Durango--day 3 (wedding!)

I am determined to chronicle this trip!!

Here are pictures from the wedding ceremony:

walking to the wedding site

There were some benches for VIPs like us
;o)

Joe patiently waiting for his bride

The cutest flower girl and ring bearer ever!

the ceremony begins

"I do!"

Ceremony done, walking to photos

 I am so happy to call Steph a sister!!!!

Durango--day 3 (photo shoot)

We all took advantage of the beautiful setting...and the great photographers we have in our family!...to take some family pictures.  Mine, of course, are just snapshots, but the are still "cute" even if they aren't professional.  At the very least, they capture memories!

I didn't take this one (duh)

My sister Mary and family

Sister Amy and family

Sister Erica and family

mom and dad

Justin can work under extreme circumstances.  ;o)

all the grandkids (minus 2 that were in utero)

I turned on the fancy filter feature for these:

My family

Groom and all the nieces and nephews

the men (Joe and brothers-in-law)

someone wandered away

hurrying to catch up!

Durango--day 3 (wedding prep)

On Saturday morning we did our Breakfast Routine at the hotel then the girls and I went to help set up the wedding site.

Grandpa was on baby duty.  :o)

"before"

Lots of flowers and greenery

Look at those preggo ladies work!!
(These are my 2 younger sisters)

"after"

Pic from the photo display
(we still have the rooster!)

Back when times were simpler (only 4 kids)
(Gemma wore that hat EVERYWHERE that spring!)

It was a beer-themed wedding :o)

Durango--day 2 (rehersal)

Ok, it is officially super-hard for me to get any time online at this "season" in my life.

:oP

I wake up at 6:30am and get dressed for the day.  My alarm sounds at 7am...and by "alarm" I mean Sedric yelling "Mom!  Mom!"  I immediately get him ready for the day, and Gemma is awake as well so I need to remind her of her Morning Routine too.  Then downstairs for breakfast, a few chores, lots of kid-monitoring, and anything else I can do before Mrs. N comes at 8am.

At that point it is school time, or if not school 100% then anything I NEED to get done like switching laundry, starting the bread machine, or cleaning something.  But, mostly school.

When Mrs. N leaves at 1pm, I go straight to chore assignments and family meeting, managing the chores, read to the little ones, and put Sedric to bed.  By this time it is 2pm and I have about 2 hours to finish school and do more vital housework before switching to either dinner prep or dance lesson prep.  Then dinner...dishes..kids to bed..and before I know it, it's 7:30 or 8pm.  Then I have to prep for the next day (mostly set out breakfast...every meal is for 8 people...).  BAM it's 8:30pm, and I COULD work on the blog, but it's my only time for a shower and then Marcus would like to spend time with me before we both go to bed around 9:30pm. Forget about reading or treadmill time--not happening.

Thus, I haven't been online much lately.  :o(

But that's OK!  We all have these busy seasons in our life, right?  I'll just do what I can.  Here's the rest of our first full day in Durango, way back in September:

The gorgeous wedding site

Gemma walking across the bridge with the ring-bearer

Bride and Groom delegating to their minions

One excited flower girl!

my little brother holding his youngest niece

After the rehearsal, we all had fun on the property.  The little
ponds were a big hit!  It was a beautiful day.

James with fellow artist Uncle Justin

Sun going down (we had pizza dinner under the tent)

Gemma with cousin Grey

The wedding was right around the time of that rare
super-blue-harvest moon (remember that?).

After dinner we drove into Downtown Durango for some ice cream.  We got to see the Durango-Silverton Narrow Gauge coming back from Silverton!

A sweet ending to a sweet day :o)