Brown Eyed Girl Meets a Blue Eyed Boy: a texas wedding

At the beginning of this month we headed south to Dallas, TX for Jimmy's cousin Mia's wedding. Lily was the flower girl and we were looking forward to a few days away and time with his family.

We left on a Thursday evening after work and drove through the night. We figured between the two of us we could trade off enough to keep ourselves awake and that this would be the best plan with the kiddos so that they would sleep through the night, and it worked great. I started off the drive and of course didn't make it long before I was sleepy, Jimmy took over and ended up driving the rest of the way - no surprise :) The kiddos woke up just 30 minutes or so outside of Dallas the next morning - we only stopped twice for gas and potty breaks. I was a little hesitant because I had potty trained Lily just a few weeks prior but she did awesome - didn't even go in her "safety" diaper once!

Friday was spent relaxing and catching up with family, checking into our hotel and spending some time at the pool, and pizza from a local spot for dinner.

Saturday morning I hit up the nail salon with the ladies of the family and some of the bridal party before an afternoon Antiguan BBQ at the bride's house. Jimmy's uncle (Mia's dad) is originally from the island of Antigua so it was fun to enjoy some yummy Caribbean food, meet some of his family, and dance to some Caribbean music that afternoon! Later that day Lily and I joined the rest of the wedding party for the wedding rehearsal - she did great, making quick friends with the other flower girl and walked down the aisle without a blink! After rehearsal we were off to rehearsal dinner where Jimmy and Preston joined us. The dinner was at an awesome Mexican restaurant complete with an Elvis impersonator - which made the evening interesting :) After dinner everyone went back to our hotel for a late night swim and to hangout. Unfortunately one of us had to bring the kiddos to our room for the night so I missed out on this part, the unfortunate part of having young kiddos and being in a hotel, but that's ok! I heard they had lots of fun!

It was a Sunday evening wedding so Sunday was wedding day! We had a relaxing morning and afternoon to ourselves. Our family took a little walk on the boardwalk/pier just outside the hotel - our hotel was on a beautiful lake, enjoyed a room service breakfast, took good naps, and then headed to the pool for the afternoon! I was a little nervous with a wedding time of 6pm that both kiddos, especially Lily, would get a good nap in, before having to be there, but they did and it worked out really well. Lily and I headed over to the church around 4:30 for pictures and then Jimmy and Preston joined us for the wedding at 6. Lily walked down the aisle hand in hand with the other flower girl - carrying her little "Here Comes the Bride" sign and smiling away! The wedding was really pretty - his cousin is gorgeous and so she looked stunning, of course, but everything else came together really well too. They wrote their own vows, which I always think is so neat, and the reception was so much fun. The groom has a Mexican background and with Mia's Antiguan background they had lots of fun music and both families were incredible dancers - it was a bit intimidating but we joined right in. I'm pretty sure Lily didn't sit down once until we got back to the hotel for the night and Preston did great until his bedtime when I was able to lay him down in a pack n play that I brought along - it worked really well.

Monday morning Jimmy, Jimmy's sister Jena, and her husband Dan hit the road back to Iowa while the rest of us decided to stay another day or so. Definitely a perk of being a stay at home mama is that we were able to stay on a whim because we didn't have anything to be back for! Monday we enjoyed another day at the pool, time with his family, and one more dinner out at a restaurant on the boardwalk before heading out bright and early Tuesday morning.

It was a fun fun trip celebrating a beautiful wedding and love story. We wish Mia and Josh all the happiness and blessings that a marriage centered on Christ can bring and years and years of memory making together!

I love love weddings because it always seems to remind me of our wedding day and the words that we promised to each other , and no matter the state of our relationship that particular hour, day, week, or month it puts things in perspective. True love is such a rarity and so many people aren't patient enough to find it, so I know I'm blessed beyond measure to have found Jimmy. My passion, love, devotion, and adoration for him is so much greater today than it was the first day we fell in love, the day we said I do, the day we had a baby, the day we had a second baby, and every day in between.