I took a week off work to go to Jacksonville and participate in Meghan and Brendon's wedding! I came a few days early to help with preparations and celebrations, and then I stayed several more days to take care of Meggie's daughter Katelyn so they could go on a honeymoon. Yay!

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bencorral1.jpg

benonthephone.jpg

benkatiedeptstore.jpg: After Katelyn got back from school, we had to go shopping. Here's Katie keeping her brother entertained while Mommy was shopping for Daddy's present.

benkatieshoestore1.jpg: They were cute in the shoe store while Meggie was looking for shoes.

benkatieshoestore2.jpg: And here they are at a different shoe store, hanging out on a cool cushy couch.

ivybenkatieshoestore.jpg: I joined them in lounging on the comfortable-looking cushion.

responsiblebigsis.jpg: Katie does a really good job watching her brother. Sometimes it's hard to believe she's only ten!

tablecleaning.jpg: Here I'm happy 'cause I just finished clearing off the table and we have a place to . . . put more crap.

awakecarseatben1.jpg: Here's sweetums being good in the carseat.

awakecarseatben2.jpg: Still just chillin'. . . .

sleepingcarseatben.jpg: Oops, now he's conked out.

omgshoeskatie.jpg: We finally found good shoes for Meg at this mall store, but in the meantime Katelyn was trying on a really cool shoe with an extremely convoluted fastener. When she finally got it on I had to take her picture.

dontwannaeat.jpg: The baby is resisting dinnertime.

rehearsallunchben1.jpg: The day before the wedding, we had a rehearsal and a lunch after. Here's the baby having a ball on the table.

rehearsallunchben2.jpg: I'm sure he's making a mess. :)

karaokebren1.jpg: The night-before party for the wedding was a karaoke event. I rented us a room and invited their friends, and we ate and sang. Here's Brendon singing "Come Together."

karaokemeg1.jpg: Meg peruses songs, looking rather focused.

karaokejesssteveian.jpg: Jessica, Steve, and Ian (Meg's brother) are sitting in the booth, being entertained. Jenny was waving food around slightly out of the shot.

karaokemeg2.jpg: Meggie singing us something lovely.

karaokebren2.jpg: Brendon hams it up during "Eternal Flame."

karaokeivy1.jpg: The trouble with being the person who takes most of the pictures is I don't get to be IN any of them, so I passed my camera and got Jenny to take some to prove I was actually there. Here I am doing "Eternal Flame" with Brendon.

karaokeivybren.jpg: See? I was really there!

karaokejenkatie.jpg: It's fun to sing songs from when you were in middle school, ya know? Jenny and Katelyn sang "Step By Step."

karaokebren3.jpg: Brendon performs "Total Eclipse of the Heart" for us. He did a little homage to the Dan Band, though unfortunately he did NOT get around to giving us a John Denver impression.

karaokestevejess.jpg: Steve and Jessica sang quite a lot that night. They both sing very well!

karaokemegbren.jpg: Aww, it's the couple doing a duet!

karaokefred.jpg: Hehe, Fred sang too! I love when Fred does karaoke.

karaokeian1.jpg: Ian air-guitars for us. He's a good singer too!

karaokebrenkatie.jpg: Brendon and Katelyn singing together. It's so funny how everyone in the family is a good singer--I hope Ben will be too!

receptionjenben.jpg

receptioncrowdedkiss.jpg

receptionswankyspeech.jpg: As the maid of honor, I got to make a speech and embarrass them.

receptionswankyspeech1.jpg: I did a toast and talked a bunch about how they met and how this was all my fault.

receptionswankyspeech2.jpg: This was apparently a rather popular scene to photograph, 'cause I got pictures back from several angles.

receptionbestman.jpg: The best man got to make a speech too.

thecake.jpg: Ooh, a wedding cake. . . .

receptioncake1.jpg: Ooh, it's the historic cake-cutting.

receptioncake2.jpg: Mmm, is it good, guys?

receptioncake3.jpg: Yeah, I think it is.

receptiondance1.jpg: It's their dance at the reception.

receptionmarrieddancers.jpg: Can't you just kinda hear the music?

receptiondance2.jpg: They look like they're having a good time, but I think both of them wanted to change out of their wedding clothes by that point and just chill. Weddings are stressful!

receptionelectric.jpg: Wow, Brendon's family can do the electric slide. . . .

receptionkatieben.jpg: Katie in her bridesmaid dress with her brother. He's playing with her necklace.

receptionkatiebenny.jpg: She's so good with her little bro.

receptionmoneydance1.jpg: Ever heard of the money dance? They like to do it in Bren's family. If you want a dance with the bride or groom, you go up and pin money on them, and then you get to dance. The couple keeps the money for their honeymoon or other stuff. Here's Katie dancing with her new stepdaddy. :)

receptionmoneydance2.jpg: I think she was surprised to see the crown of money her husband was wearing.

receptionmoneydance3.jpg: Wow, they totally got covered in cash.

receptionnewfamily.jpg: The new family!

pastakatieivy.jpg: Now comes the part of the vacation where I stayed home with Katelyn while Meg and Bren took off for Disney World. (Brendon's mom watched the baby.) The first night, Katelyn and I made pasta together.

pizzakatie.jpg: There wasn't much to take pictures of until she came home from school, so here's the next day when we were making pizza.

pizzakatieivy.jpg: And here we are consuming it with gusto!

cookieskatieivy.jpg: And my last night there, we made peanut butter cookies with chocolate chips.

homeatlast.jpg: And here I am after my flight back to Tampa! I made it!

If possible and with permission, I'll try to get some wedding photos that actually have me in them so you can see how my dress and hair looked and whatnot, 'cause it was pretty cool. Whee!