Colby and Adam

This past weekend I loaded myself and an overnight bag into my sister's van with my mom, brother, cousin, niece, and sister. It was early Friday morning when we hit the road to make it to Mesa by 4pm for the wedding of my cousin's daughter (I think that makes the bride my 2nd cousin . . . I dunno the semantics of it all), Colby. Colby was marrying Adam after a long love affair (not that it was scandalous or anything; they've just been together for a while.)

And we had a blast!

We, of course, chatted the entire way down and enjoyed a lunch at Chick-fil-A before barely making it to the wedding. It was completely overcast and ready to rain at any moment, but warm and really nice at the same time. We barely had enough time to say hi to the CA family that came too before all the Tanner clan began coming down the aisle.

It'd been a year since I'd seen Jodie (my cousin) and her kids and they all looked AMAZING. An added bonus was having my Uncle Larry there and cousin Larry Jr., who we all voted is THE best hugger in the family. You could obviously tell we were family since most of us had our cameras and were click, click, clicking away throughout the ceremony. I had to laugh when the minister told everyone to "be seated" and my sister slowly went down so she could get a couple more shots before having to worry about peoples' heads in her way. Adam was the sweetest thing just ready to bawl at any minute while he waited for Colby to join him. And when she did, they were so happy and then they were married and then they started the happily ever after part.

Which, obviously included a kickin' reception complete with a Mexican dinner and the MOST divine cupcakes I have had in ever!

Here's the groom and bride being announced:
If you can't tell from the picture, Colby is a woman who knows what she wants.

Here's some pictures of the ceremony:

(I just have to point out how beautiful Colby AND her sister/maid of honor Jessika AND her mom Jodie were. And, the boys were lookin' pretty "adorable" too. Garrett, for those of you following his story since his gymnastics accident is looking so much stronger and controlled than he was a year ago. It was great to see/hear how much he's improved and what's all working for him.)

The reception was mostly the normal wedding events: cake, bouquets, dancing, etc. Because we were some of the only sober ones that stayed for the whole thing, we got quite a kick out of all the sloshed guests who, by 10pm, were a pretty decent show. Without going into all the details, it would suffice to say there was a lot of jaw dropping and finger pointing on my part as I became more and more shocked at what people will do when they've had one too many.

(Yes, that's Colby in the upper left corner dancing with Garrett to "Wind Beneath my Wings." Could you have asked for a bigger tear-jerker? One thing I've always admired about Jodie's kids is how close they are and for Colby to have Devin walk her down the aisle and Garrett to dance with her solidifies that bond they all have.)

We had a wonderful time and on Saturday we enjoyed sleeping in at Jessika's sweet house, a yummy lunch with Adam's family (who were WONDERFUL!) and watching the newlyweds open their gifts. We headed home in the late afternoon, but somehow the 5 hour trip there took nearly 7 when we returned. Normally, like if I were travelling with my kids, that would have guaranteed a hair-pulling-out situation, but we were highly entertained with our own conversation and reviewing all the catch phrases and highlights of the weekend. We had some cool convo about who would have been at the wedding that we couldn't see (Aunt Dode was a fer sher) and that led into a whole discussion about angels. Angels led to a really entertaining discussion about our funerals, which sounds kinda like an oxymoron that talking about funerals would be entertaining, but it was. Trust me, we can make anything entertaining. (And just to warn y'all, my mom's funeral is going to be about 5 hours long if she has anything to do with it.)

Thanks to Erin for driving and Jess for her hospitality. I REALLY thank Adam and Colby for completely loving each other and letting us in on their good times! And welcome to the family Adam . . . you'll never be the same!