I LOVE Weddings!

Bianca and Ken are finally married!!

Friday was busy with decorating, enjoying the resort and welcoming family and friends. I wish I had taken more pictures of the decor since Bianca made a lot of it herself and it turned out amazing. My favorite decoration were the candle holders made from a tree cut down at her childhood home. After rehearsal that night we enjoyed hamburgers and brats on the deck overlooking Lake Superior. There was even some extra lighting help from a pretty impressive thunderstorm. Don't worry we were all dry under the tent.

Saturday was a perfect warm sunny day for a lakeside ceremony. Followed by brinner and a dance. We ended the night with a bonfire. Here are a couple of my favorite pictures from the day followed by a slide show, for those of you like me who can never get enough pictures :)

Maren and I got to get ready with and be the first to see the beautiful bride.

Brian and I took advantage of being all dressed up and posed for some pictures. I think weddings are such a romantic reminder of our wedding day.

A Date with Maren and Ken

Since Brian is still saving vacation time for our trip to Russia Maren and Ken invited me to head up to Lutsen with them for Ken and B's wedding a day early. We took our time getting there stopping at Hell's Kitchen in Duluth for breakfast and Gooseberry Falls to hike around the waterfalls.









We met up with the rest of the family for dinner and trivia at Sven and Ole's in Grand Marais.

The happy couple at the beginning of a perfect weekend.

Ruby Red Birthdays

This weekend we kept busy celebrating some birthdays. Ruby turned 1 and celebrated with an appropriately red themed party.

Emma was the well deserved winner of the best dressed contest with a sparkly belted red polo and black and white polka dot shoes. However, Ruby's red slipper and that one year old cankle melted my heart too.

Mom got some Grandma practice with her God daughter Ruby Jane and Isaac.

Happy Birthday Ruby!!

Later that evening I went to a surprise 30th Birthday for Kelly at Chiang Mai Thai, one of my favorite restaurants. They served my favorite dessert, Classic Vanilla Cheesecake from Cafe Latte. Now that I say that thoughts of Grandma Dody's cherry dessert, Jan's blueberry pie, Becky's brownie cupcakes, Dad's apple crisp and Julie's chocolate chip cookies pop in my head, maybe it is only my favorite store bought dessert. Mmmmm dessert..... anyway here is Kelly and the book club girls. We don't have any adoption news to report yet. We were saddened to hear about a plane crash in Perm Russia (the region we will be adopting from) that killed all 88 people on board. There were people from 10 different countries and 7 children on the flight. Our hearts go out to the families of these victims. It hit a little close to home since we were expecting to be traveling to Perm this month.

What does 7 look like?

Pretty stinkin cute if you ask me!! Happy Birthday Aaron!

So today we reached the 6 month mark in our "3-6 month, probably closer to 3" month wait. Grrr!! Hopefully that means we will have news any day.

To help the time pass faster I've decided to start yet another hobby. I'm on a mission to make it to as many of Minneapolis' best restaurants (according to minneapolisbestrestaurants.com) before I have to start choosing more family friendly establishments. This weekend I got to check JP American Bistro off the list. Judging by the clean plates including appetizers and desserts I would say this group agrees it is one of the best.

Bianca, Bianca, Bianca....

B's birthday dinner at Punch

Weddings in my family have a way of taking on a life of their own. We are only a few weeks away from Bianca's wedding so events and planning are in full swing. Unfortunately I had to miss a couple of her showers but was able to attend her Bachelorette Bonfire.

The next morning Mom treated us to a wedding shopping spree. As you can tell we were a little spoiled. Thanks Mom!! We also had lunch and attempted to iron out some last minute details. I can't wait. I do love a wedding!!!