Dan & Katie's wedding: Part 1

This is part ONE of the LONG awaited post on Dan and Katie's wedding. (Sorry it took so long!)

After 5 years of dating and one year of engagement, Katie Whitlow FINALLY became Katie Berlin, an official member of our family, and my sister! Their wedding was, hands down, our favorite wedding EVER, of ALL TIME, after our own. My uncle gave a homily that spoke perfectly about them individually and as a couple, and of their dedication to pursuing Christ together. There was not a dry eye in the house. I can not tell you of the joy I felt watching my baby brother finally see his biggest dream realized. He had been waiting to marry Katie for a long time, and has only had eyes for her since 7th grade. SEVENTH GRADE!!. This day was truly their "at last!"

The week before the wedding, my family on my mom's side (the Lentz's) all flew in and staying at my parents house in Charlottesville.

Pretty typical, congregating in the kitchen over ice cream

Swimming in the pool!!

A new family tradition, started at my cousin Brian's wedding: Mohito's!! Peaches were in season so we had peach mohitos.

What's a Lentz Family reunion without 1,000 games of Settler's? Pretty much every night people stayed up until 1 or even 2am playing this game. Crazy.

My cousin Brian (or B-ren) doted on Abby. He's going to be a good daddy!


Another Lentz family tradition: Bowling! This family can find a bowling alley anywhere. Sometimes shady, but always fun.

Groom

Bride

Me & my Aunt Carole. Do we look alike? She's my mom's sister :)


The guys had a good time trying on their tuxes- there was a ping-pong table in the store! They must know guys well...



After their tuxes were al squared away, the guys went tubing down the James River.

Nothing like floating down the river with a cold brew in your hand!

My sweet cousin Sean

My brothers with Aaron Billings- one of Dan's groomsmen, and one of our childhood buddies from Tinkers Cove!!

Katie wasn't too pleased with Dan's sunburn... ouch


THe guys got sunburns, and the girls got pampered.... pedicures and manicures!!!

Abby had a good time out with the girls, although she didn't get her nails done this time.... maybe in a few years (I can't wait!)


Rehearsal:

We all started crying the minute it all started. We were trying to get it all out before the real thing. Didn't work.


The Rehearsal Dinner at the Ivy Inn...

The Berlin's

The Lentz's

My cousin Bekah met Abby for the first time!

My awesome parents, Jim and Kathy.

Katie's parents, Randy and Randi. My family LOVES Katie's family, her parents especially. I consider myself officially an adopted daughter. Not like they need any more daughters- they have 5! But they are SO fun and I'm so glad that we will get to see them from time to time!

My grandparents, JD and Nancy Berlin

My Grandma Betty and Katie's Grandmother.

Poor Katie was sick all day Friday, so she just had chicken noodle soup for dinner. Thankfully she was feeling fine the next morning, except for nerves.


After the rehearsal dinner, the guys went to the Tea Bazaar on the downtown mall. These three guys reinacted a photo that was taken the night before Andys and my wedding.


I'll post the pics of the ceremony soon!!

New bloggy obsession

Taking a break from working on my talk.... my eyes are spinning!! I am at the point where I have pretty much everything on paper, I just need to organize it, think of some clever/ moving illustrations, and tweak my wording so I sound like I actually graduated from college. I'm at the part where crafting a talk moves from being a science to being an art. Not my strength, but definitely my favorite part.

So, to give myself a break, I am blog stalking, er, catching up with some friends via the internet.

And I wanted to introduce you all to a new blog that I have linked under "fellow bloggers." Her name is Sara, shes in Med School and writes a blog called "In Her Scrubs."

And she is hi-lar-i-ous.

Or maybe I'm just biased because she happens to be one of my favorite people. Sara was in the small group I lead at JMU for 3 years. She was just as funny then; she was a good sister and friend, and kept me sane when, as a MARRIED senior I took FRESHMAN earth science. Or was it biology? I can't even remember, it was that bad...

Last December when Andy had brain surgery, she JUST HAPPENED to work in the ICU where he recovered for 3 days after the surgery. I can not even begin to tell you what a HUGE blessing she was to me, and to the rest of our family for the week that we practically lived in the hospital. She kept us updated throughout the 9-hour-long surgery (even had a fellow intern who was looking in on the surgery come out and give us an update), lent us a stroller for Abby, introduced us to all of the ICU nurses, checked in on us constantly throughout the week following, and so much more.

So, if there is anyone in the world who has more faith that she is going to be one hell of an RN, it is me.

So, go visit her, and leave her a comment about how awesome she is!!

Pulling up

Well hello there!

I see you!

Now I'm mad 'cause I can't figure out how to get back down!

Peek-a-boo!

New tricks

So it's still crazy around here, and will be until Sunday. NSO is over, but I am speaking at Large Group this friday, so preparing for that has taken all of my free time.

However, I could not resist posting this video of Abby doing her new trick!

She recently discovered her tongue. Well, I guess she has always know it was there, but she recently discovered that she can control it, and even make some new sounds with the way she moves it. Pretty advanced, I know. Actually it is pretty cool when you think about all the different ways we have to manipulate our tongues to shape different words. So even though it is incredibly cute and very silly, she is actually taking a crucial step in language development!

But really, its just plain cute.

You will also notice her doing another new trick- waving! She has been waving and flapping her arms for months now (especially when she hears music!), but it wasn't until recently that she began purposefully waving at people to say "hi" or "bye." She usually does it when other people do it first, but sometimes she'll surprise me at wave at strangers in the grocery store. It's a crowd pleaser, that's for sure!

Enjoy!