DavisWhitakerStraubCoyDimanligHongCross

These are the names that make up my family.
These are the names that make up alot of the foundation of who I am.
These names are so dear to me, so intimate, so
The last name on the list was added Friday, and boy was it added with celebration!

Here it is almost Wednesday & I am still missing every second of that wedding night! (shameless plug: 11-11-11 Congrats Michele & Tony Cross!)
What a wonderful celebration with such crazy, fun, memorable family & friends.  Such a taste of why I am the way I am, & why I want to be just that, a solid reminder to embrace even the craziest, or even most embarrassing moments with those in my family. From bridal party duties, car rides to pick up the best dates everrrr, decorating hotel rooms for after parties, the ceremony itself, then the dance floor, and all the way to jumping on the bed with your mom in a hotel room with fiesta decorations, this was one of those kind of weekends you never forget & wish would've lasted a couple more days, (or years, let's get real.) Even in the moments of obnoxious laughter (Mom do I need to say names? hahah), or interestingly borderline sexual jokes spoken by your father, or even the infamous donald duck voice used frequently by him as well (Way to go Dad, hogging all the embarrassing Dani duties), the joy and care and intimacy of family bonds and the way we have shaped each other & continue to grow in relationship with eachother weighs so much heavier in memory.

When I look back & see my baby cousin in a tuxedo & a wagon, or my brother giving his coat to his precious girlfriend. My beautiful cousin in the most breath-taking dress walking down an isle, an adorable flower girl who wants to be my best friend and dance-partner for life. Or my date dance with my mom on the dance floor making her feel young again, while also allowing me to swing dance with my dad, like I used to when I was little & he taught me. These are the memories that make me want that weekend back. It's something about the way that my date laughed through the embarrassing moments of my family event, laughing with my mother with a kind of laugh that isn't out of good manners, but instead from deep within, when humor subsides awkward or embarrassment, but is pure and full of joy. Something about sitting at my Aunt's house & watching cheesy christmas movies, & eating both peppermint & gingerbread pudding just to decide which is better, while the whole time too exhausted to think, but loving the weekend too much to want to leave & go home to bed. Something about leaving the weekend to come back to reality, but still wearing the scarf from the Bride as a gift in a last hope to hold on to the emotion of the weekend.

Love,
Joy,
& Family, old & new.

Welcome to the family Tony.


Danielle Nicole.