My Little Brother's Wedding

Warning...this post is going to have lots of pictures and I hope you all enjoy looking at them. I was was going to have even more but for some stupid reason some of them came out really small, so I just didn't post those ones. I tried to make them bigger for about 20 minutes and was just getting irritated so I stopped trying. I'm guessing more pictures will be posted in the next few weeks as more come in.

This weekend was one busy weekend. Not only was it Easter, but it was my little brother's wedding! The wedding was a few hours away, where my brother and his new wife Erika live so a road trip was in order. Ry, J.J, Lil Man and myself all piled in the car and left around noon for our two hour road trip. The kids don't exactly like riding in the car for long periods of time so I made sure to stock up on books, car games, coloring books, crayons, DS games, and snacks. We were in the car for a total of maybe twenty minutes, we weren't even out of our town yet when Lil Man started asking "Are we there yet?" I think in the first 45 minutes he must of asked 10 times. Ry and I just looked at each other and laughed. Much to our surprise the kids did great in the car and no getting car sick so that was a huge bonus!!

Once we got there we checked into the hotel and we decided to let the kids swim for a while before the rehearsal festivities got started. They loved swimming in the pool and had a great time. Once again Ry and I wondered how the kids would do with the down time of the rehearsal. I was the only one in the wedding so there was lots of down time for them. However, once again the kids were 100% perfect. However, Lil Man was very upset for about two hours while we were in the chapel. It's kind of a funny story actually. I had to go up and stand in the hall way with the rest of the wedding party so we could practice walking in and down the aisle with our groomsman. Well, Lil Man saw my arm wrapped in his and he totally flipped out. In his little four year old mind he saw me walking down the aisle with my brother's friend and thought I was getting married to him and not going home with him, Daddy, and J.J. We all kept telling him that I was helping out Matt and Erika by being in their wedding and that it was okay, that I was not marrying him, that he had his own wife and baby and that I was still going home with them. However, he did not like it and just kept crying, "No JenJen, don't do it." "I just don't want you to do it, tell Matt no" Eventually after about an hour we all convinced him that I was just helping Matt and Erika out, but he did not like the fact that somebody besides Daddy and him were touching me.

There was only one moment during the rehearsal where I got really chocked up. After our first run through of the ceremony the entire wedding party was standing out it the hall. I saw one of the wedding programs laying on the table so I picked it up and started reading it. I flipped to the back page and saw "In Remembrance of People Who Are No Longer With Us" there, was a list of important people in Matt and Erika's life who had passed away and how they were related to them. Well, on that list was Shawn's name and it said brother-in law of the groom. I'm not sure why, but for some reason I just wasn't expecting to see that and I instantly broke down into tears. Phew...it just hit me hard. I was fine after a few minutes, but god damn did that suck!

After the practice at the church we headed to an Italian restaurant for the rehearsal dinner. Oh was it yummy! Once again the kids did awesome! After the dinner we all went back to our hotel room and crashed!

JenJen, J.J, Lil Man and Ry before our dinner. Out of all of the pictures we took this weekend I think this is one of my favorites. I'm not sure why, but I just love it!!

Lil Man slurping up his spaghetti.

I had to get up early on Saturday to get to the salon to get my hair done with the rest of the girls in the wedding party and Erika. Ry got up, took the kids to breakfast and then went swimming with them until I got back to the hotel around noon. I so wish the pics of me getting my hair done came out. I'm telling you they were some funny pics! I totally loved my hair! I told the guy to do something and I quote, "Crazy, freakin, fun with it!" Well, needless to say he totally listened to me and I had rockin hair!! Most people really liked it and a few said it was just way too much.

Once we got to the chapel for the wedding everything went off without a hitch and the ceremony was perfect!. Once again I had lots of pics of us getting all around but for some reason they are not loading "regular" size on here. So I just posted what I could get a nice size for you all. Like I said I'm sure I will be posting many more wedding pics in the next few weeks.

Ry, Lil Man, J.J, and myself after the wedding.

Such a cute little boy in his big boy suite.

Pretty girl!


Totally love this picture of the four of us too.

Sisters!

The entire wedding party.

Yes! Can we say height and volume to my hair! Ry said it was like a huge tidal wave of hair!

The happy couple in the limo on the way to the reception.

Once at the reception we all ate dinner, ate tons of candy at the candy bar (great idea by the way) and danced til our feet hurt. The kids LOVED dancing. J.J even got a pen and paper and dedicated a song to her family and the four of us all went out and danced together. So sweet!
Lil Man and I slow dancing. He asked me to slow dance for every song. I didn't even get to dance once with Ry, because Lil Man always wanted to.

Can not even begin to tell you how much I love this picture. It makes me want to cry every time I look at it. Ry loves his little girl so much! Precious!!!

JenJen and Lil Man slow dancing to the last slow song of the night!

The kids did 100% terrific the entire weekend! Ry and I were so proud of them.

So far I have about ten pictures that I know Ry and I want to frame and put up from the weekend and those are just the pictures that we took. Matt and Erika had a great photographer and I know he took some awesome pictures of us too. It's going to be hard to narrow down what we really want.

Like I said I'm sure I will be posting more pictures soon. Hope you all liked the little preview. Well, I'm still tired from the weekend so I'm off to bed.