Texas Trip: Post Wedding

The day after the wedding, us girls planned a surprise baby shower for our sister-in-law Tammy who is due mid March with the first Meiners girl! We had some breakfast foods like mini muffins, strawberries, and pink juice, and then mini baby carrots, and doughnuts because every pregnant girl loves doughnuts and some candy for snacking. After eating for a bit then we played some games.

First we played a guessing game about what traits Tammy thinks the baby will get from either her or James. I think Julia and my grandma tied with the most points.

Then the funnest game was our diaper relay. They paired into two groups and see who could change the diaper fastest blindfolded. My mom and grandma were up first and feeling good like they've had a lot of experience, but they struggled the longest, it was pretty funny.

In the end, Tammy's team finished first!

Then we did one more game where we each took a string and cut it to the size we thought her belly size was. Tammy was just barely showing so it was pretty hard! Then we moved on to presents and she got nice and cute things from everyone!

 And since we were all dressed down earlier, here is a better picture of all us girls later that afternoon. Actually, Meg wasn't at the baby shower but we met back up with her and Daniel at her parents house that afternoon to watch them open their gifts.

They seemed to be happy with all the nice gifts and cards they got and it was good for us to see them one last time on this trip. Here's a random picture of the two with their new wedding rings. Afterwards, we said goodbye and wished them luck as they head back to school at BYU!

After seeing Dan and Meg the rest of us went and got burgers and shakes for lunch and then headed to downtown Dallas to just drive and check out the city on our last day.

Our first stop we checked out the Kennedy Memorial, and I love this family picture :)

Then we walked a bit, and saw the X on the road where President Kennedy had been shot.

It was cold out again, but pretty to be downtown at sunset.

Blake loves when the girls hold both his hands. We also did see a little cabin memorial thing but then it was getting pretty windy and dark so we headed back.

 On our drive out we saw this crazy swarm of birds flying through the city, and a cute park with lots of lights and a christmas tree. I wish we had something like that in Denver.

 That night we got pizza and all hung out together in the suite and just enjoyed each other's company. We really had a fun trip spending time with everyone, and I was really sad to go. But the next morning we got up early and headed out on our 12+ hour drive home.

For lunch we stopped at this awesome steak house in Amarillo.  Not something we do very often, but figured we may as well get good steak while we were in Texas and this was such a fun place to stop.

 They have a 72 oz steak challenge with seats up front and hour countdown for those who try it. And everyone working there was dressed as cowboys, and even had guys playing guitars for tables. It was quite unique.

 The boys were excited they got cowboy hats with their kids meals and Luke and I were excited to have steak. Mine was so delicious, I wish I had gotten a bigger one!

After dinner we gave Jacob a quarter to go play on the toy gun and shoot zombies, haha. 

 They even had a wall of old portraits but as you walked by they turned into scary looking zombies- I don't know what was with this place and dead people, but it was interesting and the place was huge!

 Anyway, it was a nice lunch break and we all had a good time!

As the sun set on our drive home we hit a snow storm, so we had to drive in pretty hard conditions for about an hour until we could get to the next town with a hotel. We made it to New Mexico just before the Colorado border, which was fine because it gave us a break and our boys always love swimming at hotels.

 After a quick swim we went across the street to Denny's for dinner, and then had fun watching movies and relaxing for the night.

 Luckily the roads were just fine the next morning and we made it home in great time. The week went by fast but it was fun to go somewhere new, spend time with family, and have a fun vacation to start off the year!

Daniel and Meg's Wedding

Daniel and Meg got married on January 2 in the Dallas Temple. Luke and I were able to be in the sealing room along with my parents, grandparents, Erika, James and Tammy and then lots of Meg's family. It really was a beautiful ceremony and I think most of us got a little teary eyed! They both looked so happy and in love and Meg looked really beautiful! Here was them coming out the temple as a newly married couple!

Then we got all the family pictures done though these are the only ones I got. It was actually pretty windy and chilly (the coldest day of the week!) and so we tried to get the pictures done quickly.

 Daniel was lucky to have so many of his friends from Maryland fly all the way to Texas for his wedding, we were all pretty impressed, he's got some good friends.

Then the family got to attend a luncheon at a clubhouse in Wylie, Texas.

We had a great Italian lunch and it was fun sitting with all my siblings. We also all worked on notes of advice for the new couple.

Poor Blake was not having a great time, but the boys did get cute shots with the couple.

I love that my sisters adore my boys and that my boys love them :)

 The reception was at a church gym but everyone thought it was decorated very nice with lots of lights and had a really cute woodsy theme. I was impressed, they did a great job! They also had so many people helping out, and had a serving line for the chili which was great and made everything move so smoothly. And the most delicious mint hot chocolate!

They had a ring ceremony and read each other promises that were very sweet, and then we heard from the best man and maid of honor who gave really sweet speeches.

Then they had the first dances, and then others were welcome to dance too.

In between we had fun sitting and talking together as a family. We were glad to see some family from my dad's side who live outside Dallas show up too.

A cute sister picture and one with all the girls in our extended family too. 

And towards the end instead of cake, they cut pie. It was cute, and they fed each other the tiniest pieces.

Here's Meg getting ready to leave in her changed outfit. We all went outside and waved goodbye with a sparkler send-off, and then they were on their way- only after popping several balloons just so they could get in their car!

The whole day was beautiful and a lot of fun, and we were all happy to see everything go so smoothly and to have another one of us married! Congratulations Daniel and Meg!