My baby brother is married.  I feel like I have so many words I want to say but I'm at a loss. I'm so happy for John and Hope.  It was a beautiful weekend filled with family, friends, love and laughter.  I loved getting to be a part of it.  I'll be back with more details, for now here's a picture of my sweet little family. I love these boys to the moon and back.

His and Hers Shower

Saturday night my cousin Adam and his wife and Patrick and I hosted a shower for John and Hope.   It was the first wedding shower and we wanted to get the wedding season started right.  We invited the youngest of the cousins and their spouses and several of John and Hope's friends for a low key get together.  We had mexcian food and margaritas.  It was so much fun.  Our siblings have all been so close that we've really gotten to know each other's friends so it's always nice to get to catch up with them.

Here are a few pictures.  

Some of Hope's people

The Bride and Groom

Some of the cousins.

Siblings

Cousins and spouses

Sweet cousin-in-law, Natalie in our furs!

We had such a fun night.  I'm so looking forward to the wedding in 6 short weeks!

Weekend of the Century: Part 1

**Disclaimer:  This particular post has taken me almost a month to write for a reason. It was hard to write.  I would appreciate any questions or comments about anything I've written to be directed to me.  Thanks.** 

 Some of you may have heard about the "Game of the Century" a few weeks ago in Tuscaloosa, well my weekend started Friday around noon when I hit the road to Ttown to get ready for my sister's wedding.Yes, my sister got married the day before the LSU game in Tuscaloosa.  I've never felt emotion like I did that day.  Let me back up to the Sunday after the Tennessee game... Liz and Clay came by mom and dad's to announce they'd set a date.  November 4th, 2011.  They also informed us they were inviting 4 guests to the ceremony and 20 guests to a dinner following.  I immediately started bawling.  The first words I spoke went something like this, "4 guests? Are you f-ing serious?" Classy, I know.  To which Elizabeth replied something like, Be happy you're one of them. She went on to name the four guests...none of which included my parents or his parents. I then announced if my parents weren't invited then I wouldn't be in attendance. I could not for the life of me understand why you wouldn't want your parents at your wedding especially since our family has always been so close. I love my parents so much and they are good people.  I couldn't understand why she wouldn't want them there.  I was caught in the middle.  I love my sister, I support her, if she's happy I'm happy for her. But I also love my parents and it killed me to see them so upset they've been dealt some blows and I think this was the most hurt I've seen them.  I mulled over it for two or three days and with my parents blessing I decided I should go to the ceremony if I was invited.  I arrived in Tuscaloosa a little after 1:00 Friday and the whole town was a buzz.  There were people everywhere already ( for the game not the wedding).  I got to the house and Elizabeth and Amy were getting ready. We all chatted and laughed.  I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to make it through the day.  I was trying so hard to stay strong, I've gotten pretty good at smiling on the outside when I really want to sit in the corner and cry.  I was completely torn the entire day.  We all got ready and then it was time for Liz to put on her dress and finish her hair.  While I was so honored and excited and happy to be there, I was also dying on the inside.  I wanted my mom to be there.  It's a mom's job to make sure your veil is straight and that your shoes are buckled.  I was reminded of my wedding day so much.  My sister and I spent that entire day together and we laughed a lot.  We laughed a lot this day too but every time I laughed I felt guilty that I was there and my mom wasn't.Soon enough it was time to head to the church.  We arrived at little bit early and the priest wasn't there yet.  He quickly arrived and we headed into the chapel.  The chapel was beautiful and it was a really sweet, intimate ceremony.  One of the prayers was that you are blessed with children and they bring you much joy and all I could think was that their parents weren't there and how much joy being a part of this ceremony would have brought to them.  I always cry at weddings and this one was no different.  I cried like a baby. It was really beautiful.  I was so happy I went because I know I would have regretted not being there.  Sometimes we have to suck it up and smile even if you think it may be the last thing you ever do.  After the ceremony we went to Cypress Inn for a nice dinner.  Patrick and I love Cypress Inn, I was sad he wasn't able to join us.  He wasn't able to get off work. I was happy to finally see my parents.

 

John and me before dinner.

Me and the bride.

Amy and my Mom, they both looked beautiful.

Amy and John

We felt like we were at the kids table.  So to play the part when Keith opened his potato we all thought it looked like a seal so we made a ball and put it on his nose.  Isn't he cute.  We had Gigi's cupcakes and then we headed to the house. 


Once we got to the house we decided to head to the Houndstooth.  This was the outside at 8:30 Friday night.  It was crazy! 



I was excited to see my new friend Shannon.  Love this girl!

Also got to hang out with an old friend from high school.  We didn't stay out to late.  We got back to the house and Amy and Shannon were going to another bar so I just decided to call it a night.  Before I went to bed, Dad and I took Ally for a walk and we ended up walking all the way back to campus to see the Gameday set. We also passed this casket in the bed of a truck.  Pretty random.


 I've tried so hard to put all of this behind me.  It's just so hard when you see people that you love hurt, it's even harder when the cause of the pain was the action of another person that you love too.  I try to forget the pain but it gets brought to the surface all too often in a photo or a friend who mentions it in public because weddings are happy occasions.  And for the record my feelings about this situation have nothing to do with the person Liz has chosen to spend her life with.  It wouldn't have mattered who was standing beside her.  The fact that my dad wasn't there to give his daughter away and my mom didn't get to see her stand in front of that chapel and vow to spend the rest of her life with someone is where the hurt comes from.  The fact that it didn't seem bother either of them that they hurt people that love them deeply fueled these feelings.

If I've learned anything in my 27 years it's Life is all about perspective. While all this was so hurtful and some of us even found ourselves navigating the stages of grief, it could be a lot worse.  They are still in our lives.  I am still able to call her on the telephone if I want to tell her something.  I don't want that to change but I also want it to be understood how hurt I was and why I was hurt.  I've tried to understand and respect the decisions they made but that doesn't mean I have to agree with them.  It also doesn't mean my feelings won't be hurt.

Thanks for sticking with me.  I hate writing these types of posts but sometimes I just need to pour my heart out.  I try to keep it real and this is about as real as it gets.

Wedding Fun

**I thought I posted this last week obviously I didn't, so here you go**

Saturday night our friends Matt and Nicolette tied the knot.  Patrick has known them both for a long time and we were so excited to get to celebrate with them.  It was outside at Rosewood in Pinson.  The ceremony and reception were both outside, yes in August.  To say it was hot is an understatement.  I made the mistake of trying to fix my hair.  I don't know what I was thinking.  It was looking pretty rough by the end of the night.

Patrick and Tony.  They're so cute!

These were the chandeliers hanging inside the tent.  They also had some hanging from the trees in the garden ceremony site.

Patrick and I with Tony and Carla.  We had a blast!

The beautiful bride!

Patrick and the handsome groom

It was such a great night.  We so enjoyed getting to spend time with friends.  We don't get to do that enough with Patrick's work schedule!

Royal Wedding

When Friday, April 29th rolled around we were all in need of a distraction.  I had set my DVR to record the wedding on two different channels on Monday.  As you all know we had devastating weather roll through on Wednesday, April 27th, which knocked power out across most of central Alabama.  I'd gone to spend the night with my parents Thursday night because I didn't want to be in the dark by myself.  Their power came back on Thursday evening.  Ours didn't come on till 6:00 Friday morning so I missed recording most of the wedding.  Luckily it was replaying on the BBC so we were able to watch it.

credit

  I thought Kate looked amazing and Will was cute as ever.  I loved that he looked at her like she was the only one in the world.  You could feel the love he has for her.  I love that the vows they shared were the same vows that Patrick and I exchanged.  They are also the same vows that marry people every day.  It really is amazing to me!

The weather put a damper on my guest list but we didn't let that get us down.  It was my sister, Amy and my friend Caroline.  I failed to get a picture of Caroline!  I made strawberry scones and they turned out delicious.  My sister and I also attempted to make petifores.  They tasted really good but they weren't very attractive!

I framed on of the engagement photos and it looked so good in the frame I thought about leaving it there!  We also had yummy wedding cookies and hummus.  I also had coffee and we used my wedding china! 

Strawberry Scones

Hummus

Petifores

Elizabeth and Amy!  Aren't they beautiful!

It was such a fun night!  It was nice to take our mind off of things.  It was weird how we all felt some what guilty for trying to get back to normalcy when so many lives were turned upside down.  I wasn't alive when Charles and Diana married.  I vividly remember watching all the footage of Diana's funeral.  It was one of those where were you when moments.  This royal wedding will forever be remembered as our distraction from the events of the week. 

credit



Wedding fun

Saturday night my sister's friend Anna got married.  We love Anna and her family.  She has a sister that I graduated HS with and little brother that graduated with John so we've all been friends forever.  Anna is one of the most beautiful people I've ever met both inside and out.  I am so happy for her and her new life as a wife! 

me and sister.  I wish I got a  full length shot of my dress.  It was so pretty!

Mom and Dad.  TakeAPicturePhobia strikes again!

John and Hope. 

The beautiful bride and groom!

I love this shot of John and his buddies Trey (the brother of the bride) and Hunter.  They were laughing about something even Mr. Berry (the father of the bride) is tickled in the background.

We had a blast.  The band was awesome.  At one point me, my dad, my sister and about 3 other people were on a stage singing back up to Proud Mary complete with the Tina Turner dance moves.  I'm convinced our dance moves are why we continue to get invited to weddings!  All in all it was a pretty fun night...

Weekend fun...

Warning... Lots of photos!!!
We had a busy weekend.  Friday night I let my nephew and neice spend the night with me. 

We watched a movie and drank hot chocolate. 

We played The Sims on Elizabeth's computer and told ghost stories unter the blanket!

We played outside on the swingset

We ate pototoe soup!

Ally and Daddy napped on the couch!

Then Saturday night Patrick and I went a wedding.  It was one of my good friends from high school.  The wedding was beautiful the bride was beautiful.  The only problem was I didn't watch one down of football Saturday night.  We got to the reception and the bartender was told not to turn the TV's on until after they had cut the cake.  By the tiem they turned them on it was halftime in both games.  The men got to watch most of the second half but my and my sister decided to hit the dance floor.

Mr. Jones, me and my sister.

Patrick and Matt

Sister's friends.

Sister, Clay and me! (We were roommates at UA for a semester!)

Me and Gab

The beautiful bride

Bride and Groom (I'm pretty sure they didn't know I was taking this!)

Sister had a long night!

Most importantly...

Alabama 31- Mississippi State 3

Roll Tide Roll!!!