Wedding Weekend

Last weekend I flew to California for my cousin, JR's, wedding. My parents, my sister Laura, my brother Andrew, and my brother Travis and his wife Kat(e) came too. Plus a whole bunch of other extended family members. We had a great time. Beautiful weather. The prettiest part of California that I've been to (Irvine/Newport Beach). A touching sealing of two wonderful (and gorgeous) people that waited a long time to find each other. Fun times with family. And lots of good food.

Laura, my mom, and me after the rehearsal dinner.

My best cousin, Suzanne, and me at the rehearsal dinner.

A bunch of us outside the beautiful Newport Beach Temple.

Lovely angle and posture from yours truly.

Suzanne, Kat(e) and I are all pregnant. Laura wanted in on the fun too.

Suzanne is due at the beginning of December, Kat(e) is due the beginning of January and I'm due at the beginning of February! We're all having boys and hope that they'll be the best of cousins!

The reception was on a boat called "The Eternity." How appropriate! Here's the immediate fam that was there, although it's hard to see all the way to the end of the row.

This was during the "cocktail" hour.

Laura, me and Kat(e), who was sampling the "Thulin Tango."

Andrew, Laura and I. The shrimp appetizer was the culinary highlight of the night for me.

Me and my sis!

It's funny how much we all stressed about our outfits for this "black tie optional" event. I felt like I was getting ready for the red carpet. Then we got there and realized 1) there was quite a variety in people's interpretation of "black tie optional" (not that mine was all that fancy, but really, one guy showed up in skinny jeans and converse) and 2) it's not the red carpet. No one is analyzing every detail of your outfit from the jewelry to the shoes. Even though it was stressful (especially for a pregnant lady who is in the mostly-looking-just-fat stage), it was fun getting all dressed up. Thanks to my friend Tamara for lending me the purple (very "in" color right now, for those who haven't noticed) dress, and some other cute stuff for the weekend!

The fashion police would have probably dogged on my choice of hairstyles. I wanted to do something fancier than my everyday look, so I forced Kat(e) to curl it for me and she did as well as possible with my annoying hair. For me, going curly is always a crap shoot as to how it's going to turn out. So then we put it half up and I felt like I really didn't look like me. I felt bad that I had wasted so much of Kat(e)'s time and didn't want her to feel bad that I didn't love it. Then I was in a funk. I wished I had just left it straight and put it half up like Laura (seriously, I just need to always do whatever she does - I always end up liking her choices about things like that better). Kat(e) pointed out that most people don't look like their normal selves at these kind of events. And Laura pointed out that I am the most indecisive and annoying decision maker ever. Very true. Alright, enough with the vanity.

Love my cousins! Zannie, Steph, me, and Laura.

Here we are with the happy couple. Shae was the most beautiful bride!

The next day we walked around Laguna Beach. We tried to do a cute phone booth picture, but it didn't work out quite as I envisioned it.

We went in an art gallery that had all this original Dr. Seuss art work. My kids love Horton Hears a Who, so I had to take a picture with Horton for them.

We went to BJ's to have the original pizookie (pizza/cookie). A friend told me about these and I have been making my own version of it for years. But I had to have the real thing at least once. Mine are just as good and a lot cheaper.

The disturbing part about BJ's was at the end when I was waiting in line for the bathroom and I saw a sign at the very back of the restaurant that said something along the lines of: Some food at this restaurant contains chemicals that the state of California has linked to causing cancer and birth defects.

Um. Okay. I'm glad to know that now that we're done eating. Especially seeing as how I'm pregnant. I mean, the pizookie was good, but if I have a baby with 3 heads because of it, I'm going to be pretty ticked. Maybe next time you could inform me of that BEFORE I start eating. Or here's a better idea, how about we don't put any chemicals in the food that we know cause cancer and birth defects!!!

Other than that (and seeing Fame, which should have been titled Lame), we had a great weekend! It was so great to spend time with so much family! Thanks mom and dad for the hotel room, food, and movie.

It was great to see Nate and the kids again. I missed my kids like crazy, but it only took about an hour for the reality of having children to set back in (fits, fights, etc)!