Wedding Day!!

July 30th came and we had a wedding!  Abby and Alex's wedding!  It seems like we have been waiting and working for this day forever and it finally came.  Everything went just as smooth as possible.  Abby had planned an outdoor wedding knowing that weather could definitely be an issue.  Saturday morning and up until about 3:30 was fine, a bit overcast, but nice.  And then came the rain...after everything was set up, pictures had started and the window for the 'back-up plan' had come and gone.  Finally, after lots of radar looking, praying and stress we decided to wait it out.  This was the right decision, the wedding was only delayed about 30-45 minutes and Abby and Alex had their dream day!  It was beautiful!  The setting, the flowers and most importantly, the bride!  It was difficult being in the wedding and trying to get pictures of everything, so I'll share what I've got!
The Venue: The Backyard

Getting set up...at 8am!

Ready for a wedding



Gorgeous Flowers courtesy of the very talented Jody Smalley



Wedding Party: Pre-Wedding

Almost time to get dressed!

Beautiful!

Groomsmen killing time

Getting the FOB aisle-ready

Dad, Abby and Mom

Calmly waiting on the rain to stop so the wedding can start

Not as calmly waiting out the rain...

After the rain quit, all the family quickly started drying off the chairs and shuttles from the church (where parking was) started arriving.  It was finally getting ready to start!!

Bridesmaids and Flowergirls almost ready to walk out

Dad and Abby hiding in the bathroom so no one gets a sneak peak before they walk down the aisle 

They're married!!

Bustle time

Ready for the Reception:

Wedding Party Getting ready to be announced

My brother's table.  Tyler, Josiah, Shannon and Jim (Paige was running around somewhere)

The cake!

I'm sure they will appreciate this picture...but it appropriately depicts how hungry we all were :).

Taco time!

Ethan and the Bride (this might have been the only picture he smiled in all day)

Look at that form for the bouquet toss

Also, nicely done with the garter

And a few family shots...

Just walking...

Our little bowtie man!

The 3 and a half of us!

I'm kind of sad that I didn't get one of me and Abby on our camera...I guess I'll have to wait until the photographers pictures are ready.  It was a great day and I can't be more excited for Abby and Alex to start their lives together.  He is a welcome addition to our family!!  Love you both!!

Story Time and the Big 6-0!

I caught these sweet pictures last night and had to share...


Ethan and Pop



Uncle Jared with Josiah and Paige


On a side note...My dad turned 60 on Tuesday!  Happy Birthday Dad!!  We love you!

Shower #2 For Abby

Last night we had a 'personal' shower for Abby, who is getting married on Saturday!  We had a great time and laughed a lot!!  Possibly even a blushing bride (and bride's mother) from time to time.  We had a wonderful dinner at The Gathering Place in Salem with a vintage-y theme.  (I would recommend this place to anyone needing a great venue with great food!)  Anyway, on to the pictures!
The Venue:

The Party:

Visit to Indy

Wednesday morning Ethan and I got up and headed to Indy to visit my good friend Elizabeth and her 2 boys, Sam and Andrew.  We had a great trip!  The Children's Museum was definitely a must see, so we went there pretty much as soon as Ethan and I got into town.  Elizabeth has a membership which was beneficial for us, since it allowed 2 guests!  It was also nice going with someone who knows where things are and what things are good for the 4 and under crowd.  First stop: Dora the Explorer!

Sam and Ethan in Dora land

Then we headed to Playscape.  This area was really good for toddlers since there were all kinds of things to climb on, push around, scoop up and dump out.

Ethan spent a lot of time at the sand table

Andrew and Ethan at the water tables

He's in a bird house!

Sweet Andrew playing in the sand

'Bob the Builder' truck as Ethan called it

We had a great time at the museum and will definitely plan a trip back.  We closed the place down and the boys still weren't ready to go.



Our Group Shot attempt (Soon after, Ethan fell off the rock)

A trip to the zoo had also been discussed for this visit, but since it was 105 out we opted for the pool!  This pool is close to the Jolliff's house and they go often, it was perfect for the boys.  Plenty of shallow area for them to 'swim' around in and slides to go down also! 

Sam and Ethan going down the frog slide...over and over!

Another group shot attempt

...And he's out of there

Elizabeth reading to the 3 boys

Thank-you Elizabeth, Sam and Andrew!  We had a great visit and can't wait to come back and see baby #3! 

Long time...

It's been over a week since I've blogged...sorry about that.  I have a few pictures to share to hopefully make up for it.  Last weekend we headed to Salem and had a great weekend.  Ethan and I spent all day Friday and Monday there while Jared was there for the weekend.  It is always nice to hang out with family.

Swinging with Pop

Aunt Abby taking advantage of my child :)

Pretend napping with Finley and Scout

Now for some story time

I also did some 'garage-saling' for baby girl.  We hit the jackpot!  Saturday morning was pretty successful with my mom and on Sunday, Karen (Grandma Karen) came over with 5 totes full of girls clothes to go through.  She knew someone who was trying to sell 3 girls worth of clothing.  We spent almost 2 hours going through all the pink and, again, came out pretty successful.  I didn't photograph our loot, but I will be sure to someday soon.  In Jared's words, "I'm not worried about her freezing..."