The Night Before the Wedding

Typically rehearsals and rehearsal dinners take place the night before the wedding with the bridal party. But Daniel and Rebekah's rehearsal/ rehearsal dinner took place on Friday afternoon instead, which was awesome, because it freed up the night before the wedding! Instead, we were able to spend more time with out-of-town family.

On Saturday night, when the out-of-town family arrived from Houston, we all went to the Italian restaurant, Bellisimo's for dinner.   Then afterwards, we went to Grammie and Grandad's house for cupcakes and ice-cream.  It was a fun, relaxing evening of sitting around sharing stories with family.

My dad's cousin Ann met Anna for the first time and didn't even hesitate to help fix her hair that was falling down! :-)   

Brad sat next to Mimi.  Mimi brought a photo of Mimi's mother, "Nana" (the girl's great, great-grandmother!) holding me (Lauren) when she was just a baby.  It is a very special gift.

Brad and Mimi always have wonderful time talking and swapping stories. Mimi loves her third grandson so very much and Brad feels so blessed to have been adopted into the family! 

Grammie did a great job, as usual, making sure the kids were all well taken care of while Brad and I were able to spend some time with the Houston family! 

Faith loving on her Grammie.  

Brad and Mimi together with one of Mimi's four (now FIVE!) granddaughters, Emily.

Grandad with another two of the grand-daughters. :-)

The whole family (except for my dad who took the photo of us!) enjoying salad and pizza together! 

Mimi and Aunt Val together with the bride-to-be, Rebekah. Most all of the Houston family (on my dad's maternal side) got to meet Rebekah a month ago at the family bridal shower in Houston.  They were all delighted to see Rebekah again and are so happy she is becoming a member of the "Crenshaw clan" (my Mimi's maiden name). 

Uncle Daniel with "his sweet girls".  They miss him so much and still remember him so well from the time he lived up here with us in DC.

Anna just LOVES her Aunt Leigha.  They had so much fun together.  Next to Leigha is Emily, the birthday girl, and Aunt Linda (my dad's sister).

Auntie Kristin was in town for the wedding and we had some wonderful quality time together. One of the special things the girls shared with Auntie Kristin was toe-nailing painting time!  Auntie Kristin painted the girls nails for their big day as flower girls; the girls felt so special!  :-)

Kristin is a Kindergarten teacher in Oklahoma, starting her 2nd year.  She thinks Jillian is going to be a great Kindergartner :-) and was so encouraging to Jillian about all the fun she is going to have in school this year! 

I could not be more thrilled about my brother's choice in his bride! Rebekah is an incredible woman and she complements my little brother perfectly! 

The opportunities for our three girls to have cuddles the night before the wedding was endless! I miss not being close to our extended family but I soak it all in every time that we get to be with them!   Jillian loves her Great Mimi very much.  She thinks it is very special that Mimi was my grandma when I was a little girl (and of course is still my grandmother!) and that I got the very same cuddles when I was her age. :-)

We had a great time seeing everyone, but then we had to go to bed, because the next day was the BIG DAY!!