Kelly and Andy's rehearsal dinner

The wedding took place at Kelly's mom's house and it is a beautiful house right on a lake with a perfect setting for a wedding.  The weather was perfect too!

Two of my sweet kiddos...we missed Lulu!!!  But I did enjoy the time with my big kids Karis and Brayden.  :)

Practicing for the wedding...

The landscaping was gorgeous!

My handsome favorite boys...

Me and my man...

Karis and her great-grandmother (Jay's grandmother-Kevin's mom) Geraldine

Pop-Pop with Kaycee (Kelly's youngest daughter)

Best Man (Andy's brother Ryan) and Matron of Honor (Kelly's sister Nicole)

Kelly with her brother-in-law Craig (Nicole's husband)

Kelly's dads escorting the girls

Karis drew this for Kelly....so sweet!

Karis with her cousins Katie and Kaycee

The dinner was at a Mexican restaurant but it was food like I had never seen before....it was so good!  The decorations were beautiful as well!

Karis and Brayden with their Aunt Jessie

My sweet family (minus Lucy)

 Me and the bride

Brayden with his cousin Scout

Pop-Pop with his mom 

Jay's sister Nicole with her husband Craig

And last but not least...the bride and groom Andy and Kelly!

Beautiful day!  Looking forward to tomorrow!

A sis-n-law visit, and 2 rivals Duke and UNC

Our first full day in North Carolina was spent visiting Jay's other sister (one of four) before all the festivities began.  We definitely wanted to see Valerie while we were there, it's been several years since we have seen her.  She is a sophomore at UNC Chapel Hill so we met up for lunch and she showed us around campus and her townhouse.  She is a ZTA (we are ZTA sisters too!) and she just made the UNC All Girl Cheer squad!  She is very smart, responsible, and as beautiful on the outside as on the inside.  We are soooo proud of her!  Isn't she adorable???

We ate lunch at Mama Dip's (a Southern cooking restaurant) and then she walks around campus. It is a beautiful campus...it made me miss the good 'ole days of college!

The "quad"

Jay with his half-sister and the kids....they LOVE their Aunt Valerie!

Me, Val and the kids

It was so great to see her and we were sad to leave knowing it might be a while before we see her again. :(  But thankful for the time we did have.  Love you Valerie!!!

I know this is unheard of for UNC or DUKE fans since they are rivals, but we left UNC campus and went straight to Duke to see the campus.  Jay and his family are Duke fans and have been for many years.  His dad used to work there and 2 of his sisters (Kelly and Nicole) both work there now.  It is a beautiful campus and every time we go to North Carolina, a visit to Duke is a must!

The campus is so beautiful!

Some of the buildings are breath-taking!

It was a wonderful day!  Looking forward to wedding festivities to begin!

Whew! I'm back!

My family and I just arrived home a couple of hours ago from a whirlwind trip to North Carolina and back since Wednesday at 5:00 after I got off work.  My sister-in-law Kelly (Jay's sister) got married on Saturday and so we drove east for the big shindig!  It was a crazy busy weekend full of lots of fun, family, food and LOTS of driving!  Bags are unpacked, kids bathed and in bed, now it is time to download the 200 pics I took over the weekend!  I have been away from the computer, but not my camera! There are many pics to upload and I have them set to upload while I sleep and then I will finish them sometime tomorrow....multiple new posts coming!

 This was our first night in North Carolina...the first thing we did was find the cousins because Karis and Brayden were dying to see them!    They haven't seen each other in a year and it was past due time.  While everyone else was doing last minute stuff for the wedding on Thursday night, we (Jay, I, Nonnie and Pop-Pop) took the kids out for dinner at Red Robin.  We were missing Scout's younger new brother Jett and Lucy (she stayed with Lolli during our quick trip).

L to R: Karis (1st grade) , Katie (4th grade), Kaycee (1st grade), Scout (3rd grade) and Brayden (age 5)

More posts to come tomorrow!

My special friends Wordless Wednesday