Jenn and Jeff

Saturday night Travis and I went to my friend's wedding.  The ceremony and reception were held at her parents' house not to far from ours.  We got a sitter for Aiden and had five hours of adult time.  The wedding was beautiful and very personal.  I thought they did a great job.  The weather was perfect.  I was reminded of our wedding on private property.  Though it was insanely windy and no one could hear the pastor.  Ha.

We were sat at a table with some mutual friends from my work.  I also got to meet her boss, who is a big name at work.  That was interesting. 

The food was great - catered by Texas Roadhouse (where they met) and there were a thousand different cake balls to choose from.  I had the red velvet to reminisce about our wedding cake.  They had an open bar with various Anheuser-Busch products.  I believe Jenn's dad works there, so he had to represent.  We didn't stay late - left at 10 because I knew I wouldn't be able to stay awake much later than that. 

Again with the sideways photos.  I am sorry.  Some day I'll find time to do this on a different computer.  I forgot to bring my computer, so all the photos are from my phone.

The bride was BEAUTIFUL, though I am annoyed I didn't get any close shots.

Our table centerpiece.

The wedding colors were white and purple.  They had purple lights in the big white tent that made all my photos turn out with a purple tint. 

Cake balls, courtesy of the Matron of Honor

Groom's cake

Coozies came with the beers

36 weeks and still going strong



Musatto Wedding

We left for Illinois last Thursday evening.  Travis was unable to get off work, so it was Ariel, Robert, Aiden and I.  I chose a late flight thinking Travis would be dropping us off, but we ended up driving ourselves and parking the car at the airport.  We got to the airport on time, but quickly found out our flight had been delayed.  The Ramby's were flying to Ohio that same night and their flight was delayed as well.  That worked out really well because the boys were able to run off some energy together.

The flight ended up being two hours late.  I brought Aiden's car seat on the plane, so I strapped him in when we got on board.  Since it was way past his bed time he fell asleep as soon as we were in the air.  The flight was extremely turbulent because there were thunderstorms over our entire flight path.  Ariel and I are both terrified of flying and we both get air sick really easily, so we sat in terror together.  

My dad picked us up from the airport in Chicago in a rental car and we headed to our hotel.  He missed our turn onto another highway.  Since we were headed toward the city, he decided to just keep going and give Robert a tour of a city he'd never visited before.  It was close to 2 in the morning by this point, so the streets were mostly empty.  But Robert got to see a lot of famous stores and restaurants.

The next morning, Gpa, Aiden and I ate the hot breakfast the hotel provided.  Ariel and Robert joined us shortly thereafter.  Aiden was taking forever to eat, so I headed back to the room to shower and get ready.  After everyone else was ready, we drove over to my Aunt Trish and Uncle Chris' house.  And it was a FULL house.  Already staying there were my cousins Chris, Chris, Darren and Mike, Mike's wife and two daughters, and my mom.  

We ate lunch and sat around, catching up with each other.  My cousins Chris, Mike, Mike's wife and daughters (Zoe and Lily) are from Arizona, so we really don't get to see each other all that often.  It was so awesome to get to spend some time with these people.  

Around 3, we all piled into a few cars and headed to the church for the wedding.  Aiden had refused to take a nap so of course he fell asleep on the ride over.  I had to wake him up and of course he was miserable.  He wouldn't stop crying.  We sat in the back of the van while he cried it off.  He finished just in time for us to sneak in the back of the church.  We sat on the side so we could easily make a quick retreat if need be.  I was terrified the entire time that he might start screaming or crying at any moment.  Thankfully he did well throughout the whole ceremony.  It was a beautiful Catholic ceremony in a very elaborate church.  

After the ceremony, we stood outside the church for a few minutes while the bridal party took photos.

Aiden and Zoe on the church steps

The reception was a few cities over right on the Fox River.  There was a dam right outside the picture windows so we had a great view of the water.  

Robert and Ariel at the reception

Chris and Laura, the groom and bride

Laura asked one of her high school students to play the ukulele at the reception.  She sang as well and it was   very cute.  I looked over at Aiden at one point and he was holding his fork like a little ukulele and playing along.  After a minute, he held it like a microphone and sang a little tune.  That kid constantly entertains me.

My mom and I out on the deck

It was pretty chilly out, maybe 50 degrees?  I was cold.  And of course the kids wanted to run, so we took them outside.  Brrrrr!  I am so not used to the cold.

My dad, me, Alex and Ariel

Somewhere around 10 pm, Aiden tripped on his blanket and fell down.  My cousins Mike and Chris tried to stand him back up, but Aiden was a limp noodle.  They laid him back down and he stayed there and closed his eyes. That was my cue to hit the car.  I was pretty tired as well, so I called Alex and asked if he would mind if I took Aiden home.  He said they would find a ride home and we went back to Aunt Trish's.  Straight To Bed.  Soooo tired....

Need to organize photos...

Aiden and I went to Illinois this weekend for my cousin's wedding, hence the lack of proper posts.  I do not have my thoughts or photos organized as of yet.  I can say that I came back 3 pounds heavier with a northern head cold.  Oh and also lots of excellent memories.  Hopefully I can get those memories posted over the next few days.

We got back Monday night, but I took Tuesday off so I could get everything in order before heading back to work.  I had a doctor's appointment first thing yesterday morning and I got my flu shot.  I spent the rest of the morning running errands for Travis and I.  When I got home I was exhausted.  So I slept for almost FOUR HOURS.  Ha!  I didn't want to get up, but I forced myself out of bed to go pick up Aiden from daycare.  I spent the rest of the afternoon unpacking and doing laundry. 

I'm in the middle of the nasty, dribbling part of a cold.  My sinuses are on fire and I have a box of Kleenex attached to my hip.  It's always tough for me to be sick.  I generally have a lack of appetite, but that doesn't mean I can just stop eating.  My body doesn't work that way.  Since I didn't have much of an appetite this morning, I only had a tiny bowl of Cheerios.  When I got to work I realized I was going to need more than that so I stopped at the coffee shop and got a protein shake.  I wish I had five bucks to blow daily because I would totally get this shake every morning.  It has a banana, peanut butter, nonfat milk, protein powder and the barista recommended a shot of chocolate.  AMAZING.  I'm not allowed to bring food into the lab I work in, so I've spent the majority of the morning standing in the hall with that shake.  Can't. Put. It. Down.  If I could chop ice as finely as they do, I would make it at home.

Anyhoo, hopefully I'll get to organizing my brain so I can post about the trip.  It was GREAT to have an entire weekend to visit with my extended family.  We rarely get to do that.  I wish we could all afford to do it more than once every 5 to 10 years.  What are you gonna do?

A Wedding

Sometime early last week, I was having lunch with Jenna when I realized, out loud, that the wedding we had on Saturday fell directly over Aiden's nap time. I was having a mini-breakdown trying to figure out how we would handle that, when Jenna suggests that she could watch him. GREAT SUGGESTION, JENNA!

So, Saturday morning, Jenna came over half an hour before the start of the wedding. I went over where everything was that she would need and then we left. I'm not sure how he did after we walked out the door, but Aiden seemed happy with Jenna and her 7-year-old daughter Jandi.

The wedding itself was fun. I have not been to a lot of weddings lately, mostly due to the fact that everyone I know is pretty much married off. This one was interesting because it was in a church. It surprised me to realize that the last wedding I went to (and was actually a bridesmaid in) was the summer after my first year in Texas. That means it was the summer of 2003. I can only recall one other wedding that I have been to inside a church, and that was my cousin Mike's way back when. I seriously don't even know when it was. I just know I was a kid. Since then, all the weddings have been outside, save one - that was in a Vegas chapel. Ha!

I know it will probably irritate some to know that I do not attend church. Therefore, my main association with churches is with funerals. As Travis and I were walking up to the church, I started to get a little anxiety, until I realized that this was not a sad occasion. It was a happy one! A wedding! Anxiety averted.

The wedding itself was a complete 180 to what I am accustomed to. I work with the bride, Sheri, at UTMB and she married a pastor. They had a service in the middle of their ceremony. I'm sure that is totally normal for most, but it is not what I have experienced in my adulthood. Interesting though.

After the ceremony, we walked over to the recreation hall for the reception. Sheri's friend Kate made the groom's cake. The groom proprosed to Sheri on the beach, so he chose a sand castle for his cake. It was DELICIOUS.

I also know two of the bridesmaids from work as well. Michelle, dancing in the middle in the photo below, and Katie, who has a son five months younger than Aiden. I also made a new friend in Kate (pictured on the left), who was at the bachelorette party.



After the reception, we headed back to get Aiden. He had slept through most of our time away, but Jenna assured us that everything went well. And as it turns out, Jandi loved taking care of Aiden, so Jenna didn't really have to do much! ;)

4 Years of Matrimony

Today marks the 4-year anniversary of my marriage to Travis. Seven years before that, we met in high school.

Our wedding was a stressful one. For me anyways. We had it outdoors at my mom's friend's house in the middle of the country in Illinois. We were smack dab in the middle of the corn fields and we have several photos to prove it. All of our family came to watch us get married in front of an old, battered, red barn. Between my dad and I, we did all the decorating ourselves. The reception was held on the other side of the house by the pool. We rented white tents, in case it rained (which it did, but it stopped for our wedding).

Here were the major stressing events for me:

• When the flowers arrived, they had been PAINTED red (Alice in Wonderland, anyone?). During shipping, they became stuck together and when peeled apart there were pieces of paint missing to expose the white calla lily underneath. Travis spent days trying to get them to send us a different flower as a replacement but was never able to get a hold of anyone. We ended up throwing them all in the trash and Travis' mom went to Walmart to buy out their stock of red and orange flowers. Our credit card was thankfully never charged for this heinous faux pas.


• After the DJ set up, we found out that the breaker was incapable of channeling enough power and was continuously shutting off. Thankfully, I was marrying an electrician who was able to move a few things around to make it work.


• The pastor who married us was so far gone that he ended up being admitted into a home with Alzheimer's not even a month after our wedding. He forgot to come to our wedding rehearsal and we had to prompt him on what to say during the ceremony.


• When the tents were set up, they forgot to put up the sides. I got back from getting my hair done to find this mistake and had to have them rush back to get it up before the guests arrived for appetizers before the ceremony was to begin.


• It rained all through our pre-ceremony photo taking. My curls fell before the photos were even taken. Thankfully it stopped by the time we were walking down the aisle!


• After all that fighting with the flower company, we only had 24 hours to prepare the centerpieces. After the rehearsal dinner, my bridesmaid Chrissie and I stayed up until midnight (while the boys were at the bachelor party - Travis chose the bowling alley so my underage brother could attend - so sweet!) putting together the arrangments.


• I left an entire box of stuff - everything required for making our bouquets and all the candles - in our apartment in Texas. Had to re-buy all of that.


• Because of the rain, our caterer decided that they would not be able to serve each individual their dinner. Instead it was a buffet style, cramped inside a tiny tent.
  

In the end, the only aspects of our wedding that did not go entirely wrong was our cake and our photographer. Both were absolutely fabulous.

After all of that, I can say I would honestly do it all over again even if I knew it would be that hard. Once it all began (aside from our memory deficient pastor), it was great. The memories were worth it and what matters most is that everyone enjoyed themselves and WE ARE MARRIED.

That said... if we ever renew our vows - we're going to Vegas.

Ashley & Scott's Wedding

Saturday after the baby shower we drove an hour north to attend our friends' wedding. It was an outdoor ceremony at a yacht club, and then the reception was in the club house. We met Sara and JR there and sat with them during the ceremony. The sky looked like it might be tempted to sprinkle on us, but luckily it only spit out a little just before the ceremony started. The bride stayed dry!

I know Ashley had been waiting for several years to get her proposal from Scott, so when the minister pronounced them man and wife, she put a fist in the air and let out a celebratory whoop. Ha! Scott also seemed excited...

The bride and groom took all of there photos together after the ceremony while the guests herded into the club house to begin the reception. There was an open bar that Travis took advantage of while Sara and I hit up a few of the servers with appetizer trays. Ashley decided on a beach theme for the wedding. There were seashells and sand everywhere. The cake was covered in seashell candies (oh and the cake was delicious). The groom's cake was chocolate and had a picture of Scott holding a gigantic fish he caught offshore somewhere. Underneath the photo were the words "The Perfect Catch". LOL!

We sat at a huge table with Sara, JR, Mary and TJ. A cranberry-spinach salad and rolls were served for our appetizer and filet mignon and chicken for our meal. As Scott would say, it was a great weekend for a variety of "free" food for a pregnant lady.

Mary and TJ

Travis and I left the party around 10 or so. I couldn't handle much more than that. I was fed and tired and ready to lay down. Travis was supposed to work the next day, so he didn't want to stay out late either.

We caught the bride and groom for goodbyes and extra congrats on our way out of the building:

Scott and Ashley

It was a busy weekend already, and it was only Saturday!!

Congrats to Mr. and Mrs. JR Luck!!

See the last few minutes of their wedding in Vegas here:

JR & Sara's Wedding video

White Wedding

So I was pretty lame yesterday. NOTHING exciting. Travis and I are just preparing for the arrival of our guests this weekend. Hopefully, you'll find this entertaining enough:

A man in Britain who lives in a trailer gave his 16-year-old daughter, Missy, a £100,000 wedding. That equates to almost $150,000! You have got to see the pictures.

The £100,000 white wedding for the 16-year-old girl who lives in a caravan

All Play and No Housework

This weekend was all play and no work. Actually, I did go into work both days, but I didn't do anything around the house. Friday night I went straight up to Jenna and Seth's after work. Travis spent the whole day up there with Seth helping him do some work around the house. We had pizza for dinner and then hung out until a few other people from work showed up. They bought Rock Band on sale recently, so they broke that out. I lost track of time and didn't leave until close to 1 in the morning. That was BAD because I had to be at work at 8am Saturday. Thankfully, I was only in for three hours, so I had time to run home and take a nap before driving up to Houston that afternoon.

Saturday evening, some old friends from college, Josh and Clarissa, got married at the Hyatt in Houston. We decided to share a room at the hotel with Sara and JR, that way no one had to drive home at the end of the night. We got there a little early so we could drop off our stuff and change into our wedding attire. The wedding and reception were both beautiful. I am SO angry because my camera broke somehow between the wedding and reception. The lens was stuck and wouldn't come out properly. I've been having trouble with it for some time now (even though it is brand new), but this is the first time it went completely kaput.

This is the best picture I got during the whole 15 minutes my camera was working. I'm so bummed because there were lots of great photo opportunities. Our friends Scott and Ashley were there also, along with a few people I haven't seen since college. It is crazy how time flies. Towards the end of the night we went to a bar with the bride and groom and a bunch of their followers. I think we got back to the hotel around 2 in the morning.

I had a really bad weekend when it comes to my technology, now that I think about it. Before leaving for Houston, I dropped my cell phone into the toilet. I was quick to retrieve it (thankfully it was a pee and poo-free toilet) and turn off the phone. I took everything apart and left it to dry. It wasn't back to full working form until yesterday morning. At least it is back to working form. I have insurance on it, but it is always such a pain to deal with that.

The best part of the whole weekend is that I took a nap on Saturday AND Sunday. That is crazy for me. Of course, both days I woke up groggy and feeling like crap because I had to get up right away and get back on the move. I think it helped in the long run though. I feel pretty good today, despite how busy we were.

Aside from running into work for a little bit, I did absolutely nothing yesterday. I spent the day surfing the web and reading magazines. Travis mowed the lawn and began the laborious process of removing the rusty clotheslines from our back yard. He decided to cut the posts down to the concrete and then just bury the concrete blocks. Travis almost broke his shovel attempting to lever the block out of the ground. It will be just as easy to bury it and let the grass grow over. I'm just excited to make use of the pile of dirt that has been marring our driveway for months now!