She almost got us...

Well, Rachel and Clay returned from their honeymoon last night after driving from Hilton Head, SC to Yorktown, VA where they picked up the remainder of their wedding presents, and then they drove to Richmond, VA where their apartment is (probably 12 hours of driving with all the stops in between). When they arrived late in the evening (I'm sure super tired), they were met by all the toilet paper, confetti, etc that I described in my earlier post. I can only imagine their faces!

But when she called me to talk about it, she claimed that someone had cleaned up the toilet paper before they arrived, because there wasn't any toilet paper anywhere in their apartment. At first I didn't believe her. I said, "You're kidding, right? You're just pulling my leg". But she was surprisingly convincing and I will admit that I bought her lie. I had just worked a super long day at camp and was really tired, so my judgement was probably a little off. But I will give her credit for being so believable over the phone. Of course I immediately call Daria and tell her what Rachel said, and she was about to blow a gasket at the thought of our hard work being cleaned up before Rachel and Clay even saw it. So for a little less than 24 hours, Daria, Brett, and I have been calling/texting and getting ourselves into a frenzy (at least Daria and I were pretty worked up), trying to figure out which person cleaned up their apartment for them, and further ruined the surprise.

But today it finally came out that she was LYING and was just pulling our leg about the toilet paper. (Whew) They had every bit to clean up, and are still trying to sort out their clothes, etc. Which gives me a little bit of satisfaction. I'm still kicking myself for buying into her act, but I know that I deserved it for all that we did to their apartment. Rachel told Daria that even if it took her until we were 50, she would eventually get us back. And Clay has disowned all siblings except Anna who wasn't there.

A little tidbit of info that I reveled in was that apparently Rachel asked Clay to get the key back from Brett weeks before the wedding - she told Clay that we would definitely use the key to mess up their apartment. But Clay thought that Brett wouldn't do anything with the key, and he didn't worry about getting it back. So this will be one time in their marriage where Rachel was definitely right, and now they are both paying for their mistake. I'm not saying that Rachel will always be right, but when it comes to knowing her devious sisters, Clay - take her word for it! :)

Oh, I forgot to include this picture of their bed in the last post - so here's one more for the record book. :)

I know that one day she will get us back. But until that day comes, Rachel...WE GOTCHA!!!

The meanest bridesmaids ever...

So Rachel (my youngest sister) and Clay (my newest brother-in-law) got married on Saturday (May 19). It was pretty windy...okay borderline hurricane windy...a plant fell off of the decorative column and hit Daria (my other sister) in the back of the head. Luckily it was a light plant. But basically, everything that wasn't nailed down, was blowing horizontally for a while. Then when the ceremony was over and the reception started, the wind died down a bit and we were less afraid of our dresses blowing up! Speaking of dresses, there was a little crisis with the bridesmaid dresses, so some of you may be wondering what we actually wore. Well, there are pictures below, and they were fabulous (given the alternative) - I may even wear it again...if I can find the shoes that go with it.

If you notice my shoes in this picture below, don't call the "What not to wear" people just yet - I did actually wear heals that (mostly) matched the dress for the ceremony. But they were promptly kicked off as soon as pictures were over and these nice, COMFORTABLE platform flip flops were put on instead. I just didn't think about that when we took this picture.

Here's a shot of Rachel getting ready - she was a GORGEOUS bride. And her hair remained beautiful despite all the wind. She had so much hairspray in her hair - Sandy (who did her hair), would spray the piece of hair, then curl it, then spray it again - and not lightly - we're talking complete coverage. I don't know how Rachel got all of it OUT of her hair, but for the ceremony and reception, it held beautifully!

This is a shot of the newly wed couple as they were being announced at the reception. Such a good lookin couple!!

Here's a better shot - close up of their pearly whites. :)

And now we get to the title of my blog. You see, Clay and Rachel drove to their honeymoon in his jeep. And you can't really decorate the outside of a jeep because of the soft cover, etc. We couldn't write "Just Married" or any other decorations on the outside of the jeep, without destroying the plastic. And we're just not that mean...although we definitely have a mean streak in us. Below, you will find pictures of what we were able to do to their apartment (in lieu of destroying the jeep).

Brett (Clay's brother), had a key to the apartment, and Clay (innocent boy) was convinced that Brett would never let anyone use the key for mischief. Ah, younguns. Clay was almost right about his "responsible" brother - I have a feeling that Brett wasn't too keen on the idea of letting us into the apartment. But once we got started, he jumped in like a champ.

There are 36 rolls of toilet paper unrolled in their tiny one-bedroom apartment. And guess who helped us unroll them? Does that look like a person protesting, or participating?

In the bathroom, we took down their shower curtain (and hid it), and hung up some of their clothes from their closet in its place. Then Brett saran wraped the toilet. Then we stuffed the bathtub and floor area with balloons and toilet paper. (Did I mention that Brett blew up the balloons?) Oh, and we unscrewed the light bulbs in the bathroom, to top it off.

Here comes the mean part - Mom (yes Mom) suggested that we pick up some confetti on the way...so we did as Mom suggested and I think Daria had fun distributing it!

What's not pictured here, is that we took out all of their clothes from their drawers and then re-distributed them together - meaning that one of his shirts is on top of one of her shirts, and we alternated that way, and then put them back in the drawers. So they will have to re-organize just a bit. We did some other things to their apartment that I'm not going to post, because I don't want them to read about it - I'll let them discover it months from now. :)

Yes, I will admit to being there and approving of all the "decorations". I'm just glad I'm already married...Brett better decide to have a destination wedding that no one can afford to come to. Otherwise I can only imagine the payback he will receive. I know that Daria and I will be paid back in full, too. I don't know when or how, but I'm positive that Rachel won't let this one go unanswered. But it was worth it. Everyone needs to feel loved, and what shows that more than a practical joke?

So now you are all feeling sorry for Rachel and Clay, and have probably added me and Daria to your "Mean Girls" folder. And I admit that I feel a little bit of remorse. But I can't undo it, so I just need to revel in imagining their faces when they return from Hilton Head in a few days. If only I could be there to see it (but not within hitting range).

I guess to be fair, I should mention that their jeep wasn't exactly left untouched - we did manage to get 160 lbs of birdseed into the front seats - it covered the gas pedals and reached to the top edge of the seats. But that was too easy to clean up, so we just weren't satisfied with that.

I realize that us "Smith girls" (now Biles, Ellison, and Lyons girls) may never be invited to any of your weddings now that you know what we're capable of (at least the Biles and Ellison girls). But we generally only show this much "love" to family members, so if you're not blood related, you might be safe...might. Until next time!

Sidenote: I was originally going to post this on Thursday of last week, but then was afraid that somehow Rachel and Clay would hear about it through the grapevine and see the pictures before they even got home. So I didn't post it. But tonight (Saturday, May 25) I got a call from Rachel and she said that her "sources" had leaked that "something" had been done to their apartment. I asked who her sources were, but she wouldn't give them up. It's a good thing for the sources, because I'm upset that the surprise was ruined. Some people need to learn a little "wedding surprise etiquette" and keep their mouths shut until AFTER they are surprised!!! This also goes for uncles who like to spoil surprise bridal lingerie showers (Uncle Bubba). Anyway, I'll get off my soapbox now and have fun picturing Clay and Rachel cleaning everything up. Ha ha ha ha ha!!!

The Life of a Bridesmaid...and other stuff

Well, Rachel is getting hitched this weekend, and I'm in the wedding (along with Daria, and Clay's sister, Anna). I think I'd forgotten how crazy weddings can be. And this time I was put in charge of the rehearsal dinner slideshow and the guest book (we did a picture album that guests will sign so that when Rachel and Clay look back through it, it's not just a bunch of names on lined paper - I used www.mypublisher.com, and I've developed a love/hate relationship with the site, but mostly it worked out really well). As soon as everyone (in the wedding party at least) gets here I'll get some more pictures online. For now, it appears to be the calm before the storm, although I believe that is only because Mom is still at work and hasn't come home to put all of us to work yet. :)

I got an email today from our high school class president with information about our 10 year high school reunion. Kinda creepy. I just don't feel that old. And when I looked through the website (www.york97.com) to see other people's pictures, I realized that many of our former classmates have children. Not their first baby - but multiple children. It's crazy! I'm not ready for kids yet...I'm getting there, but still feel like it's a year away at least. It's up to God's timing, I know, but I'm thankful that He didn't decide to bless me just yet. :)

Alright, time to go do more bridesmaid duties - airport runs, altering dresses (yes, still doing that since I didn't even see the dress until today), etc, etc, etc.