On to Iowa

For the mid-part of the week, we planned on heading down to Mason City, Iowa where Kelly's folks live. On the way, we first had lunch in Shakopee with a good high school friend Rhea and her son Evan (who is a carbon copy of his dad BJ)! We also ran some errands with Aunt Melinda before we left the cities for Iowa. I realize I don't have much for pictures for the couple of days we relaxed in Mason City. But I know we tackled some of Kelly's fave things to do back home including; chicken salad on greek bagel at the Bagel Depot, shopping at Younkers for the deals, chippermint shake at Birdsalls ice cream, and walk/run around Eastbrooke, the subdivision where I grew up. I think we also did some laundry and Brian cleaned up John Boy's computer. It was pretty wild! :)

Actually by Thursday, Brian left to head up to Canada with dad Tom and Karen to their new cabin for some fishing. I stayed back to head up to the cities again for the weekend to see more family and friends.

Back to Minnesota

The next day, Sunday we said goodbye to Rick and Kate and headed back to Minnesota with Al and Jackie. We drove straight there and stopped for dinner at Olive Garden. Brian and I still had a busy week coming up, so they next day we planned on getting going to start visiting some friends and other family members while we were back in the U.S.

Our first stop on Monday was to see my college roommate Laura, her husband Jacob and their kids. Evy is two and Wilson was just born a few months ago. We hadn't met Wilson yet, so were excited to see him. And he has a cute Oxford onesie as well! We were also super glad to see Laura's sister (and also a past college roomie of mine) Sarah at their place too. She was helping watch the kids and really getting in practice since she was 9 months pregnant! (As of this blogging, Sarah's had her little boy Roman Scott Kreykes and mom and baby are doing great.) As usual, it felt like a short visit, but was great to see them all.


Next stop was Bloomington at the Batz hotel. The Batz hotel is the home of my aunt Melinda and uncle Paul and three cousins, Ben, Katie and Anna. Many of you might remember I would live with them during the summers in college while I had summer internships in Minneapolis. The Batz hotel is now where Brian and I love to crash when we're in town to hang with the fam. We were really on the way to the high school musical practice, Joseph and the Techicolor Dreamcoat. Ben had the lead part of Joseph for his final year in high school, and Katie, a junior was the lead dancer. Brian and I were going to miss the actual performance dates of the show, but luckily could sneak in and watch a good hour and a half of rehearsal. They practiced almost all of the first half and Kelly cried watching cousin Ben sing and perform. Ben was in 5th grade when Kelly moved to Oregon, and so much has changed since then! It was absolutely great, and we're looking forward to watching the full performance on DVD.


The last stop of the night was to visit Brian's good college friend Ben Threinen and his new girlfriend Meghan. We haven't seen Ben in quite some time (well actually we saw him briefly in January, but it had been years before that). We were looking forward to just having a nice dinner and visit with him and see what all is new. We went to his loft in Minneapolis and grilled out steaks, chicken and shrimp (all was so yummy!) and had a great time. We got to know Meghan a bit and the guys ended the night as they used to, playing guitar together. They are so good playing together and have a great time. Brian has missed his guitar these last 6 months, so we brought it to the UK on our trip back. Anyway, it was so great catch up with Ben and see that he's doing well.

Day After Part 2

After we loaded up on two breakfasts, we caught the shuttle bus taking a number of the wedding party and friends and family to The Ohio State University football game tailgating party. We didn't actually go to the the game, since tickets are extremely hard to come by and expensive. Especially since they are the #1 collegiate team in the nation. The day was extremely hot and there were lots of people wandering the area where you could get food, beer and watch the game on large TVs. It was a lot of fun, but honestly I wasn't used to the heat and thought I might not make it through the whole day. So a lot of water was consumed!

Rick and Kate had their red and white on and we learned all of the appropriate cheers and chants to show support.

The Smith clan having fun during the tailgating party.

More fun partying pics!

Day After Part 1

We celebrated Brian's upcoming 30th birthday in the morning during the hotel breakfast. Some of the family members had to get driving home to northern Minnesota, so 9 a.m. breakfast was the best time. (Whew, and it wasn't too easy getting up and going the next morning!)


Rick, Kate, Dottie and Uncle Tom enjoying the birthday breakfast . . .

Brian with his aunt and uncle, Amy and Jeff and cousins Nathan and Dustin and Grandma Dorothy.

Our second breakfast with the Smith fam.

Charissa and baby Morena. She has a cute Oxford University baby onesie on!

The Smith clan before parting for the day.

Good thing we had two breakfasts to stock up on nutrients before we headed to the Ohio State football game tailgate. Ohio State is #1 in the nation, so it was going to be a big one!

Rick & Kate Wedding Day

All the groomsmen and groom before hopping onto the party bus to pick up the ladies, and take them all to the ceremony.

The gorgeous couple right before the ceremony!


Brian, Rick and sis Dottie before the ceremony - what a good looking fam!

And now with their significant others . . . even better looking! :)


It was a wonderful outdoor ceremony, followed by walking up the hill to the reception location with dinner and dancing. There was an enormous back deck from the main room, and it was a beautiful spot to overlook the small lake and have cocktails and snacks before dinner. It was also a nice escape from the loud music if you needed a break from cutting a rug! Kelly danced with cousin Dustin, and Brian visited with some long distance relatives on the Smith side of the family (grandpa Smith's brother Ken and his wife Donna.)

Brian giving the Best Man speech to his bro Rick and Rick's new wife Kate.

The dancing went to midnight and got pretty wild with Rick's crew (no big surprise there!) But everyone made it home to their hotel rooms afterwards and continued the partying!

Photo credit: Pictures 1, 4 & 5 are from Rick & Kate's photographer John Hanson (wish I could say they were mine!)

Day Before Wedding

The girls (here are Kate, Dottie, and mother of the groom Jackie) had a fun morning getting mani/pedis (manicures and pedicures) together, along with a massage. Great way to start the day! The guys went mountain biking . . . you'll have to ask about when they hit a wild turkey!


Kelly and Kate getting beautiful toes!


This is the rehearsal for the outdoor wedding ceremony. Rick and Kate had her hometown pastor from Minnesota fly in for the wedding. Brian was Best Man and Dottie was Maid of Honor.


The photogenic Bride and Groom at the rehearsal dinner in their fave Mexican restaurant.



Cousin Carl and his wife Charissa and their new baby girl Morena just flew in from Seattle in time for the dinner. They are so excited to have Rick and Kate moving to Seattle!


Here's a great pic of Brian and Rick with their dad Tom and his partner-in-crime Karen!


Cute pic of Kelly and Dottie all dressed up.


Parting shot of the evening, Bri with his shades before heading out downtown with the guys. Kelly stayed back and enjoyed some Leinenkuegel's Honeyweiss back in the Smith party room.

Trip Back to U.S.A.

I realize I won't have time to write in so many details from our trip back home, so I'm going to let the photos do the talking and I'll add captions.



We had a lovely 12 hour layover in the Toronto airport on our flight over. So Kelly is trying to get some ZZZZs on the floor, while Brian is chilling out to some tunes.


The main reason for our trip home was for Brian's brother's wedding in Columbus, Ohio. We caught a ride with Brian's folks Al and Jackie to Ohio from Minnesota. Here we are the first night (Wednesday) in Ohio and having dinner at Champs with some of the early arriving wedding guests. Brian's bro Rick is on the far right and the other guys, Lyle and Nynas are really good buddies of Rick and Brian's from high school in Two Harbors, MN. Molly is Nynas's girlfriend.


Here's a cute pic at Champs with Brian's sister Dottie and her new fiance Andrew. They live in Denver and just got engaged a few months ago. This was the first time Brian and I, and Rick and Kate got to meet Dot's man!


Can you tell they're brothers?!! After dinner was a bonfire at Rick and Kate's house. The weather was hot and muggy for mid-September and Brian and I loved it! I had to go buy some capris as I'm used to bundling up for the English weather. We were celebrating one of the last nights hanging out in Rick and Kate's backyard, as they are currently in the process of moving to Seattle for a new job for Rick. Can you believe it's just after we left Eugene, Oregon?? We're so bummed! But super happy for R&K since we know they'll love the Northwest.