On our way to Chicago

I haven't even finished posting all of our pictures from our California trip and now we are on our way to Chicago for Cordell's cousin, Phillip's wedding. We are so excited to have a little mini reunion with the Maas side of the family.

We get back next Wednesday, so look for some updates toward the end of next week!

Kearsten & Tony's Wedding

Kearsten Pulido and Tony Hymer were married July 5, 2008 in Pleasanton, California. Kearsten was a beautiful bride and the wedding was so fun! Adelynn was one of their flower girls and Cordell was a groomsmen.

Kind-of a fun story...
Cordell and I began meeting with Kearsten and Tony doing some pre-marital counseling, my old youth pastor Tim Barley was going to marry them in California, but asked Cordell and I to meet with them since they were living in Colorado.
Kearsten moved in with us the first week in October and we knew we were both from Pleasanton, but didn't know that we had known each other years ago. After Kearsten had moved in one day we were looking at pictures and she showed me one of her house and told me the street she lived on. It turned out that we were both from the same neighborhood - Pleasanton Meadows. Then we realized that I had taught her swimming lessons when she was seven years old at the pool that I just to work at. I also taught her little brother Chris when he was two. Such a small world!
So her wedding was a little reunion with a ton of people that I used to babysit for or teach swimming lessons for. It was fun to see everyone, it did make me feel a little old that all of these kids were now adults!

Adelynn in her car seat on the way to the Rose hotel to meet up with Kearsten and all the bridesmaids. Kearsten and Addie at the Rose hotel.

Waiting for the limo at the hotel - Becky, Adelynn & Kearsten. Yes, Adelynn got to ride in a limo to the wedding, she thought it was pretty cool!

Adelynn with the other flower girl Lydia, Kearsten's cousin. The girls did so well covering the aisle with rose pedals. After the ceremony, in the processional, Cordell carried Adelynn down the aisle. Adelynn still had some pedals left in her basket, so she decided to sill throw her pedals on the aisle on the way out, the crowd sure thought this was cute!

The happy family!

The BaanHofman's and The Hymer's.
Adelynn had so much fun at the reception. During Kearsten and Tony's first dance she said, "Look Mom, it's just like Cinderella." She had good patience, but she was ready to get out there to dance. When the DJ announced for the wedding party to come out to dance, she ran out on the dance floor all by herself and found her daddy to dance with. Throughout the night she danced with the bride, the groom, the father of the bride, lots of the guests, her mommy, her daddy, and the mom of the bride! She was quite the dancer, but all of the sudden she crashed on her Daddy's shoulder!

About 10:30 or so Adelynn just got comfortable on her on Daddy's shoulder. She was so excited earlier in the day that she wasn't able to take a nap and all that dancing caught up to her!

My Mom was excited to hold Adelynn when she was so sleepy, she never falls asleep like this anymore! Grammy definitely enjoyed the special cuddle time! Thanks Mom for all your help!

Zoned in the car, ready to head back to Grammy's house.

A long day for a little flower girl! So precious.

At the FAIR with Lacey and MacKenna!

While we were in California, we went to the fair with my long time friend Lacey and her daughter Makenna. My mom was recovering so well, that she decided to come with us! She even rode one ride with Adelynn, a kid's version of the swings, which was Addie's favorite ride! Adelynn had so much fun on all of the rides! She always had such a big smile on her face . After each ride when we would ask her if she had fun she would say, "Yeah! I was laughing!"

When we got home that night we were getting ready for bed and she said, " The fair made me happy, I wish we didn't have to leave the fair." I tried getting it on video, but it wasn't as cute as the original, unprompted comment. Lacey took a ton of great pictures, so I am sure I will post more once I get them. It was fun to catch up with Lacey and MacKenna.
Addie on the pony ride. I had to talk her into going, but she loved it once she was on!

Addie and Mackenna on the cars. When the ride started Adelynn's face was petrified, but within 5 seconds when they came back around she had a huge smile on her face and was totally laughing!

Pizza and Pepperoni

Adelynn has two favorite dolls. About a year ago at my Grandma's house, Grammy Bev was trying to gently influence Addie to name her doll Chloe, but shortly after that trip Addie named her doll, "Pizza" and the name has stuck!

A couple of months later a friend of ours, Emma passed down one of her old dolls to Adelynn. When I asked her what she wanted to name this dolly she said, "Maybe cheese or pepperoni."

So we now have Pizza and Pepperoni... her two favorite dollies. Pictured above with Pepperoni in their matching dresses from Grammy Cathy.

Fun with the Mantha's

My good friend Tina from high school lives in Pleasanton and it was a very fun treat to spend so much time with her and her daughter Ashley! Tina knows all of the local activities for toddlers and we got to participate in many of them.

Music Class
Tina and her daughter go to music class every week, so Adelynn, my mom and I tagged along to check it out. We had a blast and Adelynn loved it! Tina was sweet enough to give us one of the cd's with music from the class, so Adelynn and I are still singing some of the songs! At the bottom is a fun little video clip from class with Addie, Tina, and Ashley in it.

Adelynn and Ashley playing the keyboard together.

Addie and I are in the middle and Tina and Ashley are on the far right. The little girl on the front left adored my mom and just sat and cuddled on her lap for a long time.

Oakland Zoo
It was fun to explore another zoo. They had a great petting zoo area with goats and sheep.

I thought this turtle was so cool! It looked like he was trying to climb out!

Addie brushing the goat.

Addie and Ashley brushing another goat!

Addie and Ashley on the caterpillar. Right after this Ashley dove off, but she landed safely on the ground!

Lunch and Pedicures
It was awesome to leave the girls and go to lunch just the two of us and have some adult conversation. Then we got very fun relaxing pedicures! Definitely a fun girly excursion!

Special Date
One day Tina took Adelynn on a special date. Addie came home with some candy for Mommy and Grammy too!


4th of July Park & BBQ
We headed to the park with the Mantha's on the fourth of July and then later that night had a yummy BBQ at their house. Adelynn had a little trouble falling asleep at their house, so we headed back to my mom's to lay her down so she could get a good night sleep for Kearsten's wedding, which was the next day! Next time we will definitely play Quiddler Srikant!

At the park with the Mantha's.

As a side note, I just wanted to say thanks to Tina for how much she loves and takes care of my mom. Tina took shifts at the hospital, switching with Laura to hang out with my mom after her surgery and make sure she was well taken care of. She also brought her a milkshake and other treats! Tina, thanks for loving our family in such a practical way.

Behind Again - California trip

Of course, I am behind on blogging AGAIN! I have a lot of updates for June, but I think I will start current and then go back.

Adelynn and I have been in California for the last two weeks and then Cordell joined us for the last week. My mom had surgery so we flew out to help take care of her and then Cordell and Adelynn were in a wedding on July 5th in Pleasanton as well. Since we were so close, we drove to my Grammy and Papa's for the last couple of days and flew out from San Luis Obispo. The next couple of posts will have highlights from the trip.

On the way there, as we were waiting to board our plane, Adelynn met the pilot who invited us into the cockpit. When we got on the plane Addie got a tour of the plane and got to sit in the Captain's seat and wear the Captain's hat. Pretty Special!

Long story, but after getting delayed on the runway for about an hour because of weather we took off only to turn around about a half hour into the flight for an emergency landing back in Denver. We had to do a fly by for a visual of our landing gear from the tower before we were cleared to land and then all of the firetrucks met us on the runway.

Once we were off the plane Adelynn told everyone that, "Our plane was broken and we had to come back to Colorado." Our flight was canceled and after a long day in the airport, without a cell phone ( I had dropped it in the toilet two days before and had my replacement phone shipped to California.) we landed safely in Oakland. Yeah!! To our surprise my sister's flight had been delayed and she met us at our gate for a couple of minutes before she had to fly back to Arizona. Adelynn was estatic to see her, and I think her screaming and running to Aunt Laura was evidence to all around!