7.9.11: Saturday

Well friends, you've made it--the last of the vacation posts. We actually left Charlotte on Sunday, but pretty much all we did was fly and we've already done a post on that so we won't rehash flying with a 2-year-old. The only difference about the return trip was that Greg snagged a bump-back for first class seats and $250 voucher on a future flight, so we didn't fly together. How Greg ended up in first class while I (6-months pregnant) flew couch with a 2-year-old I'm not quite sure.

Anyway, back to Saturday. Saturday was the big day. The reception. I sent Greg and his brother off with Rex and the cousins to Lazy 5 Ranch, an exotic animal breeding ranch, so that I could help out at the church with setting up.

Here's what the boys did.

Allen and a zebra. Yes, a zebra's head is in the car.

Rex petting a llama.

Bryant feeding an ostrich through the sun roof.

Greg feeding a giraffe.

Rex feeding an ostrich. He told me later that he didn't like ostriches.

Greg said this took some time but he finally got an ostrich to eat out of his hand.
Rex also got to pet a zebra, which was rad because today he earned a zebra figurine by peeing in the potty. He's in love with zebra's and giraffe's after this little adventure.

I gave Greg strict instructions to be back at the hotel by 3:30 so I would have time to bath and ready Rex and get back to the church 30 minutes away before the family pictures started. Due to some miscommunications, Greg and Allen ended up with one of the bride's maid's dresses in their car, so had to go to the church before returning to the hotel. They then called from the church explaining that the children were in a state of rebellion and they were afraid to put them back in the car so were leaving them at the church with I-have-no-idea-who and just they were coming back to the hotel to shower. Greg assured me that Rex did not need a bath. I knew he was wrong, but was too late to tell Greg to force Rex back into the car. So I borrowed a few things from the hotel, and drove to the church with Maurine. When I found Rex at the church, I discovered that not only had Greg not left any diapers with Rex but Rex had pooped the nastiest poop of his life. Luckily Emma's photographer had some size 3 diapers (Rex is a 5) in her car and was kind enough to change Rex for me. Grandpa Bryant then ran to the nearest pharmacy to get more diapers. When when asked where the diapers were, he was directed to aisle 5, which he noticed was labeled "incontinence" so he added "baby" to his request and was redirected to aisle 14. He said he's not going to buy any more diapers for us. Back to the story. I got to the church, found Rex, discovered that he was shirtless because he had made such a huge mess of himself at the ranch, and noticed visible dirt in his hair. I don't know why Greg thought I wouldn't notice. Rex got a bath in the sink at the church.
And then family pictures. The one thing I stressed the most about this wedding. I looked for a dress for months. Finally found a black one and hoped the Emma wouldn't mind that I wasn't wearing orange. Then I stressed about making all the little boy cousins matching ties and suspenders and spent 2 nights working on them and giving myself cankles. And then I didn't get a single picture of our family. Really? All that stress and I don't have a single picture of me in that dumb dress. I am so lame. Emma is going to send me one when she gets her wedding pictures back from her photographer.

At 7 the reception finally started.

Greg's grandma got in just in time for the reception, but Rex hadn't slept well or napped for nearly a week by this point so refused to take a picture with her.

Then Rex and Cora discovered the water and made quite the mess of that.

And then Rex and I spend more of the evening in the foyer. He was tired and hot and sick of people and just needed a break. So I sat on the couch and he showed me how he could jump and spin in circles. I was sad not to get to chat more with Greg's relatives whom I've only met one other time, but felt bad for Rex and thought he'd been such a trooper through the whole trip.

Where was Greg this whole time? Outside. Decorating the car. It was quite the master piece. One of Greg's finest I must say. The car was completely covered with clever and inappropriate phrases, which 6-year-old Bryant then read aloud to the group. Brilliant. But I didn't get a single picture of the car because Rex just does not like the dark so we had to go back inside.

All-in-all a fun, lovely reception made even better by the fact that my very tired and cranky 2-year-old demanded that we return to the hotel, so Greg had to stay and clean up. Awesome.

Like I said, Sunday we went to Sacrament and then flew home and that is the end of our vacation. Tomorrow we will return to our regularly scheduled blogs about my rants and such.