leon. She's had some health issues recently and has had lots of people praying for her, so it was a wonderful answer to prayer to see her at the wedding and looking radiant!

Thank you so much for inviting us and allowing us to share your day and your joy. Many blessings on your marriage and your future. We love you!

 

Why I Haven't Been Blogging, Excuse #983754

 

Well, frankly, some of us have been a little twisted up:

 

 

While some of us have been dumped at a new-to-us camp in another state:

 

And we've been inundated with family and the corresponding shenanigans one would expect from said family:

 

I guess in short we've been carpe diem-ing. ;)

 

We've been busy living life in the summertime. More karate lessons, walks with friends, watching movies like The Neverending Story and The Fellowship of the Ring, having popsicles and way too much ice cream, smashing even more mosquitoes but not as many as have been sipping off of us, and tons of laundry.

 

Care Bear spent 4 gloriously brother-free days at Camp Michindoh with about 400 other middle school kids from our church (yes, that's 400, not 40) and says the best part was Gold Rush, like Capture the Flag but harder. She had a good girlfriend in her cabin with her and it sounds like the whole week was amazing. We're glad she had the opportunity to try something new. Ask her all about camp!

 

The kids have been into the Legos, the squirt guns, the bristle blocks, the Transformers, the stapler and staple remover, the Smart Links, the comic books, and the pool.

 

We took the extended family to the pool and had the most exciting time yet. A man fell victim to a seizure, which caught Uncle Kelly's attention and help. The pool was cleared and the EMTs got him more stable and out of there. A little while later a storm headed in so it was everyone out of the pool again. We left just as really big drips started splattering the cars and were in a total downpour by the time we got home. Nobody seemed to mind too much, and the cousins were off and running again in no time.

 

The guys mixed up two batches of homemade ice cream, chocolate and vanilla, and special thanks goes to Aunt Evelyn for being our phone-a-friend help in regards to recipe discrepancies. Both turned out excellently. Both are probably almost gone.

 

Grandmama is on her way here now after visiting with Nana. Tomorrow the kids have orthodontist appointments and karate. Today is sheet day. I'm stalling on lunch.

 

*sigh* Time to go. Happy Monday!

 

It takes a village

Oh dear. This is why I should never get behind on the blog. Now I have to do a month and a half review. Let's see...

We hosted Grandma Barb for a week while Pap went on a fishing trip. We had lots of family members in and out that week to help supervise the Thingz while we ran here and there and everywhere. Uncle Kelly and Zach stayed for two nights, Aunt Sherri stayed for two nights, and Aunt Evelyn stayed from Tuesday until Saturday. Everyone was so much fun to have and we love that we got time with them! There was some of this:

 

And some of that:

 

And a little of this:

 

There was also quite a bit of this:

 

 

And plenty of love, see?

 

 

Aunt Evelyn LOVED that Damon came in from school, kicked off his shoes, and launched himself onto her. He then proceeded to go straight to sleep!

 

When I hauled him upstairs to deposit him in his bed, some Stinkwad had stolen his spot: