Day 58 {Majestic}

Today was served with an extra helping of awesomeness. After checking out of the hotel, we had a full day of fun planned. We went to the Newport Aquarium, which was awesome. We also saw a movie, ate some delicious food and walked the Purple People Bridge. A great ending to an even greater getaway.

Day 57 {Way too big}

So we took a quick detour from our sightseeing and relaxing in Cincinnati today! Since we were just an hour away from where my ex-husband and delightful 5th grader Nathan live, we made the trip to see him play his last game of football for the season. The Jets won today, taking 2nd place in the league. Seeing him play was bittersweet...he is getting way too big and I predict he'll be looking me in the eye by the time he comes to our house next summer--hopefully not by the time he's here for Thanksgiving!

Day 56 {Romantic Getaway}

So we snuck away for the weekend to Cincinnati. It's such a nice place to go...close-by with plenty to do and enjoy. This was a special weekend for me because we got to stay in the Radisson, the neatest round hotel with revolving restaurant on the 18th floor. I've always wanted to stay in that hotel and this weekend I got my wish. We enjoyed the restaurant and the view from our balcony!

Day 55 {Confidence}

Parker enjoys playing with his new speech therapist, Ms. Nancy, SO much. I really wish I had his confidence though. He rocks the upside down princess sunglasses like a rock star.

Day 54 {Truer words...}

Truer words have never been spoken. Today I painted Naomi's nails and we read books and cuddled...the laundry didn't put away itself but that's okay, too.

Day 53 {Not Fair!}

It's not fair that poor Ms. Naomi is sick on her actual birthday. She was just a little under the weather and spent most of the day watching cartoons and not getting out of bed. Don't feel bad girl, that's how I like to spend my birthdays, too!

Brandenburg-Gardner Wedding Part 1

Finally I am ready to share our wedding with you! It took me quite awhile to sort through all the photos. I have narrowed it down from over 600 photos to 75. Honestly 75 is still quite a bit, but that was the minimum I could whittle our story down to. I will share with you here every detail of our day. I know a lot of people who wanted to be at the wedding but couldn't be, so this is my way of making them feel like they got to virtually crash our wedding :)

Leading up to the wedding were some of the busiest days of my life!



The morning of our wedding, I got up and rushed around doing last minute details and our wedding party met us early to help with setup. After that, the boys and girls split. The boys went back to their hotel to get ready and ate at BW3's. Unfortunately Parker was sick but there was nothing I could do for him other than push fluids and ask them to give snuggles. (Parker and Nathan went with the boys).

My sister and maid of honor Tabatha, my best friend and Matron of Honor Amber, Naomi and I went to our hotel room and met my stepmother Ann who did all of our hair. We ate salads from Wendy's while she fixed us up! She owns her own shop but it was too far away for us to go there! Ann's hairspray got clogged and we had a mini-emergency because no one else had any. We survived it though :)

Nothing says bridal like a tangle of tulle, satin and lace:




I tied up Naomi's tutu after my hair and makeup were fixed:




I don't even remember what she was mad about, but whatever it was, it was easily fixed with Aunt Tabatha snuggles:



Then, the girls left the hotel to head back to Tabatha's house, the venue for the wedding:


When we arrived back home, behind-the-scenes people were buzzing around finishing up last minute work like fruit platters and table setting.



and getaway car painting:



Beverage table:



Centerpieces:



Part of the photo display:



A reminder:



Strawberries make the perfect addition:



I cut a zillion lemons that morning, many to line a 15 gallon galvanized tin full of ice!



Yum!



A quiet moment alone with my groom before it all got crazy :)



At this point, Mr. G and I snuck away with our photographer for an hour. We were still a few hours away from the wedding, so everything was right on track. Our wonderful photographer Barb Hogan went with us to a few local places to snag some great photos:















When we arrived back home, people worked on busying themselves before the ceremony.

I took a moment to pose with Naomi:



People made introductions and mingled:

(this is my mom introducing herself to my dear friend Jaime's husband). Jaime is a scrapper, you might know her as azrood. She also happens to live near me!



Parker glared outside from behind the picture window (as he did not appreciate very much being stuck inside. There were lots of things he wished to destroy outside).



Naomi practiced holding flowers:



My cousin Michael found the swingset:



People collected their goodies:

(we had programs complete with puzzles for them to enjoy during their wait, insect repellant moist towelettes, bottles of water, and hand fans)







The stage was set:



and the groom was waiting patiently:



The wedding party walked down the aisle to this amazing song by the Plain White T's

And then it was my turn, escorted by my father, to this classic song by Etta James.



It felt like it was 100 degrees outside, but it was still a beautiful day for wedding.



I'm going to continue this entry in a second post. I'm honestly not certain how much I can fit in one post!

Brandenburg-Gardner Wedding Part 2

And then it was time for the vows!

James went first.



In retrospect, this was a bad idea for many reasons.

1) By the time he was done, I was crying and couldn't speak clearly.
2) His were sooooooo wonderful. Mine were ok, but I couldn't really "top" his. It's a good thing it's not a contest, right? But seriously everyone was laughing and crying at his, and I totally looked at our guests when it was my turn and said "I should have gone first!" Okay, so they did get a laugh out of that.

He had us laughing:



and crying:



and laughing so hard we were crying:



Here is where I waver a bit. At first I didn't plan on sharing his vows for two reasons. The first reason is that I felt like it might be nice to keep that part special and private. The second reason is that you reading them in print isn't the same as his delivery. His delivery, voice inflections, pauses, all of it, were perfect. I was talked into sharing them, though. Just so you can get an idea of just how funny he is. And how sweet he is.

~~I vow to remember the holy days in our relationship (anniversaries, birthdays, and kids’ birthdays) and keep them holy.
~~I vow to look lovingly upon you as you sleep and to protect that sleep to the best of my ability.
~~I vow to always have a hug ready should you need it after a bad day or a worse week.
~~I vow to keep a kiss ready when you feel like sharing good news.
~~I vow to keep a smile on my face when I’m with the kids, except when I have to lay down the law.
~~I vow to not complain when the kids want to watch Yo Gabba Gabba!, Dora the Explorer, Go Diego Go, ICarly, Suite Life of Zack and Cody or Lady Gaga and anything she’s in.
~~I vow to believe every Christmas in Santa Claus, every Easter in the Easter Bunny, and I’ll make sure the tooth fairy finds the childrens’ beds when the kids lose a tooth.
~~I vow to be wiser than any sitcom father (not to mention, funnier).
~~I vow never to be stingy with my hugs or my love because the greatest lesson you taught me is that love is the greatest when given freely.
~~I vow to remind you how beautiful you are inside and out, whether you need to hear it or not.
~~I vow to listen to what you are saying to me because listening is an important part of communication.
~~I vow to speak what’s on my mind, whether it’s an issue at work or the need for a good hamburger because speaking is an important part of communication.
~~I vow not to openly insult the movies you like that have Kate Hudson, Sandra Bullock, Katherine Heigl, Patrick Dempsey, Matthew Mcconaughey, Sarah Jessica Parker, any actor from Will and Grace, or any combination thereof.
~~If Spider-Man, Batman, or Superman suddenly came to me and offered me a job as a sidekick, I vow to tell them I’m already working with my hero.
~~I vow to believe you when you tell me it will get better and that I’m still the hot guy you dated.
~~I vow to always believe that you are the hot girl I started dating and that by virtue of knowing you it will get better.
~~I vow to remember the snuggle and keep that holy.
~~I vow to hold the light of your dimples right beside where I keep the love you have for me in my heart.
~~I vow to love you with all my heart, to be with you with all my body, and to fortify you with all my soul.
~~I vow that my love will last longer than all the stars, will be wider than the universe and be deeper than the deepest trench in the ocean floor, whether that’s this ocean or an ocean a thousand miles away. I will love you, Lena Brandenburg, because the love you’ve given back is the newest sun in my shinier solar system. Pardon me while I, your humble planet, circle you for all eternity.

Then it was my turn:




~~I vow to love you every day like I love you today.
~~I vow to bring you Gatorade when you're sick.
~~I vow to try to make you laugh as much as you do me.
~~I vow to not grimace when you arrive at the parent-teacher conference in your El-Santo t-shirt.
~~I vow to support you in your writing.
~~I vow to rub your neck when you're up till 2 a.m. grading essays.
~~I vow to be your muse.
~~I vow to treat you like you've always been a part of this family.
~~I vow to not go to bed angry.
~~I vow to nod and smile when you're talking about wrasslin.
~~I vow to hold your hand when you're driving.
~~And to not squeeze it when you're not braking fast enough.
~~I vow to see you with loving eyes every morning.
~~I vow to watch the occasional horror flick.
~~I vow to remind you to take your medicine at night.
~~I vow to make time for us to spend together every day, even if it's only a few minutes at the end of a crazy day.
~~I vow to be mindful of the number of little hearts I post on your Facebook page.
~~I vow to watch my verb/subject agreement and dangling modifiers.
~~I vow to love you for who you are.

After the vows, we had the kids come and join us for a sand ceremony.



When the sand ceremony was over, Naomi had another mini-meltdown about her job being over and did NOT want to continue to stand and be part of the bridal party.



Luckily, we were almost over. After we were pronounced husband and wife, we proceeded down the aisle to this song.

I don't remember what James was saying to me here :)




And there we were, Mr. & Mrs. James Gardner:



I'll share the reception during a third blog post!

Brandenburg-Gardner Wedding Part 3

At the reception, we had yummy food! Croissants, fruits and veggies, chocolate covered strawberries, salad, shrimp and pasta.



But we had an even YUMMIER treat bar! It truly was one of my favorite parts of the day!







Guests filled up these thank-you bags with their favorite pink and yellow candy:



We had a snow cone machine and a cotton candy machine. Shown here is the wedding cake flavored snow cone (I ordered that flavor because it was clear and I wanted to have a clear option available at the wedding...can you imagine me with pink juice down the front of my dress?) We also had banana and bubble gum flavors.



I wasn't the only one who loved it! This is my friend Jaime's daughter with what used to be her cotton candy :P



Here are the water bottles I designed for the wedding:



We still had some left over and were drinking them for a week or two :)

It became very evident that we HAD to cut the cake NOW. It was about to fall over!



So we cut the cake:



And enjoyed some live music by James' friend Matt Branham:



to which we danced:



and stole quiet moments:



Then I made rounds, shaking hands, giving hugs and kissing babies.



My uncle married us. This is his daughter Faith. She handed out fans and programs and bottles of water for us.



This is her brother Daniel who begrudgingly got stuck with the garter as the only single guy at the wedding. Seriously. Only. Single. Guy. Poor lil dude is only 12.



I had a few quiet moments with my mama, who traveled 6 hours to attend.



The guys were off having a group photo. I'm not sure where Nathan had run off to in this one; there's no telling :)



We got a few wedding party shots. This was the "serious" one LOL



And one of my favorite shots of the whole day!



The reception was dwindling down now, and guests were beginning to leave. I went around to collect some of our advice cards. I kept them all and I absolutely LOVE them. I haven't decided how to display them yet!



We got some great advice :)







Then it was time to take some artistic photographs that we hadn't gotten around to earlier in the day.







These were the fans we provided our guests:



This is James' license plate. Well, part of it LOL: ( it is Barb's attention to detail...little things like this that I would never notice, that makes me love her so much).








And, for one of the funniest candids of the day:



It was getting dark outside and James and I were taking photos with Barb, trying to get an artistic shot in the grass while she stood on a ladder overhead. Cleanup efforts were underway without us, and there was an accident. All of a sudden we heard a LOUD CRASH, as one of our lemonade decanters got knocked over and glass went everywhere. We didn't see what happened of course, but the noise startled both of us. It was pretty funny that Barb caught it all on film :)

Barb and I were working on a few last ring photos:



and James disappeared. When we found him taking a rest on the kiddie slide, I knew it had to be the last photo of the night as we were ALL EXHAUSTED. :)




So there you have it. Every little detail about our wedding. Are you exhausted just reading it? I know it took me a whole day to write the posts out so you must be tired too :)

If you were one of the people who were able to make it to our special day, we hope you enjoy reliving it in pictures. If you were one of the people who couldn't be here with us, we hope this helps you feel like you were here with us!