March - Dad's 25th Wedding Anniversary

Dad and Cindy celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary and decided to share the time with all their friends and family with a Vow Renewal. It was held at one of the plantations and was just a beautiful occasion. Jon, Tristan and I drove in for the celebration and had a wonderful time. The ceremony was beautiful.

Jon and I also celebrated our 3 month anniversary. Cindy had the DJ play our song - Moondance - and had the DJ acknowledge the date for us as well. That evening Cindy, Dad and Grandma Vivian teamed up and watched Tristan while Jon and I went out to dinner to celebrate our anniversary. We had a lovely time on the trip.

Jon, Tristan and Myself

Dad and Cindy

Cindy - Didn't she look lovely?

Dad and Cindy

Grandma Vivian and Tristan

Danielle and Eric

Danny and Elisha

Mandi and Lee

Aunt Barbara, Aunt Gayle and Jennifer

Dad and Cindy dancing

Tristan dressed for the event

January - Baby Shower in New Orleans

Jon and I went over to New Orleans to visit the family in January.  It was to be our last trip that way before Baby Tristan comes.  Cindy threw a lovely baby shower for us while we were there.  We got to visit with family members, got some lovely gifts for our upcoming little one, and just enjoyed the whole thing.  Thank you Cindy for everything and thank you to the family for all your love and support!

Dad's 50th BIrthday

This year has been the year of big birthdays... Jon and I hit 30 and Dad followed by turning the big 5-0.  They had a Halloween themed birthday party for the occasion a weekend before Halloween weekend.  There was good food, good company, and good costumes.  We had fun going to New Orleans for the trip.

Danielle and Eric

Dad!

Dad and Cindy

Danielle

Elisha and Danny

Jon and I - You can't really see the badges, but we were Star Trek characters - Thought Dad would appreciate it!

May - Danielle's Graduation

Another trip to New Orleans!  My little sister has graduated High School and I can't believe it!  There are no more of us kids in high school at all.  She is college bound and I am so proud of her.  The ceremony was nice and Dad and Cindy had a nice graduation party for her with family. 

Happy Graduating!!!

February - Mardi Gras New Orleans

As per family tradition whenever possible, Jon and I drove to New Orleans for quality time with the family and for Mardi Gras.  Despite the bad name that Mardi Gras has, it is actually a very family oriented holiday.  Where most people who visit go wrong, is that they go to the touristy only spots where there is 1. lots of drinking and 2. where they are catering to the tourist crowd that can get a bit rambunctious.

As usual, we enjoyed the flamboyant floats, the quirky costumes, and just the all over good time.

One of the floats

King of the Tucks Parade on his 'Throne'

Jon and Myself at Mardi Gras

Saints colored Storm Trouper

New Orleans Reception

Finally! The parties for the Wedding are over. Not that it wasn't fun having 3 parties/receptions OR fun getting 3 sets of gifts OR fun spreading the whole thing out for a year after the actual wedding. But seriously, there has to be an end sometime.

We certainly did go out with a smash though. Family and a few friends gathered for our One Year Anniversary/Reception in New Orleans. My best friend (outside my husband) came out and played the part of our celebrant. Jon and I exchanged vows again - well not so much vow vows, but words of promise and love. Dad and I finally had our Daddy-Daughter dance for our wedding to I Loved Her First by Heartland (Love that song). I got to dress up in my pretty pretty wedding dress again. Toasts were had.

The family was happy to finally be able to play a part in our wedding and marriage and we were happy to do so. The planning was a bit stressful, as this party was certainly NOT as smoothly and easily planned, but it turned out wonderful. I certainly was closer to a Bridezilla at times (sorry for any of you who were in contact with me at that point) but in the end Dad was happy, so I was happy. To me, mostly, that was what this night was about.

Thanks to everyone who helped out!