A Visit to Minnesota

On the 19th, we packed up the car and headed for Minnesota, my "state so dear." Josh was also there visiting Someone, so it was really fun to get to see him again too. :) We kept ourselves very busy the entire time we were there...

• We arrived around 10:30pm Wednesday, talked for a while, and then watched "Elf" before going to bed.
• Thursday morning I got to go out for breakfast at Perkins with Christa...it was fun to have her all to myself for a couple hours of good conversation before she was completely swept away in her wedding events!
• Thursday afternoon the VOP went out to Starbucks for a little bachelorette party of sorts for Christa. :) We spent about an hour there (by the way, their Gingerbread Latte is really good!) and then wrapped up our time together by going back to the church to sing some of our old songs. So many fun memories tied up in those songs!
• Thursday night we celebrated Julie's birthday and enjoyed a piano concert from Jordan. I got the concert on video, but he refused to allow me to publish it on here! :(
• Friday morning was Christa's wedding rehearsal, and that afternoon we were back for pictures, and that evening was the wedding. Needless to say, the day was pretty much shot, and so were we by the time it was all over! The wedding was just beautiful, so I think I will be devoting a separate post to that a little later in order to give it due justice! :)
• Saturday morning we woke up to the news that Jason and Julia were in the hospital and that Kaden was on his way!!! You can imagine the hustle and bustle that took place as we all got ready to head down to Cedar Rapids! We were on the road by 10 and made it to see Kaden about 3 hours after he was born! That day was just amazing!

Here are some pix from our Minnesota visit:

Julie unwrapping her presents

Not sure what the deal was here, but the picture turned out pretty funny, so I decided to post it! ;)

The Birthday Girl :)

...and then there were 7...
(Jordan, me, Julie, Jess, & Josh; not pictured: Jason & Julia)

Happy Birthday to Julie!

A sisters picture!

Jordan's concert

Jess & Josh
(Aw...)

Mom & me

Jordan and I