Texas Trip 2015, Part 2

I can't start this post without saying a huge, "THANK YOU," to my sister and her husband, Zac, for taking our three oldest for 24 hours.  It's always nice to catch a break as parents, but in the midst of a busy, family vacation with overtired kiddos being bounced around in new situations and locations almost daily, it's especially nice to get a breather!  We still have Jansen, but he's in such a delightfully easy stage that we are just enjoying the time alone with him and the quiet times together when he's napping.  So, thank you Abbie and Zac for taking the older ones so that we could have this time, go to the wedding and get refreshed.

The wedding was at a beautiful spot right in the heart of Waco.  It had the old Southern charm of a plantation estate.  The ceremony was set up for us to take in the sunset as the bride and groom said their vows.  It was hot and quite sunny, but gorgeous.  Here's a quick shot Doug got as the groom waited for his bride to walk up the aisle.

Penn and Tavin's friend, Ellie, is the groom's niece and was one of the flower girls.  So sweet!  I had Doug take pictures for the boys.  They are huge Ellie fans. 

I had to duck out of the end of the ceremony to feed Jansen who had woken up from his nap.  Then afterwards we got to show him off a bit to old friends (like people I haven't seen in a decade, blast from the past!).  A dear friend from college was there without his wife, so he offered to walk around with Jansen who was having a hard time falling asleep (most likely due to the heat, poor bug).  It was such a blessing to get a few extra moments to mingle because he served us in that practical way.  Thanks, Danny!  He also was our photographer.  Here's the picture he grabbed.  Probably one of my Doug/Amy favorites in recent years.  

Later on the dance floor, I got to catch up with Ellie and I had Doug take our picture for Tavin and Penn. They are going to be so jealous that I got to hang out with their buddy!

Doug and I stayed until almost midnight.  I can't remember the last time we stayed out so late (minus flying into Dallas the other day).  It was great to be with so many friends from lots of different parts of our lives: college, church, connections and networks we've developed over the years.  Quite the smattering of relationships and just evidence of how God's body is at work in the world keeping his people connected, serving each other and the world.  And Jon and Jenny, congratulations!!  Thanks so much for inviting us to celebrate with you all.  It was a beautiful night and surely the start to an amazing adventure for the two of you.  We pray God's blessing over your marriage!

With such a late night, it was a bonus to have only one kid to wake up to this morning.  Jansen was exhausted so had no problem sleeping until his 7am feeding.  And then we enjoyed some sweet time with our littlest lounging around on the bed and taking our time getting started.  These moments with just one at a time are so precious!  Here he is on Daddy's lap giving me a side glance smile.

The poor child hasn't had a bath since the day we left Pittsburgh!!  So, I decided after needing to put bug spray on his precious baby skin last night, I should at least give him a sponge bath this morning.  Then I thought I'd get some pictures of him of course.  This one is blurry, but I couldn't resist sharing his silly smile and spiky/just-washed-with-hotel-bar-soap hairstyle.

Jansen is teething like mad and is often sucking his lips in or better yet, making adorable kissy/smacking noises.  Here he is with his new teething face.

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Full body shot of course.  Check out those thighs and thick arms.  He's still growing like mad and eating to fuel it!  Can't wait for his 4 month appointment in about a week to see how big he's gotten these last two months!

The little man is napping now and we are just chilling out listening to worship music.  Doug's reading a book and sipping coffee and I'm sipping cocoa and catching up on the blog.  I'll now finish this post with another "THANK YOU!" to Aunt Abbie and Uncle Zac!!