Family, family, everywhere!

We have been abundantly blest to spend bounteous amounts of time with bounteous amounts of family in the last month & this weekend just kept it going! The newlyweds arrived in town early & announced they are expecting a baby! Woohoo!!!We joined the rest of the Red clan at my cousin Joe's wedding. I'm so happy for him. It was a beautiful wedding & she is a very sweet girl. The reception was a little late but tons of fun. It was 10:30 & Teresa was throwing a fit because we were MAKING her go home. She could have danced all night. That girl's got some moves! Here she is with lovely cousin Clare.

Then on Sunday we headed out to see Great Grandma for our final? Christmas celebration. Lots of family, food, & fun. Teresa loved this little cow that sang & walked.

Here's Grandma with her niece & two of her sisters. Her brother even made the trip. Quite the family reunion! It was fun to see them all together... I know it sure brings out another side of me when I'm around my sibs, so it was special to see that in Grandma, too.

Wedding Wrap-up

After an amazingly restful night of sleep, we woke bright & early to more fun with cousins. The hotel set-up was cool because we could step out of our room & look over the ledge down at the lobby, glass elevator, & other floors to see who was awake. First we saw uncle Dave, then uncle Kyle, & then Teresa asked for (great) uncle Ralph. :)

Burning a little energy before family Mass with Fr. Jon.

Here's Mom with a few of her sisters who made the trek.

Teresa loves her Godmother, Aunt Denise. After countless hugs, we were on our way home again.

We stopped in Sidney at Cabela's for lunch & "the wildlife".

It was such a fabulous trip! Welcome to the family, Diane! You're the best birthday present ever. May God bless your marriage with much joy!

Wedding Adventure - Part 3

Back to the hotel for more photos & a cocktail hour

Teresa couldn't enjoy the cocktail hour without some acrobatics for all to see.

After greeting the wedding party with cheers & millet (from Doug's farm!), they let all the kids take a ride in the Hummer limo. My Dad & I were the token adults on quite the thrill ride! Then it was to the reception for a delicious meal. We sat with Darren's parents, my aunt Lois, aunt Janice, & uncle Ralph. Andrew was interested in the disposable camera on the table. Ralph kept Teresa happy (& in her seat) with random fruit from his plate. She thought he was pretty awesome!

Rebecca didn't even wait until we had our food to start twirling with her cousins. I love how she dances.

One of my favorite things I'd never seen before was at the reception. At the end of the father/daughter dance, they called all of the fathers out to dance with their daughters. Then the same for the mother/son dance. It was so cute! It was really fun to see my sister Melissa out there dancing with her 7 boys all at once, too. :)

About 9:30 Colorado time, the kids were DONE. So, we walked upstairs to put them to bed & Darren decided to crash as well. I went back down to party the night away. Chatting with my family, crazy dancing with my nieces & nephews, enjoying Joe dancing to Michael Jackson tunes, seeing the newlyweds so happy, & realizing out of everyone there that my parents were the longest married couple made for a fabulous end to my birthday.

Wedding Adventure - Part 2

I have always LOVED the mountains. I remember countless family vacations for camping, hiking, fishing, & skiing in the mountains. So, everytime that I looked out the window it made me catch my breath & smile. It was a fabulous place to spend my birthday. :) It was obviously a unique one... complete with red velvet cupcakes for breakfast & elevator birthday serenades... not to mention a brand new sister. After a morning full of fun at the hotel with all of our relatives, we grabbed a quick lunch at Taco Bell, fancied ourselves up, & took the drive to the wedding. We were all exhausted, so I was glad it was a 40 minute ride. After we arrived Darren stayed with the snoozers in the van until it was time for the Mass. It was in a beautiful Church in Greeley with gorgeous stained glass windows. Mom looked gorgeous & held it together amazingly well. She is so happy for Doug. Doug & Diane were so kind by having a lot of the grandkids play a part in the wedding. Julia & Clara were the lovely candlelighters.

Joseph was an usher & got to bring in my Mom. Maria, Veronica, & Lucy were the flower girls. Matthias was the ringbearer. Here comes the bride...

Fr. Jon, two other priest friends from college, & Diane's grandpa who is a permanent deacon all witnessed the ceremony. Augustine, Micheal, & Samuel were the servers. Andrew was so honored to bring up the gifts with cousin John. This was only his second time ever & he was very focussed. My Dad was the best man & Diane's sisters were the maids of honor. Doesn't he look handsome?

Here's our crowd! Diane puts our immediate family count up to 38!

The biggest surprise of the weekend was walking into the Church & seeing Darren's parents! They drove all the way that morning just to be part of the fun. We really enjoyed having them there.

Wedding Adventure - Day 1

My brother Doug gave us a fabulous reason to make the trek out to Colorado this weekend: his wedding. :) I'm so very happy for him & Diane! We had a great trip, too; even the drive went well. Thanks to my brother-in-law Dave's suggestion, we stopped at the Heartland Museum of Military Vehicles on the way out. So cool! From a purely practical standpoint, this was an ideal stop. It was a free-will donation, had decent bathrooms, warm inside exhibits as well, & lots of space to run around. But there was so much more! We saw dozens of tanks, helicopters, jeeps, ambulances, uniforms, artillery, medals, flags... you name it, they had it. Most thrilling for the kids was getting to sit in a helicopter

& crawl around in a tank!

Rebecca delighted in collecting feathers dropped by the hundreds of geese on the nearby pond. We will definitely be stopping there again in the future!

With the time change, we made it to the hotel with about 2 hours to spare before the rehearsal dinner. We spent it unloading the van, hugging every cousin we could find, riding the glass elevator, & building castles out of cushions in our hotel room. Andrew & Rebecca were so thrilled to sleep on a sofa-bed!

The hotel was decorated beautifully for Christmas already, which normally might drive me bonkers, but it sure did make for some good photo backdrops!

The rehearsal dinner was lovely & delicious. Teresa spent a good half hour on Red Grandpa's lap. Great uncle Terry entranced her with his harmonica skills. We headed back to the hotel with three very sleepy but happy kiddos!