Austin Getting Married

I think I have mentioned before that my brother is getting married. Getting married in less than two weeks I should mention. I have known he was getting married since the day he sent me pictures of the ring he picked out earlier this year, but I still can't believe the day is almost here! The day he was preparing to propose I took Tessa (soon to be sister in law) to get her nails done, so she would have freshly painted nails in her first pictures with her engagement ring. Priorities people. I was clearly thinking straight in the excitement. Meanwhile my mom and Grandaddy were (literally) back at the ranch helping Austin prepare for his proposal, which included an airplane fly over and letters made out of flour. Sidenote---it's apparently harder than it looks to make massive letters out of flour. I wouldn't know because like I said, NAIL TIME, but my mom claims it's an art.


Back to the story of Austin getting married, things are getting funny around here. Not funny because of the marriage itself because we are just thrilled about the union.  Funny because of shenanigans my husband is mostly behind.  Kyle is Austin's best man in the wedding. Kyle is also famous for things like instigating and encouraging bizarre behavior for kicks.  For example, when Austin was in maybe 5th grade we all went on a big family/friend cruise for spring break. We drove past a place on the way to the ship called "Ralph's Grill." Kyle then began calling Austin "Ralph" and before we knew it everyone on the cruise called him Ralph. And 4 years later everyone was still calling him Ralph until he finally put his foot down demanding NO MORE RALPH! Kyle and Austin are both participating in No Shave November. While we have told them they WILL shave before the wedding, Kyle is doing his best to convince Austin otherwise.


When Austin was younger, he for some unknown reason went into the woods and cut down the most awkward, bizarre Christmas tree and placed it in his room in a container of water. After Christmas when the tree was more than dead, Austin proceeded to throw the tree out of his bedroom window. It was the biggest mess I have ever witnessed. He then used the central vac system to vacumm the excess water up. Oops. As much of a mess as it was, it was highly entertaining. Last night I was laying in bed and hear Kyle walk into the room on the phone with Austin saying, "I want you to go out to the woods tomorrow and cut down a tree for the living room in your new house...I will even help you."


Shenanigans, I tell you. shenanigans. The main concern I have right now is the speech Kyle will give at the rehersal dinner. I have considered writing it myself and slipping it to him, but he won't go for that. I will be sure to report on it though.


Tessa is a fan favorite of Krews and Kole. She hardly misses one of their events and they always  are thrilled to see her. She is always kind to them, while Austin's idea of being a good uncle is scaring them, chasing them, or "fighting" them. I should mention when Krews was born the only contact Austin had with him was touching his forehead. When he was almost a month old I tricked him into oddly holding him. Every child needs a fun uncle!


As for me, I am so excited for Austin to be married and for me to have someone to be on my side to say, "NO! You cannot go hunting this weekend." I'm only kidding (semi-kidding) I am excited for Austin and Tessa to be married and be able to experience life together as a married couple. And I'm excited to have another person to participate in my cookie making party at Christmas with as much enthusiasm as me. While I can't promise Tessa that she will come into an normal, well behaved family, I can promise her she comes into it with open arms and will probably need her own blog to tell stories like I'm sharing with you now.