Oh, Santa Fe!

This past weekend we had the pleasure of flying out to Santa Fe, New Mexico for the wedding of my dear friend, Angelica.  The wedding weekend was beautiful, Angelica and Mills [the groom] were stunning, and the company was exactly what the doctor ordered.  Here's the day-by-day rundown of our first trip cross-country with Teigan...

Thursday:

After meticulously planning and packing so we weren't bringing along our entire life, we headed to the airport.  No major issues leaving Knoxville, other than the near panic attack I was having because I was so worried that Teigan wasn't going to do well and the entire plane was going to whisper death threats our way because of our screaming baby.  Low and behold, not a single peep out of her the entire 2.5 hours.  Hallelujah!  I thought I'd gone to Heaven... such a relief.  

First plane trip!

Well, upon landing, I realized that we were actually about half an hour late arriving.  Crap.  We only had a 50 minute layover.  After a heart-racing-near-screaming-argument with the woman behind me who decided she should get in front of us in line to exit the plane because she had a flight leaving 5 minutes after us, I strapped on Teigan and there we went.  Just 15 minutes before our connection was supposed to leave, Ben grabbed our carry-on bags and I raced ahead with Teigan in-tow in the Ergo [best. invention. ever].  Fast forward 5 minutes.  The American Airlines employee looks at me, Teigan and I sweating, and says "Sorry, it's policy to close the door 10 minutes before scheduled take-off."  I about lost it.  The door was open and I was there!  Are you kidding me?!  Ben showed up about 30 seconds later and I told him that he had to handle this because the redhead in me was about to show up and smack the woman in the face.  We were with an infant and being late wasn't our fault!  Come on, people... have some sympathy!  Fast forward 2 hours.  We're waiting outside the Dallas-Fort Worth airport for a shuttle to take us to the Ramada.  Fast forward 45 minutes.  We arrive at the beloved hotel that American so graciously offered us because a) we had a baby, and b) I think the woman realized how ridiculous she was to us because of "policy".  As Ben says it, it's the policy - not the law.  Such a smart man.  Anyways, anyone who knows me knows that hotels totally skeeve me out, except for super nice ones, in which case I'm then willing to touch the floor, counter-tops, and sheets.  I still won't ever touch the covers.  Ugh!  Okay, so we walk into this particular hotel and I about die.  Not only is it obviously the cheapest hotel on the block, but there is porn, yes porn, playing on the TV in the lobby.  Are. You. Kidding. ME?!  What dimension did I just enter?  Where the hell am I?  Did I mention that we were left with absolutely no toiletries, diapers, food, or clothes [underwear included] since all of it was in our checked bag?  Um, yeah.  Epic mommy fail.  I was dying.  Needless to say, Ben and I barely slept that night.  Teigan, on the other hand, was perfectly content.  Seriously, love her.

Friday:

After waking with a rumbling stomach, stinging eyeballs, and a serious case of the heebie-jeebies, I put on Teigan's "clean" [hellooo, boiling water from the coffee maker - don't judge] onesie, and we headed out the door and back to the airport.  Thank God for McDonald's coffee.  After another super successful flight to Santa Fe [thank you, baby Jesus!], Meredith and Jacob picked us up at the airport.  So great seeing the two of them.  After what could be designated as the best shower of my life, we all headed out to the Plaza to meet up with all of the girls, their honey's, and Mary Gayle and Donny.  It was so wonderful finally meeting Mills and Dave [Haely's main squeeze].  Not to mention, seeing my girls.  Ahh, I've missed them so much.  After wandering around Santa Fe for a while, we headed back to get ready for the Rehearsal Dinner.

So stinkin' cute... Meredith & Teigan

Talk about one heck of an evening.  With the sun setting, guacamole being made, and margaritas flowing, it was just stunning.  An evening full of wonderful speeches [ahem, Haely!] and memories; it was so much fun.  Oh, and creme brulee cheesecake... I really don't like cheesecake, but seriously... it was fantastic!  And Teigan, totally a dollface.  Seriously, how did we get this lucky?

Saturday:

We all got up and while Meg, Meredith, and I headed out to the hills of Santa Fe for the bridesmaid luncheon, Jacob, Ben, and Teigan hung out watching football and being lazy.  The bridesmaid luncheon was totally ridonk.  To sum it up quickly [since this is apparently a marathon blog], the location overlooked all of Santa Fe and we received the equivalent of an Emmy's swag bag.  It was absolutely amazing!  

Lauren, me, Haely, and Meredith being silly 

Meg & Meredith

Totes awesome

Lauren is a bird!

Hippie Hae Hae with the swag bag

Fast forward 6 hours.  Angelica walking down the grass aisle at the outdoor ceremony site with the sun setting was breathtaking.  She was, as always, so insanely gorgeous.  As soon as Angelica and Mills were together in front of the intimate group, cue Teigan crying.  Yep, crying.  She had yet to do this thus far the entire trip, so it's not all that surprising that it finally happened... but that may have had something to do with the fact that she was over an hour late eating.  I thought she could make it through the ceremony.  Mommy fail [again].  Anyways, it was a lovely ceremony with an absolutely hysterical pastor, followed by a mariachi band that led the group to the reception site.  

Horned Frogs!

Family photo op

It was a lovely evening full of fresh salsa, delicious fruit sangria, dancing, a Bobo-Haely duet, tons of bonding time with Dave aka Teigan's crush, and a zonked-out Teigan who was passed around to an estimated 40 strangers who kissed all over her before Mary Gayle whisked her away for the rest of the evening.  MG was in Heaven.  I'm not sure of the relation of Teigan to Mary Gayle [Haely's mom, Kathy's sister-in-law, and one of my favorite ladies on the planet], but we'll go with  Auntie.  Sound good?  Yep.  

Auntie Mary Gayle, Teigan, and Uncle Donny dancing the night away

Anyways, not gonna lie, by the end of the night, the lack of sleep was really wearing on me and I wanted to cuddle with my hubby and little girl so bad.  But, I also didn't want to say goodbye to everyone.  That part sucked and I already miss them all so much!

Sunday:

Meg, Ben, Teigan, and I had an early trip to the Santa Fe airport that morning, but the shuttle ride and the trip to Dallas-Fort Worth went off without a hitch.  It was fun having Meg on the same plane as us and watching her drool all over her chest when she was wide-open-mouth-sleeping. I totally should have taken a picture.  Dangit.  We had a long layover at DFW and, as it turns out, about five minutes after I decide to trek it over to the other side of the terminal to get us grilled chicken and avocado sandwiches, Ben calls to inform me that Teigan has had a diaper explosion all over herself.  Awesome.  While I should have been concerned, I honestly wasn't.  All I was doing was being thankful that this go-round, I made sure that a clean change of clothes for all of us were accessible - along with plenty of diapers and wipes.  Mommy win!  Oh, and for the record, no crying on the fourth and final trip, either.  Teigan is a super-duper-plane-flying-trooper.  Let's just hope this works for the upcoming trips to Salt Lake City, Chicago, and Houston.  If not, I suppose I'll bring my "free complimentary drink" coupon and order some whiskey - for all of us.  Muahahaha!