Utah

The 4 Shinsels were in the car by 4am in order to get to the airport on time. Lincoln was so excited about the trip, he didn't fall asleep until after 10pm. We thought for sure he would sleep in the car...nope. Then we thought for sure he would fall asleep on the airplane...kinda. He drifted off as we were descending. I carried him and his car seat off the plane, so he only got a 15 minute nap. It turns out that's all he needed. He was so thrilled to see first Uncle Reed and almost Aunt Chelsea, Deanne, and the whole gang staying at Jeff and Jen's house. Grandma and Papa Shinsel drove the RV down from Oregon and had it parked outside the house. Barry, Amy, and Mya drove in from Provo. Corey drove his motorcycle over (Lincoln still thinks every motorcycle he hears is Corey's). Friday was nice, because we didn't have any plans. We ate dinner and just hung out in Kaysville.

The wedding was at 8:20am, so we needed to be inside the Temple by 7:50am. I could pick out Chelsea's family members, because they all look so similar! It was fun to finally meet her side of the family. The wedding ceremony was lovely, Chelsea was lovely...the whole day was lovely. The weather was perfect! Jeff brought up Lincoln and Drake, since they were part of the wedding party. It was a little of a struggle to convince Lincoln that suspenders are cool, but once he had them on, he worked them.

After pictures we had a delicious lunch at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, which used to be The Utah Hotel. I forgot how gorgeous that building is!

Saturday afternoon we had a little downtime before the reception at Heritage Park in Salt Lake City. Lincoln just loved playing at Will's house. They played so well together, like they had never been apart.

Even though we were far from home, Reed had quite a few people come to the reception. It was fun to have a little Hickory reunion. Chelsea's family did a great job decorating and baking for the reception. Dave and Lincoln enjoyed the ice cream sundae bar! Chelsea and Reed had the newlywed glow: they are such a great match for each other. Of course they played the ukulele and sang together at the reception.

On Sunday, my little man turned 3! I'm still having a hard time believing that I am the mother of a 3 year old. Lincoln was so excited for his combined birthday party with Will (They were born 3 days apart.). The Sherwins were so kind to let us party at their beautiful house in Alpine. It was another gorgeous day, so the kids had fun playing outside. I thought there was going to be some drama with opening presents, but the boys were happy with what they got. The drama happened when the helium balloons popped.

The weekend went by too fast. It is always hard to leave such good friends and of course our family. We are so appreciative of all the people who gave us a place to stay, fed us, watched our kids, drove us around and entertained us. We are thrilled to have Chelsea as a part of our family!