By mommie2zs in Buds — Jul 26, 2016

Wedding Weekend

Editor’s Note: Post contains videos which may not appear in your email feed. Click on the link for best appearance.

One of my favorite cousins from childhood was married in late June in Omaha. The weekend held many wonderful aspects, not the least of which that our drive there and back would include Chandler visits on both legs.

We were up and out of the house by 7:45 on Friday morning and on our way.

All of us were excited for the weekend. Seeing The Chan Clan and my mom…these are great things. When I was sitting with Buster as he settled into sleep the night before we left, he said, “When we are going to see people I love, as we get closer, I can feel my soul start to vibrate.”

Fittingly, as we neared The Chan Clan he said, “Yup, there goes my soul.”

On the drive to our first night’s stop, Buds found a cute little coffee shop for us in a random town in Kentucky. It was so hipster I wanted to have my work boots and Carhartts on, but the coffee was good, we had a huge table to ourselves, and it was a great break.

Beautiful drink. Of course the plate is made of wood.

We always try to stop at St. Louis Bread Company when we make this particular drive north. It freaks Buster out that his beloved Panera is known by a different name in St. Louis, and I am always grateful for the reminders of Buds’ and my early dating days. We had a particularly lovely meal at a St. Louis Bread Company in the Galleria Mall by the apartment Steffer Ragsbottom and I shared in those early days of our young love.

St. Louis Bread Company is a lot more fun with the kids along now.

Arriving at Todd and Gina’s is like coming to a second home.

We walked in the door, greetings all around, settled in for food, games, laughter, and conversation.

On Saturday morning, we had time before leaving for the wedding to go swim:

And time to go see Todd and Gina’s land for their future dream house. I’d seen it a couple times, but this was the first time for Buds. We’d done a verbal “walk-through” of the house, getting an idea of the spaces and look they hope to build, and then it was perfect to go walk/drive the land to imagine their future home. Buds and I began to plant the seeds for our Guest Cottage or Guest Suite. Todd thought that naming rights for part of the house wouldn’t go for too high a price.

Zip zoom back to their house for a quick bite, change of clothes, then jumping in the car to drive to the wedding.

My cousin, Darcy, married a wonderful man named Dan. We’d not met him before, and since a wedding isn’t the best place to have a heart-to-heart with the groom, we’ll wait for our chance to bond with him later, but they looked wonderfully happy, and Dan’s talent was evident all around. He built all the beautiful decorations for the rustic/country outdoor wedding theme.