Wedding Bells a Ringin'

After a beautiful wedding at a local church in Lexington, KY, we headed back to the Castle for the reception. It was so good being with family and celebrating with Jeramie and Bennie. Everything turned out perfectly :)

Unfortunately, Paul was not there...and I missed him a lot. He was supposed to be in the Middle East, but do to the political uprising taking place there, his plans were changed last minute and he ended up going to Turkey for a week. Therefore, my family was a huge life saver for me as they took care of the kids the entire weekend so I could attend all the wedding festivities-without having to worry about them. Thank you-it was a huge blessing!!!

Bridesmaids heading over to the reception.

The groom with his bride.

Cousins.
Family...we missed Paul (who was in Turkey) and Sara (who was home on bed rest anxiously awaiting TWINS).
Micah and Jordan had a sitter most of the night but got to join the party near the end. He thought the Castle was soooo cool and that Jeramie definitely looked like a "princess".

And of course, Micah had to find the dragon in the castle!

Congrats Bennie and Jeramie. I was blessed to be a part of your special day. Love you!

The Princess and the Castle :)

As I referenced in an earlier post, Micah calls my cousin Jeramie a "Princess", so it was very fitting that the bridal party got ready at a castle and that the reception was there. And yes, this is a real castle. It is in Versailles Kentucky and I've wanted to go in it ever since I was a little girl. We would drive by it on our way to Kentucky basketball games and I just thought it was the coolest thing ever. It basically was shut down for awhile, but opened again recently as a hotel and restaurant. It was really definitely a dream come true :)

Here are some shots as we were getting ready. I really wished I could have taken more of the outside, but it was like 30 degrees with vicious wind.

The beautiful bride and me.

The groom being made to stay outside for a few minutes while awaiting to see his bride!

Since 2 of her grandparents had passed away, and another couldn't make it, she added a special touch to her bouquet with their pictures tied to it. This is a pic of my 2 grandparents and was such a sweet idea.
Her glittery red heels-a perfect finishing touch.
Cousins :)
Stunning.

We did manage to sneak a few outside pics. This was after our 40 minute portrait session OUTSIDE with the bride. Our hands were literally blue. As we walked back inside, some of the groomsmen had plugged in hair dryers to warm our hands up. I cannot wait to see the pictures from outside though-they will be amazing and it was so worth it.

Sushi Please

After our rehearsal at the church, we headed to an incredible Sushi restaurant for the rehearsal dinner. We basically took up the entire place and the chef was absolutely a-mazing! Once again, we must have had like 8 courses...loved it! My parents and sisters drove in with my kids, so they got to join in on the fun. Thankfully, it was a relaxed atmosphere, so Micah was free to run around...and which is why he was wearing a UK sweatshirt. Haha. He loved seeing "Princess Jeramie" as he likes to call her. It really was a special evening celebrating Bennie and Jeramie. After the dinner we went back to our hotel and watched UK beat Ohio State (which was a GREAT game) and then were off to bed to get rest for the big day.

Bridesmaid Luncheon

Friday morning was spent at an adorable "tearoom" in Lexington where we had the bridesmaids luncheon. Jeramie was as beautiful as ever, and I enjoyed getting to know some of the other bridesmaids a little better. The food was too good and just kept on coming-seriously. They had a special March menu which had about an 8 meal course. Everything was delicious but we all were stuffed after about the first 3-4 courses. Ha. Jeramie gave each of us these adorable monogrammed bags as well as our shoes for the wedding. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of her sweet gifts :( It was a wonderful girly morning (with NO kids, I might add) and if I lived here, I'd go back here in a heartbeat.

Lingerie Shower

This past week I had the privilege of being in my cousin's wedding in good ole Kentucky. We had a busy but wonderful few days celebrating Jeramie and Bennie. The weekend kicked off with a lingerie shower...definitely a girls' only evening ;) It was great spending time with Jeramie's friends and family while showering her with love.

JK even got to join in on the fun. She tried on her very first lingerie piece (and looks mortified by the way). Shhhh, don't tell Daddy ;)
Cousin's

Preschool Sunday School

Paul and I had the privilege of serving in Micah's Sunday school class this past week. It was nice to get to know some of the little faces that he talks about. Since it was spring break week, the numbers were low, but we still had our hands full. The funny thing is, it was mostly because of our own crazy child who runs around like a wild-man during the free play time and on the playground. This was really the first time we'd seen him interact in a "classroom" setting and to put it mildly, lets just say he is quite the social one. We are definitely already seeing some leadership qualities and now it's our job as parents to channel these into the right direction as he learns to follow the Lord first and foremost. Whew-that's a tough job ;) We were actually quite impressed with how well the entire class obeyed and listened to the Bible story. There is nothing like "childlike" faith and they asked some really sweet questions. It was a great morning and truly was a joy to teach the little ones about Jesus.

Our police officer...

...blowing his whistle

Sweet little children

Comparisons

As we decked our little 10 month old girl in her Kentucky gear for today's big game, I couldn't help but having flashbacks back to when Micah wore the same UK basketball jersey. It definitely brought back some great memories of our Kenya days. Today, I was thankful for a win and also that we actually got to watch the March Madness game and not just cheer from the internet ;)

Micah at 11 months...

...and Jordan at 10 months.

I also couldn't help compare a few more pajama pics that were given to us by our close friends, the Waggoner's. Thanks guys-we love you :)