Nick and Courtney's Wedding at the {Winery}

Last weekend, Nick was the best man in his friend Nick's wedding. That's a lot of Nicks... so for the sake of not driving everyone crazy, we'll call my Nick "Benny" -- original, huh?  Benny and Nick were best friends back in the day and have remained close over the last several years. Nick was a groomsman in our wedding and I remember telling Benny before he arrived, "I'm not sure I even know what his voice sounds like." We rode the bus together when we were younger, but I was apparently too busy holding hands with boys in the back seat to pay much attention .. kidding. But over the last couple years, I have gotten to know Nick and his fiance Courtney really well and after a couple visits from them to our humble abode, I'd say we're practically family. ;) They adore Trice and Trice loves them (Okay, mostly Courtney) and we think they're pretty swell. We've been looking forward to this day for a long time! 

We headed to Central Iowa on Thursday night and got to spend Friday with Benny's family. I got a little shopping in - always excited to see Kohls and Target and Benny toured a company he works with through AGCO. Trice loved playing with his grandma and aunt and uncles! I snapped a few pictures just for fun!

Hanging with Uncle Adam

Making a list...

#feetcrossed

Hard at work

You really have to get into this coloring thing..

Yay Trice!!

Hmm.. do I want the shoe? or the crayon?

Crayon... (don't worry, I quickly "Yuckied" that one)

Shoe...

What's better than a box full of books?!

That box happens to make us very frustrated. Frustrated face.

Friday night we met at the winery for rehearsal. I was pretty excited to steal my mother-in-law's camera for the weekend and practice my photog skills that I like to pretend I have. I struggled majorly, though, because when I was taking my photography class, it was freezing outside so all my pictures were inside. I just couldn't get the lighting right outside, but it was fun to play around anyway. 

Sometimes it's ridiculous how cute we are. 

Everything looks classier in a winery

The Nicks playing with Trice

Playing hard-to-get with the lovely bride

Say Whaaattt?

Those eyes ... 

Wrist, Wrist; Elbow, Elbow

Trice loved her! 

The bride and real groom.

Look at me, mama...

Just one of the guys

About as close as he will get to grass...

And we're the two best friends...

True Life: I'm a Dad.


After that we headed to the Court Ave. Brewing Company for a delicious meal. We got to chat with the rest of the wedding party and it was fun getting to know them. Trice was the entertainment -- using the cloth napkins to play peek-a-boo and dropping whatever he could find from his high chair. He loved every second of it.


Saturday, Benny woke up and went disc golfing with his brother and brother-in-law. Then he headed to Des Moines to start taking pictures and check into the hotel.  The rest of us spent the morning setting up a photo shoot in the back yard and taking pictures of Trice in some of Benny and his dad's baby clothes. I'm not sharing all those JUST yet because we are doing something special with them, but I'll give you some of the "this is how it really went" shots:

I think I'd rather roll around..

"Oh, I see something!"

So you didn't want me to drop this book?

Shoulder. It's what's for dinner.



After a nap, it was time to head to the wedding! It was raining ... we were 0/2 on good weather for outdoor weddings this summer. . bummer. But, I texted Benny and he said they were just going to do it under the tent. It was a gorgeous wedding -- very personal. Nick's brother was the officiant and had a really powerful speech. I missed part of it because I left with a screaming baby, but somehow the notes ended up in the diaper bag so I read it later. The neat thing was that Courtney (with Nick's help, I'm sure) made a lot of the stuff for their wedding -- from the bridesmaid's necklaces, to cards for the wedding party, to labels on the beer bottles, and everything in between.  There was so much love under that tent it was overwhelming -- you could say my allergies were bothering me a little. ;)

Hanging with Uncle Snarf

 This boy loves his grandma!

Now do you see why my allergies were bothering me?!

 He sure loves Uncle Adam, too!

Already "one of the guys"

Wishing them a lifetime of happiness (filled with lots of trips to visit us in Boji!)

Trice and I called it an early night and headed back to the hotel before the dancing began. You would have thought we went to Adventureland. He had a riot rolling around on the bed, clapping, wrestling the pillows, and climbing the headboard. His eyelids finally closed and we snuggled until daddy got back. I laughed so much and it made me feel better about how disgusting I think hotels are.

Sunday morning we enjoyed breakfast with the newlyweds and then headed to visit friends. We enjoyed a delicious lunch and  Fred's famous cake. It was so good I may have devoured it in 2 seconds (and ate both of the pieces they sent home with us .. sorry Benny). Trice LOVED Fred and playing with their dogs. It was great to catch up with them and celebrate Fred's Birthday. After a bottle, it was back to Ames for a nap and to load up the rest of our stuff (yep, time for a min-van) and head home. I drove the whole way (which was a first) because Nick was exhausted. We got lucky and Trice slept the ENTIRE way so we made it home in record time. 

Next Up: Anna & Weston