Wedding Weekend

     Last year I got WAY behind with my blogging. Having a baby who only naps for 30 minutes will do that to you. Now that Harrison is finally sleeping through the night and taking good naps (knock on wood) I'm trying to do some catch up blogging.  In honor of David and Greer's one year anniversary I am finally going to get around to blogging about this special weekend.  We literally have hundreds of beautiful pictures from this weekend but in the interest of time and actually completing this post I'm just going to use my ones from my phone. I'm the type that would spend hours looking at every picture trying to pick out the best!
                                                                                                                     
     I remember exactly where I was when David called me to tell me that he and Greer had gotten engaged. I was at the shopping mall in Shreveport at Starbucks on a date with Ryan.  My mom was in town and was watching James and we were talking about what paint to use in the new nursery.  When my phone rang and it was David I remember saying, "I better answer this. I bet they got engaged." I have NO idea how I knew that but instinctively I just knew. We were thrilled to hear their good news! As the wedding plans took shape we knew it was going to be a beautiful wedding weekend in the mountains of NC. Ryan, James and I were honored to all be asked to be in the wedding party. As excited as I was in the back of my mind I wondered how exactly this wedding was going to go considering we would have a three month old and a three year old with us.

      Before we knew it the big weekend had arrived. As much as I have traveled with kids this was going to be a whole knew undertaking.  We got up super early and we took two flights and landed in Charlotte.  Once we landed in Charlotte Ryan left me with both kids to feed them lunch while he went and rented a car. FYI, car rentals are not exactly close to the airport. It took FOREVER.  Once he finally arrived we had to install both car seats and then drive another 2+ hours in the car with a baby who absolutely hates the car seat.  Oh yes this is in addition to nursing the baby every two to three hours, keeping the 3 year old happy and still getting up at least three times a night. To say I was a little frazzled by the time we got there is an understatement.  
    

I took this picture to always remember this moment.  3 huge suitcases, stroller, 2 car seats, and 2 backpacks, one of which carried my bjorn so we wouldn't have to bring an additional stroller. Whew!  

Getting checked in

Selfie at the crack of dawn.

One moment of blissful peace in the car. Unfortunately this didn't last long.

Blessings to all those who helped design the ipad. You have made my life easier.

When we arrived we were given a bag full of goodies. We were fortunate to get to stay in a town house which gave us room to spread out.

One of the goodies in the bag! 

After a long and crazy day of travel we went and had a special dinner as a family.  It was the first time that our core family (Me, Ryan, David, Mom and Dad) got to be with all of Greer's immediate family (her parents, brothers and sister-in-laws).  I don't know where all my pictures went but it was really special to get to visit and spend that time together before all the craziness of the wedding weekend began. Apparently while we were gone our poor babysitters had quite the challenge. Harrison cried for 2 hours before going to sleep and James was still up at 10:45 when we got back to the cabin. 

We had a few hours the next day before getting ready for the rehearsal so my mom and I took James to Tweetsie Railroad. We went there when I was about his age and it was the perfect place to go for this train-loving boy. 

This was riding the gondola. I was paranoid he was going to slip out!

Lunch delivered in a personal lunch box

I have a picture of me and my brothers on these exact horses. Not much has changed here in the past few decades!

After Tweetsie it was time for the rehearsal. The wedding was planned to take place outside and the view was amazing. 

James was not very cooperative at the rehearsal but he sure looked cute.

Then it was off to the rehearsal dinner and after party!  

My mom and aunts 

Me and the bride-to-be

One personal touch my mom did for the rehearsal dinner was instead of normal desserts from the restaurant she made some of David's favorite recipes by people he was close to growing up. One example was my Granny's pound cake. She also included pictures of David with that person. It was really sweet.

I had to include the menu because it was the best rehearsal dinner food I have ever had!

I chose the caramel cake- delicious! I may have made Ryan choose a different dessert so I could sample his. 

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And finally I have to include the sweet video that my mom had made of David and Greer growing up. Funny enough it also has the picture of me and my brothers at the Tweetsie Railroad!