Goin' to the Chapel...

This weekend I went to Little Rock, Arkansas for my big Olivia's wedding. I was lucky enough to be a bridesmaid, and we had such a fun time spending the last few precious hours of being single with sweet Olive. She was stunning, and such a testimony of God's faithfulness to see her journey come to this point with Jon. The wedding was beautiful, such a simple and sweet celebration of the body of Christ as His bride. I made sure to get all the highlights from the weekend:

On Friday morning Ethan and I drove from Clinton to Little Rock at 6 am and barely made it to the hotel in time to get ready for Olivia's bridesmaids luncheon. But I made it, and we were able to have such a relaxing, delicious lunch at this beautiful home. 

All weekend long, Olivia was beautiful. She made it look like it was summer outside with her pretty tan and beautiful smile.

The bridesmaids each got a ring as part of our bridesmaids' gifts. Olivia explained that she has been searching antique stores the last few months for a ring that reminded her of each bridesmaid. This was to represent how we are the bride of Christ and how special that is in her wedding celebration.

The rehearsal went beautifully, and we had such a fun time at rehearsal dinner watching a sweet video of Jon and Olivia's friends "toasting" them before the wedding. I know Ethan and I will both miss our double dates with Jon and Olivia having dinner/desert and movie nights. We're considering taking a trip to Waco to reunite!

I was so thankful to have Ethan there this weekend.. He made medicine runs for me when I wasn't feeling well, waited patiently while I had bridesmaids duties, and carried all of my stuff to the car when I had to be somewhere for pictures or what not. He was such a blessing and so incredibly servant hearted.

The flowers were beautiful, even though Olive didn't even know what they were going to be until she showed up. I loved how simple her sweet wedding was... so "Olivia" to trust all the details to fall into place.

Olivia was absolutely stunning. I couldn't stop taking pictures of her, trying to catch how beautiful she looked. Jon is one lucky husband!

The gown... it was perfect, and looked incredible on Olive. Sweet, skinny little thing..

Good friends and family, we were so glad to share this special day with Olivia.

Typical Olive to wear the party boots on her wedding day. No other shoes would have been apropritate for such a celebration!

I loved this one.. The ceremony was beautiful, I held it together until the end when I was standing by Jon and Olivia, kneeling at the altar and praying over one another. Perfect. Then the reception was so fun, and so simple. I couldn't stop smiling!

They were pretty calm with the cake... not too crazy!

Beautiful family. I was so glad everyone was here for Olive's beautiful day. We had fun!

All the Chi Omegas... We were well represented!

Singing Shades, I almost cried... so cheesy (like Big like Little)

My very favorite person. So grateful for this one.

 The Abernathys...

So good, helping her get her dress all inside.

And the beautiful sunset driving back to Clinton. Perfect ending to a perfect weekend.

meet me in St Louis.

What do you get when you add 16 hours in a car with 4 Collins, hot hot heat, a little rain, and a bunch of tourist attractions? OUR WEEKEND TO ST LOUIS!

Thursday morning we loaded up the car and set off for Missouri, the mid-west I guess? We met Bo at the Seminary and embarked on what became my first and favorite visit to St Louis. We had delicious dinner at this Chicago style deep-dish pizza place called Pi. The restaurant was SO COOL, it had brick walls, some wallpapered with damask (my favorite), and awesome black and white pictures around. We had fun just catching up and hearing about Bo's life.

typical Bo fashion, cheezin' it up!

Friday we went downtown to get tickets for the Cardinals game, got breakfast, then spent a few hours in the pool. It was my first true summer pool experience since my last month in Africa was winter! We got to see where Bo works, then went to the Cardinals game (they killed the Dodgers 8-2!). I also had my first subway/train experience when we loaded the train and did not get off until many stops later.

don't worry, me Bo and my dad all bought the same shirt...

Standing Room Only is not as fun as it sounds. and it doesn't really sound fun anyways.

but once we discovered the floor seats on the upper level, we had a good ole time.

family outing #a lot of the weekend...

Saturday after wonderful blueberry pancakes, we spent the day out and about. We went to the arch downtown and it was incredible! I never really understood what the big deal about a half circle was, but standing underneath and looking up at this gigantic aluminum arch was honestly pretty cool!

it's bigger than you think!

check it

Saturday night we went to this restaurant called Blueberry Hill. which can only be described as a more gritty Cracker Barrel.. like if Cracker Barrel met up with a rock band/chain gang and resulted in this place. Then we had the famous Ted Drewes. I didn't understand why frozen custard was such a big deal, until.. THE BIG APPLE. Frozen vanilla custard, with apple pie crust, whipped cream, and it was like heaven!!!

it was totally worth sweatingwaiting for in the direct sunlight.

Overall it was an awesome weekend. The weather was perfect, and we got to spend so much time with Bo which hasn't happened since Thanksgiving. Funny things always happen with him, such as his confusion to my dad's question wondering "If the deer were tame", to which Bo asked... "You mean... like can they do tricks?" Tame... trained... whichever :)