Thursday, July 14, 2011

34 hours on the road, 38 relatives and 1 beautiful wedding = a great time.

My cousin John met and snagged one amazing woman. It was our pleasure to be at their wedding. But it was in Atlanta. 17 hours away from us. So we arranged for our private jet to get us there and back in a timely manner. Unfortunately there were some mechanical issues so we ended up having to drive. I hate when my private jet breaks down.
The same day Jeff and Adrienne left we drove 3 hours to Dallas and picked up Uncle Joby. I was so sad that Jason couldn't come with us but Joby was fun company. It was a treat to be with him so much (not sure if he feels the same away about accompanying all 8 of us - but let's just pretend that he loved it). Then we drove 5 more hours to my parents house in Louisiana. (I have learned not to use the state's abbreviation of LA because everyone thinks I'm talking about Los Angeles. Way to not support Louisiana people.) We swam, ate dinner and washed every one's travel clothes so they were ready for the next day - that way I only had to bring in the swimming bag and toiletries bag.

The next day we drove 9 hours - through Atlanta to the northern part of Lake Lanier where we stayed at an amazing 4 story lake house...


that had the steepest driveway I have ever seen. I took pictures to show Jason how redonkulous it was but the pictures reveal nothing!



It looks like a sweet little path from a child's story book!!!  What is up with that? Seriously - a van that dropped off food one night COULD NOT GET BACK UP! You can see its skid marks in the second picture. It was scary. Bu the kids thought it was a like a roller coaster so I tried not to cry when I had to drive down and just yelled with them like I was enjoying the ride.

Being with my Leahy family is really so much crazy fun. They can make anything fun and anything into a competition. Never a dull moment and my heart is always full when I'm with them.

We had bridal party brunch (because little Pippa was the flower girl) and Lindsay gave her cherished sidewalk chalk as a gift ...


Rehearsal - where Madison had to fill in for my cousin, Katie, who was late (you could not find a more perfect and willing fill in)...

Rehearsal dinner - which was loads of fun. I even got to sit with some of my cousins instead of my kids - which was a treat! (I was the only cousin there with kids so while they were all having a blast somewhere I was usually feeding my kids or putting them to bed etc...)


 My beautiful cousins and Aunt Liz above and blow are Katie and Jackie - they make me happy!


And then the wedding - did I mention the adorable ring bearers and flower girl?





and their adorable siblings? Admit it. You'd have 7 kids too if they were this cute. :)


The wedding was truly beautiful...
 Did I mention Christy Nockles sang... THE Christy Nockles. If you don' know her go immediately to youtube or itunes and listen to her A Mighty Fortress. She was amazing - we had church right then and there at the opening of the ceremony.
 Did I mention that Jodie Benson sang? THE Jodie Benson. As in The Little Mermaid and Barbie from Toy Story? She sang with her husband and they were just fantastic.

Lindsay was stunning and the ceremony was so God honoring and moving...

And then the reception where my girls danced and danced and danced...



And my boys dipped everything they could in the chocolate fountain and ate it...


I missed my hubs so much - especially being a wedding and all. But I had fun with my fabs fam...



 the cousins...




It was a jolly good time. Then there was a party at the lake house afterwards. Seriously - the Leahy clan can party. And the Leahy sisters can cook and entertain your pants off. My kids stayed up till midnight every night - playing ping pong and cornhole with my cousins. Wilson kept finding ways to make a dollar off people. It went by way to fast and just made me miss my east coast family so much.

We stayed an extra day in Atlanta with my Aunt Liz and Uncle Marshall and cousin, Katie. Then we drove back to LA (you know what I mean) for yest another night and then on home the following day.

Then I had three days to be ready for the other side of the family reunion! Now you know why I haven' blogged in a while!!

Great Family. Great times.

3 comments:

  1. Hey girl---in your 'spare time" please send me your pics. You got some great ones!! It wouldn't have been the same without you and the kids--the only thing that would have made it better would be if Jason had been thee--you were missed!
    Love,
    "Aunt" liz

    ReplyDelete
  2. Looks like fun!!
    That lake house DOES indeed look like something out of children's book.
    Nothing like cousins -glad you got to go and enjoy family time.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Jodie Benson was at the wedding?!! How cool! What did they sing?! What a fun trip you had. I lvoe all the pictures, especially those cute ring bearers and flower girl:)

    ReplyDelete