here comes the flower girl, and if we're lucky, the ring bearer..

Last weekend we headed to Tulsa, Oklahoma for Matt & Mindy's wedding.

Addison was super excited to wear her "wedding dress" as a flower girl with her cousins and Graham was pretty excited to ride on a few airplanes again.

After getting the guy fitted for his tux at Men's Warehouse a few months back, I honestly was contemplating how I was going to tell Matt & Mindy there was slim to none chance of getting him down the aisle.  So we just avoided the subject with him and focused on the exciting stuff.....like getting on two planes.

He insisted he carry his Cars backpack all by himself through the airports.  

 And yes, I said airports, because there is no direct flight from San Diego to Tulsa.

Ironically, we flew through Houston to get there.  We were supposed to have about an hour layover, that turned into three.  I could have gotten a Chuys meal in had I known it was going to be that long and given some quick hugs to friends.

Instead we settled for Fuddruckers and chasing our kids around the terminal.

Check out how serious Graham was taking his job of carrying the backpack!

He was cracking us up....and that thing was not light.

It held lots of bribery that I had packed away in hopes of getting him into that tuxedo and down the aisle.

We finally made it into Tulsa at 12:30AM Wednesday/Thursday.

The kids did surprisingly well.

The next day we met the family for lunch and then headed to the house that Andy's parents had rented to house everyone for the weekend.

It was AMAZING!!

Not only did it have plenty of bedrooms and space, but on the third floor, there was a movie room with stadium seating that served as the best babysitter in the world.  No kidding, we could put on a Thomas show and give Graham some snacks and we wouldn't hear from him for a good hour.

Thursday night, we had a little belated birthday celebration for Addison & Iris who are 2 weeks apart.

This picture cracks me up of Graham.  The guy is a little clingy/high maintenance lately.

 As well as being a birthday celebration, it was time to crown Dave the 2012 March Madness champion.

This was his acceptance speech:

Wow....where to begin.  With an attempt to compose myself....I've gotta give thanks.  Thank you to my family and friends that helped encourage me throughout the swings of the tourney.  Lisa always there by my side, with helpful comments, such as, "don't worry about Missou," and "keep you head up," when I allowed myself to get down after it was clear how I'd underestimated Craft and the Buckeyes.  Thank you Jesus.  Thank you fellow bracketeers....it was a battle from start to finish.   To Lois, Duke let us all down.  

With great pride, thank you for this trophy and honor.  Please know that during the next 365 days when I frequently remind you all that I won it will be with great humility. 

Cracks me up.

He shared a quick pic with former title holders as well.

The Parsons trophy....maybe one day....

 Friday was the rehearsal and Lois & JB decided to hold the rehearsal dinner at the house....perfect place for it....plus....remember there was a movie room upstairs to keep the kids occupied so we actually were able to help decorate and quality check the margaritas beforehand.

 I loved what Lois came up with for the decorations.....she found all of these colored vases at Hobby Lobby.....oh, how I miss Hobby Lobby.  I wish I would have had a bigger picture of all of the tables/rooms, but it looked SOOO good.

 Quality control of the margarita machine is extremely important.  It was not a job that Sarah and I took lightly.

 After resisting it for two days, Andy and I decided that we better actually TRY the tux on Graham.  He did great.....I just kept handing him gummy bears after each piece to distract.

Holy cuteness.

 Before we headed to the church...we snapped a quick picture of all of the cousins.

My sister in law, Sarah is SOOOOO talented.  She just got her first sewing machine a few months ago and made dresses for all of the girls.  They were so cute.  I'm envious.  I bring my kids' shirts that need a button sewn on to the cleaners.

 Eloise, Iris, Addison

 It was time to head to the church to actually practice this whole walking down the aisle thing.

Yup.....just as I figured.

More bribery was needed.

and cars.

Cars always help.

Eloise and Owen were giving a little pep talk to the little ones.

I cannot even begin to tell you what a rock star my nephew, Owen was.  He is only 5 (almost 6), but without him, there is absolutely NO WAY Graham would have gotten down that aisle.

Love him.

Then it was time to head back to the house for the fiesta!

On the Border helped ease the void of Tex-Mex we've had.

Crystal, Lois, and I

I am embarrassed at how few pictures I have of the actual bride and groom....the whole reason we were there!!!  But this is the cute couple, Matt & Mindy.

I am trying to get Andy to take the camera more often so I can get in some pictures.

He is still learning.

After he took this picture, he told me proudly...

"I even put it on multiple focus!"

what? 

The M stands for MANUAL focus, not MULTIPLE focus.

At least he tried.

The next day is was time for the real deal.

The bribery and dressing began pretty smoothly. 

 Oh my goodness, such cuteness.

The girls were so excited to dress up.

Sarah did such an awesome job with her girls' hair.

I didn't even bring a curling iron, so at the last minute, I decided to use one of my best friend's....

THE CHI.

 Addison has since asked me to Chi her hair almost daily.  Starting her young......I'm trying to resist, but

I did think it looked so cute.

Group shot!

 Check out the handsomeness.

Love them.

They were not cooperating with the camera, but so cute nonetheless.

 and then Addison was over pictures.

 ok, one more.

Notice the car as a permanent fixture.

That was the best 37 cents I ever spent at Walgreens, or anywhere really.

A couple quick pics with Papa and his girls

This one is my absolute favorite!

 and let's do this!

After we finished pictures at the church, it was only 3:30 and I had a melting down two year old.

The wedding didn't start until 5, so I knew things were not looking good.

We took him on a drive to Sonic and introduced him to the Sonic milkshake.

His mood improved slightly.  It had nowhere to go but up, if I'm being honest.

So I have no pictures to document the actual wedding.  But here is what happened with the little ring bearer.

It took 15 minutes to coax him out of the car at the church.  He was screaming and falling down on the ground, refusing to walk.  

 "Graham, if you stand up, I'll give you a gummy bear."

Scream.

Basically, about 15 minutes later and over 20 gummy bears we finally made it into the church cry room which was NOT sound proof by the way.

It was 15 minutes until the ceremony.

He was writhing on the floor.

I was low on gummy bears.

The rest was kind of a blur, but basically after so many promises, pep talks and an embarrassing amount of candy, Andy shoved a handful of gummy bears in Graham's mouth, passed him off to Owen and gave him a gentle shove down the aisle.

I was waiting at the end of the aisle, kneeling with more candy.  When he saw me he yelled, "Oh der you are mommy, der you are!!"

and I escorted him out and around the aisle and slipped out of the sanctuary.  We spent the rest of the wedding in the car eating the promised candy and I missed the actual service.

But Matt & Mindy did get married, and then it was time to celebrate.

"She's got moves like Jagger....moves like Jagger"...

Graham took a little break from the dancing.

 I loved the cupcake tree Mindy had.  It was gorgeous and who doesn't appreciate cupcakes?

 A little sibling wrestling match.

Yea!!  I got one of the actual bride and groom!!!!

We are so happy for you guys, Matt & Mindy!

Lois with Matt, sweet mother/son dance.

Mark, Sarah, Andy

 I will say that Mark's dance card was definitely full.

He was in hot demand from all the nieces.

moves like Jagger, moves like Jagger...

 We tried to get some quick family shots before the final melt down began....

 and there it was.

 last ditch effort to fix the car, before deciding it was definitely time to leave.

 How did we know it was time?

 We just knew.

 This EXHAUSTED ring bearer was asleep before we were out of the parking lot.

 and Addison was about 2 minutes behind him.

 The next day we stole a few quick minutes at the park to run off some energy before our two flights home.  After about an hour of playing as we were heading out, we ran into one of Andy's best friends, Chance and his family taking family pictures at the same park.  We had no idea that they were going to be there and didn't even think we were going to be able to connect this trip.  It was a wild coincidence since they live no where near the park that we randomly happened upon either.

Airport shenanigans...

 It was an amazing, but exhausting trip for sure.