a merren marriage

It's been a while since I last updated! We spent the past weekend in Brownwood and Abilene for the wedding of Zach's best friend from Vet School, Dr. Chris Merren. We drove up somewhat early on Friday and went to Zach's Aunt Darlene and Uncle Kirk's house for a few hours, to let me stretch my legs and change my clothes. We headed to Abilene in time for the rehearsal and then headed to Joe Allen's (???) for the rehearsal dinner. I was pretty exhausted after all that driving (it's a lot for a woman who's 8 months pregnant!) and so we headed back to Brownwood around 9:30 and got to sit up and talk with Darlene for a little bit when we got home. 

Saturday morning we woke up leisurely, Darlene's a gem and was making breakfast so we got in a really good and hearty meal. Then we basically just enjoyed spending time with Kirk and Darlene-- we watched Darlene feed her Longhorns (I got their steer to wrap his tongue around my hand!) and we got to listen to Kirk's epic tales. Darlene also made lunch, and we got to enjoy that with Kirk and Darlene's 9 month old Granddaughter, Mekenzie. She's a hoot, and she liked making faces at Zach. We got ready and headed back to Abilene about 3:00 and went to Chris' house to wait with the rest of the groomsmen for it to be time to head out to the...cottage? We almost lost Stetson (see below) once, Chris was losing his mind- but we had fun ribbing him. The weather was horrifying, I can't believe how lucky Crystal got not having a deluge during the ceremony! The wedding site was quite literally just somebody's house that they'd made agreeable for wedding and reception. The girls were in the house and ready to take pictures when we all showed up so the boys got sequestered in one room upstairs, but it was okay because Rabbi Stephanie brought them the beer from their trucks. Oh they started early and it wasn't pretty by the end of the night. 

The ceremony was freeeeeeeeezing. The poor bridesmaids all looked ready to bolt- the ground was soggy and they had to stand up there, on top of a hill in probably 55 degree weather, with their stilettos sinking into the ground. Poor girls. I was pretty cold too- I had gotten a new dress and it was so pretty but I didn't take a jacket or anything- and I had to wait until after the wedding party pictures to get Zach's tux jacket! Stephanie did a really good job on the ceremony, the Ring Bearer was outstandingly well behaved and the wind died down so we could hear the vows. After the ceremony, we got to go back to the "backyard" for the reception, and they had an open bar, fajitas and amazing cake so we were all pretty well contented after things got rolling. Zach and the other groomsmen had a ball with the open bar- they were pretty crazy- but then, Chris' dad and uncle got pretty crazy too. All in all, it was a fun evening. I even stayed out way, WAY late. 

Sunday morning was very low key- Zach was slow to get out of bed, and Darlene and Kirk went to church and then brought home lunch, so we got to spend a bit more time with them. It was a very, very nice weekend. It was a bit too much driving for me- it got very, very, very uncomfortable for me once we hit about Caldwell, but I think I did okay. I was so glad to get into my yoga class on Monday morning and really stretch out. 

Speaking of my yoga class- I'm actually really enjoying it and my teacher's not too pushy because she's pregnant and due in September so she's really lenient with me. I'm really super flexible though, so a lot of the moves aren't proving too difficult for me, providing that Liam's baby bump isn't in the way. It's kind of sad though, there is a girl in the class who certainly weighs more than I do (pregnant- not pre pregnant) and she doesn't even try... it's rather pathetic. She tried to tell me and the teacher today that we shouldn't eat peanut butter when we're pregnant because her sister ate it a lot during her pregnancy and her baby was born with a severe peanut allergy. Give. Me. A. Break. But I'm loving the downward facing dog and the warrior positions, such a great stretch! 

Enjoy pictures of the beautiful couple! I'm sorry I didn't get more- my battery started to die at the end of the ceremony because I forgot to charge it after Graduation (and I took tons of pictures there). 

The Lytle something or another wedding cottage. It was quaint.

Groom Chris and his parents.

The Doctors. My hubby and his classmate, Ashley.

The Best Man and Matron of Honor. Trenton, Chris' older brother by a year, is a Marine living in Japan- he was pretty funny.

Crystal and her daddy- Crystal was the most beautiful bride I have ever seen- and she got lucky that the rain held off through the ceremony :)

Chris and Rabbi Stephanie. Stephanie was a classmate of Zach, Chris and Crystal's for a few years, then she held back a year to get her MBA, and she's now a fourth year. She and Chris stayed good friends and he asked her to get ordained for his wedding. The ordination allows her to call herself either a Minister or a Rabbi- so we called her a Rabbi all weekend.

Chris had that grin on his face the whole time. He was so cute. Excuse the distance of my photos-- I had to sit towards the back with the wife of another groomsman and the officiant's boyfriend.

I lied, we sat at the back to watch the Ring Bearer. This is Stetson, Chris's Blue Heeler/Catahoula mix. He's a great, great dog and we all about died when we found out he was literally going to run down the aisle when Chris called him- but Stetson was a good boy and did just what he was supposed to. Much to the relief of the bridesmaids and the chagrin of the groomsmen.

<3

Mr. and Mrs. Merren! (Dr. and Dr. Merren)