Wedding Bells are Ringing!

July 2012

 

Now that everyone had made it safely to Dallas, it was time to start on the next leg of our journey.  Early one morning, we headed north in two packed cars, all the way to Manhattan, Kansas for my Aunt Karen's wedding.  Our Kansas family hadn't gotten to meet Olivia yet, so we were also excited for everyone to meet our little girl.  When we arrived in Kansas, Great Grandma Dot and Olivia immediately became great friends:

While we weren't taking part in the wedding festivities, we found plenty of things to keep us busy.  We went to the park, walked around and played in the splash park:

It was so great to get the chance to hang out with my 2 beautiful cousins.  We definitely don't get to spend enough time together!

The boys enjoyed a morning at a really cool local swimming pool with slides and a lazy river:

The night before the big day, we all went to Aunt Karen and Wyatt's house for some pizza and great company.  I love this photo that Whitney took of my family:

The next day was July 14th, my Grandpa Dale's birthday and the perfect day for a wedding.  I know he would have been so proud and happy to see everyone together.  I'm so thankful that he got the chance to meet Tommy, and I still think about how much he would have loved cuddling Jack and Olivia, singing them "shoo fly" or cooking them some mini pancakes on Sunday morning.  We miss you Grandpa Dale.

But I digress.  As it should be, this July 14th was a happy day.  As usual, Olivia celebrated by taking a nap and looking adorable:

I love this picture of Mommy and Miss Olivia:

And this one of my cheesy guy in his wedding day attire:

And a picture of the cousins.  We tried to get Olivia in a photo with the three boys, but she was having none of it.

She much preferred to be photographed on her own, laying comfortably in Daddy's lap.

Of course, we did a few posed shots before the wedding.  Here's one of my family.  We missed you Ian!

And one of the sisters and kiddos:

Another one of my favorites - Grandma Dot and her lovely granddaughters:

Finally, it was time for the wedding to begin.  Courtney and Whitney walked their mom down the aisle.  Yes, those are KU colors they are wearing, but don't mention it around Aunt Karen or Courtney!

I really loved the ceremony.  Aunt Karen and Wyatt were so happy:

It was a fun ceremony, with lots of laughing:

But most importantly, they got married!

The reception after the wedding was in their backyard, very comfortable and relaxed, complete with some yummy local barbeque for dinner 

I love the look Jack gets on his face when he's thinking deeply about something.  I guess on this day he was in a very contemplative mood.

Of course, he also had time for some fun and some more cheesy smiles before the night was over: 

Congrats to Aunt Karen and Wyatt and thanks so much for sharing your special day with us!