...and they lived Happily Ever After!

At least that's the ending we're praying for for this very special couple!

This past weekend I was able to take a trip down to Mississippi to see one of my great college friends get married off. We spent the night with her (and kept her up WAY past her bedtime on the night before her wedding! Shame on us!)

My friend Sandy and I rode down together and made it there just in time for the rehearsal dinner which we were so graciously invited to. It was wonderful and we spent most of the time laughing and giggling over things that were probably not funny to most but were hilarious to us. I think we were just so glad to see each other we just couldn't help ourselves. And truthfully, we were probably bordering on obnoxious to everyone but each other. :)

After the dinner we went back to Beth's (the bride's) house and proceeded to dole out TONS of advice. Now whether it was wanted advice is debatable! Ha! In the picture below Malaika is schooling us all! Even those of us who have been married for 10+ years! Ha! Gotta love Mal!
Among many of the funny moments of the weekend, one of the funniest had to be that our sweet Dede didn't go have her bridesmaid dress hemmed. Instead, she used PACKING TAPE to secure the right length. Our sweet Beth nearly had a stroke on the eve of her wedding. But, as usual, Mal saved the day and hemmed her dress. She's a woman of many talents! :)

It was amazing how it felt just like college days again. We suddenly weren't in our 30's anymore; we were 19 and 20 again. Or at least that's how it felt. It was like we hadn't been away from each other for years. We got together and picked up right where we left off! It takes a special group of girls to be able to do that!

Each time we would get ready to go to sleep one of us would think of something else to say or talk about. That went on for a LONG time until around 3:00 am or so when, I think, someone fell asleep talking in mid-sentence. Haha. That was probably the only way we were going to get some of them (and you know who you are!) to stop talking. Ha.

We were up bright and early to share Beth's special day with her. After a quick trip to McDonald's in our PJs for some much needed caffeine, we were ready for the day!

Beth was an absolutely stunning bride! She was beaming with happiness. One of my favorite moments of the day was seeing her mom walk in and see her in her wedding dress for the first time. They both got emotional and, in turn, I think everyone else in the room got emotional too! It was just a precious moment.
The wedding itself went off without a hitch. After some refreshments and long good-byes, we were headed home. Back to reality, our 30-year-old lives and families. One thing about being away is the sweetness of returning home. Girl time and reminiscing about college days is fun but sweet little pitter-pats of feet and grins from ear to ear and three boys rushing to the door yelling in unison "Mom!!!!!!!" make the return home beautiful.

Thanks girls for the wonderful weekend. Beth, thanks for getting married so that it gave us an excuse to get together. (I'm sure that's why you did it, huh?) ;) Can't wait for next time! (I mean our next get-together; not the next time Beth gets married!) ;)