Happy Ending

Well, what can I say, it was a super busy weekend but the end result...another happy ending. This last weekend we had the privilege of being part of Daniel (Mike's brother) and Jessica's wedding. It really was beautiful, the weather was perfect (a little hot for Mike's taste) and the kids were adorable. And here's how the story goes...

We left Friday morning, 4:00am to be exact. We were really hoping the kids would fall back asleep for at least a bit of our 6 hour drive, but no such luck. So instead we were carting off 2 sleepy heads in pajamas in the back seat of our car. The first hour was seamless, except that Mike got pulled over for speeding towards 5am...that sucked. I swear as the chp officer shined his light in our backseat and saw our blanket clad cargo that he thought we kidnapped our little bundles. I even told Mike, you know he went back to his car and checked to see if there were any amber alerts going on. But as much as we tried to play up the pity card for having to drive up north for a wedding super early in the morning, the cop had no pity...and we left speeding ticket in hand. We stopped 3 times, 2 for potty breaks and once for breakfast to try and break up the monotony of the drive for the young 'uns. We arrived a bit after 10am and were so excited to be out of the car and officially in northern california, I believe Dublin to be exact...or maybe Pleasonton.

Well after getting into our hotel rooms and forcing our kiddos to sleep a bit, we headed off to the rehearsal and dinner. Everything went pretty easily, the kids got it on their first trip down the aisle, and we were off to dinner. Dinner was great and the guys and girls parted ways for the final time before the wedding. The guys had a great time, thanks to the best man Shaun who took them on a tour of the old Bath House in San Francisco. Us girls played it lowkey at the maid of honor's house tying up all of the loose ends before the pending ceremony.

Saturday started early by me heading back to Sarah's (moh) house to get ready with all of the girls. We had a perfect morning...just the way it should be. All of us hung out in one room doing hair and make up and blabbing like a bunch of school girls. Thanks to Shayna...we all had perfect makeup. The boys went to breakfast together and then got ready for the mid afternoon ceremony. We all got there early to take our respective guys and girls pics..no bride and groom stuff though. I was the lucky one to get to deliver Jess her wedding present from Danny, a beautiful necklace, very thoughtful...I tried to tell girls years ago he was a keeper....it made her ball her eyes out and we tried very hard as the "maids" to keep her perfect makeup all together. There really seemed to be no pressure or worries as the ceremony was approaching. I have to say the first time I saw Van get out of the car in his little tux my heart just melted. He was soooo handsome...you can not even imagine. Ava was a doll as always, looking just the part. But, something about that little boy...well you'll just have to see. The kids were such troopers that day. Van didn't get a nap at all but hung in there all day. Thanks to grammy Ava got a pretty decent nap in the morning before her primping session. They walked down the aisle wonderfully although Ava was stopping every now and again to look at the pretty petals on the ground...it was cute, she was practically the flower girl picking up flowers rather than throwing them. I had some secretly hidden crackers in my dress for my little girl to give her just the right incentive to finish her little walk. But, all in all the ceremony was really nice. The reception followed and everyone had a good time. The ladies up north really busted their butts getting all the food prepared and ready for the large gathering...I was very impressed. By the end of it, we were all exhausted...to say the least.

We stayed until Sunday, attending church in the morning, grabbing some lunch then heading back in the car for the long drive home. Ava slept a bit but Van stayed awake the whole time. We hit some monstrous traffic on the grapevine, stopped to grab some dinner, and arrived home last night at 1045pm (we left around 2pm...yep that's right...over 8 hours to get home). Our kids were just toast as you can imagine. They were so tired and so relieved to be in their own beds. They were such troopers this weekend and really held it together. They were so good and did everything perfectly considering there were so many expectations...walk here, take pictures now, smile, see hundreds of people you don't know, etc etc. They were just angels and we couldn't have asked them to do any better.

The whole weekend passed very quickly and like I said in the beginning, the end result is just another happy ending. Jess and Danny are currently on a cruise of Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia and I'm sure they are having a great time. They are a good couple together and Jess has grown to become an easy addition to our family. We're very excited to see what the future holds for them. Congrats guys...we love you!!

Check out some of the pics below....

love,

me