Our Kentucky Home

Although none of the Jasper kids have ever lived in Kentucky, since both of our parents are from Kentucky, it has been like our second home since we were kids.  This past weekend, Mama and the Jasper kids took time out of our busy lives to visit our Kentucky family, and our only regret was that we hadn’t done it sooner (the last time we were all there was September 2009 for our cousin, Sally’s, wedding). 

After a little flight trouble on the way there, we arrived about 2 am on Friday morning and our adventure began.

Friday morning at Pop and Dixie’s with Aunt MC, Nancy, Evan, and Baby Gunther

The autumn scenery between Winchester and Paris…absolutely beautiful!

A walk down memory lane (literally)…in front of and behind (in the alley) Granny’s old house on Hickman…

Hays Street Grocery…lots of walks here with Granny when we were kids (and it hasn’t changed much)…

Aunt Linda and Mama hanging out on the porch…

Dinner at Puccini’s Friday night in Lexington with Uncle Richard, Aunt Kathy, and cousins, Sally, Chris and Rich…

Boy was it yummy!

Taking some quick pictures on a cold night before our goodbyes…

Get-together for family and friends at Aunt Linda’s on Saturday…

Brent enjoying some “baby time” with Brooklyn, our cousin, Breann’s little girl…

Our cousin, Karen, with one of her three grandsons, Mason…

Karen and Scott (our late Uncle Harold’s kids) with us…

Mama with some “old” friends from high school and college…they sure had fun!

Aunt Linda enjoying some great-granddaughter time…

Breann enjoying some Lucy time…

Even some Jaspers came by for a visit and we were thrilled!

Uncle Richard, Linda, Abby and Amelia…

It was so nice to see so many people and catch up just a little.  We also had a nice spread of great food, including beer cheese and Ale 8s (a couple of our Kentucky favorites).

On Sunday we went back to Lexington to visit our cousin, David, who suffered a massive heart attack and brain damage 4 years ago and is doing so much better today in his group home where he receives therapy and training.  We went for breakfast at Denny’s and he cleaned his plate!

He was super glad to see his Aunt Susan…

Cousins…

And finally, to round out the trip, we took a trip to Ramsey’s in Lexington for warm bloody marys and down-home southern cooking, including fried green tomatoes, mashed potatoes and gravy, fried corn on the cob, homemade blue cheese dressing, and country fried steak.  Nothing healthy about any of that, but it sure was good (diet starts today!)

Jane E, Brent and I all flew back early this morning and Mama returns on Wednesday.  We enjoyed our time immensely and hope to do it again soon.  We love our Kentucky family and special thanks to Aunt Linda for always providing our home away from home.  We are always loved, we never go hungry, and she always has plenty of cold Ale 8s in the fridge. 

We love you Aunt Linda – thanks for the hospitality and don’t worry, we’ll be back!

The Dress

I have to tell a funny story about my wedding dress.  Basically, I didn’t want one.  At least I didn’t think I wanted one.  The closer we got to the wedding date, the more I had issues with what I was going to wear.  I wanted to just wear something “normal” but at the same time, I wanted to look beautiful for my groom.  As a result, I was very torn.

Mama convinced me to at least go look, so we did that the Tuesday before the wedding.  Not a whole lot of time to find a dress – and it had to be one that was hanging on the rack and fit perfectly, because there was no time for alterations.  Well, I guess it was meant to be because we found that dress on Tuesday at David’s Bridal and it only needed a clasp to be fixed and a bustle for the (very short) train to be added.  We decided we would keep the entire thing a surprise as we devised our scheme, however, we didn’t realize we were being videotaped during our dress fitting.

After my fitting (which we had no appointment for so they just let us “crash” into a dressing room), a lovely young lady approached me about a story they were doing on “older brides” (laughing out loud since I guess I am a very non-traditional bride in many ways) – women that were waiting until later in life to get married.  She asked if she could ask me a few questions when I left the store and I told her I would be happy to oblige.

After we checked out, I went outside and found out she was a reporter with local news station, KETK, and she wanted to interview me on camera!  I asked when this was going to air because my fiance’ had no idea I was there getting a dress.  She said it wouldn’t air until November and she asked my permission to use the footage from the store (which I had no idea they had taken).  I gave her a little background to let her know this was not my first wedding and I was not the best example of waiting until later in life to get married since I married the first time at 17, but she still wanted to talk to me.  She then asked me several questions off camera, hooked me up to a microphone, and then asked me more questions on camera.  The spot is to air in November!

So after all of that excitement, I had to come up with my cover story without lying to Jason.  He knew we were going to look at dresses at the mall, so I simply responded via text, “We struck out at the mall.”, which we did.  Thankfully there were no follow up questions so I was in the clear without having to fib.

So, Mama picked up the dress on Friday, snuck it in the house on Saturday, and when everyone went outside for the ceremony, came and slipped it on me at the last minute.  Was my handsome groom surprised when he saw me come around the corner!  It was priceless and I am so glad we were able to pull it off.

Thanks Mama for convincing me that I needed a real wedding dress to make the day just perfect.  I enjoyed keeping a secret (except for telling one teeny, tiny person) and surprising everyone at the ceremony. 

Honeymoon at Lakeway Resort

During our reception, our pastor and friend, Alex, informed us that in biblical times, weddings lasted up to a week and then everyone stood outside the tent while the bride and groom consummated the marriage (and then his wife smacked him).  Since the wedding was at Kit and Betty’s, the idea of having all of us there for an entire week made Betty cringe a little, but we promised we would all be out of there by Sunday (at the latest).  The idea of not getting away for at least one night made us cringe just a little, so we promised everyone we were still going to Lakeway for a quick get-away and there would be no tents for this event.

We stayed right on Lake Travis and toasted our marriage with a bottle of Cakebread Merlot, courtesy of Uncle Raymond and Aunt Penny (thanks!)…

Now we begin the countdown to our “real” honeymoon in Hawaii next year.  We started counting how far away it is and it is still over six months, so we have lots of time to plan, save, and get excited about that wonderful trip to paradise. 

Yearty Reception

What is a wedding without some delicious dinner and wedding cake?  Our wedding may have been super small but our families like to eat, so we couldn’t send them home hungry after the ceremony. 

Let the eating begin…deluxe fajitas spread (yum!)…

Somehow we got stuck at the kids table…but hey, half of them are ours so that was just fine. No way Hutch was sitting anywhere but next to Uncle Jason!

The fancy “reception hall”…a little warm for October 20th, but hey, we live in Texas and the weather is never predictable!

Pastor Alex and Wendi (they fit right in!)…

I love my family…what a handsome and gorgeous bunch…

Hutch up to “no good”…but isn’t he cute anyway?

The lovely bouquet (and cool shot thanks to my DIL)…

The kids were begging us to cut the cake, so of course, we obliged…

Can’t believe Jason let me be in charge of a knife (bet that is the first and last time in our marriage)…

Check out all the kids eyeing the cutting of the cake…

And we didn’t “shove” it in each other’s mouths…we were very well-behaved.  Yum!

The big kids really enjoyed the cake and cupcakes…

Nothing like a little hide-and-seek to keep the wedding reception hopping…

The party began to wind down around 7:30 so Jason and I changed clothes, packed up the car, gave the kids our love, and headed to Lakeway Resort for our one-night honeymoon.

Thanks again to our wonderful families for everything!  It was a perfect day and one with many special memories thanks to all of you!