They're married!!!

Congratulations to the new Mr. and Mrs. Tim Beutel! :)

Well, the wedding went great and thanks for everyone/anyone who sent up a prayer for me and Max! :) Greg, Max, Tim, and I left Friday morning so Tim could help Melissa with last minute details and the rest of us could settle in at the hotel. We took Max swimming in the afternoon; he was a crazy little boy! He'd climb up out of the water (from the steps) and run around the edge of the pool to jump in...except he'd run past whoever was waiting to catch him and try to jump in where nobody was standing! Yikes! We need to instill a little fear into this boy! He loved it, of course, but we definitely had to keep a close eye/arm on him at all times. Friday night was the rehearsal dinner; thankfully Dad and Mom Rassi came up and were staying at the same hotel as us, so they kept Max during the dinner and put him to bed. Thanks so much, Dad and Mom!

On Saturday, Greg had to be at the church at 12:30 but Max and I didn't have to be there until 2:00. Dad and Mom stayed with me and Max back at the hotel after everyone else had left for the church, and I attempted to get Max a good nap in the morning so he wouldn't be a grouchy ringbearer at 3:00! Unfortunately, he only slept for an hour. :P We ended up getting to the church at 1:30 and I tried to put him so sleep in the nursery, but ended up just rocking him and holding him while he slept for about 40 min. When he woke up, he wasn't too sure about his surroundings, etc. Here's what his general expression looked like:

He was awfully cute in his little suit and tie, though!

There's a grin!

Anyway, Katy the flower girl just carried him down the aisle, pacifier and all. They still were super cute and everyone thought it was adorable. :) Max even lasted half the service on my lap, which is more than I was expecting! The wedding itself was very nice...a perk of the bride and groom both being music majors is that the music was great! They had a string quartet play the processionals and recessional and then Tim's barbershop group (minus him, obviously, and with one of his friends filling in) sang a song during the ring ceremony. The service was very well done by Pastor Timothy, the minister at Melissa's family's church. After the wedding we had a few pictures to take before the reception, so I finally remembered to get out my camera. :)

The wedding party (just look at that tall handsome guy in the back!) ;)

An attempt at a family picture with a very, very, very tired little Max

The reception was held in the banquet hall upstairs at the church. Max had another chance to charm everyone there. Since Greg was the best man, he walked into the reception with the maid of honor (Melissa's sister, Andrea) and the MC announced their names, etc. Greg was holding Max on one arm and Andrea had his other one. As they walked into the reception and everyone clapped, Max lit up from all the attention and started clapping and grinning, too. It was pretty cute. Anyway, the reception had some great food (Melissa's mom, Verloyn, made these realllllly good meatballs), and my parents took Max back to the hotel after we ate. Tim's group, AfterHours, sang a few songs.

They sounded great!

Cutting/feeding eachother cake

Open wide, Tim! It was a really big piece!

After everyone had been served cake, there was a slideshow of pictures from both Tim and Melissa growing up, and then pictures of them together. A friend of Melissa's family put it together, I think.

The bride and groom mingling

Finally, it was time for them to say their thank yous and head out. They each had a nice little speech...

and on Melissa's turn, she announced that she was going to give away her bouquet. July 25th happens to not only be Tim and Melissa's wedding day, it is Verloyn's birthday! Melissa said she was giving her bouquet to her mom and then asked us all to join in "Happy Birthday." It was very sweet.

Mother and daughter (and bouquet!)

Then we sent them off with lots of bubbles! I didn't quite catch them coming out, but here they are driving away...

Shot of the church (it's not actually Melissa's family's home church since theirs doesn't currently own a building)

Greg and I had decided to stay Saturday night at the hotel yet since it was about a 2.5 hour drive home and we knew we'd both be tired (not to mention Max!). We were back at the hotel by 8:00, which was great! We took Max swimming since Rustin, Sharon, and Grace were going plus Susan, Bob and Jenny, and Matt. We didn't last terribly long since Max was tired and the chlorine level was pretty high (it was seriously stinging my eyes), but we did have fun. Sunday morning we met Rustin, Sharon, Grace, and Matt for breakfast at the Southern Belle's restaurant. The other four (Rustin, Sharon, Matt, Greg) all got an omelette and it was seriously the biggest one I've EVER seen served at a restaurant! I wish I had a picture...they were just enormous. Then, it came with a side of two pancakes. We were all picturing these little 4 inch pancakes, but once again, they were full size...as big as the dinner plate! Needless to say, I don't think anyone fully cleaned up their plate. Well, maybe Rustin did. I think he got toast instead of the monster pancakes. Anyway, we went back to the hotel and listened to the morning church service over the Internet on U. Roger's laptop. With Grace and Max running around and making noise, it almost felt like we were really in the back of church! ;)

Grace trying to blow Max some bubbles

Max looking quite longsuffering as Grace gives him a hug

These two were just something else.

It was kind of funny...I think Max finally met his match in Grace! She was quite exuberant and more than willing to give him hugs, kisses, etc. It got so that whenever Max heard someone say, "Grace, give Max a hug," he'd run the other way! I think part of it was that he was just exhausted from the weekend, but he was a little intimidated by her. Oh, well...someday they'll play together! :)

Thankfully, Greg drove the whole way home so I could sleep. I needed it! We went to Dad and Mom Rassi's for supper with Jason and Ellie and Jack and had Monical's pizza. Yum! I hadn't taken my camera, so I don't have footage of it, but Jack and Max actually played together pretty well! There were a few times that Max stole Jack's toy right out of his hands, but in general they were good. I know Mom got some pictures; I'll have to try and get some of them.

Today I'm working on laundry and recovering from a busy weekend! It's nice to just be home with Max...I'm trying to really take time to enjoy it now, since my due date is just 3 weeks from yesterday!