Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan

Saturday, August 1st, was the big day. My sister Caitlin (7 years younger and for awhile the baby of the family) got married!!!! She is now Mrs. Casey Sullivan. The wedding service was beautiful and held at our church, Our Lady Star of the Sea in Bremerton. It is the same church that I got married in and then my sister Meghan last year, but it looks different now as it had a huge renovation last year. It was a hot day but at least it wasn't as bad as the rehearsal day....lucky the wedding was at noon!! We haven't seen all the pictures of the girls, me and my sisters, and the family pics because the other photographer took those....very anxious to see. But again, my brother-in-law Chris took some great shots!! The church was beautiful, decorated with the pew bows my mom made and all the sunflowers which was the official flower of the wedding festivities. The music was beautiful as well....our friends the Gray girls did most of the singing with my sister Alli doing the response and some friends also played instruments for Caitlin....just beautiful!! There were almost 350 people there so it was a little overwhelming!! It is always hard with little ones....by the time we get them up early to get all ready...then get to the church early enough to take pictures etc....by the time the ceremony starts Emma was already ready for her nap and a bit fussy. She of course fell asleep soon after it started and was hard to wake up for pictures afterwards. I walked down the aisle with them....and at the end of the ceremony I was just supposed to go up without the girls. But, a sleeping Emma was in my arms and when I walked up to the altar, Angelica followed right behind me and wanted to walk out too!! You never know what to expect with kids! They did very well. You can see in one of the pictures I tried to get them to walk down together...but Emma only wanted mama...I am lucky I didn't have to carry her!! Angel was really upset after the ceremony that she didn't get to drop her rose petals....so we had to go walk down the aisle and we gave them to the Blessed Mother. She was also confused as to why we were not going down for coffee and donuts, after all we were at church!!

Mom being walked in by still her TWO sons-in-law, Chris and hubby Jason

Sister Megs and happy nephew and honorary ring bearer, Albert

Albert decided to fall asleep right before he walked down the aisle

Me in the background trying to get Emma to walk down without Mama

No luck...a little overwhelmed by all the faces

Daddy and his little girl

Here comes the Bride

Our wonderful priest, Father Lappe

My THIRTEEN year old sister, Alli, singing response

Making those special vows

The rings

Mr. and Mrs. Casey Sullivan - first kiss

Making it official

Sweet Angelica trying to smile for all the pictures

The huge bridal party

The one pic so far I have seen of our family

Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan

Curls for Caitlin

For the wedding, I decided to put rags in the girls hair so that it would be super curly!! Boy am I glad I did.....because it was hot and humid and they even started to fall out by the time the ceremony started!! I wish I had taken a picture of them the next morning...hoping the photographer got a couple of them before the ceremony....they looked so sweet!!

Caitlin's HOT Rehearsal

Ok, so I am finally getting around to posting some of my sister's wedding weekend highlights and pics. My brother-in-law Chris took some fantastic pictures so the credit goes to him! I was too busy chasing my two girls and putting my swollen feet up to take many pics this time. We are also anxious to see what the other photographer took as we don't have any of those yet....which include all of our family pictures etc. Many of you know that we had a very HOT week or so here in Washington and of course it was the week of the wedding festivities. The rehearsal was on a Thursday at 4 pm and our church DOES NOT have AC. It was so HOT!!! I thought Emma was going to pass out from the heat and I thought my feet were going to pop they were so swollen! Father was very hot too so he really rushed through the rehearsal to get everyone out of the church before anyone collapsed. We all made it out in one piece. I was hoping to have some time practicing with the girls walking down the aisle and dropping rose petals, but it just wasn't possible...so holding my breath as to what would happen the morning of the wedding. Jason and Albert (our nephew and godson) bonding

Casey's mom, Audrey, found a GORGEOUS vacation rental house out on the Hood Canal that she rented for her extended relatives but she also decided to have a catered rehearsal dinner there. This place is called The Bend, and as you can see from the link and the pictures....is HUGE and amazing. I literally got lost in it!! The food was yummy and my sister Alli and the Gray girls surprised Caitlin with two special 5 part harmony songs....I wish I had video taped it, they were beautiful. It was actually cold and very windy out there which was a welcome relief. Angel enjoyed helping Caitlin hand out gifts...she ate every strawberry in sight, and enjoyed playing with Audrey's cane. If anyone ever needs a beautiful spot for a family reunion....check The Bend out!!!

Love these pics of Caitlin and Albert

The happy...still engaged...couple

We actually managed to get a family picture!!

Angel excited to help Caitlin with the gifts

Caught with another strawberry and Audrey's cane

Caitlin and the moms....something was funny!!!

Attire for the singing entertainment

Sister Alli in blue in middle and Gray girls...amazing harmony and voices

My grandparents, Meme and Pepe, and sister Megs

Chores can be Fun!

I meant to post this awhile ago....when we got back from our trip to Sequim, our van was dirty dirty dirty (including all the drool that the buffalo left on the windows!). So my sister Allison was going to wash it for us, and Angel and Emma decided to help!! Everything is more fun to music and since Alli was currently a bird girl in the CSTOCK production of Suessical, they were washing to some Suessical tunes! Angel had a blast "working" as she told me and Emma mostly liked to play in the bucket!! Thanks girls!!

Quick Update

Wanted to drop in briefly to reassure everyone that we are fine....just been VERY busy lately. I hope to update on all soon....need to get pictures downloaded and time to post. We had family and out of town friends start arriving end of July. My sister Caitlin got married August 1st and is now Mrs. Sullivan. So between wedding festivities, family and friends in town, a small trip to the ocean.....we are slowly catching up and getting back to a "routine". My sister Megs and Albert left yesterday....the girls woke up this morning expecting to play with baby Albert and were quite disappointed that he wasn't around anymore...they loved having so much time with their cousin. Meme and Pepe (my grandparents) are here until next Tuesday so glad to have a little more time with them. It was great to see so many friends and family these past weeks...will post more details and pics soon!!!

Trip Day Four

Today we checked out of the hotel and grabbed some coffee before heading to the Olympic Game Farm. With a couple bags of bread to feed the animals and the girls up front to look out the windows....we started on the drive. We were not sure what to expect but WOW they do come to your window and even poke inside if you let them. The girls did NOT like the big animals getting close, so I had to keep my window cracked and we threw bread out through the hole!! We saw prairie dogs, llamas, peacocks, rhinos, rams, bears (so cute) in the video of the bear rolling around Angel was saying the bear reminded her of baby Albert!! We also so tigers, lions, rabbits (Emma loved feeding them), coyotes, ducks, zebras, deer, reindeer and the HUGE buffalo. So these buffalo literally slobber all over your car with their big nasty tongue trying to get fed bread. Angelica and Emma DID NOT LIKE THIS. Jason fed the buffalo from his window (which we had to clean afterwards!) but when me and the girls were feeding the reindeer we didn't notice the buffalo coming up behind until it was too late and he was poking his head in and the girls SCREAMED and lost it! They will tell you that they loved the animals...especially the bears, but did NOT like the buffalo!! A fun thing to do!!! We stopped for lunch at a Mexican place and then it was home sweet home....and lots of laundry!!

Competition or Encouragement?

Sunday morning we were driving to Sequim and Jason and I were just listening to the girls chatting and interacting in the back. It was very amusing and then got so funny that I almost went pee in my pants! Often I do the "I am going to count to three and then you need to listen...." mom deal. Well, Angelica was not listening to Emma, so Emma started saying, "Angelica, one...two....three, listen?" It was so funny and then Angel started doing it back to Emma. But the next thing that we overheard was even better....
We have been working with Emma on her counting....and she has been doing so well, but always liked to skip certain numbers like three and six....well all of a sudden, she started counting to 10 perfectly....OVER AND OVER again. We were cheering her on and saying, "Good job Emma, so proud of you etc.". All of a sudden, Angel turns to Emma and says:
"Good job Emma Bemma Bunny Boo (which we often call her).....but can you count to ten in Spanish?"
We laughed so hard!! Hoping this is the way they will continue to teach each other things...but have a feeling Angelica was trying to say, nice job sis, but I still have you beat!! When I asked Angel if she could....she acutally made it to five in Spanish.....need to work on the ten!