K-I-S-S-I-N-G!!!

On July 12th we left our fair city of Durham and travel 14 hours by car to Chicago. Why did we make this long trek by car to Chicago?? (oh my word I forgot to mention in my blitz blog that we had the back tire stolen off of our car – four hours after we had just had a new tire put on and no they did not steal the new tire – How odd is that!) Because my niece Katie was FINALLY getting married to Bob. I say FINALLY because we had been speculating about this potential marriage for at least two years when Bob finally came through for us and asked Katie to marry him. Katie, as I said, is my niece. In fact she was my first niece and the first grandchild in my family. I can still remember the day she was born. I was standing in the lunch line in the hallway at my Christian school. I was in the eight grade. Barb Wright the school “Secretary”/Jane of all trades approached me at the tray return window and said my dad had called and Matt and Lorie had had their baby. (Matt is my oldest brother.) It was a girl and my father said I would know the name. Which I did – Katie Michelle. She was beautiful from day one – ok I probably really did not see her until like day 5 or something but I am sure there were pictures taken that first day that would back me up on this. And since she was the first grandchild we were all in awe of her. We watched and adored her every move and really she ruined it for all the other grandchildren because by the time they arrived we were like – already seen that. (ok for the record her brother Kyle did some pretty amazing things as a child, most of which resulted in broken bones or my father spitting out his false teeth) And also once there is more than say two children in a room they become more like a pack of wolves devouring everything and all you want to do is escape so after the next two entered the family we pretty much tried to ignore the kids by shutting them off in some other room or preferably outside. By I DIGRESS. We went to Chicago because Katie was getting married and she guaranteed our coming by asking Olivia to be the Flower girl. OH MY. (note we would have come anyhow) And let me just say it was a beautiful wedding and I believe a great start to a great marriage. And Katie did not mind at all that Olivia thought the day was all about OLIVIA. Actually Olivia did a great job. I will even admit that I cried a little when Olivia first started walking down the aisle dropping her rose petals because I was just so proud of her. There were no tantrums. She was a little confused when the photographer asked her to step down so he could take some pictures of Katie – Momma why am I not in ALL the pictures. And then there was the last moment of the night (for us) when Katie threw the bouquet and Olivia did not catch it. She came running from the group of girls and flung herself into the nearest lap (which just happen to belong to my sister’s husband Jim) and SOBBED. Fortunately Katie’s mom, who was standing near by, grabbed a carnation from the centerpiece on one of the tables and handed that to Olivia and then she was fine. Yes just a little drama but that was all. Below are some pics from the wedding. Probably more than you want to see but I just can’t help myself.