Rehearsing Greatness: Herndon Edition

Hello my little crumpets!  I'm sure it will come as no shock to you that I have gotten distracted by about a million other things and thus this little corner of the interwebs remains grossly behind the times.  Don't worry though- I've gotten my increasingly large behind in gear and have started the process of collecting and organizing pictures of Julie & David's wedding.  Snaps?  Cookie(s)?  I think I deserve both.

As you may recall from Shawna & Austin's wedding, my philosophy on destination weddings is that there's absolutely no way to cram all the pictures and awesomeness of a week abroad into one measly post.  At least not one that you can digest in your lunch hour.  So I'll stick with what worked and break this bad boy down into 3 segments: (1) the rehearsal dinner, (2) the wedding and (3) the other stuff.  Today's topic?  The rehearsal dinner.

On Friday June 13th David's parents, Mr & Mrs Herndon, hosted a fabulous rehearsal dinner in a pavillion on the beach of the resort Julie and David got married at, the Barcelo Bavaro Palace Deluxe, in Punta Cana.  As you might expect with a rehearsal dinner- funny speeches were made, much food was consumed, even more adult beverages were consumed, laughs were had and the evening's events also entailed a limbo contest and my Dad on top of a bar.  Let's suffice it to say that good times were most certainly had by all!  Basically it was the perfect celebration of the happy couple and we were very lucky to be a part of it.  Without further ado, let's skip to the pics of all the beautiful family and friends these two have, shall we?  (Side note: big thank you to my Dad for supplying pictures!  I was far too busy enjoying to be bothered with visual documentation.)

The beautiful bride mingling with her fans.

Uncle Tom & Aunt Jan.  My absolute favorite Hoosier Cowboy.

Aunt Jean & John.  They are our resident dancing queen/king.

Mr. Tom & Ms. Brenda.  If Emery & her sister get into as much trouble as the 5 of us did in our youth, I'm not sure I'd be traveling to a foreign land for them.  (Jk.  Maybe.)

The proud parents of the groom + their pride and joy.

My pretty cousin Lyndsie and my Uncle Gerry.  Yes, I promise that's him and not my Dad.

My cousin John and his wife Savannah.

Austin, Shawna & Dena.  Photographic evidence that at least 10% of Austin's time in PC was spent outside of the blackjack table.

Grampa Brady is and always has been the life of any party.  :c)

David's sister Elizabeth and her boyfriend Joel.

The prettiest little bride on the planet and her college friends Allie, Lauren & Caroline.  Photobomb courtesy of my attention-starved baby daddy.

Austin & Shawna.  One of these two isn't afraid of stingrays.  I'll let you guess which one.

Brendan & Jen.  Brendan only smiles that big when he knows there's unlimited food in his near future.

Bride & Groom's table.

Lots o' JuJu's college/HS friends.

Old (and wise and hot?) people table.

Bride's family & friends table.

Groom's family & friends table.

JJ's attempt at "capturing the whole room."

The other side of the room.

Toasting the man on top of the bar.  My guess is that each of these characters has been there before.

Visiting Hours

Breaking News:  my (almost) 4 week old angel is STILL keeping mama busy.  Based on the fact that she still insists on being held nearly 24/7 and Papa Bear is now back at work, I'm starting to think that I should have trained for parenthood by playing Twister on a daily basis.  You haven't lived until you've tried to put a bowl on the bottom of the dishwasher without making your little one's head bobble.  Suffice it to say, I've not yet discovered how to blog while holding her yet.  Maybe that will be a 2 month milestone?

I originally planned to split my baby girl posts up by day or time frame or something.  That was before I realized that there's no such thing as a perfect newborn world.  Sooo... I've come up with a schematic that makes sense in my head and I'm going to do my very best to get it all posted so I'm caught up.  This little lady grows by the day, and I don't want to deprive any of her fans (read: grandparents) of up to the minute photos.

Todays post is a shout out to all the people who have shown Miss Emery some love- either through feeding her parents delicious meals, sending her fabulous gifts or coming to visit her- since March 6th.  She needs to know when she's older who all she should include in her acceptance speech when she wins the Grammy her father is so sure she is destined for.  Unfortunately, her mother and father have been absolutely terrible at photographing.  So, I'll try to include pictures of the people/items that I have captured and will give a verbal shout out to the rest of you.  If you have pictures from coming to visit her, please feel free to send them my way so I can post them.

The Givers.

• Mama's Office Finance Team
• Daddy's Office Desk
• Grandpa's Office Project Team
• Aunt Julie
• Cathy S & Rick B
• Miss Mindy
• Aunt Melissa
• Our Sweet Neighbors, the M's
• Miss Dixie
• Aunt Caiters

The Feeders.

• Great Aunt Pam & Great Uncle Bob
• Miss Shelley
• Nonnie (My Mama)
• My Sweet Second Parents, Mrs. Brenda & Mr. Tom
• Aunt Shawna & Uncle Austin
• Aunt Melanie & Uncle Jonathan

The Visitors.

• Granny/MawMaw (Ryan's Mom), PawPaw (Ryan's Dad)
• Aunt Tiffy & Cousin Kylie
• All of the Feeders above
• Miss Becca
• Miss Mindy
• Aunt Jen
• Aunt Melissa

The most special of all thank you's goes out to my Mamacita (Nonnie).  She came over to stay with us for a week after Miss Emery's arrival.  She stayed up late with us, woke up early with us, changed diapers, kept us fed and essentially just kept us going.  She continues to come over every time she has a few free hours to let us catch a nap or run a few errands.  I literally do not know what I would do without her.  We are so, so very lucky to have her in our lives.  Thank you Mom!

There are countless other people who have lent a listening ear and/or offered their support, compliments and love via text or phone call as well.  Far too many to name here.  Just know that in whatever way you have reached out, we really just can't thank you enough.  We are slowly working on getting you proper thank you notes but I wanted to document it all here as well.  Just know that in these first few trying weeks, anything you have done has helped in immeasurable ways.  Ryan, Emery and I are all grateful beyond words.  You keep us going.  And by going, I do mean pacing the floors with our princess at all hours of the night.  We love you all!

The gorgeous flowers Mama's Office sent.

First day home from the hospital, opening a present from Grandpa's Office Team.  Aren't I a beautiful flower of love?  (Sarcasm font).

Emery modeling her precious new footwear from Mama & Daddy's awesome neighbors.

Nonnie occupying Miss Emery after her traumatic 8 minute ride home from the hospital.

Melanie & Jonathan.  I think those smiles say - "I'm ready for number 2."

Melanie holding our baby while keeping a watchful eye on her own...

...who looks to have things under control.  Here's one of Jake for the future wedding slide show.  He's got that come hither look on lock-down.

Aunt Julie admiring her favorite Princess.  (You are WELCOME for dressing up for the occasion.)

Aunt Tiffany cuddling with our little boo.

Granny smiling at our little lady.  We'll work on classy leg positioning starting around month 3.  For now we'll let her enjoy this time.

Aunt Shawna with Miss Emery when she came to take her newborn photos.  You'll get to see those in an upcoming post, don't you worry.

Where in the world...

... Is Carmen Sandiego are my blogging skills?  I have been grossly negligent on the blogging front as of late.  I apologize to the future Casa Martin coffee table book this blog will become as the July/August time frame of this year is looking pretty light.

I would like to say that's because I have been maxing, relaxing and basking in a life of luxury but that is not exactly true.  I actually have been up to some fun things - for instance, our dear family friends, the Gauthey/Pedens, came to visit us at the lake for the weekend.  I took zero pictures.  FAIL. 

The Gautheys, Ms. Brenda & Mr. Tom, have 2 daughters, Erin* & Megan*, who are close to Julie & I's age and lived right across the street from us.  Most of our youth was spent making prank phone calls, shutting eachothers heads in the garage door, spitting on bikes and getting in big trouble.  Also, watching Dirty Dancing while Ms. Brenda fast forwarded through the non-child-friendly parts.  Needless to say - we have some amazing memories and it was so good to get to see them and to catch up for a bit.  I think that despite not having shared a childhood, the boyfran/hubby faction of our girl group enjoyed it also by making their own new beerpong infused memories.  Because you know how I feel about pictureless posts, I'm hijacking some pictures of Erin & Zac's adorable munchkins from Facebook - thanks Erin.  :c)  We missed you Megan & Donny!

 The Pedens.  Hard to believe that Kate & Colin will be spitting on their own bikes soon.

 Since Ella was in Erin's belly in the last pic I had to give her some love.  She's about 7.5 months bigger now but every bit as precious.

  Too precious for words.  Zac, of course.  The rest of you aren't so bad either.  ;c)

Also, the fabulous McClains* came into town for 2 weeks and we got spoiled by getting to see them 3 times.  Did I take any pictures?  Noooope.  FAIL AGAIN.  The boys went to a concert that I still can not remember who played at while Melanie & I got our nails did, ordered pizza and watched a movie.  Saying bye to them this time was especially sad because for the first time since they left for Geneva, we aren't sure when we'll see them next.  Ryan may or may not be enrolled in counseling for the trauma this is causing him both emotionally and stock portfolio-lly (yeah I made that word up- what of it?).    I am coping with this harsh reality by vowing to start a paper chain counting down once we have a firm date for when they'll visit next.  I'm posting a picture of Jake-y pants because he's just too cute not to.

I really can't believe how much he grew since I saw him last!  I tried to find a recent pic of Mel & Jonathan on FB to include here but was not successful.  You'll have to hit up my McMartin family vacay posts for your fix of Jake's parentals.

We also got to spend some time at Ryan's Aunt & Uncle's house to celebrate his (excuse me OUR) cousin Jenny's birthday.  Her birthday was actually July 19th but she was in Italy studying abroad, so she didn't get to have a proper US of A celebration until the second weekend in August.  Pam & Bob had everyone over for swimming & burgers.  It was really nice to see them and to get to wish Jenny well in her last year before graduating from Baylor.  Just typing that makes me feel so old- when Ryan & I first started dating I remember him going to her high school graduation.  Where is the time going?!

Haaaaappy Birthday Jenny!

The Birthday Girl, Lawson & Kylie Pie celebrating the American way - with a big slice of chocolate cake.

 Stairs?  I don't need no stinking stairs.  With form like this I think we have an Olympic 2024 diving champ on our hands.

   Granny & her future athletic superstar.

I believe that's about all I have for the moment.  We also hit up a wedding in the ATX this past weekend that I got my butt in gear and took some pictures for.  So look forward to that post in the coming days.  AND believe it or not, I've not completely neglected our house and have been doing a few projects around there that I'll post about in the near future.  Mission: get the blog back on track is in full force, my friends!  I hope that everyone else has had a wonderful summer.

Why, hello there.  What did you say?  You miss seeing pictures of my little bean?  Okay, fine.  Just a few.

Bath tub or water bowl?  Who can tell?

 Yo Mom - did you know you can see the squirrels from here too?!

 Ryan claims to be a disciplinarian.  I think this photo suggests otherwise.

 Lola wants you to have a good day.  Or maybe she wants your food.  Let's go with the first one.

* Yes, I did in fact link to all these blogs in hopes that it inspires the authors to update them for my lunch-time reading benefit.  And because I love them, of course.  :c)