Rachel and Carlos' Wedding

Rachel and Carlos tied the knot this past weekend. It was a beautiful, small wedding and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and there were no major hiccups along the way.

At the last minute, I got Friday off, so Emma and I headed to Mankato late Friday morning. We got to town at around lunchtime, so we ate lunch at the mall, Emma got a carousel ride, and then we met up with Rachel to get Pedicures.

We got to the Nail Salon around 2pm, and Emma and I got pedicures (Emma's first one) while Rachel got a manicure and pedicure. Emma really enjoyed the entire process of getting her nails done. It did take us over 2 hours to get everyone done, so she got a little wiggely at toward the end of her pedicure. I also let her get a design on her big toes, and she thought that was pretty cool. It was nice to pamper ourselves a little bit before the wedding.

After nails, we headed to Rachel's house for supper and relaxing. At her house, we met Carlos' mom and aunt, and we all enjoyed an Italian supper and catching up with each other. We spent the evening outside letting Emma and Elena play. It was nice to see those two playing together and spending some time together.

Saturday was a busy day, and just kind of flew by. We started the day out getting our hair styled for the wedding. Once again, Emma really enjoyed being pampered and choosing how to get her hair done (I may have started something here). After our hairstyles were done, we headed back to Rachel's to decorate and get dressed.

We ended up being a little late to the church, but it was ok, we just had to take pictures after the wedding instead of before. We ran through a quick rehearsal and then it was wedding time. Rachel invited only close family and friends to the wedding, so there were about 30 people at the wedding. After everyone was seated (good job usher Ryan) it was showtime.

John, the best man, and me, the matron of honor, started the procession. Elliott, the ringbearer, was next. He did such a good job. Rachel had a box that both rings were in, and Elliott held onto that box the entire time we were at the church. He was so proud to be in charge of the rings, and took his job very seriously. He walked very confidently down the isle, and stood at the front of the church the entire service, and did a really good job, even with my cousins making faces at him the entire time and trying to make him laugh.

Emma, the flower girl, was next. She looked so beautiful as the flower girl. She also looked like she was about 10 years old, instead of 7. I was very proud of Emma as well. She walked down the isle and scattered some petals as she went down the isle. She stood next to me the entire service, and did a really good job standing there. She only asked me 3 times how much longer the service would be.

Then, my dad walked Rachel down the isle. Rachel looked very beautiful in her dress, and her and Carlos had a very nice service. They both said the right names, and put the rings on the correct fingers, and both said their vows, so that was good. John and I signed their marriage license and then it was party time.

John shot some formal pictures after the wedding, and then we headed back to Rachel's house for her reception. Carlos' family cooked some food for everyone, and we enjoyed socializing and drinking some beer, and eating some good food. We were all pretty happy it was time to relax and we didn't have to be planning anything anymore.

In the evening we went to the Mankato brewery with Todd, Julie, Ryan, Tim, Janel, and Rachel and Carlos while mom and dad watched the kids. It was some well-deserved beer.

Afterwards, we headed to mom and dad's house for the night. On Sunday, we went to church at Emanuel and then just enjoyed an afternoon at the farm and let the kids play. In the afternoon was a surprise 60th birthday party for Mark and Kathy. It was really fun to go to their farm and see my cousins and aunts and uncles that I don't get to see very often. It was a nice party, and a nice way to see everyone.

We left there at 7:30pm, which meant it was after 10 before we got home. It made for a late night and a rough Monday morning. But, it was all worth it. It was a great, memorable weekend and we are all looking forward to the reception in August with the Albrecht Band. That will be when the real party happens.

Congrats to the newlyweds on their successful wedding day!

Pedicure 

All done up

Is someone ready for piano lessons?

The other little flower girl

Cuties 

Playing before the wedding 

Action shot of Ryan ushering 

My favorite picture of Emma 

My beautiful daughter

So proud of this handsome ring bearer 

Me and the hubster 

The Newlyweds 

Blowing bubbles 

Photo bomb by dad 

Camping at Diamond Lake

A couple weekends ago, we finally made the journey to Diamond Lake to go camping with my parents. We headed out in the late afternoon on Friday, and got to the campground at around 7:30pm. After some supper, we just enjoyed relaxing around the campfire and visiting while the kids explored the campground.

We spent Saturday going on some bike rides, playing bocce ball, boating, swimming, and just doing the usual campground activities. The kids had a lot of fun swimming at the beach. They swam, while my parents and John, Ryan, and I visited and enjoyed the beautiful weather.

In the evening, we played some sheephead with some of the other campers and enjoyed some adult time. The kids did really well with all the driving and all the activity. They were so busy during the day, that they had no problem sleeping at night.

Sunday was a hot day, so we took the boat out for a ride, and then let the kids put on life jackets and jump off the boat. They thought that was the greatest thing ever. They were fearless to jump into the lake, and they loved every second of it. There was a semi-strong current in the lake, so John and I had to take turns grabbing a kid and getting them back to the boat so they didn't drift too far away from the boat. Eventually, we had to make them stop because they were starting to get tired from all the swimming, but they would have swam in the lake all afternoon if we let them.

After swimming, we headed to Spicer to eat lunch at Zabaros Grill. We had some Pizzas and then it was time to make the journey back home.

We had a really fun weekend in Minnesota camping, and we hope to make it back at least one more time before the summer is over.

4th of July

July is almost over, and I am finally getting around to blogging about the 4th of July. This summer has been crazy busy. Somehow, we end up busy every night, and the weeks just tend to fly by. But we are having a great summer!

For the 4th of July, we went camping at Yankton with Jim and Barb again. We camped the weekend before, and the weekend of the 4th. We had a ton of fun at the lake, and best of all, we bought ourselves a camper this year. We happened to stumble across a perfect camper for our needs online, went and saw it and met the family that was selling it, and then we happily bought it. Luckily, we got to use our new camper the weekend of the 4th, and we were very happy with it.

We spent the weekend going on a lot of bike rides. Elliott learned how to ride his bike without training wheels earlier in the summer, and he got really good at riding his bike at the campground. At the beginning of the weekend, we had to help him get started on his bike, and by the end of the weekend, he was flying around on his bike like a pro.

The State Park also had some organized activities for the kids to do. The kids enjoyed some bottle rockets, bingo, and even an outdoor movie one night.

Throughout the 4 day weekend, we had many bike rides, a couple campfires, smores, and we did a ton of swimming. Our campground had access to a very nice beach area, and we swam there every single day with the kids. It was perfect. The water was pretty clean, we had many inflatables, and it stayed nice and shallow for quite a ways so that Elliott could wander all around without us having to worry too much. We also had a water balloon fight, and used a sling shot to fire water balloons around the campsite.

On the evening of the 4th, we went to Yankton, and watched the fireworks show. It was amazing. It last a good 30 minutes, and we saw really big fireworks. It was probably the best fireworks show I ever saw.

We had a great Holiday weekend of camping. The kids stayed very busy and had a ton of fun at the campground. It would have been nice to have a recovery day or two after all the activity, but it was a successful 4th, and we can't wait to go camping again this summer!

Slingshotting water balloons