Mason, Mommy, & Nana Kay's Indiana Adventure!

A couple of weekends ago, I ventured up to Indiana for a good college friend's wedding. I have been wanting to go for several months now, but Marc had to work that day! I didn't want to miss it, so my mom set out on the adventure with me. I wasn't about to drive Mason by myself on a 6-hour road trip! I had 3 best friends at Depauw; Angie, Natalie, and Ryan. Yes, one boy was in the group! He was kinda like our big brother and protected us from craziness during our 4 years together in school. Angie and I were roommates freshman year in a co-ed dorm (yes, even co-ed floors!!!!?!?!?!) and we met Ryan the first week when we were just meandering around the dorm meeting new people. We loved him at first sight and took him under our wing. We were inseparable all throughout college. Ryan was in graduate school in Massachusetts at the time of my wedding in 2003, but he flew here for it!! My dad picked him up at the airport and we perched him right up in the middle of the Rehearsal Dinner. Thank you. He stayed in the hotel where a lot of out-of-town guests were staying, and Marc stayed there with his family the night before the wedding. Marc and Ryan ended up sharing the continental breakfast together the morning of the wedding! Random! So, I'm very bonded to him. :) Anyway, after all of this, I wasn't going to miss Ryan's wedding. I was determined to pack Mason and me up and head that way! I was also excited about having a little reunion with Natalie and Ang, but they ended up not being able to go to the wedding. But, my mom and I made lots of new friends, so we were just fine. It's kinda easy making new friends when you have on a hot pink dress and a 12 week old baby with you! :)

The wedding was in Clinton, IN (never heard of it in my life until now!), but we had to drive through a couple of significant cities to get there. So, my mom and I took advantage of it and made a couple of "pit stops" on the way. It was about 24 hours by the time we left our house and got to the wedding cuz of all of our stops! It was the most fun! My mom's sister, my Aunt Tizzie, lives in Columbus, IN so we stopped and spent the night with her Fri. night. My little 2nd cousin, 5 year-old Makena, was staying the night at Aunt Tizzie's as well so she helped us take care of Mason. She was sooo excited to love on her baby cousin! Aunt Tizzie & my mom spent hours concocting up some interesting bed thang for Mason on the floor in the room where I slept. He loved it and slept the entire night! Us girls stayed up late talking and the next morning Aunt Tizzie fixed us the yummiest breakfast ever!! My cousin, Christy, came over and joined us for breakfast. Then, we were off to our next stop: Depauw University!! We passed the Greencastle exit on the way to Clinton, so we got off the exit to check out the campus. My mom hadn't seen it since my graduation 7 1/2 years ago and I hadn't seen it since my reunion in 2006. It's a lot different now! I wanted to have pictures of Mason on Depauw's campus. Plus, I made a very special purchase when I was there for the reunion and wanted to finally bust it out. I remember telling Natalie and Ryan in the bookstore that Marc and I were ready to have a baby. That was June 2006. They were sooo excited and helped me pick out the cutest little Depauw t-shirt for my baby-to-be, so that I would always remember telling them that day. Mason is FINALLY here after the 2-year journey to get him and I was so ecstatic to put that little t-shirt on him. He looked the cutest!!! We put that right on him and took him all over campus taking pictures. Poor little thang! It was soooo hot, but he did pretty well.

We left Depauw and finally made it to Clinton, IN to the wedding. We barely made it!! But I got to see Ryan marry his dream woman and turn around and walk down that aisle with the biggest smile I had ever seen on his face! The reception was in West Terre Haute, Indiana at a school called St. Mary of the Woods. Anyone ever heard of it? The campus was beautiful and had these huge old beautiful, ornate buildings, kinda like Depauw. I was the only DPU alum there besides the best man, Jason Roseberry, so I'm sooo glad I was there. The smile on Ryan's face when he looked up and saw me was unforgettable, even though he wasn't surprised cuz he knew I was coming. It's just strange to go from seeing someone almost every day during 4 yeas of college, to seeing them once ever 3 years or so. I was so excited to introduce Ryan to this little baby Marc and I had waited so long for. Ryan was holding Mason and everyone kinda stopped and looked up at Ryan, his new wife, and their "new baby." Hee hee! Ryan looked so natural!

About 8 pm, we finally left the reception and headed on down to Madisonville, KY to stay the night with Marc's parents. We basically travelled in this huge circle to finally make it back to Nashville that Sunday night. Marc was in Madisonville waiting for us ready to be with his son again. He missed him the most! Well, he missed me, too. :) We spent Sunday hanging out with the family and came back to Nashville Sunday night. It was such a WONDERFUL weekend filled with being reunited with old friends and spending time with family from all sides! And Mason was right there in the middle of all the excitement!!

Since Nana Kay drove, I was able to sit in the back the entire time watching my baby make the silliest faces and experience mood swings. :)

We had to pull over for me to feed Mason and for mommy & Nana Kay to get a little snack. I've learned that road trips definitely take longer than usual with a little one! That's okay, though, it makes it more fun! :)

On the road again... Mason was seriously bonding with his monkey on this trip! For the first time ever, he actually cares about it!

On the road again... I love this one with Nana Kay's little head in the background!! Check out the dinosaur on the side of the interstate... This means we were somewhere in Bowling Green! Marc and I always comment on it when we're on I-65 heading back and forth to Louisville.

Mason was starting to get a little fussy, so mommy had to step in and do some serious entertainin'!

It's working!!

Mason thinks his mommy is the silliest!! He was just a' giggling!

Made it to Columbus, IN to Aunt Tizzie's about 11 pm... Makena was still up waiting for us! She could hardly stand it she was so excited!

After spending quality time with Aunt Tizzie & Makena, little Mason was exhausted!! He was asleep like this on the living room couch while we were hanging out talking. Makena had to set up all of her little stuffed animals all around him to make him cozy. I think it worked!

Oh wait, you're supposed to be asleep!! He woke up for a second just before we moved him to his bedroom. He was quickly back to sleep, though. He's like that at home, too.

Nana Kay and Aunt Tizzie getting the little man all situated. They kept bringing in all these pillows from random rooms in the house and building some fort around him. Thank you. Mason just slept right through all the commotion.

They're the silliest sisters ever! They're always like this when they get together. They're just alike.

I woke up at 7 am to find this... This was one of the times where Mason rolls over on his stomach and frustrates himself. And he was sleeping so soundly until this happened!!

The sisters getting breakfast ready. Oh, it smelled soooo good!! Many fun memories from this house are the many meals prepared in that kitchen!

Aunt Tizzie, Makena, and my cousin Christy lovin' on Mason as breakfast is cookin'

Makena had him all perched up in the living room and they were watching some sing along video with Katie Lee Gifford. Thank you. Did I even know she made those kind of shows? Well, she does and Mason was rather enjoying it! They were just chillin' in the living room. Oh, and notice how Makena had to roll up a little blanket and "shield" Mason's head from hitting the top of the little chair or something. She was so concerned about that so had to take action! Is it even helping? Thank you.

I love these people!! Mason was like, "Get me outta here!! I've had enough of these crazy women!!"

Check out Mason in the background hanging onto his monkey and watching us eat. We were not paying him any attention!

Visiting Depauw University, my alma mater!

Aww, so many memories at this place!!

Mason was getting a little mad, so Nana Kay helped soothe him.

Aww, he's just so cute in his little t-shirt!! (and the hottest!)

On the steps of Delta Zeta; the sorority that Angie was in. She was my freshman year roommate and one of my bestest friends! Okay, this picture is HILARIOUS cuz look at what Mason is doing... It looks like he's doing a thumbs-down sign and booing DZ!! He's thinking, "This sorority is terrible, you don't want to be in it!!" Hee hee!

Back in the car so we could drive over to my sorority house. You can't tell at all that he was a little annoyed can ya? :)

Mommy & Mason in the front yard of Kappa Alpha Theta; the first sorority ever founded! It was actually first founded as a fraternity since sororities were not in existence (I know y'all really care about that little history lesson!)

Aww, look how sweet he is!! He took a moment to love on Mommy in front of the infamous Theta porch swing.

I spent many, many days swinging on this swing with so many different random people... It seemed so surreal that there I was 7 years later with my little boy!!

Knock, knock, may we please come in? (Noone was there since school had not started yet, so we didn't actually get to go in.)

Longden Hall in the background... My freshman year dorm where many VERY interesting memories took place! Angie and I went through so much together in that place!! We had to move out during the middle of our freshman year due to some battles with our third roommate.. I won't even get into that story now!!

FINALLY made it to Ryan's wedding!! (the whole original point of this trip!!) This was so sweet... after the ceremony they came out and we threw roses at them. Then they jumped up onto this convertible and took a ride around the block. It was the cutest little town and such a special moment!

They're back at the church! I felt like the paparazzi cuz my mom kept driving me up the street and I would jump out and take random pictures of the bride and groom. This one actually looks like a pic that would be in the People magazine or something! Wait, there's another paparazzi person in the background!! Sooo funny!!

At least I was able to get a quick pose from them after all my hard work!!

At the wedding reception... Ryan meeting Mason for the first time! Mason was just going to town on his thumb paying no attention to this person holding him!!

Ryan loved him!!

I met Ryan's wife for the very first time at this moment. She's seems so down to earth and just perfect for Ryan! They're going to be so happy!!

The cake was so cute and this was a pretty neat idea. Lots of little cupcakes instead of slicing cake for all the guests. The pink ones were strawberry and were sooo yummy! I had 4 of them!!

Beth's sister making the toast. I love these bridesmaid dresses! They're just like the ones we wore in Andrea's wedding, except that our dress was more of a cranberry red color and our sash was black.

Oh, I found Ryan's mom!! She had to come over and give me the biggest hug ever! She was so happy to see me and could not believe we came all the way from Nashville with a little baby. Ryan took us girls home with him (he lived about 3o minutes from school) several times over the course of 4 years so we could see our "family away from home" and have some good home-cooked meals! Mrs. Phillips is awesome!!

Mrs. Phillips had to yell across the room for Ryan to come over and get in a picture with us. It was hilarious cuz he was in the middle of going from table to table to talk to his wedding guests and she was just a' yellin'! The entire room was looking at us wondering who in the world this girl in the hot pink was and why she was so special!! :)

I love this pic for some reason. I just like the look on Ry's face.

The back of Beth's dress was absolutely beautiful!! They're both so tall and slender... they make a rather nice couple! :)

Ryan's parents and younger brother, Jon

The mommas chatting away... with Mason right in the middle of everything!

Walking out to our car. This was the building in which the reception took place. Sooo beautiful!!

I love my Snap 'n Go stroller! We've gotten the most use out of it!! Thank you Aunt Linzett & Uncle Steve!! :)

Our last stop of the journey: Madisonville, KY! This was the look on Mason's face when he saw his daddy!!! He was all changed and in his pajamas ready for bed. He had a big day trapsing through all these random cities in Indiana!!

I love this one!! I treasure pictures of Mason and Marc. They just give me chills!!

Oh my gosh, how did I ever get to be so blessed and have this baby????? He is the cutest thing in the world and I still cannot believe he is mine even after 3 months!!!

Night, night! Mason loves his crib at Grandy C's & Paw T's house!! A nice change from the leopard print and brown, lime, and aqua polka dots and stripes at home! :)

The next morning... my boys all ready for church!

Nanny & Granddad came over for a visit (Marc's dad's parents)

Marc's cousin, Heather, and her daughter, Baylee, also heard Mason was in town and couldn't resist a visit!! Family from all over come a' runnin' when they hear the little man is there! :) I love them! (But, Mason still can't get enough of his mommy... he is looking right at the side of my face in this pic!)

Oh, what a fun weekend we had!! I'm so, so glad I got to see Ryan and catch up a little bit with him on the happiest day of his life! He was there for mine and I just couldn't miss being there for his!

Thank you, Nana Kay for going with us and driving the ENTIRE time and taking lots of pictures!! WE LOVE YOU!!

Thank you, God, for my very easy-going baby who so easily adjusts wherever he is and LOVES change. That's my kind of baby!!! :) Doing these posts just reminds me even more how much joy Mason Thomas has brought us and our families these past 3 months, one week, and 2 days!!