Weeding, Wedding, and Puppies...Oh My!

Last Friday night, I wanted to help Nick with some work. We don't get to see each other a whole lot during the summer months. If it's light outside, my awesome hubby is working hard somewhere. His crews have started working at 6:00am to at least beat a bit of the heat. But Friday, he needed to do some weeding at one of his job sites. I put on my gardening maternity attire and headed out with him. I wish we would have taken a picture. I can't bend over to weed anymore because it hurts my stomach, so I just sat Indian style in the flower beds to do the weeding. I'm sure it was quite the sight to see. :) We got a lot accomplished before the sun fully set, and I got to spend some time with Nick. So it was a good evening.

Saturday morning, Nick & I got up to hit the road for Waco. One of Nick's cousins, Gavin, got married that evening. We dropped our doggies off at the in laws, picked up my mother-in-love, and headed to Waco. We had to make two quick stops in Tyler for the business then we drove the rest of the way. I have been craving fried pickles for a while now. The only problem is, I can't find any where locally that has the kind I'm looking for. I want them to be like Montana's (in Stephenville) pickles... :( I knew George's in Waco had Montana's-type pickles, so I asked if we could eat lunch there. Everyone was game. We ended up having a late lunch, but it was oh so worth it. I barely ate any of my meal because I ate so many pickles, but they sure were yummy!

Fried pickles!

The wedding was beautiful and oddly reminiscent of our wedding. Gavin wasn't able to attend our wedding due to his senior trip being scheduled at the same time, so it was crazy how similar our weddings ended up being. He and his bride, Lindzie, both went to Abilene Christian University. Their school color was purple, as is Tarleton's. So, their wedding color was purple, just like our's. Lindzie played music from the Pride & Prejudice soundtrack before the wedding began, just like our's. The reception was what was most similar. My awesome Dad and Sister worked on making what was in my head come to fruition for our reception. We had our reception in the fellowship hall at my home church, and I didn't want to turn on the overhead lights to show off the cinderblock walls. I wanted a "tent" type thing going on. We took a hula-hoop, alternated gossamer, tulle, and Christmas lights. Dad then hung the hula-hoop from the center of the room, then draped out the fabric/lights and attached them at separate points to the ceiling. So it gave a tent like look to the room. Gavin & Lindzie had the exact same vibe going for their reception! I thought they had EXCEPTIONAL taste. :) Nick & I danced a few dances, and we enjoyed getting to visit with his family.  Funny side story: Jason, Nick’s cousin, had fun throwing candy at me from across the table saying, “I’m feeding the pregnant lady.”  I wasn’t complaining. :)

Our wedding on the left, and Gavin & Lindzie's wedding on the right.
I don't have a good photo of our's finished, but that's Dad putting it up.  It looked similar to their's though. :)

Groom dancing with his Momma.

Husband and I.

Coffee family...love them!

Melanie and her two sisters.

Alan & Tovah.

We spent the night at a hotel in Waco with Nick's mom, and then headed over to Nick's Memaw's house for more visiting with family. While we were there, Nick's cousins, Jennifer, Jason, and their kids showed up along with Nick's Aunt Rhon. We ended up all eating lunch together and visiting for a few hours. I really enjoy getting to see all of them. We go a long time between visits, so when we do see each other, we have a blast catching up. Nick's Memaw had everyone look through her husband's old "dog house" workshop in the back yard to see if there was anything in there any of us would want. We were all in there, and I noticed a couple of mounted antlers. I said more liked screamed, "Oh, could I have those antlers?!" Everyone busted out laughing. Nick said, "That is the most excited someone has gotten about antlers in this house in years!" I had a legitimate excuse to be excited. I'm planning Brayden's nursery to be hunting/fishing/camping theme, and I had already been looking for some antlers just like this. I was just going to buy some at Canton the next time I was there, but how cool is it that the antlers will be from Brayden's great grandfather?! They, of course, let me have them. I'm going to clean them up a bit, paint the bases, and they will be a great addition to Brayden's room.

These aren't the exact ones we got, but they're similar.  I forgot to take a pic of them and this one is from a Google search. :)

Monday night, Nick had another late night of working. I went with him on his last job of the day. He's doing a “weed and feed” program for the high school baseball fields. This has to be done at a time when there are no kids on the field. So, he does it after the last game of the evening. We didn't get home until after 11:00. I was exhausted today. I did take Satchel with me to let him experience the ball park. He enjoyed getting to chew on discarded sunflower shells and smelling everything. We even walked all around the ball park to stretch our legs. :)

Husband working...

Satchel enjoying the ball park.

Today, my Sister dropped off her puppy, Ranger, for us to puppy-sit for the week while she's gone. He's super spastic, and our dogs are always slightly punch-drunk when he comes over. They've never had that much energy and don't know quite what to do with him. We spent about an hour outside after dinner to let them run off some steam. Satchel, in true yuppie fashion, stayed on the porch most of the time. Ranger literally ran laps around Tex in the yard. They had a blast. Joe & Melanie dropped by the house to give us something, and Ranger cuddled with Melanie for a bit. :) Let's hope the rest of the week goes smoothly!