Minnesota Wedding Week Fun

Warning: Lots of pictures ahead!

The Colorado Larson crew packed up the trusty old Rav-4 (Trixie is her name, and she was filled to the max with baby stuff) and hit the road late Sunday night last weekend.  We drove all the way to Minneapolis (with a short nap at a random reststop in Nebraska once my eyelids seemed to weigh 10lbs each).  And we made it!  Roadtripping with an almost 5 month old is no fun task... we did the overnight thing to hopefully have Benjamin sleep through most of it since he HATES his carseat, but it was only semi-successful.  He didn't sleep through the night as we had hoped (how could you in a carseat?), but I'm grateful we did make it quite a ways before daylight. 

so happy to be out of the car!

our copilot

The week was terrific and filled with lots of fun memories.  Here's a rundown (with too many lots of pictures of course).

Monday:

We rolled into the State of Minnesota at some point after lunch and decided to head into Matt's hometown (Austin) to visit some old friends.  It was great seeing them (their 2nd baby was born today, as a matter of fact!), and we were shortly off to Matt's folks' place north of Minneapolis.  We enjoyed dinner at Suzie and Steve's house and headed home to try and catch some shut eye! 

Benjamin and Stella

eating on the go

Tuesday:

Matt had to work on Tuesday, so Benjamin and I hung out with Pam as we started finalizing preparations for the wedding (I tied quite a few twine bows that day!).  We also got to see some more family who stopped by throughout the day, took a walk to the grocery store, and Matt and I even got to go see Hunger Games finally while Mimi and Papa watched Benjamin!

bath time with Mimi!

Wednesday:

The day was finally here: Benjamin's first Twins game!  Matt had been waiting for this moment ever since we saw the little wee-wee on the ultrasound screen.  And here it was.  We were fortunate to get awesome seats from Uncle Steve and his fabulous connections, and we even ended up sitting next to one of the player's (Josh Willingham, who hit a home run that day!!) wife and three sons.  We spent awhile taking it all in, the stadium, the game, the WIN... all of it!  Benjamin (apart from a ginormous blowout that caused dad to miss the last half of the 8th inning and all of the 9th) seemed to love it.  And I know his daddy was on cloud nine.

one of the Willingham boys chatting with Matt & BW

  

And a couple videos

Dancing to the MN Twins song:

Dancing to some Rihanna (you can tell he's ready for a nap though he does give a few good smiles!):

That evening I headed to do some retail therapy/wedding errands with Sara while Matt went with his dad to catch a soccer game in St. Paul.  I had a great time getting some alone time with the bride-to-be (and she was kind enough to take me to Trader Joe's, my fave!).  We ended up meeting the guys out and enjoyed some downtime before wedding prep got into full gear!  Sadly, Benjamin started getting a runny nose and some congestion during the day, but it wasn't until the next day that we'd get the full brunt of it!

Thursday:

Matt and I decided to take a little trip to the cute old town of Stillwater along the St. Croix river.  It was such a cute place, we only wish we had more time there!  (Of course we left about two hours after we wanted to... we are Larsons after all!)  The shops and boutiques were adorable, and we enjoyed an awesome lunch at a sweet little malt shoppe on Main Street.

the river had washed out a street...

After our trip, we headed into Minneapolis to help Sara finish moving her stuff into her new loft.  She and Dave found a great spot downtown!  And before long we were off once again... Matt went to visit some old friends while Pam and I joined Sara and some of her bridesmaids for drinks at W.A. Frost and manicures/pedicures in St. Paul.  It was certainly a fun evening! 

Poor Benjamin got sicker, so we were SO thankful to have Dr. Papa around with Matt that night, as he was able to prescribe BW some medication for what he determined was croup.  It was awful!  If Barry hadn't been there, I would have taken Benjamin to the ER - the constant, deep wheezing, the heavy and deep coughing... it was all too much for a new momma to take!  Thankfully the meds kicked in at some point in the middle of the night and I no longer worried he would be taking his last breath.  No fun!

Friday:

Emma and David finally arrived at some point around 12am after driving in from North Dakota, so Matt and I had to stay up a little late catching up with them of course.  And after catching a few hours of sleep, Emma and I joined Pam and Sara running last minute wedding errands around the city.  That evening we headed out to the White Bear Yacht Club for the rehearsal and enjoyed a tasty rehearsal dinner in town that night.  The Larson siblings (minus Sara, of course) hung out for awhile afterwards (mostly in 3 failed attempts at finding karaoke) and had a great time while Benjamin hung out with his grandparents.  Isn't free babysitting the best?  :)  I wish Mimi and Papa lived closer!!

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday:

Wedding day!!  Emma and I headed over to the yacht club earlier than the boys to help Sara out with preparations (we were personal attendants), and it was fun to be a part of the standard chaotic "getting ready" time before the pictures and ceremony :)  Sara, of course, looked AMAZING (duh), and before we knew it she was off for the "first look" with Dave and pictures with her bridal party.  The few that have been posted on Facebook already look amazing!!  (they are below, courtesy of her photographer Gina Zeidler)

 

 

The wedding ceremony was gorgeous and the dinner and reception seemed to go off without a hitch!  It was great spending time celebrating with Matt's family, and they all loved spending time with Benjamin too!  He was SO well behaved (except for when he wheezed/snored through the ceremony - sorry Sara!!) and loved all the attention he got.  (And I kept thinking how fun it will be for him someday to look at pictures from his Aunt Sara's wedding when he was just a tiny baby!)  We had a great time celebrating, catching up with people, dancing, and Matt even stole the microphone from the band during Walking in Memphis... it was adorable!

oh wait, I missed it?!

drat!

dancing with the bride!

this party animal crashed!

my partner in crime!

 

Sunday:

Sadly we had to head home on Sunday, but we decided to try to get a large chunk of the driving done at night once again especially since BW was still a little sick.  We ended up leaving around 3:30pm after some downtime at home with the family (I don't think Benjamin left Mimi's side!!), and it was a rough drive!  I am so thankful that we had great weather and no side problems (like hitting a deer or anything), because it was enough of a challenge for us to make it through the middle of the night.  We eventually rolled into Denver around 5am, quickly put Benjamin in his crib, and tried to get a little shut eye before the alarm would go off at 6:50am for Matt to go to work... of course that wasn't in Benjamin's plans though... he was happy to wake me up at 6:15am to start the day!

diaper pit stop in Iowa farmland

It was a fabulous week (despite poor Benjamin getting sick), and we're so thankful for such wonderful family and for the newest addition to the family!  It was great getting to be a part of such a special day in Sara's life!