Our family was privileged enough to be invited to the wedding of Lauren Nelson and Bryan Trumm. The Trumm family holds a very special place in our hearts... especially Jeff's, so there was NO way we were missing this wedding! Mid-afternoon on Thursday, June 3rd, we left Aurora and drove straight through to Burlington, Iowa where the wedding was taking place. We arrived, exhausted, at about 4:30am. Luckily, Grandma Carol had her spider senses heightened because she greeted us when we went past her hotel room!!! Alex & Mattea snuck into her room to crash for the rest of the night. On Friday, Jeff and I slept in and the kids hung out with Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Julie, Uncle Kevin and Trae. We had a fun time staying at the hotel with the indoor/outdoor waterpark, arcade, go-kart track, casino and multitude of restaurants. Jeff, Julie and I even hit the fitness center!!! On Friday night, Jeff, Julie, Kevin and I hit the casino for a couple hours. Kevin was the big winner of the evening and proceeded to buy drinks for the rest of the night. What a generous guy!!! We ran into Angie, Marty, Lauren and Bryan at a bar in the hotel where they were whooping it up after the rehearsal dinner. On Saturday, we got all gussied up for the wedding. Everyone looked fabulous! The boys grumbled a little bit about their ties, but they looked so darn handsome. Mattea had her hair curled and was wearing her flirty new dress. She felt like a diva... acted like one, too! HA!!! Anyway, the weather was anything but nice. It was pouring down rain, but we heard that it was not dampening Lauren's spirits, so that was good. By the time we left for the wedding, the sun was shining and the sky was blue. What a blessing! When we got to the church, we somehow scored totally sweet seats in about the 4th row! I was pleased since I get a little picture-happy!!! It was a beautiful wedding... touching to see Bryan walk the Mom's down the aisle and to see him standing next to his future wife. Lauren and Bryan are beautiful inside and out. Cade was ADORABLE carrying the rings down the aisle in a catcher's mitt, too. After the ceremony, Bryan and Lauren exited the church under an arch of baseball bats held by the groomsmen and ushers. There were so many cute touches to the wedding and reception. We were so impressed at all of the thought and details that went into this celebration. The food at the reception was delicious, the slideshows were amazing and the kids had a blast dancing at the reception. Cade absolutely tore up the dance floor. Alex stuck close by his side trying to learn all of his cool dance moves. (Story is that Cade had been practicing these for some time and it showed!!!) Cason busted a move a few times, too, and was just as cute! Mattea had some wild moves on the dance floor as well. One of her favorites (considering she did it like every three seconds) was dropping to her butt and doing a spin on the dance floor. Josh finally decided to go out on the dance floor and was accidentally elbowed by Alex who was trying out a new move, so Josh's dancing was short-lived. I think Trae had a good time at the reception as well. He was on and off the dance floor with the boys and seemed to have a smile on his face most of the night.
Mattea remained entranced by Lauren. EVERY time she saw her, she just stared. I think she thought she was a real princess! She did finally tell her she looked pretty or that her dress was pretty... can't remember which, but it was cute regardless. She also stalked Cade pretty much the whole night. He did look awfully cute in his suit, so what little girl could resist? All in all, we had an amazing time and will hold these memories close to our hearts for a long time.
