jervis wedding

lance had the opportunity to officiate a wedding in Tennessee at the end of our week long adventure.  He married two of our summer staffers that we love dearly and had the blessing of doing premarital counseling with.

Let's start with the reception that was held at the Opryland hotel.

These guys are all pc staff 

(Barrett from the Towers and Mason, Jon, and Ben from the Ranch)

Taylor and Lacey... who, by the way, will be moving here next week.  Taylor will be on full time staff at the Bluffs... YEAH!

lance and taylor

taylor is like a mini me of lance (i think)... he reminds me of lance when we were at the Towers.

lance was not happy about taking a pic alone, but i had to include it.... 

isn't he sooo CUTE!!  ummhmm!

after five straight days with NO break from the kiddos... this moment was MUCH needed!

Now the wedding...

 they had an area set up for fun pictures... you snap a Polaroid and put it in the guest book next to your signature... so fun!

allie came with me and the boys hung out with a friend until the service was over.

this little lady makes my heart smile!

the wedding was on some property that had a house and barn from the 1830's... it was hands down the most beautiful location that i've ever seen for a wedding.  this was the reception tent.

this was the barn where drinks and appetizers were served while pics were taken.

maddie bolin i HEART you!!!

lacey's mom walked her down the aisle as her daddy smiled down from heaven! ;)

check out that view!!

mr. and mrs. jervis... look at taylor's grin! 

love this shot too...
i remember that point when you look at each other and think... 

"oh, my word... we are MARRIED!"

the flowers were stunning

there was a swing in the front yard of the house and the kids spent most of their time on it!

another great pic of almost all my LOVES! 

besides my hot hubby, i was accompanied by the two cutest little guys EVER!  here they are sippin' on IZZE drinks... they thought it was the best party ever!

someone offered to take my pic with the kids drinking our drinks and this was the best one of the bunch!

so there you have it... a week long TN adventure comes to a close!  

thanks to taylor and lacey for the fabulous opportunity to be a part of your amazing day!

** if you want to see more of this special day, click HERE **

to the smokies!

this was our beautiful cabin... three stories...wrap around porch...LOVELY!

our first evening there was gracie's bday... we celebrated with yummy cupcakes that anna lisa made!

she opened some gifts - we got her a balloon and a princess water bottle.

she had plenty of people to hand her gifts... ha! 

here was the view that we awoke to on our first morning.

and then it was off to cade's cove.  i took this shot through the windshield - it was SUCH a pretty drive. 

the lord said "let there be..." and it was GOOD! 

the boys were checking out a black bear from the moon roof!

later in our adventure we spotted another black bear with two baby cubs!

there are cabins all over the cove that have been there since the 1800s.  the whole area was saturated in history - really cool place to visit!

the kids walked the trail to john oliver's cabin thought to have been built in 1826.  17 children were BORN in this cabin... oh my!

after lunch we hung out by mill creek

and saw the grist mill

i caught one of my favorite pictures of the year... aahhh!

then it was back to the hot tub for some splashin around

the kids did lots of playing in the cabin

max did lots of dancing.  isn't he a cutie!?

caleb could always be found with that helicopter in his hand

and the girls... what else, barbies 24/7

before you knew it, we were at breakfast saying our goodbyes.

(the boys wore their orange gear for the big game... which the cowboys won... so sorry aggies).

and hey... four adults vs. seven kids... we did pretty good!  :)

allie really enjoyed time with girls!  when she returned to school today, she asked her daddy to pray that she wouldn't miss caroline and gracie too much! 

 such good memories!

wedding pics are next up...

seven states in six days!

we set out on a week long trip last week.  the preparation for this trip was exhausting, but now that we are back... i can say it was well worth it!

i made clips for each of the kids and told them that if their clips were still on the visor at each stop they could have a starburst.  oh, yes, when you are in the car for 13 hours bribes are a GOOD thing! i am not ashamed!

i also made each of the kids a folder with paper, a zipper pouch with crayons and stickers, and THESE!  i printed the auto and roadside bingo.  we all had the same card and worked together.  they LOVED it!

we left tyler around 3:30 last tuesday.  our first stop was a hyatt place in jackson, MS.  the next morning we drove to tuscaloosa, AL for lunch and then on to knoxville, TN for dinner with these fine folks!  we got to eat with seven of our ranch staffers.

man, they got to see what four kids who have been in a car all day behave like!  HA!  quite the sight! this is just a portion of the table that night.

after dinner we headed to the jones residence were we got a great night's sleep.  the next morning the kids played while the mommies bought groceries and the daddies loaded up the vans...
then -it was off to the smokey mountains!

more to come...

:)

he's really doing it!!!

oh my...

grif is falling right into the traditional sisco mold.  he is full out crawling at six months!

and... a friend lent us this exersaucer.  he doesn't just play in it - he jumps - and thinks he is sooo funny! :)  i love this kid - he makes me smile!