Mr. & Mrs. Rogan Giles III - New Orleans!

My sister Andrea and her now-hubby Rogan were married on New Year's Eve and I can truly, honestly, impartially say that she was the most beautiful bride I have ever seen and that was the coolest wedding I have ever been to! I heard these sentiments from other wedding guests as well so it's totally true and proven. :) I have always known that Andrea has impeccable taste and a clear vision of how she wants things. It's how she effortless transitioned into an interior designer after all. But I just couldn't picture how incredible it would all come together! BIG props to her wedding planner and her team for making it all happen - there were a lot of components to this wedding! :) 

I really, really can't wait for the professional pictures to come out (she had our family photographer from Corpus there) - he did a great job capturing all the fun and I hope to update this blog with some of those once they come out. In the meantime, I have scraped together blurry iphone pics from me and others who posted to FB. I seriously stole from other people's pages. Aint no shame.

Getting ready with the Bride
We had a magical hair and make-up team to help us get ready! I was really kind of down with being 8 months pregnant and having no energy to do my hair and make-up in the prior weeks. So it was a treat to be transformed into a pretty princess! The beautiful maternity dress that Andrea picked for me was a big help too. Not to mention, it was comfortable. Win/win!

Amanda and I in our very important jobs as Matrons of Honor - love!

Andrea waiting to have her veil put on

The wedding planner had staff to do all the challenging things, like veil, wardrobe changes and bathroom breaks. Easiest matron of honor job I've ever had! ;)

She was seriously breathtaking and no pictures will ever do her or that dress justice!

Somewhere not so far away, my mom and Beau were having Grayson practice his  job of walking the sign down the aisle.

He had been running a fever for 1 1/2 days prior to the wedding so I was stressing about him not making the wedding! But in true Grayson form, he pulled it together and was pretty perfect through the whole thing. I couldn't ask for more!

So grown up :)

Ceremony

 I can't even begin to capture all the elements and characteristics of this wedding. Andrea had a perfect mix of combining New Orleans culture with a happenin' New Year's Eve celebration! The ceremony was in the courtyard of the Omni Royale Orleans. It was so special and I enjoyed watching her walk down the aisle. Rogan worked very hard to keep his composure. :) I wish there was video of Grayson making his way down the aisle as well.  It took a lot of coaxing with all his playing with the sign and goofing off. Rogan called it swagger ;) When the ceremony concluded, the jazz band leader (not sure what he's called) danced Andrea and Rogan's (gorgeous!) parasoles up the aisle to them, the bridesmaids and groomsmen pulled out our handkerchiefs, as did all the guests, and the jazz band led us through the hotel and to the streets of New Orleans!

Ceremony recessional (that's a word, right?)

The Second Line
Once we all gathered outside (the weather was awesome), we had a police escort around the French Quarter while Andrea's entire wedding party danced through the streets. But not until everyone grabbed a couple of beers (in coozies no less) that were positioned by the front door of the Omni. It was some of the most unique, new fun we've ever had! Grayson had the time of his life! He loved the view from his Daddy's shoulders and really danced while he waved his sign to the crowds lining the streets to watch! I wish I had video of it.

There was a quick swap of bouquets for boas and beers for the matrons of honor and bridesmaids. So fun!

Dallas Caldwells in the Second Line!

Pre-Reception
We returned to the hotel to get a few pictures with the photographer and the guests headed in to the ballroom, which was completely converted into Andrea's vision. I can't even describe it but I'm pretty positive that I didn't even notice all the details.  A side note, I will say it was so awesome to have the wedding where we stayed and to just be able to stumble, or waddle, upstairs after a long night . :) 

A quick family picture in the Omni lobby. I love that they still had Christmas decor up. :)

Reception
The band really got everyone moving, the room had a luminous pink glow and the food was a-whole-nother story! I'm so sad I never made it to the dessert room. I had heard a lot about the willow tree that was brought in for all the desserts (that took the place of a cake). I just had so much fun dancing with Beau and my cousins and hanging with my parents' friends who all flew in from Corpus and who I hadn't seen in a long time! They are just as fun as anyone our age so it was a really good time! These are the only pics I have: 

My nephew Walter the Bull Dog was there in spirit

The masks were exceptional. Really beautiful in person :)

Cousin Scott and his girlfriend, Michelle

Some of the bridesmaids

Cousin Elaine and her hubby Brian - the guys had really beautiful black masks

Sisters!

Midnight Surprise - Mardis Gras Indians!

There had been buzz for days about a midnight surprise that Andrea had planned for everyone. Sure enough, it did not disappoint! Here is a great article about the historical culture and relevance of the Indians. Keeping with the New Orleans undertone, the bride and groom led two Mardis Gras Indians and their band on to the dance floor. Here are two fuzzy videos I took! Beau had a very good time ;) 

Andrea and Rogan towards the end of the night. Loved her party wedding dress!

Other NOLA happenings

Saturday night we went to NOLA Restaurant for Rogan's birthday dinner. A great meal and fun atmosphere. It was nice to just be with the 2 sides of family before guests started arriving the next day. Antoine's was the location for the rehearsal dinner. Wish I had pictures, and more importantly a video, because no less than 20 of their friends stood up to toast the couple. Rogan and his friends have been friends since the 4th grade, through undergrad and even law school so there were plenty of hilarious stories. Lots of sweet ones too :) What else?

Breakfast at Brennan's! Our last white linen restaurant until well after #2 arrives!

Waking up bright and early on New Year's Day (a perk to being prego and not hungover), I noticed how peaceful and quiet the city seemed. Since we were right of Royal Street, we heard everything at every time of the day. Right when I was thinking how calm it seemed, this Sugar Bowl Parade marched past us. Gray and I had a blast catching beads from our balcony! This city really doesn't ever rest!

This H.S. band was so good and their uniforms were pressed and perfect. They took great pride in their music. So fun for us!

Grayson catching beads!

Police on horseback - always a favorite of mine.

I know I'm missing so many details and stories but I'm out of space and energy. Andrea and Rogan, we are so proud of you guys and love you so much! You definitely gave us memories to last a lifetime! xoxo

Recap for this week...

The weather is getting cooler here and that means Fall is upon us! We've had highs in the 50s this weekend, which has us dreaming of chili, hot chocolate and hot tea! Beau is probably Teavana's #1 customer (I kid) so lots of options for the new Keurig. Why didn't we get one of these a long time ago?!

Other happenings....

23 Week belly shot
I haven't done one of these in a while so here you have it. Oh! And these are the red jeans I mentioned last time! Red maternity jeans from Old Navy for $28. Not bad! And they're actually long enough. :)

Pairings for the Park
I mentioned that I'm on the Sponsorship Committee for Hope Park. Here's our next event on Oct. 18th. I'm getting excited for this wine pairing and hope to have a great turnout! I encourage all my Frisco friends to attend! :) I'm feeling the pressure of making this happen as well as the Christmas campaign for Pickets and Bricks. Here's the info for the wine event - it'll be fun!:

Tiff's 30th Birthday
Tiff may just be the very last of all of Beau's side of our friends to turn 30 - finally! Actually that's not true. There are 2 other couples but anyway it was fun being with the Phillips and Seemans and others at Benihana Friday night for her big milestone. Whit and Tiff also announced that they are expecting Baby #3 in May - woo hoo! Drinks all around! Except for Tiff and me :) 

We managed one picture after dinner when we went to pick up Gray from my parents' house. Shameful. 

Caldwell Oktoberfest
We went to Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Gayle's house last night for their first annual Oktoberfest in the Caldwell Biergarten. What a great party! We usually do family things over there so it was nice to see such a great turn out of all their friends and Aunt Gayle had quite the spread! I wish I had pictures of the beautiful set up. It was quite a party. But it's kinda weird to take pictures of someone else's set up just for my blog :)  Beau and I are really happy that Grayson didn't accompany us b/c it gave us a chance to talk with everyone. And for Beau to help deplete the keg of German beer ;) But 2 nights out without a child is quite the luxury. I openly admit that this is the easiest time of our lives going forward! 2013 will prove that to be true :)

 Halloween Arts & Crafts
Grayson and I had a fun Monday morning shopping the Target $1 shelf for some new crafts. They had so much stuff so we packed this jack-olantern pail full and it kept him occupied for the better part of Monday. He also got his first pair of scissors and was in heaven! Those go up immediately after craft time since he has other motives with them that involve my throw pillows!

We then found out that Grayson's buddy Emmie broke her femur over the weekend. :( She's in a cast and needs to stay in for quite some time so we headed back to Target to put together another Halloween arts & crafts pack! I can't imagine having a  2 1/2 y.o. that can't move for weeks. While Gray was in school, I took this along with some movies and snacks to Emmie and Kristi. Our friend Whitney was over too so we had some good girl time. Not to mention, Emmie was in the best of spirits - hope she keeps that up for her parents! :)

Hopefully Miss Emmie had as much fun with this as Grayson did.

The scissors were a big hit

 Halloween costume Fail - Part 1
We can go ahead and title this Part 1 of 3 since there will be more pathetic pictures to follow with our other costume efforts. ;) I bought Grayson 2 costumes at the consignment sale a while back (one for cold weather; one for hot since TX is so unpredictable.) BUT, a trip to Old Navy the other day produced this cute fish costume! It even has a tail - I love(d) it. Loved b/c I had to return it after Grayson hated it. I can use that word b/c he HATED it.

Other things Grayson was up to this week:

It was his first week of going to school all 3 days so we had more down time than usual around the house (and Mimi's house):

Relaxing

So cute how he sits like this :)

Making Jello with Mimi

Surprise trip to Dimples and eating the WHOLE thing.

Flirting with the girl next door.

Being a serious painter

He's wearing one of those lights that you wear around your head all while working
with his construction equipment. It was too funny!

There is so much I didn't get to but this post is already so long! Coming up this week - The State Fair as a family of 7 and TEXAS/OU! My sister and Rogan are coming in for the game and I'm on a desperate hunt for a babysitter in the DFW area who doesn't care about this game. Do they exist?! ;)

Neighborhood Block Party

My neighbor Britney and I organized our very first block party for our two streets and I must say, it was a smashing success! No really, a car actually smashed into another as a result of the blocked off street. But that's not what I want to focus on :)

Our partial cul-de-sac worked really well for the party after we blocked off access from either of the allies. We grilled out, had music playing and had a bounce house for all the kids. The latter will be an essential at any future block parties - HUGE hit.

I don't have any pictures from when the party really got going since we were really getting to meet everyone and hang out but it was a great turn out! We'll do it again but next time, we'll be sure to specify that kids must be attended by at least one parent. We are not your babysitters, people!

I got 99 kids but a parent not a 1.

I would say that the three coolest things that happened (besides the bounce house) were all made possible by our next door neighbor, Chuck, who is a Frisco Police Detective...

1) In passing a few weeks ago, we told his wife our plans, to which she responded that we need to file paperwork with the city if we are going to block off streets for a party. Good to know. Chuck filed the paperwork for us. They made a good point - these filings are sent out to the police and fire departments so that, in the case of an emergency, their maps show blocked roads and alternate routes. Cool, huh? I never knew.

2) He brought home orange cones from the police station. One less thing for us to deal with!

3) He got a FIRE TRUCK to come by, y'all. We were just planning to grill some hot dogs and chat. This was such a surprise to all of us and the kids loved it! It also gave me the chance to say a big THANK YOU to the Lieutenant for the great care his guys took with the house during the water heater incident a couple of years ago (when I was pregnant and in tears).

Grayson had never really had Doritos before. So once we set up the long tables of plates, condiments, chips and desserts, he went to town! His white shirt was completely orange by the end of the day since he, of course, wiped his hands after each bite. And there were A LOT of bites. All day. :)

The rest of the pictures I snapped....

This made me laugh - it looks like all 4 drinks are hers :)

They played 7 hours of cornhole!

Before everyone arrived - in heaven by himself

The older girls were SO good with my baby in the bounce house! They calmed down each time he wanted to get in :)

Britney's youngest, Molly, is THE happiest, easiest baby in the world. I've never seen anything like it!

Smile! ;)

Our neighbors have dogs that look just like Brinkley! Here they are meeting for the first time.

Yes, he played beer pong with Shelby in his coat. 

And yes, Scooter played while holding Molly.

Oh, and that fender bender I mentioned earlier. It really wasn't a big deal. But I DO feel sorry for the kid whose super brand new Jeep Wrangler was hit. He just got his license on Monday :/ Poor guy. He's the friend of one of the 7 sisters next door to us and they were all being so wonderful playing with our little ones when they had to call him over to tell him about his car. Kind of ruined the day for him.

I was including this because they look like little old men discussing politics and religion. :) But that yellow Jeep is the one that was hit. Don't buy your 16 y.o. such nice things! :) Although an accident like that could happen to anyone.