Wedding Weekend: Rehearsal

I finally have a few moments to devote to the blog that's been oh-so-neglected.  I have a zillion photos from Friday's rehearsal and rehearsal dinner.  I'll try to pick the highlights.  I think most people that read this blog are in the pics, so at least a few people will enjoy it!  I had a hard time picking.  :-)

{Sarah and SMoo with the bow bouquet}

David & Norene

 

Sisters

This is one of my favorite parts of our sanctuary.  The baptistry is right in front of it (you can't see it), but I think it's such a great verse from Revelation that applies to new life in Christ and a new life two people build together.  

Some of my girls!

Ms. Teresa was the wedding coordinator, and also my Sunday School teacher when I was little.  It was so neat to have her be a part of this with us.  She's great at (nicely) keeping everyone on task.

Pops came this weekend, and had help from Tammy.  She went everywhere with him and made it possible for him to come visit.  I loved having them there.

Vicki B. from BSB was our pianist.  She was so instrumental (ha!) in coordinating all the music.  She worked with our soloists (Chris & Diane), the strings and brass groups to make everything seamless.  We had A LOT of music, which is one of my favorite parts to remember from our wedding day.  

Troy's girl, Sarah, came down with him for her first wedding...ever.  Pretty amazing!

I love this pic.  Sharon (in red) is my Aunt Jenny's daughter, and that's her husband, Whit.  They are good buds with Papa & Jonita.

Shay Sandwich

I think I'm trying to explain to Adam what the heck is going on.  He looks a little unnerved!

Adam's college pastor came down from Wisconsin.  We loved having Nate & his wife, Amanda, there with us.  

Several of our groomsmen were firemen and had to work that night.  Papa was one of the stand-ins for us.  He and Anna look so cute up there.

The boys are here!

My girls all lined up and ready to walk down the aisle.

Love this pic of me and my Daddy.

House party friends--Katelyn, Lyndsy, Gentry & Natalie

Feather sign-in pens became props.

Love the smile on Adam's face as my dad and I are walking down the aisle

All smiles!

Quiet boys...

We're married!  Just kidding...almost there.

Troy's job included holding the boys for the few minutes they stayed on stage.  He literally held them with a vice-like grip.  They did so well on our wedding day, though...they just had to get their wiggles out.

Here we go!

Papa with his youngest grandkids.

Looking back at all these makes me so happy.  I loved having everyone I loved in one room.  Sheesh.  That's gotta be one of the best things ever.  

Stay tuned for more pics from the weekend...

Crazy Dreams & a Week in the Life

This week, crazy dreams have started.  I thought I would share a few with you and also just for myself, so I wouldn't forget.  I am just so glad to be sleeping, that I will take any crazy dreams I have and funny things I've been doing...

• I dreamed that our awesome photographer showed up in waaay-too-tight black and white plaid pants, looking really unprofessional (totally not her style!).  When we got to the reception, no tables were set and the band was not there.  Patricia, our hotel wedding coordinator, was there blowing bubbles and singing kid songs to entertain the guests while I set tables. Ca-raz-y.
• I've dreamed that there were tiny little geckos in the kitchen of my and Claire's apartment.  As soon as I'd rescued one, several more would show up.  This has nothing to do with the wedding, but still strange.
• I'm also very slow to get sarcasm these days, I've noticed.  If someone says something that I know is supposed to be funny or sarcastic, I laugh, but it takes me a good five mintues to figure out why it's actually funny.  I eventually figure it out, but I'm hoping that this returns quickly after the wedding!

{Knox shows us his Vampire teeth}

Saturday night, Adam and I babysat our ring bearers, "The Boys."  They bypassed me and went straight to Adam.  I am just the girl who puts their food on the table. ;-)  Adam got hugged by Graham right away, and they were so excited to see him.  They got out their Nerf guns and swords and had a ball.  I wasn't bothered one bit that they like Adam so much.  In fact, I love it! 

Adam has also been working super-hard to make his apartment extra clean since I'm about to move in.  He's deep cleaning the bathroom, putting the lid back on his dryer that's been off for 2 years, and lots of other little stuff.  We are moving a chest of drawers over next week and bringing our new bedding over.  I'm really excited to finally be setting up a few of our new things!!  He's been working so hard and running lots of errands, and I wanted to make sure he knew I appreciated it all.  While he was down playing sand volleyball, I hid little bears around his apartment for him to find...

My family and close friends often call me "Shay Bear."  It's always been my name.  Adam shortened it to "Bear" and it stuck.  It's actually rare that he uses my real name, and it throws me for a loop somtimes when he does.  :-)  So I played off of this and had lots of things that "Bear Says."

We are getting boxes and boxes of gifts each day at my parent's house.  It's unreal.  People are so generous, and it's been lots of fun to open so many boxes and find out what's inside. 

I have no photos of this, either, but last night AMP and I went up to Claire's school for dance practice and her school's game night.  She LOVED showing us her world, and we had a lot of fun watching her interact with her little fourth graders.  I'm so glad we got to go!

We are EIGHT DAYS away from our wedding, and we could not be more excited.  We are a little nervous (the good "butterflies in your tummy" kind) and we have most of the little details ready.  I am taking of next Thursday and Friday and then will be gone for a week after that for our honeymoon.  I'm so ready for vacation!

Weekend Eleven: Couples' Shower

August 20th, we had eight hostesses give a wedding shower for both of us.  It was such fun to have Adam around opening gifts and seeing people, and I loved getting to see tons of my absolute favorite people.  The house was decked out in a picnic theme, with red and white checked table cloths, dasies, sun flowers and photos of Adam and me. 

One of our BSB friends, Vicki, made my favorite chocolate chip cookies.  We used to go on vacation with the Billman family, where she'd let us help make cookies.  We got to eat chocolate chips when we did math problems.  Her son, Brett, is infinitely better at math (he's an accountant now) always did better at these problems, but I beat him in spelling.  Makes sense, now, huh?

I'd like to point out that this was a seated dinner for 70 people.  Yes, 70, and yes, seated.  Everyone had a spot.   Because what's worse than to eat pulled pork sliders and have corn on the cob roll off your lap? 

Delicious food.

Vicki C., Aunt Laura, Sue and Kelley (BSB friends)

These dads preferred to sit in a pow-wow circle instead of at a table.  Whatever floats your boat.

This is where AMP and I sat for approximately 20 minutes to eat.  We enjoyed chatting with our friends at this table, but then it was time to make the rounds to our other 60 friends all around the house.

Papa and Claire became buddies when they were both in the Christmas program at Prestonwood last year.  I love this fun fact very much.

Molly and Nathan came and knew just about everyone in the house.  They are just so Baylor-y.

Megan and I are becoming good friends because she knew Amanda in Waco (who came up to visit for this!) and Molly worked for Amanda as an intern in Waco in college.  Did you catch all those connections?  If not, that's ok.  Just know we're mutual friends.

There was much laughing and mingling.

Tom and Susan opened their home up for this party, and he gave a little welcome and blessing for us.  The eight hostesses went to great lengths to make this such a special evening.  They had lots of special touches, and handed out these pretty prayer cards to people as they left, with specific verses to pray for us. 

This is when they were talking about us, before we started opening presents.  I have no idea why we were laughing, but there was a lot of that going on that night.

Smoo was there with her iPad taking notes as we opened presents for an hour and a half.

Handmade aprons for each of us!

Adam was so excited about all the tools he got!  His reactions were priceless, and I'm fairly certain he entertained the whole room.

The card for this read, "Every fireman's house should have an ax."  He couldn't agree more.

SMoo just working away!

Baylor friends!!

Troy was still in town, so he came too.  I'm so glad!

All of our loot.

Sweet hostesses.

So excited about their Crate & Barrel boxes

Here I am laughing, and Adam rolling his eyes. 

After everyone left, Adam went and pulled out some of his new tools. 

Mom was checking them out, too.

It was such a fun night!  We got in the car, exhausted, and realized that's what we're going to feel like after our wedding, but even more tired.  I did dream the other night, though, that we didn't get to dance or eat at our wedding because we were talking to people the whole time.  Hopefully that won't happen!

My first shower was really fun, but I really enjoyed having Adam there to open gifts, too, and really experience how excited everyone is for us.  We both felt very loved, and had a great time.