Happily Ever After: The Primeaux Edition

On August 25th, we had the honor of being invited to Stacee & Thomas' wedding in Austin.  An opportunity to celebrate with 1 of the most fun couples I can think of PLUS the added bonus of getting to show my alma mater some love?  Sign me up.

My better 1/3rd and I haven't gotten to spend very much time together as of late due to his demanding work/fantasy football schedule.  So we opted not to go up on Friday night to shake our groove things on 6th with Jen, Brendan, Julie & David.  Instead we had a nice little quiet* evening of meeting up with people to buy a console table from Etsy (more on that in the next post) & a dinner at Texas Roadhouse.  Aren't we just the most romantic couple you can think of?!

So Saturday morning we woke up bright and early to drop the Lolers off with Ryan's parents who kindly volunteered to watch her for the weekend - thank you Melanie & Mike!  After telling her to be on our best behavior and running as fast as we could out of there, we hightailed it to Austin.  By the time we arrived, Ryan had consumed 2 breakfasts (1 at McDonald's and then another kolache at Hruskas) and we were ready to party.

We met up with Jen, Brendan, Julie, David, Nush & his girlfriend Irina who were in need of some nourishment after the previous night's jello shot-laden debauchery.  We decided to head to South Congress to amend the situation.  After discovering that most of Austin had the same bright idea we did, we settled on brunch at the Woodlands primarily because there was no wait.  The food was delicious and our waiter reminded us of Justin Bobby but cooler, so it wound up being a win-win.

Cheers to holy matrimony.  And tater tots.

 After lunch we decided that we desperately needed to check out what the food trucks on South Congress had to offer us.  Hey- when on SoCo, right?  Jen & I capped off our lunch with some scrumptious cupcakes from Hey Cupcake, Brendan & David capped off their lunches with a snow cone and Ryan consumed meal #3 of the day courtesy of the truck that will put anything in a tortilla shaped cone.  For those of you worried about our cholesterol levels - to somewhat neutralize the effect of our schmorgasboard we made the terrible decision to walk back to the hotel.  Pretty sure I sweated off at least half of that cupcake, thankyouverymuch.

 Hello, cupcake indeed.

 Jen's cupcake was called the Michael Jackson.  Chocolate cake with white icing.  Ohhhh, Austin.

Between the man-mosa in the first picture and this one Ryan really seemed to be channeling his inner-female.

Following walkapalooza we all crashed for a bit before getting glammed up to head to the wedding.  Both the ceremony and the reception were held at the UT Alumni center, which is beautiful in my highly unbiased** opinion.  Of course, everything went off without a hitch and everyone had an incredible time dancing, feasting and revelling by the bar.  My favorite point in the evening was when P requested that the DJ play "Stacy's Mom".  Do you see what he did there?  Because Stacee was the one who got married.  Luckily I don't think she listened to closely to the words or she may have asked P to be escorted out immediately.

These Ags were super excited about the shape of the water bottles provided.  Hook 'em!

 Be-a-utiful I do's.

 This little guy had Jen & I in tears from laughing.  He was very good at being quiet but his facial expressions were so hilarious.

 Mr. & Mrs. Primeaux.

Perfect 10.  Coincidence?  I think not.

 The Schambles in their Sunday best.

Jules & David.

Jules, Jen & I with the blushing bride & her adorable flower girl.

Women in Black.  Coming soon to a theater near you.

 The eyes of Texas require shades.

What's the best way to end an evening if not by de-filing Bevo?

 With excitement like that, you'd be hard pressed to guess which 2 were true longhorns.

Calling a cab while getting groped by a bronze statue can be a very confusing situation for a girl.

After the party it was not the hotel lobby but the Ranch on 6th.  We decided that our age was really showing when we found ourselves gravitating towards chairs in the corner complaining about our heels and yawning around 1:15 am.  What?  That was just me?  Who can remember, really.  Overall, it was a wonderful trip and we were so honored to be a part of Stacee and Thomas' day.  Congratulations guys!

* quiet when you strip out Ryan cursing at the other patrons of 45 at rush hour on a Friday afternoon. 
** sarcasm font

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)

The 4th of Joo-lie

This year the calendar forced us to draw the short straw by throwing July 4th smack in the middle of the week on a Wednesday.  Not having extra cushion on either side of the holiday combined with being fairly busy and yearning for a low-key day, Ryan & I didn't make any plans.  When Shawna generously offered that we could swing by to enjoy their pool and do some grilling, we were more than thrilled.  It definitely sounded more exciting than laying on the couch and having a DVR marathon complete with rock-paper-scissoring contests to see who would get up to grab snacks from the kitchen.

The day wound up being exactly what we hoped for- a relaxing, laid-back day with some folks who are pretty okay in my book.  We spent the afternoon playing some beerpong, grilling, adorning ourselves like old-school trolls (see below) and being thankful that we weren't at work.  If that's not American, I don't know what is.  

Thank you AGAIN to Shaustin for letting us reap the benefits of them buying the best house ever.  Don't forget to wash Brendan's hat Shawna. 

Team Br-yan trying to intimidate their opponents out of requesting a re-rack.

 A special talent you won't see on anyone's resume.

 There aren't a lot of pictures from this day, but do you need more than this?  In one day we brought back trolls and Rambo.  Are we heroes?  Yeah, maybe.

Shawna turns 18. Again.

Editor's Note:  The last post is a terribly difficult one to follow.  I contemplated writing some kind of filler to ease back into my typical blogging style but my type A desire to keep things in chronological order won that battle.  I guess that's what happens when half of your genes come from an Engineer and half from a Pharmacist... anal retentiveness coming at you from all angles!  So, today we're ripping the band-aid off and hopping right back in.  I have faith if anyone can turn that frown upside down- it's Shawna.  Plus, I know that Taylor would have given this shindig his stamp of approval.  .

First and foremost, thank you all so much for your heartfelt condolences.  The silver lining to this very dark cloud is knowing how blessed I am to have such sympathetic and caring friends and family to lean on.  I truly can't thank you all enough for reaching out.   It means so much more than you'll ever know.  So, from the bottom of my heart - THANK YOU!  Treat yourselves to a brownie or Starbucks today because you deserve it.  And I said so.  (Kindness calories don't count after all).

Shawna turned 28** on June 19th.  Her husband was kind enough to throw her a birthday bash the following weekend on the 23rd at their stellar casa.  Austin combined all the things Shawna loves most in life - hotdogs, a pool, a keg, more hotdogs and her friends- in that order.  One floating keg (literally thanks to some pool noodles), multiple pairs of missing sunglasses, too many laughs to count and one life-proof iPhone case later it's safe to say she has some good taste because those ingredients made for a pretty fabulous fiesta. 

Thank you, as always, to the host for allowing us to crash his pad, and feeding & beveraging us despite the fact it most likely resulted in his backyard looking like a frat lawn the next morning.  Happiest of Birthdays to my very favorite blended meat connoisseur and online purchase purveyor.  Love you, Shawna!

** Are we at the point in our lives yet where we start denying our ages?  When is that?  Someone should warn me in advance.

I've always heard that old age brings hair to unwanted areas.

Florida sisters who weren't born June 19th.  It's okay, we still love you Dena & Brianna.

Pool safety came first, obviously.

Klein's finest track specimens, past or present.

More sisters who weren't born on June 19th.  (Dear Humidity - Thanks for nothing.  Don't expect a Christmas gift.  Smooches, My hair).

 Dena + Beth + Lynda = BeLyNa.  Who says I'm not good at math?!

The birthday girl & I.  Spoiler alert: we are not the same height.

 

Peave, Love & Birthday Cake in the liquid form.

 Muchas gracias to our hosts with the most.

Taylor Rockie Dodds

On Wednesday June 13th I got one of those types of calls at work that you know you'll never forget.  It's like how everyone can picture the exact moment that they learned about 9/11.  The mental images of myself at my desk at 1:41 pm on June 13th when I received a text from my Dad asking me to call him and then when I called him back from the hallway at 1:50 pm are forever seared in my mind.

He told me that my cousin Taylor had been in a wreck that morning and that he'd passed away.  At the time we knew very little.  As facts emerged we learned that around 6:15 am or so he was on his way to work and for some unknown reason he crossed the center stripe on a 2 lane highway.  He was hit by an 18 wheeler and passed away immediately.

I have suffered losses since starting this blog and I typically don't share them publicly.  I don't like attention and I tend to be able to process things better when I can do so on my own time.  The reason I am sharing this particular loss publicly is 2 fold.  First, I hope that it will serve as a poignant reminder to anyone who reads this blog to hug their loved ones and tell them how much they mean to them- you never know when it will be the last time you are given the opportunity to do so.  Second, Taylor was only 23.  The other losses I've suffered in life have been grandparents.  While no loss is easy, I've found comfort in those losses knowing that they lived full lives and likely got to achieve or experience most of what they hoped to - having children, seeing their children get married, experiencing grandchildren, etc.  Taylor was just starting his adult life in this world.  That's an awfully difficult pill to swallow.  I never pictured a scenario where my future children wouldn't meet my dear cousin Taylor.  I want them to know what an amazing person he was.  Hopefully this blog, as well as any future stories I tell them, will serve as a reference point.

Anyone who knows us well knows that my family made an annual road trip in the summer to South Bend to visit my Mom's side of the family.  She has 2 twin sisters, Jan & Jean, each of whom have 2 children, Kara & Travis and Ashleigh & Taylor, respectively.  Those road trips were absolutely the highlight of our year for Matt, Julie & I.  Over the years, despite a nearly 20 hour drive between us, the 7 of us became very close thanks to getting to see eachother for a week or two each summer.  Particularly as adults and since the passing of our Grandmother 5 years ago, we've become even closer.  This past year only strengthened that bond as we had the good fortune of seeing eachother 3 times between Ryan & I's wedding last July, Ashleigh & Kyle's wedding in October and most recently Travis & Miranda's wedding in May.  As our family has grown and evolved through marriage and babies, we've only enjoyed eachother's company more.  I have always pictured taking my own future children up to South Bend to get to know my cousins and their children so they could experience the same joy that I always did.  I never ever ever envisioned a scenario where any of the 7 of us would be missing.

It's so difficult to summarize a person in just a few short paragraphs, but I am going to do my best to at least paint a small piece of the portrait that was Taylor.  He was the youngest of the 7 of us and he was endlessly entertaining.  As a kiddo he always envisioned himself as quite the ladies man.  During a trip to Tower Hill in Michigan one summer we couldn't find hit.  After scanning the beach for about 5 minutes we found him about 5 blankets down chatting up some teenagers.  Typical for our little blonde haired blue eyed heartbreaker.  He could not have been more than 6.  Taylor loved baseball and played it his whole life.  He was one of the most competitive people I know.  He wanted to win so badly when he was younger that he would sometimes "bend" the rules.  And by that I mean cheat.  It was a well documented joke in the family that you needed to keep your eye on the number of cards in his hand or how many he had in the discard pile, depending on what we were playing.  

Taylor had the best smile and laugh ever.  His smile was a unique brand of mischievousness and genuine warmth that was outrageously contagious.  His laugh was a typical Brady one- pretty high pitched and made you laugh whether you wanted to or not.  He was also a sports fanatic and I remember a phase he went through where he was a huge OU football fan.  You can imagine how much fun that was for my Longhorn sister and I.  Good-natured heckling was free-flowing.  He may still have been as of late but perhaps their record made him keep his mouth shut... or more than likely he'd moved on to teasing about other things. 

Tay was a family-oriented guy.  Over the years some of us would inevitably miss family gatherings due to whatever we had going on at the time- it was never Taylor.  In more recent years he absolutely adored time spent with his baby cousins - Shiloh, Ava & Tripp (who range from 2 - coming up on 6).  It makes the news that he was months away from being an uncle himself even more shattering.  I will never forget the width of the beam on his face when he showed me a text at Miranda & Trav's rehearsal dinner in May from his sister giving him permission to tell "the Texas family" that he was going to have a niece or nephew in January.

All around, he was just the piece of our family's puzzle that helped make it complete.  Without him, something will always be missing.

These short paragraphs don't even scratch the surface of my dear cousin.  I know that not everyone who reads this blog comments.  However I hope that for just this one post that those who feel up to it- whether I know you or you just searched his name on the internet- that you leave a comment with a happy memory.  I know he will always be here in spirit for those of us who were blessed enough to know him, but I want the same for future Brady family descendants.  I would be incredibly grateful.

Taylor, we all love and miss you to depths that can't be expressed in words.  I hope that you and Grandma are playing Skip-bo on the daily (but don't you dare cheat with her) and that you keep some Mountain Dew handy for when I see you next.  Hugs and kisses forever sweet Tay Tay.

This was one of the earliest pictures I could find- Jimmy James and Taylor ice skating.

 Heartbreaker.  Tell me you wouldn't let this kid on your blanket.

 Trip to the Chicago Zoo.  Clockwise starting with the hunk in the neon orange- Travis, Matt, Julie, Ashleigh, Kara, Me & Tay.

 Same trip to the Zoo, same awesome attire.  Apparently as a child I enjoyed taunting my younger cousin?

 Handsomest of little men.

 Matt, Taylor & Trav playing pick up sticks at Grandma & Grandpa's with Uncle Tom.  That was always a grandchildren favorite.

Ashleigh & Taylor - siblings who make stripes look good.

  Ashleigh, Julie & Taylor playing some tunes.  Or mashing some keys.  That's probably in the eye of the beholder.

 

Grandma, Ash & Taylor with Jack Frost.  This has to be one of my favorites.

A Very Dodds Family Christmas - Uncle Rockie, Ashleigh, Aunt Jean & Taylor.

 Aunt Jan, Aunt Jean, Taylor & Ashleigh.  I think this may have been at Potato Creek.

 Taylor & Matt modeling the early 90's line of Buzzcuts by Kara.

I forgot all about Must Bust.  Ashleigh, Me, Taylor, Travis & Julie.  We spent so many hours around the table playing cards.

  Aunt Jan, Uncle Tom, Kara, Grandpa, Grandma, Aunt Jean, Ashleigh, Taylor & Travis.  I think Julie sent them Flat Stanley as part of a school project because I don't think we were there for this or the overall to non-overalls ratio in this photo might have been doubled.

 Ahhh, the Family Matters era.  Who doesn't miss that?  Julie, TayTay, Ash & Matt rocking some Urkel wear.

Ashleigh, Jules, Taylor, Trav, Matt & I with some balloon friends.

Burying Taylor at Tower Hill.  This was such a fun trip.

   Eating and/or playing cards yet again.  Matt, Taylor, Ashleigh & Julie.

 Matt & Taylor looking daper at Grandma & Grandpa's 50th Anniversary party.

 Julie, Kara, Matt, Me, Travis' Date?, Travis, Ashleigh, Taylor & Paul- most mischievous kids table I've ever sat at.

 This one is hands down my favorite- it's my beloved cousin to a T.

 Ashleigh, yours truly, Taylor & Julie doing battle in some bumper boats.

Indiana family trip to Conroe in 2002.  Clockwise starting with the stud on the far left- Uncle Tom, Mom, Matt, Uncle rockie, Aunt Jean, Ashleigh, Julie, Taylor, Kara, Me & Aunt Jan.

  Trip to Indiana Christmas of 2006 - Aunt Jan, Ashleigh, Matt, Kara, Aunt Jean, Julie, Taylor & I.

 My entire Indiana family in Conroe last year for Ryan & I's wedding.  Top to bottom: Brian, Aunt Jean, Ava, Sydney, Kara, Tripp, Aunt Jan, Miranda, Uncle Tom, Travis, Shiloh, Ashleigh, Kyle, Natalie, Grandpa, Taylor, Mom, Paul, Julie & Matt.  (Ryan & I were on our honeymoon.)