My Cousin's Wedding

 My cousin Eric married the love of his life Erin McGowen this past Friday night in downtown St. Paul. I have been looking forward to this event for months and it did not disappoint!!  My family is small and we don't get together (all of us) very often.  So, when my cousin got engaged my mind immediately went to....pARTY WITH MY FAM!!! I haven't seen my Aunt Carol for 5 years and my cousin Annie for 8!  I digress...So Eric and Erin got married and she such a wonderful addition to our family. She's outgoing, up for anything, and sarcastic (my favorite).

 I was honored to be a reader in the wedding.  They told me they gave me the hardest one since they thought I'd know how to pronounce all of the hard words.  I was flattered, as was Dan since that has more to do with him than me:) Thursday night Dan stayed home with the kids and that morning I had picked up my Mom at the airport.  We spent the WHOLE DAY shopping together.  We haven't done that for 3 1/2 years!  Are you starting to understand how excited I was for this weekend!?!

 The first photo above is of my Uncle Jefferey and best friend Pam.  Pam came out as the Groom's dinner was getting finished.  We were in downtown St. Paul all night and stayed out late.  The whole weekend was a mini Jamestown reunion and Pam got to see some old friends too. After the groom's dinner we hit a bar in downtown St. Paul and my uncles were on a roll and we all couldn't stop laughing. The next two photos are Dan and I the night of the wedding and my Mom and Ron at the wedding!

 This is a bad angle, but it's all I have of My Mom and her older sister Carol as well as my cousin Annie.  They live in Denver. They were disappointed they didn't get to meet the kids, but we knew we made the right decision in leaving them home.  It would have been way too complicated for us and them to bring them along. I was super sad though and feeling torn about it. The kids stayed home with Jackie and did really well.  No tears before bed for either and them and they both slept through the night. Kieran was up at 6 a.m. (sorry Jackie), but other than that they handled our absence well:)

 My cousin Laura was a bridesmaid.  She's so excited to get a sister-in-law and she and Erin are like two peas in a pod:) She has 11 months to go in her Physician's Assistant program.  I haven't seen her in a year so it was awesome to see her too!

 I tried many times to get a photo of these two, but as you can imagine they were everywhere and all over the place so this is the best I've got. They were a great looking couple and it was fun to watch how much in love they are with each other. The best part of the night was the band.  They were awesome.  I haven't danced for 2 years (that's is WAY too long) and I was in heaven. The reception as at A'bulae, which is brand new and on top of a parking garage.  Sounds strange, but it was a gorgeous venue!

 This is my Grandpa Marlan's sister Shirley and her daughter Karen.  They all live in Fargo and I haven't seen them MANY years as well. I talk on the phone quite a bit with Shirley.  She was a teacher and has been a mentor to me as I started in teaching.

 The three lefty grand-daughters.  We are the only girls and the only ones in the family who are left handed....weird! Everyone says we look a ton alike, but I think it's kind of hard to tell here.  I have glasses on and all of us are a little bit....um...tired:)

This is from the morning after the wedding.  We had lunch as a family before I had to leave to go home to see our babies.  I hadn't seen them since Wednesday night so I was super ready to snuggle them! It was also my Aunt Shawn's birthday. 

Overall it was one of those weekends when as soon as it's over you feel a little depressed that it's over.  I'm going to just count the days until Laura gets married and we can have another party:) It might be awhile, but I can wait:)