The girls' pre-wedding weekend in Dallas

On a weekend in February all seventeen girls in our family met at my sister Becky's house in Dallas to have a fun filled pre-wedding weekend for our niece Brooke. Arrivals began on Friday afternoon and continued through the evening, until all parties had assembled and were ready to eat pizza! Comfy pj's were necessary for watching the movie Bridesmaids, drinking frozen Dr Peppers and hanging til 3 in the AM. I'd say all of it was accomplished in great fashion. The whole weekend was such a fun time,and as with most family events, lots of it was documented through photography. Have a gander at the festivities.

Early arrivals got the good seating. If it weren't for bladders, these people would never have gotten off the couch. On the other hand, Grandma need never worry about a seat, she kicks any and all peeps out when she wants to sit. Keith just THINKS this seat belongs to him. It does not. Olivia looks quite enthralled with something on my cute iPad.


See what happens when you aren't quick or pregnant? Carlie wasn't fast enough for the couch. Neither was Caitlin, whose laying on a fake dog. Remember, this is Becky and Keith's house. The only kind of dog they have are fake ones.


An Olivia seems to have been taken by surprise. This doesn't happen often.


Mollie's either dissing the room or playing the,"if my eyes are closed no one can see me game." WE CAN STILL SEE YOU!


A panoramic view of the peeps. That's Lindsey and William (the only boy allowed on the premises), Melanie, Lydia, Brooke, Carmen and Carrie.


There was much chatter over the 3 days and it looks as if Carrie, Grandma and Becky were intently listening.


While some people were visiting in the living room, others were playing hairdresser in the bathroom. This is quite the lovely look Emma.


Maggie found the last available seat in the house.


Is that upside down deuces you are throwing?


Now it's broken down into something else. Don't miss Maggie down in the corner.


I thought about editing these photos, but opted out.


That clip says classy.


Olivia popped in for an instant to observe the shenanigans. I didn't spell popped correctly on the first try but instead spelled poped. Pretty sure the pope didn't pop over to "pope" anything. And yet I nailed shenanigans on the first try. What's that about?


Break it down Emma.

While some people were goofing in the bathroom...

Caitlin was tucking herself in to her assigned sleep spot. Sleeping pallets for 17 people were located in every nook and cranny in the house


But Olivia was still looking for more shenanigans to get into.


But Caitlin refused to partake, instead choosing to go to sleep. Granny.


And there you have an end to the first night. But there was much more in store for the next day.

Just think about this one thing if you haven't, 17 women had to eat, sleep and shower under the same roof, which was no easy feat. If 17 showers had to be taken, that means 34 towels had to be used. All peeps gotta have a hair towel for reals. But I have to say we managed beautifully as all peeps got squeaky clean with no scheduling conflicts. And even though we awoke to chilly rain on Saturday, our spirits and shopping abilities, couldn't be dampened. So we all piled in the car and headed to the mall. Since no clown cars were available, we had to caravan enmass and then descended on North Park to discover the treasures it beheld. And let me say it behelds a lot. And since no price tag is too big at Northpark, the place STILL beheld a lot after we left. I would so welcome millionaire status, but for some reason it just hasn't happened for me. Sigh.....

When one of us was trying to take a photo of the group, a nice lady stopped and offered to take this pic of all of us at Northpark mall. This is unprecedented to have all the girls in this mall at the same time. However, the greenish hue the mall lights give off is somewhat freakish. And the original unedited photo produced more sets of "demon seed" eyes than any I've ever seen. And even after much editing it seemed to be all for naught, because the eyes went from glowing ember eyes to black vacant eyes instead. It was NOT an improvement. Then, with Apple's most recent computer update, Melanie was able to successfully fix the eye problem so that no one looked like the spawn of satan. I can't imagine what that update was called, but it should have been, "fix demon eyed pics." I'll be posting the unedited photos at a later date so all can see to what I'm referring.


There are still some glowing eyes, but most look normal.


Whitney's eyes over there are what I'm talking about, Carlie's pretending to be nice and Lindsey had quite the lunch that day!


Carlie's saying, "My hair has to be SMOOTH! SMOOTH!" And as usual, Grandma's used as a drop off for unwanted items.


Scary!


The green hue is freakish!


Whitney's faster than the camera.
\

Olivia's been humored by something. Greenish hue just isn't good.


After shopping we met at Fernando's for supper and efficiently used the margaritas we ordered, to have a pre-wedding toast to Brooke and Ben.




An annex of the table pic.


Cause Caitlin and Gmaw didn't fit in the shot.


A closer view of the other end of the table.


An unsuspecting picture of the bride to be. I think she's thinking, "I really need some gelato to finish off the evening perfectly.


Funny she was thinking that because OF COURSE the next step was to search for the perfect after dinner nightcap....gelato! Yum! I have no photos of the hunt for, or eating of the gelato.

Then it was back to the house to end the evening by perusing old wedding photos. You can't beat a 1980's wedding. And that's all I'm gonna say about that, since MINE was the 1980's wedding. The single most annoying photo from my wedding is the taking the garter off pics. After looking at my wedding photos for the first time in a long time, I consider the garter photo dumb. It's awkward and sexist and I shant be making my girls take one! It's not good. But back to the evening....we ended it as we almost always do when we're together, staying up til the wee hours of the night.

While shopping on Saturday some people bought matching pj pants. There's an extra something in this photo that wasn't there when these three were wee babes. Hmmmm, what could it be?


I'm not sure what just happened here, but Whitney's face is scaring me.


They're looking at Melanie's 1979 wedding album. It's amazing how styles change over time.


Carlie's ready to bust someone up.


We spent the night passing photos while laughing at some and reminiscing about others.


It's hard to believe these girls are grown women! I remember the day each of them was born, and how much we looked forward to watching them grow up. That was only 2 months ago.....at least it seems like it.


Photographs are treasures to me. They are so important to have for families.


Lydia brought her comfy clothes.


Some of these peeps in this photo are looking at photos. Others are looking spicious.


Carmen looks surprised, Emma looks annoyed, Billie and Olivia look curious.


Super cute picture.


Two peas in a pod right there.


Carrie's using her hands, which means she's explaining something. I'll now be joining the witness protection program.


Fun new memories were made on this weekend.


Caitlin hanging out in the cheap seats.


Maggie peacing out.


Sunday came much too quickly with half the peeps leaving that day, while the other half stayed to help celebrate Emma's 21st birthday.

Whitney made delicious pancakes for everyone before the leaving began.


Some customers in line for the p cakes.


I like mine plain, many love theirs with chocolate chips. You shouldn't judge people on their pancake likes and dislikes. It's hurtful. Plain is good!


Before everyone left I wanted to get some non green photos of the whole group. Well, it was a debacle. Gmaw was unable to get off her bed of resting and Lydia.....well she was indisposed. So I took what I could with who I had. It was unorganized to say the least. This is a pre-ready for the pic pic. I LOVE these.


As is this.


This is what Caitlin thinks of the pre-ready pic pics.


Another problem was the people in the back were unable to be seen.


So Maggie and Olivia grabbed some air.


It was not a successful photo shoot.


But I still love the pics and they make me laugh when I remember all the problems that cropped up during it.


I put them all in since there are multi expressions that amuse me.


As well as the jumping. And Carlie's fake nose pick.


And multi hams.


And Carlie's declaring we're number one? Amongst who Carlie? All the other groups of 17 females in Dallas that came to town and went shopping and eating?


And there you have the first ever all girls weekend trip to Dallas for a pre-wedding celebration. It was fabulous and fun and fantastic and all the good f words......and all the good words in total!

I'm exhausted after this.

Really, can you get too old to blog?

Cause I feel like I may be.

Which makes me remember why I procrastinated on this.

Up next after a short respite, Emma's birthday celebration at i Fratelli's. It was fun too!

The end.

I sang that in my head when I typed it.