Congrats Mr. and Mrs. Howard!!

Our good friends Jason and Kate got married on July 9th in Omaha. I have to admit, I had some reservations about traveling for the wedding. This had nothing to do with the wedding but rather the traveling. Obviously, I'm preggers...so being in a car for 7+ hours was not going to be a walk in the park. THEN we found out that the major highway into that part of the country was flooded and not passable adding an additional hour... or two onto the trip.. Great.  I did NOT want to miss this wedding but I didn't have a great plan.

Insert my dad. God bless this man. He decided he would fly us. Well, after some convincing, he decided he would fly us. You see, I have never flown in his plane. It is actually one of my fears AND one of my things to do in 2011 (per my bucket list)  To be fair, the fear has nothing to do with my father's ability to fly a plane. He is an exceptional pilot and I could not feel safer with him in the cockpit. My fear has been here all my life.. and it is directly related to flying. I am terrified. I am that person. That person who grips the armrest during takeoff, has tears streaming down her face as we go to land and feels the physical stress when there is the slightest bump. Yes, that is me. But, as I said before, I was NOT going to miss this wedding.  

 

Oh and not only did dad decide to fly us.. he decided to stay the weekend (he was on the original invite list to the wedding as we have known Jason for many, many years) This actually worked out in our favor as the day of the wedding the shuttle didn't return to the hotel to pick up Destiny and me.. insert our knight in shinning armor with the rental car. I tell ya, this man is the best!
 
But lets start at the beginning... First stop, Gaga's house. The boy was SO excited to spend the weekend with Gaga. Just him and her. And some Meme and Sandra. But either way there was not mommy, daddy or Papa to take attention away from this cute little duo. I put the proper clothes in his suitcase and then let Chaz pack what else he felt was necessary.  If he could have jumped out of the car before we parked he would have..

I went to unpack him and here is what I found.. Here is the rundown: "Who let the dogs out" Build-A-Bear, stuffed octopus, Elmo, stuffed frog, magic eraser tablet, an American flag, Polo Christmas bear ornament, puppy lovey, dog lovey, plastic Mickey Mouse, Plastic toy car, Stuffed monkey, hat, and a snowman figurine. Out of the 14 things I listed above-- 9 of them he hasn't touched in six months and 1 (the Christmas ornament) I have no idea where he even found it. But he told me he "loved them all and needed to take them to Gaga's" Who am I to argue?!?

As we were going to leave I thought he would be a little sad that we were leaving. Then I looked up to see this and hear this "Peace out, knuckleheads"  Really?? What happened to my baby who cried for 30 minutes every time I dropped him off??? Not that I wanted him to cry but didn't he know his mommy was about to go and conquer one of her biggest fears? Wasn't he concerned? Wouldn't he miss me?? Obviously not. Peace out knuckleheads.

And we were off! This would be my ride for the next few hours. To say I was nervous may be the understatement of the century. I had dad stop and get me a Route 44 unsweetened iced tea from Sonic and celeb gossip mags. My only two real vices. I was very nervous but I knew there was no turning back. I was biting the bullet. I was going to do this!

And I was going to smile. Well, a little forced but it is still technically a smile.

As if the flight wasn't intimidating enough... this is what I was facing--do not touch!

Taxing out..

And we were off. Yep, I did it. I didn't back out and there was no way out now. Well, there is but jumping without a parachute isn't the best plan.

Looking over Bentonville.

Have you ever wondered what the top of the Walmart Home Office look like?

and this was my view. Totally manageable or at least that is what I told myself.

This is the flooding that we had been warned about. It is coming from the late snow they had up north. All the snow was melting and causing massive flooding in Nebraska and neighboring states. This isn't just farmland. There are buildings and roads under there.

See that faint white strip in the middle of this picture? That is a MAJOR highway that runs into Omaha. Not today folks, not today.

I did it. I conquered my fear. Unfortunately, I was so consumed with my fear of flying that I didn't really think about my preggo body. The pressure of flying was a little intense. If you think about it, your body is constantly expanding and contracting while in the air. This is a little painful when you are pretty pregnant. After we landed and ate lunch, I spent the rest of the afternoon in bed, trying to "decompress."  Dad adjusted the altitude on the way back (we flew much lower) and it was completely tolerable. The only thing that happened was a little swelling in my feet but my wonderful pilot also kindly removed my shoes, problem solved. :)

Two of my favorite people. The Lanes. This was their first trip away from baby Cooper, who was born in April.  Destiny was my sanity on this trip. She made sure I was feeling ok and we were even able to catch up on some "girl time" while the boys were getting ready for the wedding. Love her!!

and this was my date. Yep, he is pretty cute.

Jason and Kate's wedding was absolutely beautiful. It took place outside a beautiful country club. I am sure you have seen the frames, mats and such at other weddings but in true style these two had us sign a giant piece of wood. They will then have their initials burned into the middle and it sealed. It was so unique and very beautiful.

To say Kate was a gorgeous bride is really and understatement. She is simply beautiful on any given day but on her wedding day she looked AMAZING! Both of them were just beaming! So much in love!

My hubs took over camera duty and actually did quite a good job!

Did I mention she was gorgeous and beaming?!?! And let me just say, pictures do not do this dress justice. It was stunning!

Kate's dad was such a joy! I had never had the pleasure of meeting him until this weekend as her folks live in Omaha. He is hilarious, genuine and sweet--just like his daughter!

Jason dancing with his momma. You could tell she was so proud of her son.

Little Mason is just days younger than Chaz. He made me miss my little bit. He did a great job as a ring bearer and was just a doll in his tux. And he was very good at shaking the booty on the dance floor.

Mason's dad (Paul) and little sister (Aubrey)

Mason dancing with his momma.

To see a WONDERFUL slide show from a professional photographer.. click here.

We had such a wonderful time celebrating with this wonderful couple. I only wish we would have taken more pictures of our friends. I didn't get a single one of Ryan and me at the wedding, or the Lanes, or the Wilsons or the Smiths... I could go on and on. I guess when you don't have kids to take pictures of you seem to forget. Oopsie!

Congratulations to you two! We love you very much and are so happy that you came into each others lives. We wish you many, many years of happiness!!