Friday of Wedding Week

Today was our wedding rehearsal, preceded by a stop at Memorial Hall to take plants and sound system and other goodies for decorations at the reception. It was blazing hot, and all of us were sweating at Memorial Hall, despite the presence of air conditioning, but that was a small negative in light of the perfect way the hall has turned out, under the able direction of Carol Ray with David, Jan Cummins, and Shannon Penrod adding their help, along with Wendy and Evelyn, of course.

The rehearsal was a relaxed and nostalgic and pleasant experience, led so well by Bobby Jackson who will perform the ceremony tomorrow. We shed tears at the magnificent processional played by Geoff  and Emily Plank. I was glad I got to hear Lisa sing, because I probably won't get to tomorrow (she sings before the bride and I enter). And the whole rehearsal was special because we got to be with Byron and Katie Cartwright.

Just as we arrived at CCU for the rehearsal dinner, the sky opened, and we had to hustle inside under umbrellas through the downpour. Later we learned that the storm at our house had caused one side of the pear tree in front of the house to split off. And when Matt got to Dan and Cindi Cooper's house to spend the night, he discovered that they're without power!

But the dinner was what Jennifer wanted, I think, a relaxed, fun time together, with lots of laughter and way more food than we could all eat.

Scott, Amber Lyn, and Amber Jo Aulen 

Ken and Susan Aulen and Lisa Sweeney-Taylor 

Wendy Wagoner, Jana and Greg Perry

Home Today, Remembering Seth

We left Nashville about 10:00 central time and drove into our driveway about 5:15 Eastern. We stopped once for gas and stopped longer than we planned for lunch/dinner in Louisville. We were south of Cincinnati just as the traffic report was describing stop-and-go conditions along much of I-75 through the city, so we took I-275 around past the airport and on up to home.  Evelyn called the Vineyard to say she'd probably be a few minutes late for her volunteer floor monitor duty at the Healing Center, and, after checking, they told her she didn't have to come in. She was delighted! Me too!
We were able to sort mail, cut the grass, and settle in for the rest of the week during the evening and ate pop corn while watching the "60 Minutes" we had recorded while we were out of town Sunday night.
None of this created any scenes really worth photographing, so I'm posting a couple of pictures from our outing Monday night in Nashville.

We went to a dairy bar for dinner with two of Jennifer's best friends, Greg and Jana Perry. We love Greg and Jana, but the most smiles come in interacting with their 2-1/2-year-old, Seth.

We had a big time with  Seth, and he had a big time at the dairy bar. Not only did he get to eat his own grilled cheese sandwich and enjoy spoonfuls of chocolate soft serve from his mom's banana boat, but he also got to greet and jabber with another toddler who came for ice cream that night, and play with two puppies who enjoyed his hugs and pats.

We had lots of fun connecting with his folks, and playing with Seth. Greg and Jana plan to come to Jen's wedding next month, but we'll probably have to enjoy seeing Seth grow up as Jana posts pictures on Facebook.