We also went to the park.
And the zoo! That membership has sure come in handy. We've been quite a few times and it's always a lot of fun.
We fed stingrays and lorikeets. During the second encounter I felt decidedly like a pirate. As one of them flew over and sat on my shoulder for quite a while. Of course the kids climbed on all the photo op things and generally had a good time.
After mom headed home it was time to get into wedding mode. Mom Cox had hurt her hand and was not feeling well in general so I stepped in to help out with stuff like running errands and helping her get things together before we ever left for AL. We pulled out early on Thursday morning and stopped on the way to get the stuff we needed from Sams for the rehearsal dinner. Brother and Sister Horne were so nice and gracious to us in allowing all of our crowd plus Brittany's family to stay in their home for the weekend. It was a huge blessing to us and very greatly appreciated. Friday morning we rolled out to get last minute items at Walmart and then it was on to the church to tackle the task of fixing a rehearsal dinner for 65 people. We almost didn't finish in time. The chicken was taking forever to cook, way longer than it normally does. Thankfully there were church people nearby who were willing to lend us their ovens so we could finish up in time. I think we sent four pans of chicken out and 2-3 desserts to cook at different church homes. We had rice, beans, chicken, homemade fresh salsa, chips, and the fixings for dinner, then brownies and peach cobbler, and ice cream (thanks to Uncle George) for dessert. Mom was a little handicapped in the kitchen thanks to the hand and Francie and I were getting a bit worried about finishing in time when reinforcements came in the form of Uncle George and Aunt Angela and their kids. I don't think we would have made it without them. The rehearsal dinner turned out very well and everyone seemed to enjoy it. We had tons of leftovers. Then it was time for the rehearsal. Some of the church ladies and I cleaned up while they were having the rehearsal. Then we sat around and waited, and waited, and waited. We didn't leave until after 11 Alabama time. It was a really really long rehearsal. Then we got up the next morning and got ready and headed back to the church early for pictures. They did their pictures before the wedding. I got asked to set up/ decorated the dessert bar so I got that done as much as possible before the wedding then got asked to fix and serve punch for the reception as well so I ended up busier than I originally thought lol. That's what happens at family weddings. Aunt Shannon did a great job with the pictures. The family pictures turned out really good. It was kind of sad though to have everyone in the pictures except for Beau. The wedding itself was really short. I was surprised that it wasn't longer. It was really simple and quick. Though I did end up crying for the first time at a wedding. They had this beautiful song and it reminded me of Beau and I and our love story and it made me miss him so much. I couldn't help crying a bit during that song. I felt so lonely in the middle of our great big family and he wasn't able to even able to be there via Skype. At least Noah was able to video it for him and get a few photos as well.
All in all we were glad when everything was finished as we were all exhausted. We had a good time visiting with the Horne and Clarkson families that evening and then we headed back home the next morning after we played tetras with the luggage and wedding gifts and decorations in the trailer. LOL it was stuffed full. Anyway I will catch up the rest later. I am still staying busy. I wrote this post as I was able to snatched a few moments over several days.
No comments:
Post a Comment