Wedding weekend extravagannza in Richmond, VA

This past weekend we drove a whopping two hours (eh hem...two hours!) to Richmond, VA to see a boat load of family and watch my cousin Jacob and Heather get married. I think this is the first time in ten years that we've been the ones who actually drove the shortest distance to get somewhere! It was awesome! And just to make the drive down even easier, Uncle Jelly Bean and Taunt Rose (aka...Jordan and Becca) stopped at our house on their way through D.C. to ride with us.

We stayed at cousin Jaclyn, Keith and little Elsie Lou's fantastic house with Jordan and Becca...and had THE.BEST.TIME! It was one fun filled weekend!

The girls busied themselves playing restaurant with the 10,000 pieces of food Jaclyn has! It was like a real grocery store up in her living room!

We took turns riding on Keith's four wheeler and listened to Becca scream like a banshee all through the neighborhood! Bah ha ha!!
 

We grilled out with most of the family that was in town Friday night plus some neighbors for good measure.

There were chickens and dogs and hammocks that we found most entertaining...

After a late night on Friday, Saturday rolled in with bright blue skies that looked quite promising for an outdoor wedding.

We arrived at the park just before 1pm. And those blue skies I mentioned started morphing into an ominous gray and black scene upstairs. BUT! Never to be caught unprepared :~) ....we busted out the four umbrellas we brought...just in case!

While we eagerly awaited for the bride to arrive the kiddos busied themselves down near the pond, and we sat and schmoozed and went the rounds taking pictures and saying how lovely everyone looked.

 

Marvelly with Aunt Abby, Mimi, and her new best friend in her Great Aunt Patrice. Love that lady. :~) She's like a second mom to me.

and after a few minutes delay, Heather arrived and the wedding began. We "oohed" and "aahed" and said to each other, "Hey, look at that. It's raining. But only over the pond! Sweet! Glad we dodged that bullet!"

Mmm hmmm. That rain cloud that was oh so conveniently positioned over the pond and made us all think we'd avoid getting caught in the rain.....only stayed there for about 3 minutes. And then it hovered over to our little party and dumped down all the rain it had stashed up inside. This makes the second Saturday in.a.row I've been outside in the rain!

Luckily...because we're uber planner aheaders.....we had those four umbrellas. So, we stayed fairly dry. As well as the three lucky recipients of our other umbrellas. My mom....not so much. Her coat was soaked.

The wedding party....not so much. They were pretty soaked.

But I love love love how Uncle Chris just sat there. Eyes focused on the ceremony. No umbrella. Didn't take off his jacket to cover his head. He just sat there. In the rain. And proudly watched his boy get married. I love that uncle of mine. :~)

And come to find out....Jacob and Heather's first kiss, happened in the rain. And on top of their wedding cake was a bride and groom under an umbrella.What a fitting way to have your first kiss as husband and wife...in the rain, under an umbrella. Cool how that happened. :~)

Oh yeah! Soaked and proud!

Oh...what's so funny? 

Yeaaaaaah. That would be my brother. Sticking a pretzel up his nose. And then eating it. And, ya know, we're a family that finds stuff like that absolutely hilarious.

And then Marvelly saw the reaction that Jordan got when doing that, so she then tried to stick the pretzel in her nose from her mouth too. We have some really good role models in the family. :~)

And then shortly after Sydaleigh dared Jordan and Isaak to eat a rose petal. And they did. And then regretted it because rose petals are bitter and nasty!!

What's that Uncle Chris? Did you say Heather should lick the frosting out of Jacob's beard? Ugh. I think somebody had a little too much orange cup there. :~)

Oh yeah. Time to break it down on the dance floor!

My Mom hears music and she just has to let loose. She can't be stopped! She's got the music in her!

On Sunday before we left Jaclyn's we paid our new favorite friends one last visit....

Sydaleigh named "her" chicken Kelly. And Marvelly named hers Squishy. I see chickens in our future I think.....they really took a liking to them.

I don't particularly share that same sentiment, but if I can get some free eggs out of it...I could do chickens.

I haven't been to Uncle Ray's and Aunt Joys house in, probably over ten years. It was good to be back. I loved coming here as a kid. And my girls had a blast here just like I used to...

The guys took the little girls out on Uncle Ray's four wheelers.

the girls played in the humungo play house, swinged, explored the yard, chalked up the sidewalks and made fun memories with their cousins, just like I did here with mine. :~)

a random few of our motley crew.

"Oh no! I'm getting weak! I.can't.stand.any.more."

"I need a Marvelly hug to revive me and give me strength."

"Oooh! I'm better now! Your hug saved me!"-Aunt Abby. My girls seriously have the greatest and silliest aunt's...E-VER!!! Tee hee!

I've got one heck of a family. We know how to have a good time, that's for sure. We had a great time with them all over the weekend.

unforgettable memories.....

-Aunt Cindy walking around during the bridal processional yelling "Cameron! Cameron! Where's Cameron?!"
-everyone who stood up in the back under the trees to take cover from the rain and started having their own little party....during the ceremony. Ahhh, I love that as Gerards we're so self absorbed it doesn't even occur to us that others (Becca!) might be bothered by our loud talking and laughing during the exchange of wedding vows! I'm sure whatever was being discussed was of greater importance than the wedding. :~)
-that poor little pink chic...and all else concerning that shall remain undisclosed.
-brown stealth
-boogers in the carpet
-streaking in the hotel
-"so I saw this on Pinterest...."
-sitting around Uncle Ray's table and listening to him tell us again how he burned down the cabin....and the forest directly surrounding it.
-and laughing till I.could.not.breathe with Jaclyn, Keith, Isaak, Jordan and Becca Saturday night.