Tuesday, June 24
We put these excited kiddos to bed and then stayed up to finish our packing and cleaning.
(It's a good thing that I enjoy packing and started a week ahead of time, because even for me, this was a bit crazy!)
Wednesday, June 25
Lenee picked us up and dropped us off at the airport where we met Michael and Jill.
It was pretty easy getting checked in, through security and on to the plane with two extra sets of hands!
Samuel's First Flight!
We grabbed lunch during our layover in Denver and then flew to Cedar Rapids.
We picked up our rental car and drove to my parents' home in Iowa City.
I was feeling especially nostalgic on the drive. It was good to be back.
Thursday, June 26
Thursday morning the girls (Mom, Jill, Natalie, her MOH Liz, myself and Emily) went out for mani-pedis and Starbucks. Thanks, Mom!
Thursday afternoon Emily had a tea party with Tigger and he actually cooperated!!?!
Friday was the wedding rehearsal and rehearsal dinner.
Peter took the kids to the rehearsal (Em was the flower girl) and after my parents brought everything over, I set up the rehearsal dinner along with a couple of my uncles and a few cousins.
It was a lot of work, but mostly fun, and it turned out pretty nicely, if I do say so myself. :)
Sugar makes us silly. ;)
Sam was glad to get home and stretch out afterwards. :)
Saturday was the big day! David and Natalie got married!
The storms held off through the wedding and most of the reception, but it was CRAZY windy the whole time which was a bit difficult for pictures… I had to completely re-curl Em's hair 3 times but she was a great sport and had a wonderful day being their flower girl.
Photos before the wedding.
It was a perfectly beautiful, simple and meaningful ceremony.
Hooray!
Emily with her (newly) Auntie (!) Natalie!
Beautiful girls
I asked the photographer to take a picture of just the 5 of us. This is the one off of my camera (unedited), and I'll be excited to see what the photographer's picture looks like, too.
I feel like this photo should be captioned:
"10 years later" :)
We have a lot to be thankful for… especially these 3 darling children.
From the original 5 to the current ELEVEN Covingtons (& Connells)!
(Now our kids just need Covington cousins! ….ahem…) ;)
Covington Cousins
I came to talk to Grandma, and found her grinning and looking at the photo of she, Grandpa and us kids back in the late eighties/early nineties. She was so happy I didn't want to interrupt, but instead snuck this picture.
This kid rocked his vest… such a charmer.
"Simon Says" with Great Aunt CC (Ci-Ci?), Cousin Amy and second cousins Luke & Hayes.
Peter taught Emily the Y-M-C-A.
I had to take a couple sibling selfies
I tried to get a picture with Emily but she was too busy playing with her new BFF and pretend sister, Phoebe. She (Em) was quite the life of the party and danced until the bitter end.
David and Natalie came back over to visit on Sunday. Here they were opening one of our gifts for them--a personalized throw pillow. (It says Mr & Mrs Covington, 6.28.14, Iowa City, IA)
Sam snuggling with Auntie Natalie (and David watching jealously).
Monday we had a family dinner and took a few pictures, similar to ones we took a couple years ago, but now with Natalie and Sam added to our crew.
(These are all unedited (except for some occasional cropping) so I don't know why the color is off here… I'll try to fix it later.)
Lawn games, s'mores and sparklers rounded out our night.
Tuesday (July 1st)
Sam with his Auntie Natalie and Aunt Jill, wearing his onesie (from Aunt Jill) that says "Wild About Auntie".
Peter and I took Sam over to Gramma Markee's.
She completely lit up when she saw him.
I haven't seen her like that in a long time. (Neither had her caregivers!)
We helped her hold him. He was calm and happy, and she was delighted.
She smiled and stared at him, rubbed his arm, held his hand, and even gave him a kiss.
We love you Gramma Markee.
What a joyful gift this moment was…
I never expected them to even meet… what a wonderful meeting it was.
