Steven and Melynne's Wedding

This weekend Marcus and I drove to Houston (Hockley, actually) for Marcus' cousin Steven's wedding to Melynne (a cool way to spell Melanie). It was a beautiful ceremony and lots of fun to see some West Texas family that hadn't met Abby Lu yet.

Here is the House Plantation where the wedding was held. It is just a few miles off 290, but felt like we were in the country.

The rocking chairs on the front porch were perfect for rocking a baby girl who was way too social to even attempt to sleep. We left the wedding after 10 PM. She did fall fast asleep in the parking lot! She loved Daddy's tie- pulling on it, eating it and wadding it up. Since it has a "stain resistant" tag, Marcus let her play.Here is the baby girl before the wedding showing us how excited she was to party! She had big plans for the night- stay up late, impress the wedding guests with her charm, eat an extra bottle for fun, and make her self known during the blessing. Seriously, this is the second time she has decided to "speak" during a very quiet moment of prayer in front of a large crowd!

This is a blurry shot of the bride and groom! She looked beautiful! We had not met Melynne before the wedding, but loved her! Marcus and Steven are just 9 months apart. The newlyweds are off on an Alaskan cruise.... a nice way to beat the Texas heat.

This is Marcus' Aunt Iva. She is the amazing seamstress that made all of Abby's treasures from Abby's great-grandmothers old fabrics. We adore Iva and visited her much more often when we lived in Lubbock. I hate that we don't live closer. She is the Aunt everyone wishes they had- the type that brings you the best casserole when you need it. Her necklace is more than 70 years old and belonged to an Aunt of hers. She looked perfect!

The ceremony was on the back porch and there was the best breeze blowing throughout. It was wonderful to cool everyone off; however, my wrap dress did not appreciate the breeze. Between the wind showing everyone my Spanx and Abby opening up my shirt, it is no wonder we weren't asked to leave.

Marcus' uncle Brian (the groom's father) played guitar for everyone as we waited for the bride to enter. He did a wonderful job even thought he prefers to play with a much smaller crowd. It was touching to see him play in spite of his fears as a token of love to his son and he did a fabulous job!

Abby Lu did great on the car ride to and fro, but did awful last night. She was not happy with the hotel's crib ( a playpen) and spent part of the night in bed with us (a first) and part of the night in her car seat that her Daddy retrieved at 3 AM. I don't think either of us slept more than 2 hours in one stretch. I hope we all get lots of sleep tonight!