The family came up to check out our place this week!
The majority of them arrived on Wed. and after getting them settled in, I took them on a tour of the neighborhood – including my favorite park!
Aren’t we a great looking bunch of gals?
The next day we toured the town, meeting Brian for lunch at his workplace.
These great horses are in front of Brian’s work building – they’re kind of famous and the process of designing and creating them took over seven years to complete!
We also decided to check out the marble cows nearby – the guys enjoyed them more than they thought they would because we could actually climb on them. We also visited the arts center and looked at a bunch of Christmas trees decorated Cajun style.
Later that afternoon I took them to the nursing home I visit. Stacie and Lori played the flute and harp, much to the enjoyment of both residents and staff.
That evening we all went to a wedding rehearsal for Bekah Owens. The rehearsal dinner was great! Traditional Philippine food prepared by the groom’s mother and friends (his family are missionaries there).
The next day was pretty much filled with the wedding itself.
I was the matron of honor…and the dress just barely fit!
The Jones girls came and helped out while the guys hung out with Brian and did guy stuff (pizza, games and disc golf). My family made good use of themselves – Stacie did at least five different hairdos for the wedding party, Lori iced the wedding cake and Mom make the boutonnieres (yes, that is spelled right according to the dictionary)
I got ready, watched Bekah, took pictures, watched Bekah and Sam, stood on stage and watched Bekah and Sam. There was a point after the ceremony that they hid out for a few minutes and we didn’t watch that part 
The reception was fun, complete with a dragon and knight on the grooms cake and a chocolate fountain! Brian wouldn’t let me try and catch the bouquet 
Brian drove the happy couple in their getaway car and I drove our car to pick him up at their location. I was leading and only got lost once – I don’t know if the new couple even noticed 
On Saturday we slept in a bit, welcomed the arrival of Dad, and played games all morning. Stacie and Adam somehow managed to coordinate a visit so we had 13 for lunch in our little apartment – fun!
We tried to play volleyball that afternoon but it was too cold and windy – so we ended up playing tag on the playground for two hours! Even mom and dad played! I found out that I’ve lost a lot of agility and speed in the last month or so 
Brian kept laughing at how cute I looked trying to run.
We finally headed back to the house for hot chocolate, popcorn and a movie. Afterwards Dad took us out for pizza!
Sunday they all packed up and left on a vacation. Brian and I cleaned house and set up for our next set of guests coming in that day – the newly weds 
We conveniently arranged to be absent the next few days and after stocking the house with supplies, we headed to Brian’s parents house – getting to see both our families in one day!
He has been awfully kind and even lost a bit of weight just to help me out 
