Uncle Andy and Aunt Beth's Wedding!

We returned home on Labor Day from an amazing weekend in Illinois where we celebrated Uncle Andy and Aunt Beth's wedding.  We were so happy to be part of their special day!

This was Joergen's very first flight, and Liam's first time with his own seat.  They were both all-star little travelers.

We flew into Midway and stopped at the old "Welcome to Chicago" signs where we took Liam's picture after his first flight over 2 years ago.  He's changed a little since then!

Same car seat, different baby.  Welcome to Chi-Town, Joergen!

The wedding rehearsal was on Saturday morning.  Liam was SO excited and honored to have a part in Uncle Andy's wedding, and for several days leading up to the trip, he would exclaim, "Uncle Andy's wedding NOW!!!"  Well buddy, it's finally here!  And that he got a present for getting to be in the wedding?  Pure icing on the cake :)

Uncle Andy and Aunt Beth got Liam a very cool ND pillow, which he just loves.  And speaking of pillows, here he is in the doorway, getting ready to practice his very important little job:

Now how cool is that pillow?!  This was Liam's ring-bearer pillow that he carried down the aisle, and is now Joergen's special pillow:

Liam and his flower girl counterpart, Aunt Beth's niece Isabella, walking down the aisle to Uncle Andy and Aidan.  They were beyond cute-- and I was just so proud of Liam being such a big boy!

Meanwhile, bridesmaid Toni got a snuggle and a kiss from little Joergen:

So after a perfect rehearsal and a nice lunch, everyone went their separate ways to get ready.  Liam was too excited to nap (grrrrrreat), so we all got together to watch the ND game and wait until wedding time.  Lo and behold, right before the wedding was to start, a severe thunderstorm rolled through Peoria, lightening struck the golf course, a power line went down, and zap! NO POWER.  No lights, no microphones, no AC... we were heartbroken for Andy and Beth!  But it was going to take a lot more than loss of power to keep those two from their perfect day!  So by the last remaining minutes of daylight along with every candle in the place lit, the wedding was on.  And in case you couldn't tell, it sure didn't keep these two from being excited!

Liam and Izzy (who quickly became known as "Iam and Lizzy" thanks to Liam's frequent referral to himself in the third person, minus the "L"), were the first to come down the aisle.  Now this is where Liam's absolute fearlessness really came in handy!  Izzy was understandably a little overwhelmed when she first saw the crowd, so her mom stepped in as an emergency co-flowergirl while Liam forged on ahead, with or without them:

I just couldn't believe he made it down that aisle!!  What a champ!  And after a beautiful ceremony, Aunt Beth and Uncle Andy joyfully walked right back down that aisle as husband and wife.  So happy!

The wedding party: Bridesmaids and sisters Abby, Kate, and Toni; Best Man Aidan, and Liam and Izzy.  What a beautiful family!

After a dark but yummy dinner, the kids all wanted to dance despite the loss of power.  So dance they did!  There was a rousing rendition of the chicken dance, the hokey pokey, and Katy Perry's "Fireworks".  Who needs a DJ?!

And just when we thought we'd have to give up on the reception because it was getting too dark... someone located a generator and hooked up the DJ!  So by a disco ball and a DJ light, the dance floor erupted in cheers and the music commenced!

Now while all this was going on, Joergen was somehow fast asleep in his stroller (it was after 7 pm, after all!).  He found himself being pushed back and forth for a good 45 minutes at the bar with babysitter extrordinaire Berto, who offered the quote of the night to his wife Nichole, "Um, who's baby is this?!"

Back to the dance floor, Liam shocked us with pulling out these (kind of awesome) breakdancing moves!  Where in the HECK did he pick that up?!

A sweet moment on the dance floor:

It was not long before the napless wonder finally crashed.  He had been dancing with Toni and kept asking her to pick him up; she handed him off to me, and he passed out on my shoulder.  The winner of the dead-weight toddler was Papa:

Such a fun night!  Congratulations Aunt Beth and Uncle Andy-- we love you!

The next day, while the men went golfing, we went swimming!  No joke, there were 12 kids (all cousins in one way or another) going crazy in that hotel pool, and they were all having the time of their lives.  Joergen had his fun and then promptly conked out in Grandma's arms:

Liam, meanwhile, couldn't be dragged out of that water!  Here he is in the not-very-hot tub with Kate:

Super-cousin Toni then helped babysit the boys while I grabbed a shower and started packing.  Afterwards, I took them to lunch at Steak 'n Shake... I love how much fun these two have together!



And back at the house (while Liam did some serious napping in Toni's bunk bed...), Joergen loved some floor time with his cousins:

Many thanks to our family and friends for all your help with the boys throughout the wedding weekend (and a shout-out to Momma Val for all the love to Joergen while this momma got a pedicure!).  We had so much fun with you all and can't wait to see you in October!