This year I stayed in town for Thanksgiving. Cousin Pat was getting married in Milwaukee so I did not venture out to Vegas. Instead, I accepted an invitation to join the Nordin's at Julie and Don's house. Dinner was great - everyone was there - Greg/Mary Joy, Julie/Don/Zach/Travis, Heidi, Michele/Kelsey/Abbey, Jon/Genevieve. After the food and some Wii time, the cousins retired to Inver Grove Heights for Enchanted. Good Family Day movie! :)
Me, Heidi, Julie, Genevieve, Jon at the movies
(Michele joined us later)
I hung out with the Jerome/Olesens on Friday and then went to Heidi's to spend the night. We woke up at 5:30am to start getting ready to head out of town for the wedding. As we were chit chatting about the trip - and yes, I was still a little anxious about the 5 hour car ride and my "issues" . . . Michele's name came up. (She was not in the original plan for the road trip.) So - I called and left her a message at 6:30 am - she called me right back - and the Wedding Crashing began! Heidi headed up to St. Paul to pick up Mary Joy and Julie while I headed to Cottage Grove to get Michele. We didn't officially caravan - but were 5 - 10 miles apart for the 5 hour trip.
We were a little concerned with the level of rudeness of crashing a wedding. Where would this fall? Would the fact that we're all cousins of the groom matter? Would the meal be formal? Sit down? Place cards? Would this stress out the bride? The groom? The groom's MOM?? We decided that if the meal was formal with place cards, we would just leave for dinner, and then come back for the party. (Turns out Pat and his sibs were delighted to see all of us - and before we even got to the reception, LaVonne had arranged for Mary Joy to sit at the Stumpf family table (aka "Table of Honor" - as it came to be known) to make room for Michele at the Venice Table with us. PS - Thank you Pat and Stephanie for putting me (and our fam) at the 2nd best table in the house! Thank you for not placing me at the "Raiders" table! :)
Anyway - between the actual wedding and the reception - we had some time to kill - so drove down by the lake (Michigan, if you're keeping track) - and grabbed a few photos. I love this pic of Mary Joy and her girls:
Back to the dance - it was a blast. Besides me and the Nordin girls, Jomie and Nancy and Jim were there to "represent" for the Jeromes. Everyone had a great time dancing. . . and here's proof:
Uncle Jim and Cousin Mary cuttin' a rug.
Jomie and Nancy - Tom and Mary Joy behind them - and even further back - Larry and Joan
Of course - with a bunch of cousins in one room - we had to get some pics. We never got all of us - but here's the Jerome Girls who were present. (Jomie and Pat were the Jerome boys present) :)
Joan, Cathy, Michele, Beth, Mary
Heidi, Julie, Me
We had a great weekend. Our journeys to and from Milwaukee were uneventful (so good). And - Pat and Stephanie are married now! So - YAY! - and Congrats!!
4 comments:
Awesome! Glad you had a great trip, and your blog makes it feel like we were there.
Love you,
Mom
acckkk I am so sad I wasn't there! I haven't seen those cousins since I was like 10! Jim looked quite dapper in his sweater and slacks...great pic of the sousins too....wedding crashing would have been fun...I am already good and party crashing hee hee
I love the pictures Carrie, esp of Pat and Stephanie and you blogged the weekend perfectly!
Cousin Heidi
I should have crashed too!
Y'all should have told me about it. Dammit.
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