In Her Own Words

The only thing you can count on with a family of three small children is unpredictability. Rarely does anything go as planned, but also rarely does everything go awry. Unfortunately we had one of those times the weekend of Stephanie and Kevin's long awaited wedding. I spent about a week being heartbroken by the turn of events but that was soon overshadowed by the big picture...

...the perfect wedding of the most beautiful couple, inside and out, who are deeply in love and at the brink of a wonderful life that I so look forward to watching unfold.

There were a few hiccups for us during the weekend - four incidents of throwing up, dead car battery three times, a closed road in the canyon that led to the church - but none for Stephanie and Kevin, everything went beautifully, and for that I am so thankful. Athena had an amazing time and as luck would have it bought a journal that weekend (with her own hard earned allowance) and wrote about all of it. Here's Athena's story of the wedding weekend, through her eyes and in her words (only slightly edited)...

I am in a hotel now while my Mom yells at Zoe and I just got this at Target. I love it so much. That I an writing in it all day.

We are going to Downtown Disney. It is very exciting. I can't wait. We are almost there and now we are. I can't wait. We had lots of fun. We went to the Rainforest Cafe. We went to Build A Bear Workshop. We went to Halloween Disney. We princess shop. At Rainforest Cafe I had Macaroni and Cheese for lunch. At Build A Bear Workshop I got a beautiful dress for Cinderbear. At Halloween Disney all we did is look...that's all. At the princess shop a lady put sparkles in my hair and a button. Then it was time to go home. I was very sad and then my brother went to sleep.

Then we went to the BBQ and I met a baby boy. He is the baby that I am going down the aisle with. Rex, he is so sweet. Rex was chasing us up and down the stairs. I spied on Rex.

Zoe couldn't find Stephanie. Then we found her and Zoe was happy, Stephanie read this to me.

And tomorrow is the wedding. I can't wait. I can't wait to be a flower girl. I guess it is going to be fun. My Mom read this to me. I have a dress for me and shoes and a purse and a crown. The purse have makeup and candy in it.

We are going to the wedding. I can't wait. Zoe is not feeling good. So I wish she feel better. So she can hold Jack's hand and I can hold Rex hand. If Zoe does not I have to hold both boys hands. I just got my hair did. A lady put my crown in my hair and I just got a hug from Stephanie It was a big hug. But, I like it.

I just got dressed with the big girls. I felt like a princess. I got my picture taken . We rode in a big truck. I was dancing in it.

I walked down the aisle. I had lots of fun. We are going to get our picture taken. We are listening to music the music says in love, in love, in love, in love, in love. Everyone is taking pictures even Jack. Jack is giving candy to everyone.

I had fun. I danced with Mark. There was a chocolate fountain. I rode in a taxi. My Mom got sick in a taxi.

All in all it was a lovely time with our wonderful family. Athena had a blast, and as for the rest of us, well the memories of the rough parts are fading quickly replaced with the lasting images of a lovely, beautiful wedding. We will all remember it always, but it will be especially in grained in the memory of our Princess Athena.