Kirk and Kacy's Wedding!

We came back from Gulf Shores on Thursday, May 24th. We decided to just stay at my parents' house until after the wedding on Saturday. On Friday, May 25th, Kirk flew into Alabama. He stayed at my parent's house, too. He had some errands to run that day so we met up with him later to go to the rehearsal and dinner. It was hot at the rehearsal! We ran through the wedding and Brody just loved that he was outside and playing in the grass, flowers, and looking at the fish in the tiny pond in the back. He walked down the aisle during the rehearsal and which made us hopeful for how he would react during the actual wedding the next night. After the rehearsal we all went down the street to Epiphany's. The restaurant was really nice. They don't have a regular menu because their menu every week is based on the fresh ingredients they have. When we got there, every table was first given three different appetizers to share. The appetizers were zucchini cakes, pork sandwiches, and shrimp cakes. The zucchini cakes were the best! After that we had a choice between three main courses: steak, duck, or catfish. I ordered my steak medium because usually at restaurants I order medium-well and it comes out very well done and dry. Well, this steak came out really rare! I could only eat a little of it and then passed it to Eddy and he had a hard time trying to cut it because it was so rare! Kyle got the duck and said it was really good. Brody did great throughout the rehearsal, but was getting pretty tired during the rehearsal dinner. Kyle walked around with him and had him sit on a small nearby couch for a little bit. He even sat there for a little while coloring with Uncle Kirk. :) During the dessert Kyle and Rachel said their speeches and then Kacy's dad also said his speech. When he was finished, Eddy said his speech and showed a slide show of pictures of Kirk and Kacy. It was very sweet.

The next day, I had to meet the girls to get our hair, makeup, and nails done. Kyle went to lunch with the boys around 1pm and we were all going to meet at the Battle-Friedman House to get ready for pictures around 2:30pm. We left Brody with my mom and dad since we wouldn't have time to go back and pick him up. This gave him time to take a good nap, too. My parents dropped him off for pictures around 3:30pm. It was even hotter than the day before! We all got ready for pictures and Kirk and Kacy went down to take their pictures first. Then it was time for everybody to head down for group pictures. This is where Brody decided he was done for the day! I'm interested to see if the photographers got any pictures of Brody where he wasn't fussing or crying!

By the time pictures were over, guests were starting to arrive. When we rehearsed walking down the aisle, Kyle and I were to walk down and then the 2 ring bearers were to follow. Well, this wasn't happening! Brody wouldn't let Kyle put him down so Kyle had me by one arm and Brody in the other. I hope Kacy didn't mind! I don't even know if she knows this is what happened! Haha. The other ring bearer walked down just fine (he had just come back from a wedding the day before were he was a ring bearer). At the end of the aisle, Kyle put Brody down and he sat with my mom and dad the rest of the time. He randomly clapped and said "Yay!' at one point. I thought it was pretty funny. Kyle said he didn't even notice! Once the wedding was over, Kirk and Kacy had a buffet of wonderful food, cake, and wedding favors of apple butter and Kacy's dad's homemade bread recipe. The line for the food was super long so my mom and dad decided to just head home. Kyle and I waited until the line had gone down and there was still tons of great food left over! We needed to get Brody home because we had an hour drive and Kyle had to preach the next day, so we didn't stay much later after that. We missed Kirk and Kacy leaving in their fancy car. :( We got back to my parent's house and everybody took a quick bath/shower since we were so sweaty and would get back home late. Eddy and Jeanny soon followed and stayed with us in Jasper for a few days and were able to celebrate Memorial Day with us.

We remembered to take our camera, but always forgot to bring it with us when we'd leave my parents' house! So we didn't get any pictures from those 2 days. These few pictures from the rehearsal dinner were taken by Jeanny.

Gulf Shores, AL

We've been meaning to take Brody down to visit Kyle's grandparents that live in Gulf Shores, AL. We hope that since we're closer now that we'll be able to go and visit more often. We wanted to go before Karlee came so that we'd only have one child to worry about during the car ride and trying to keep Brody busy. Brody did GREAT during the car ride. He is such a good traveler. He just sits quietly and watches his DVDs. We drove right through Demopolis, AL on our way down so we decided to stop and eat lunch with Carl, Kristen, and Ben Jenkins! We're glad they were available on such short notice!  After a quick lunch at Jack's, we were back on the road! Brody napped only 20-30 min that day in the car.

We finally arrived at Kyle's grandparent's house and played for a little while before dinner. That first night, Kyle's grandfather made some yummy gumbo with fresh shrimp he got right off the boat. We went down the back yard that ends at the lagoon and Brody and Kyle played in the water for a little while. It was a little choppy and we should have realized a storm was coming in. Kyle noticed some lightning out in the distance, but we decided to take Brody to the beach that night anyway. The storm must have been moving fast because right when we parked the car the wind picked up and it started to storm. We got back in the car and came back home. 

Brody, Kyle, and Gammy walking back from the lagoon. 

That walkway leads right to the steps to the back of their house.

Brody and Kyle playing in the lagoon.

We took Brody to the beach the next day before lunch. He loved digging in the sand with his bucket and tools that his Aunt Kim, Uncle Dave, and Haley gave him for Easter. He wasn't too fond of the water, though. He also didn't like when the sand stuck to his hands and feet and would get Kyle to wash it off for him. My parents had given us a canopy and we didn't realize until we were down there that we should have taken it with us because it would have been perfect for shading us and we could have let Brody play longer. He loved playing at the beach, but it was hot after a while and we had to come back inside. 

Brody came home and watched some DVDs and took a nice long nap! After we put him down for his nap, Kyle and I decided to treat ourselves to lunch at The Original Oyster House. You can't go to the beach and not get crab legs! Yum! When we got back home, Brody was still sleeping! That sun wore that baby out! 

Brody snuggled with a giant bear his Gammy and Pappa gave him. 

Gammy set up a small plastic pool for Brody to play in that morning and by that evening it was nice and warmed up for Brody. Brody played for a little while and then we decided to take him back to the beach to play. 

Signing "bird"

He ventured down to the water all on his own. :)

Getting braver!

Looking for seashells. 

The dead fish that tried to attack me and Brody!

He got pretty far into the water by himself! 

Daddy took him way out! Mommy doesn't like going far into

the water where creepy fish and sea-life live! :)

Look how hard he's clinging to his Daddy. 

Loving the beach!

These are the only 2 pictures I got with Brody since I was the

one sitting on the beach taking the pictures while the boys played. 

He was ready to go and shivering from being wet. 

Brody bonded with Pappa. They had fun spinning in the kitchen! 

The next day we ate lunch at Sea 'n Suds. Other than crab legs, the other thing that's a must when going to the beach is getting an oyster sandwich at Sea 'n Suds! (Thanks, Kirk, for introducing them to me!) I still can't look at what I'm eating when I get one because of the gooey green stuff inside, but it sure is a yummy sandwich! The next day we were back on the road coming back for Kirk and Kacy's wedding after a quick breakfast of beignets. Brody loved them! He did great again on the way home and napped a little longer but only about 50 minutes that time. We had a great time visiting Kyle's grandparents at the beach and can't wait to go back!  

Playtime with Pop

In between meetings that Eddy was speaking at, he came and spent some days visiting Brody. As you can tell from these pictures, they had a GREAT time! Brody loves his Pop.