another Wisconsin Wedding

On March 1st we headed up to Wisconsin for a wedding. The bride, Kellie, is more like Jorge's sister than anything else. I met her almost 11 years ago, right after Jorge and I started dating. We hit it off right away, and as weird as it sounds, I have been looking forward to the day she and her sister get married for a very very long time! I was "HUGELY" pregnant so I had A doctors note so I wouldn't be kept from flying, cause let me tell you... NOTHING was going to keep me from this wedding! I just LOVE this girl to bits, and would never be able to forgive myself for missing the biggest day in her life.


"HI HAIRPLANE!!" I swear, I've never heard "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy! HAIRPLANE." so many times in my whole life.

Lori and I sat together, and David and Jorge sat together. Divide and concur. We wont be able to do that for long. :/


After 8 years of visiting Chicago and the Chicago area I finally got to IN and sit and eat, usually we just pick it up and take it to our friends' house. It was DELIGHTFUL! Immediately following taking the picture of Lori and I eating out pizza, Lo burned her mouth. Poor kiddo!


I got to spend some of the early afternoon with Kellie and the bridesmaids. I painted their nails, and got them their lunches from the church kitchen. It was a complete joy to be able to help them that way. Anything I could do for those sweet girls was a delight.


First things first, family picture... it will soon be outdated as we will have a new family member VERY shortly, BUT I wanted one regardless. I was super excited about my dress. :) (15 bucks CLEARANCE! I mean, how awesome is that!?)


Father Daughter dance. I balled! It was to "Cinderella" by Stephen Curtis Chapman, and if you haven't heard that song, go listen... unless you have children and are in public, then I would recommend waiting until you are alone, so that no one sees you cry like a little school girl. Its a very very sweet song!!!


Most of Jorge's High School youth group. I LOVE that after 20 years (TWENTY YEARS PEOPLE! HOLY MOLY!) We still make a point to get together and see each other when we go up to Chicago/Wisconsin. My prayer, among many, for my own high school girls is that they will wanna get together like this in 20 years, and that they'll be invited to our kids' weddings. How special is that!!


One of Jorge's buddies, wanted to get a belly comparison shot... I think its a draw.


The way they did the garter toss was pretty neat. The groom took the garter off the bride, put it on a football and then tossed the football in to the crowd of guys. WELL... The brides brother, John just happens to be a high school football STAR! (Our words, not his!) His varsity football team just went undefeated all the way to win the Wisconsin State football championships. With John scoring the GAME WINNING and ONLY touchdown! Yay Bradford Red Devils! Needless to say, John caught the garter!


Brother and Father of the bride gettin' their groove on.


Two very special people to us!!! Steve (our best man) and one of Jorge's best friends since High School, and his mama, Connie, who I call Mom Con. We love them very much and hate that we live so far from them both.


This is my beautiful friend Bre. We've not been close long, but we've gotten really close really fast!! She is a sister of my heart! I was so excited to get to spend 2 days with her helping out with the wedding prep. When I count my blessings in life, I count her for sure!! "Depth of friendship does not depend on length of acquaintance."


Amy, one of Jorge's fellow youth groupers and Tammy, mother of the bride.


The sweet couple! Mr and Mrs David Johnson!


Another group shot! (I was chasing after David...)


The past year or so has been REALLY hard for all of us, with the loss of several people who we love. This wedding was in some ways bitter sweet, for the Myers since they've lost 3 family members! Tammy's sister Bonnie, (brides Aunt) our dear dear friend Mike, and then just before Christmas Tammy's mom Dee. As a gift to the bride I made 3 charms, with a picture of each lost family member that the florist put in her bouquet. Its not a great picture but you get the idea...


Me and sweet Kellie! She is such a fun "sister-in-law". What a blessing to me and my family!


David (Brides older brother) and Amy, got married last year. They were the reason for our road trip up to Wisconsin last May.


Lori hittin' up the chocolate dipping station. (Note: chocolate on shirt. ha)


David helped himself to some wedding cake but was having issues cutting it, so he just picked it up with the fork (which he stole from a friend of mine) and took a bite. Nothin' can get between this boy and cake!


The day after the wedding we got together with some more of the youth group. As always it was a great time. It had been YEARS since one of them had been around, in fact, I hadn't ever met him and I've been coming around for over 10 years! Roger pulled out the old scrapbook from the youth group days and they had a good laugh at old hairstyles, mustaches and memories. It was fun to watch them all reminisce.


Peter, David, John, Jorge (lookin' good I might add) Chad and Ryan... or is it Ryan and then Chad... no that's Chad THEN Ryan. Yeah, I'm sure...


Never a dull moment...


Lori and "Uncle" John. She LOVES him and keep asking me to call him mom and ask her to have him come down here. :)


David is a breakfast cook at a great restaurant and so on our last day there we took the kids, ours, the Myers and their foster kids to see him and make him cook for us. :) It was good food! Well done David!


Jorge and Roger. Love this guy!


Koral (youngest Myers and SWEETHEART who I love SO SO much!!) Tammy, Me, and Jessica (Myers' cousin.) These girls are so dear to my heart! They are such a blessing and encouragement to me in all things. I LOVE THEM!


Leaving the Myers' house we took a picture of Lori in the snow.. .yes, she has not jacket on (it was in the car)... mom fail.


Lastly, we stopped in Chicago visit with Jorge's dad one last time. Man they look a like!

Happy Easter/Birthday!

Today is Easter, it is also Lori's 3rd Birthday. I didn't want to make a HUGE deal over the fact that it was her birthday cause I kinda wanted her focus to be on, well you know, the whole Jesus raising from the dead part. Seems a LITTLE bit more important, however, we wanted her to feel a little special.
Basically, we did the usual Easter stuff. I sang this morning in our worship choir and then we had an AMAZING breakfast provided by the church. (I swear, I know Jesus rose from the dead to conquer our sins and allow us to have eternal life with him in Heaven, but I also think that these biscuits could have had something to do with it.) On a more serious note, I was kinda finding it hard to get through the worship songs today. I was really hurting over the loss of our loved ones this past year. I kept thinking about how it is BECAUSE Jesus died, that they are not really gone. I think I usually think of death as being the end. Being the final chapter. But in all actuality all that we are living is just the prolog, isn't it. I had a whole new prespective on Easter this year. I know I should have probably came to this conclusion long ago, but I don't know, it just hit me. I realized that if Jesus hadn't died for our sins, and raised from the dead, conquering death, then my loved ones, Brian, Kimberly and Mike, would cease to exist. The would be dead. But now, because of what Jesus did, and their willingness to accept that gift, they will live forever in Heaven. And I will see them again.

Kisses for my Birthday Girl!


Kids runnin amuck. Glad they feel so at home at church!

Family shot in front of the flower cross.

More of the crazies...

After church we went home to rest for a bit, and then off to our friends' house for a get together, potluck lunch/dinner thing. We started doing this 5 years ago and there were only 4 kids. Today there was 14. All under 7. It was intense. FUN, but intense During our time at home Lori opened some gifts from her Grammy and Papa (my parents) and we called them and they said "Happy Birthday!" to which she said "and Happy Easter!" That made me happy. (She also said "Thank you" when people would said "Happy Birthday" which also made me proud)

.
EGG HUNT!

Then is was time to celebrate Lori. She walked in to the kitchen of our host and politely said, "Its my Birthday time now." She got a piece of Cherry Cordial cake (made by our friend Sara Kinsey) and we sang her Happy Birthday. As you can see by the look on her face, it was quite a magical moment.

And now some pictures of David...

Happy as can be! Apparently when you are 15 months old everything is funny. He was cracking up while crawling up the stairs.

And finally, one last family shot. :) All in all it was a great day! I can't wait to celebrate Lori again at her party in a few weeks. She really is a joy and we love her to pieces!