The Wedding

We moved out of our home on July 9th and stayed at Ben and Colleen's for about a week. Then we packed the car and headed to Wisconsin for a few days. Ethan enjoyed visiting with Grandma & Grandpa Aalpoel, aunts, uncles, and cousins. He thoroughly enjoyed splashing around in Grandma and Grandpa H.'s swimming pool. He even enjoyed dunking his face in the water.

Auntie Marlou and Uncle Mark threw him his first birthday party with a first-class cookout and train birthday cake. Marlou and I had a ton of fun decorating the cake. Ethan took one swipe of the frosting with his finger, then a fistfull, and then two fistfulls. Soon he was covered in blue frosting. Eva thought that looked like fun so she smeared frosting on her face too.

And, ohh the presents! He caught the hang of unwrapping after gift No. 2 and began tearing like a pro. Each gift has a place of honor in our temporary house and he plays with each one daily. The monetary gifts are going into his college fund.

So on to The Wedding. The celebration started on Wednesday when we drove to Omaha. Our entire side of the family was kipped up at the same hotel. As we pulled into the parking lot we were immediately greeted by my uncle. From there we enjoyed outings to the Omaha Zoo (see group pic above), restaurants in Old Market, Bowling Night, and the local casinos. The ceremony was beautiful and moving. I just couldn't believe that my baby brother was up there getting married. We feel blessed that Leigh is so wonderful. We have a very unique and interesting family, so she fits right in. The flower girls and ring bearer in the picture are our nieces, Eva and Sabrina, and our nephew, Jack. The following party was probably the best one of the year. We danced until our feet hurt and listened to my brother and his friend,Wes, jam on their guitars. Smiling, chatting, and laughing were key components to the night. Leigh and Mariano were very thoughtful. Since they were getting married on Ethan's first birthday (7/21) they included a cake for him and a birthday song during the reception. Overall, it was an unforgettable event.