The 'After the Wedding Get-Together' at my brother's

At the rehearsal dinner Friday night, Kathy (of Kathy and Zack fame) said to me, "Your brother knows how to throw a party!" He does and he did. The rehearsal which was blogged for Day 7 is evidence and because one party is not enough, my brother threw another one after THE EVENT.

There were probably 60 of us who came for barbeque and the fixin's... My brother, in his excitement for party throwing, missed his sweet lips when he was drinking some coke - here's the evidence:
We stayed as long as we could...we would have stayed longer if someone hadn't gone out to her car and sat there with the motor running (but I won't say any names here:) Seriously though, we were all tired, it had been a long, glorious week in Texas. We had spent some great time with family and friends, and now it was time to say good-bye.

Just incase you're not sure who some people are, I added a little to this slide show:

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The Reception

The reception...

I didn't realize until I put the photos on my computer that I really only took photos of our side of the family. My cousins, who I hardly ever see - Ray and Patti - were there with their children, and Ray's wife. That was who I spent most of my time with - which was wonderful! You'll see this in the photos. Again...so many photos...so they're in a slide show:
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Addison's and Kasi's Wedding - 2nd version

I hear that some readers of this blog haven't been able to view the pictures when I put them in this format. You'll notice a few of the more recent posts have the photos done by Bubble - and there's no music. Some prefer (me included) to have the pictures to music. So...seeing as this is a pretty special post about a very special couple, I decided to show the photos two ways. So, if you can't view these, no worry, just go to the post before (or under) this one, and you'll see most of the same photos.

Congratulations again to Addison and Kasi! I hope you're having a wonderful time on your honeymoon in Italy!

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Addison's and Kasi's Wedding

November 24, 2007, the day we had been waiting for. This day was the main reason we were all in Texas, to witness the marriage of Addison and Kasi. It was beautiful!

I tried to put these pictures in the order they happened...
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Ahh, here we go! Day 7, the day before the big day

Yep, with Thanksgiving over, I knew the next two days would FLY by...and it did.

We packed up from the farm and headed to my moms. She had some shopping in mind, so a few of us fools tackled the mall on the day after Thanksgiving. It wasn't bad at all! We got dressed for the rehearsal and decided it was time, well, I decided, it was time for some pictures. Here's a few...






The rehearsal started at 6 p.m.


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I just love stuff like this...rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, weddings, receptions, showers...all of it. So I was looking forward to today.

Once the rehearsal was over, we headed to Maggiano's for the dinner. It is a beautiful restaurant and has excellent food too! If anyone left hungry, it was their own fault. You can see the menu!

We were able to have some appetizers while we visited. I saw people I hadn't seen in a number of years - Addison's friends and Becky's family. After a while, the salads came. By this time, everyone was sitting at their tables.

Between the main courses and desserts, some toasts were made and then John David had made a slide show of Kasi growing up, then Addison growing up, and then pictures of their life since they had met.

Naturally, I took way too many pictures, so here's a fraction of them: (45/120!)
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So that the wedding had been rehearsed, we all hoped Addison and Kasi were ready for the REAL THING!

This was Day 7

Thanksgiving Day - the 6th day of our trip

Happy Thanksgiving!

It was a cold day...after being in the 80's everyday that we'd been there! The house was full, the windows were fogged, there was lots of cooking and visiting going on.

Ron, Joshua, and Grandpa 'went to town' to buy some more peanut oil. That's what is used to deep fry the turkey. Grandpa likes to take the 'scenic route' to town, so it took a bit longer. HEB was out of peanut oil..finally found some at WAL-MART! Imagine!

We not only had a DE-licious deep fried turkey, but we had a smoked turkey and a ham. We also had sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes (Jo calls them "Irish potatoes"), 2 different fruit salads, green beans, cornbread dressing, hot rolls, cranberry sauce (not canned!), a corn casserole (YUM!!!), um, what am I forgetting?

Dessert? Oh geez, you wouldn't believe what all we had: 2 chocolate pies, a pecan pie, coconut pie, pumpkin dessert, lemon squares, and white chocolate/raspberry bars.

Mom didn't stay for dessert - but we sent some home with her. She felt like she needed to 'hit the road' since it started to SLEET... (remember it had been in the 80's the day before) After sleeting a while, it started to hail...then it even snowed a little. It didn't stick, but it snowed!

After dinner, dessert, and clean up...game time!
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Gabe & Emily come and we go to the farm on Day 5

I finally had all my kids together! After Gabe and Emily flew in, Ron and Josh came up from the farm to pick us all up and take us to the farm. At the farm was Larry, Sandra, Brenda, Mike, Lissette, Brian (Lissette's boyfriend), and Ashley...and of course, Erica, Thalia, Jo, and Sid.

Day 5 was Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving. Translation: Lots of cooking!

The cousins had a great time together. Their order in age is: Donnie-32, Joshua-31, Erica-31, Brenda-30, Gabe-29, Lissette-28, Mike-28, Emily-27, Lindsey-27, Ashley-21. So you can see how close they all are...you can probably also tell why Ashley is commonly known as "Baby Ashley."

Here's some pictures of our time together on Day 5:

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

We spent Day 4 at my brothers

The plan was to get up and head to the farm. Well, the plan didn't happen because Thalia, who was at the farm, got sick. We wanted to keep Lindsey away from that...so Linz, Donnie, Mom, and I spent the day over at John David and Becky's. Sami was home...Addison (who was still a single guy) was also home.

Guess what we did?

Yep, you may have guessed correctly...we played washers! Now you need to notice the form and the way some hold their mouth when they throw. I do believe it all makes a difference!

Now you may notice some non-washer-playing photos included in this montage. Some of them are the many faces of one DONNIE....and a few of my baby girl...and there's one of Jabbo the dog...and the sky? Well, Mom said at one point, "Just look at that sky. Isn't it pretty?" So I took a picture of it.

There you have it, photos from Day 4.

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A "P.S." for Day 3

I failed to mention that while we were visiting with Aunt Jane, GRITS - the twirler, was selling raffle tickets for the twirlers.

I paid $5 to buy a raffle ticket.

For 2 tickets to the Dallas Cowboys vs. Green Bay Packers game this Thursday.

You can probably tell where this is going since I'm BLOGGING ABOUT IT....

Yep, when Ron and I got home from Texas, there it was on my answering machine...My ticket had been drawn.

Well, I don't live in Dallas...but guess who does?
Look how incredibly happy Kasi looks...I don't think it has anything to do with the Dallas Cowboy tickets!

We're off to see Aunt Jane...on Day 3

My favorite Aunt Jane lives about 2 1/2 hours from my mom. So on Day 3, which was Monday, November 19th, my mom and I went to visit. Ron, Josh, Erica, and Thalia took off for the farm.

Aunt Jane has had some health problems - still does - but she has THE BEST attitude. It was so wonderful to spend the day with her.

My cousin, Patti, and her youngest daughter, Emily, (who I call GRITS!) came while we were there. I can't remember when I saw them last. GRITS is about as adorable as you can get - sweet as can be!

Well, GRITS is a twirler and she put on a show for us... look at her twirl!

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This is my cousin, Patti, with Emily.
Patti and my mom...

So Day 3 was great...seeing my Aunt Jane, Uncle Charlie, Patti, and GRITS. On the way back to Mom's, we were naturally hungry...so Mexican food was the order of the afternoon. YUM!

At 11:55 p.m., Lindsey and Donnie flew in. Now all that was lacking was Gabe and Emily..who weren't due in until Wednesday.

This was day 3.