Happy Birthday America

So America aged another year over the weekend and in return we all benefited from some much-needed time off. (At least it was much-needed for me as things have been a bit hectic for me lately with school and work). Lauren and I spent the long weekend in Dallas. My cousin Michelle's wedding was on Saturday night (for all of you reading this and saying to yourself 'Jason sure does have a lot of cousins', well you are correct but that is another story for another day).
We flew in on Thursday night which gave us all day on Friday to do as we pleased. We spent most of the day at the pool talking to aunts, uncles and cousins who had made the trek to the Lone Star State. All of the out of town guests were invited to the rehearsal dinner on Friday night at 6pm. Actually, instead of a traditional dinner at a restaurant, we attended a barbecue filled with several speeches, delicious food, plenty of drinks and a fireworks display from the adjacent golf course. The family that hosted the bbq was friends with the Michelle's soon-to-be husband, Wes. Their home was amazing and provided a beautiful backdrop for the party (the house was approximately 12,000 sq ft; I'm pretty sure that if I was given the opportunity I would get lost in this house and would not be found for days). We ended the night back at the hotel around the pool enjoying a few more beverages until about 2 am.
Luckily, not much activity was required of us the next day because we again spent the majority of the time taking naps and soaking up the hot Texas sun in the oft-mentioned pool. The actual wedding did not start until 7 pm so we had plenty of time for these "activities".
The ceremony was nice and the reception was a lot of fun. The band they had was fantastic and in fitting tribute to America's birthday the reception ended with everyone waving sparklers as the happy newly-weds loaded themselves into their limo. Once again this night ended around the pool but we didn't make it to bed until 5 am. For one reason or another, Lauren, my sister Erin, my cousin Carrie and I felt as though go to bed was the worst possible decision we could ever make. Well, needless to say we all paid for this the next day on our trip home. Not only were we all sleep deprived and delirious our plane was delayed when the crew thought it found a mechanical issue. 1.5 hours later, it was discovered that there was not any issue and then we were finally on our way. Sitting on a runway for over an hour with recirculated air is not my idea of a great time when I'm tired but it was well worth it. We all had a really great time on our mini-vacation and even a less-than-perfect trip home couldn't ruin that.