Happy Things

This was a first for The Graves Farm. A real wedding with a real officiant. Who’s the happy couple? Nick and Rocio. I worked with Nick a number of years back at the surgery center, and it was he who went with David and I to Honduras for a medical mission trip. That's where we all met Rocio, at One World Surgery Center in Honduras. Rocio was a nurse there, who I ended up working closely with all week. 

Upon our return to the U.S, little did we know that Nick and Rocio would stay in touch and begin their love story. And for the last 8 years, they have managed a long distance relationship, submitted for her visa to come to the U.S. and after a very long wait Rocio and her family arrived. Hence, a wedding at the Graves Farm.

It all started early in the morning with part of Nick's family coming to help set up tables and chairs, plus a myriad of other wedding things and activities. David was putting the final touches on the BBQ meats all while I was finishing the preparation of the side items. 

Due to the windy conditions that day, the tables were
moved in the garage for finer dining.

There were lots of helping hands on deck.

The bride and her bridal party would come out our front 
door and head straight down the aisle.

We even had official personalized country-painted wedding signs out front. David took me down to the front road while I rode on the tailgate of the truck, to then jump off the back of the truck and place them each strategically. 

I couldn't resist paining the red hearts

What every venue needs, right?

My parking sign was reminiscent of the 
"Parking" signs I used to see in Dallas at Fair Park
when I was a little girl and my family was looking for 
parking around the Texas State Fair. Heaven
forbid we ever parked in a real parking lot.

The venue is now set up, the food is prepared, the wedding party is all arriving, and the guests would soon be next. David and I were sweaty to say the least as we scurried around to finish our own final touches of drinks in a wheelbarrow, a table set-up for the DJ, the cake table final touches, and then it happens. 

Nick comes to me and pulls me aside. He's now informing me (35 minutes prior to the actual ceremony) that Rocio has decided that she would like for David and I to walk her down the aisle. Excuse me? We are in the background on this whole adventure. We are the ones placing the wheels in motion, the ones making sure many details are completed, and the ones who are NOT in the wedding, you see. 

I'm stunned to say the least and somehow a "Yes, why sure we will" seeps out of my mouth. Nick quickly proceeds back to his preparations while I'm left standing there, wondering what just happened. Now, where's David. 

If I didn't mention it before, the colors of this wedding are shades of blue, and the theme is sunflowers. Do I have something blue? Nick's mom is in a long, blue, glittery ball gown. Most folks are in jeans, boots and cowboy hats. Oh yeah, where's David? I find him at his grilling station deck area back behind the garage where he has far too many smokers all arranged to his specifications. He says he uses them all. Supposably they are for different reasons. I digress. David! I holler. He turns to look at me and I announce in a somewhat low voice that Nick has asked us to walk Rocio down the aisle. He laughs and goes back to what he's doing. No really. I'm being serious. He looks up at me like I've lost my mind. "We are not in the wedding though", he says. I tell him, "We are now". 

Okay, all food prep has to stop and we have to go find clothes for this wedding and get our &hit together to look decent real quick like. How am I going to take pictures and record things if I'm in the wedding? Geeezzz.

I remember that Lauren had given me a blue jean dress awhile back that I've never even tried on. Oh yeah, and I got a new pair of boots for Mother's Day. That'll work.

The dress was perfect, Lauren!

David changed into a pair of blue slacks, a lighter blue shirt and boots. Then off we went JUST IN TIME for our turn to get Rocio out our front door and down the so-called aisle. Everybody was looking at Rocio (and us) as David and I each held onto an arm of hers, making our way down the aisle. When we got to the Officiant and Nick under the gable (which he had made) we turned Rocio over to him. 

Little did we know the next big question was about to come. Who gives this bride to this young man? Uhhhh. Silence. Uhhhhh. The screaming in my head was loud and insidious. Say, We do! Say, We do!

We do! I say loudly. David just sits there unsure of what is happening in his life right now. I'm sure he's thinking he needs to get back to the food. But no. We are now in the wedding and sitting on the front row with the groom's Mom and Dad. We sat there and watched the wedding. In the wedding. 

Once the wedding ceremony concluded, we all walked back in some proper order back up the aisle. Ready, break - and head for the food as people would be eating soon! Except for the occasional photo opportunity here and there. It was picture time for their family and luckily that took a minute.

The happy couple 💕

This would be the backdrop for most all the
photos. 

What a fun and exciting day it was!!!
Congrats Nick and Rocio, we love you guys so much!

Then my favorite time arrived.....cake time!

It was a bit warm on this day, but the cake
made everything better. The kids all ran around
and played, and all the guests ate BBQ
and visited with one another. 

Luckily, most everyone felt comfortable enough to change back into their before-wedding clothes, or at least those who had changed at the house. We did get a final picture with Nick's mom and dad and I was back in my comfy clothes at the time.

Well, David was still in his wedding clothes but not me!

There's one last thing though. Nick's mom (on the far left) asked me, just before they were leaving, if I had any chickens for sale. What she didn't know was that there was a recent back story about a man named Ramone, a Gunter resident who does alot of mowing in the area, had recently stopped by our farm asking if we were interested in some of his chickens. I tried to tell Ramone 'no' because they are straight run (meaning could be male or females) who were 1-ish month old chicks and since I only want hens, I did not want to pay for the possibility of roosters. But Ramone was insistent. He practically begged me to just come take them. He said, "Please just load your cages up and come take the chickens. I'll give them to you free. Follow me to my house, and I'll load them up for you". And so I did. Ramone loaded up around 85 chicks and practically doubled my flock in a matter of minutes. He was just not able to care for them and whatever he was going to do with them did not pan out (of which I have minimal details of). 

Just a few of the new chicks who are growing into teenagers 

But my lucky day of free chickens turned into Nick's mom lucky day of free chickens, too. I gifted her with a dowry of 25 chickens (I tried to give her more!) and away they went. A married son, chickens and lambs, too. Since I had just sold her my 3 lambs recently. It turns out many of my animals would now call their farm their home. She was SO happy - as was I. 

I still have MANY chickens now, who eat lots of chicken food. The little chickens that Ramone gave me are growing up. Luckily, I have 2 people who are looking to take the ones that are roosters, but time will tell which ones those are. It's still too soon. 

So where did I put all these chickens in the beginning? Well, I moved my silkie girlz to Rusty's bachelor pad back behind Maggie the Pig's pen area and put those 80-90 chicks in the silkie girlz fenced area for safe keeping. So as you can imagine what happened next? Yep, Rusty got to work and now we are hatching silkie babies. More chickens. 

Chompchi is such a good mama

This clutch has 3 chicks thus far 

Now the approx 55-65 (?) chicks I have left are getting bigger and they have been set free with our own flock, and it looks like I have a gazillon chickens running around here. Probably because I do. I even gave about 15 of them to another neighbor who lives down the way, too. It's so hard to know how many chickens Ramone gave me in the first place. It could have been 100? And I still have so many left after giving many of them away. There's just too many to count. But they are now home. Until they crow.

All this, along with a new 1 year old female longhorn, Honey, that we are babysitting/keeping for friends….

Honey, who is involved in the 
Amy and Cyndi Trading Co.

   and 2 little fainting goats that I could not resist…..

Pearl and Coco of which Pearl faints the most,
and I didn't realize how sad it was when they do.

 + new household residents including a toddler….

He loves his sand box on the front porch 

All these happenings make this wedding seem like a piece of cake. At the end of the day, everyone left and now there's a new married couple out in the world, Nick and Rocio. Together, they have 6 children so they are busy people, I'm sure. 

Next up was the moving in of Lauren, Ryan and Brooks (and soon-to-be Olive). Then, her baby shower (sprinkle). But that's all to review in more detail on another day. Everyone is settling in and these things take time. 

An update to the colitis I have encountered recently is that I am feeling better. A lot better actually. It was quite a blow that I never saw coming. Who knew? A follow up visit to a GI doctor is in my future on July 8th. But first, a new baby is scheduled to arrive July 3rd. I'll get the blog caught up though don’t you worry . I've got to get all this out of my head and to you. It's all part of my therapy. 

Back again sooner next time,

Cyndi