Stephen and Heidi got hitched!

On Saturday, we headed to Galesburg to attend my cousin Stephen and Heidi's wedding.  It was a beautiful backyard garden wedding, with so many neat rustic, romantic and homemade touches.  From the garden to the candlelight, to the flowers to the clawfoot tub holding beverages, to the kerosene lanterns on each table, the quilts as table coverings, and food all made with love by Heidi's family and cupcakes by my cousin Shannon, it was a spectacular event.  Even their first song was original - they sang a duet together while Stephen played the guitar.  Here we are waiting for the ceremony to begin!

Here are the girls having a little snack before dinner.

Had to get a picture of my table - Adam and Caleb entertain themselves at the table!

Here are my mom and dad, enjoying the wedding and visiting with their friends!

This might be my favorite photo from the weekend.  Elaine LOVED being on her daddy's shoulders, and was doing her hand flailing excitement move.  It just so happened to bonk daddy on the head, which only adds to the entertainment factor.

Here is a photo of the bride and groom as they were announced coming into the reception - we love you both!

Here are Missy and Connor at our table as the night went on.

The next morning, we had to squeeze in just a little more time with the cousins before we hit the road.  Elaine and Lauren love each other!  They would do a squealing screeching sound back and forth - whatever they were saying, it was pretty cute!

One last photo with Adam before we hit the road back to Des Moines!

We managed to stop for a brief visit to see Ashley and Mike Merrill's baby boy, Brooks Michael, who was born 3 weeks ago.  It was exciting to see such an adorable little guy!  Congrats to the Merrills!

Of course the weekend to Peoria would simply not have been complete without a stop at Steak N Shake!  For the first time I ordered Elaine's dinner off the menu!  (Kind of.)  She had mandarin oranges and some other goodies from the mama stash.  What a wonderful weekend with family!