the millers go to a wedding

Two weekends ago (because blogging in real time is my specialty) William and Emily got married.

William is: my littlest brother, the uncle the boys reference daily, closet hipster ;), and now new husband (!) married the sweetest girl you'll ever meet (truly! she is).

Isn't Emily's dress gorgeous? She looked like a princess. The most gorgeous princess in all of the land.

As with all trips I like a good recap so let's bold and categorize the highlights and lowlights...

the flights: highlights 

 + weren't that bad! The kids bad mood blips were fortuitously timed as other passengers were boarding our flights and neither flight was full so-rows to ourselves!!! Halleluiah. The biggest hiccup came when Beck got in a mood about wanting to hit the man in the seat in front of us of the head repeatedly and wouldn't stop shrieking/body flinging for 25 minutes. Granted he was beyond over tired and a little hangry so all's forgive this time B. 

+ Rhett was probably the only person in the plane to actually read the safety instructions and intently...like raise his hand to ask a question, about the flight attendant lead safety demonstration. Rad just had a plethora of questions.

"What if the windows open?"
"Where's the kitchen?" 

"How many days till we land?"
"What happens if I'm thirsty?"
"Why are the clouds white?"
"How old is the man sitting next to you?" 

#screentimetakethewheel

flight lowlights: 

^^^ anyone whose flow with kids or on a flight with kids knows this pose.

+ Ranking in order from most poorly behaved to the best behaved: Beck, Jake, Rad, Julia, and Rhett. Jake + airports have a complicated relationship. It's like we switch personalities and he goes from the most laid back human on the face of the planet to a Julia Miller (not laid back, never laid back, rarely fun). So he was a real treat when we missed our first flight (despite being at the airport a little over an hour early) and I could tell he was struggling not to give me a "I told you so..." look. 

So.

The pre wedding festivities: Highlights

- showing the boys around my old stomping grounds. A "creek" runs through my old neighborhood and the boys cautiously examined the water bugs and all the allergies (allege) in the water. Every time we travel the boys are in total and complete awe of the jungle aka actual trees and grass, that grow in other parts of the US of A. Which makes Jake and I feel like we're depriving them of one of the basic rights of childhood. 

^^^Normally the boys love the swings so color me shocked when Beck's eyebrows frantically shot into "save me!" mode. But I still insisted he swing till I could take this commemorative picture.

+ the world series of Wiffle ball per tradition is always one of my personal favorites. Jake got his confidence boost for the year by hitting every ball at bat over the house. Rhett also gained a lot of confidence with some legit big hits of his own. 

+ Not pictured...but everyone's caloric needs were grossly over compensated for and my parents being hostesses with the mostestes preping meal after meal of the best food for the masses

- My first mani pedi combo ever. I went crazy and chose a vibrant gray after my first choice, white, was out. They call me Go Big or Go Home Miller.  

- The hotel pool. Considering AZ is the land of the backyard swim shesh you'd think a pool wouldn't be that much of a thrill for the boys but hotel pools have a extra magic. And eye burning chlorine.  

- Beck discovered his calling in life: very serious splashing with absolutely NO smiling. Even massive and accidental gulps of water that choked the professional splasher did not deter him from his task: splashing sans smile. (The stoic splasher kept with that theme the whole weekend and mean mugged everyone.)

- Rad also discovered his calling in life in the pool: motivational speaker. He chanted "Go Rad! Go Rad" Go Rad!" has he pulled himself along the pool wall perimeter. 

- The kids also had the BEST time with their aunts and uncles, cousins, grandparents. 

The pre wedding festivities: Lowlights

Jane (my sister) and I had big plans for a cute cousin pic but Beck had a 1 picture limit.

We tried to push him...

And he pushed right back.

Rad literally could have cared less. 

Well, home slice cared about no one touching his newly beloved ribbon wand. Priorities are strong with this one.

The guess the highlight of the lowlight was now we have an epic picture for them to recreate when they get older. ;)

+ Short story. We were super lucky to have two adjoined hotel rooms which has anyone with little light sleepers knows is so helpful. The bog boys were going to have their own room and Jake and I were going to bunk with Beck but the big boys were a little nervous about sleeping in the big beds and Jake and I were nervous about them bursting into our room in them morning and waking up Beck. So the solution was me sleeping on the floor between their two beds. Hotel musical beds is our jam. Anyway. One deep slumber I felt a crushing weight smash down on me mid dream. Scared the freaking hootenany out of me. The culprit? Rad. Who remained totally asleep after he fell out of bed and landed on me. It was as terrifying and bruise producing as you might imagine. 

And lastly the wedding: Highlights

+ We cleaned up really well. #humblebrag If I was the Bachelorette (bahahahah!) I would give Jake all the roses. ;) And I wish I would've gotten a shot of the back of my hair - my mom treated all us to a real salon hair-do and they did a stellar job AND it didn't fall out during dancing.

+ There was dancing and Jake perfected the mocking of my full body tantrum dance and I got down to his cautious two step rhythm default.

+ Rhett mastered the YMCA and has continued to YMCA anytime the mood hits.

The wedding: Lowlights

+ Six minutes before we were supposed to leave for the reception I put on the dress (that I had ordered from online) for the first time because I have many genius moments. I quickly realized it was 1000% see through. Miss Miley would have loved it. While I was freaking out Jake decided we just needed to run to Target because being a few minutes late to the reception/ring ceremony was a lesser faux paux that showing up with all the little details showing. I thought Jake would run in to get the slip but he had no idea what a real slip was/is so I shimmied a t-shirt around my waist under my dress and flew through the store trying not to trip on my heels to get it. It was loads of F.U.N. 

+ At the very beginning of the reception festivities Rad absolutely had had had to use the bathroom and so he ran to the facilities sans help from a parental unit. After he has resolved the urgent issues he stepped out into the full swing of the reception with his dropped khakis and Superman unders barely pulled over the important parts. That was very very quickly resolved and honestly I was just thrilled that he wasn't distracted with all the reception fun to make it to the bathroom so we'll just sweep his stint as an exhibitionist under the rug.

+ Having Beck, the mean mugging, stranger hating child of mine, whisked out of my arms on the dance floor by a strange lady...when we eventually found the kidnapper and little B (screaming) the lady told me to 'bring him back when he calms down!!'

Right.

Congratulations Emily + William!!

Welcome to the married club - the best of all the rest. :)