Wedding in Vegas

Easter weekend was quite an event for our little family. Lots of new adventures were had.

It started out Friday early morning (I mean 3 o'clock in the morning) when I couldn't sleep due to a slight headache. All of a sudden I felt horribly sick and ended up throwing up A LOT. I wish it was pregnancy, but my aunt Flo reminded me that I wasn't. So here it was early Friday morning and in just a few short hours we were supposed to be on a plane to Las Vegas as a whole family. I thought for sure Paul was going to have to take the kids without me. I was able to sneak in 2 hours of sleep as I felt quite good at this point. Surprisingly, I felt fine by the time we had to catch our flight!

This was Baelor's first airplane ride, and the first that Reina could remember. They were already stoked having rolling luggage, moving sidewalks, and settling into their very own seats.

SO early hence the reason Baelor is in pajamas and I had an eventful night!

We arrived in Las Vegas to participate in the sealing ceremony and ring exchange for cousin Christina and her now husband, Jeff. Friday was spent hanging out with most of Paul's family. We don't get to see many of them often enough so every moment was cherished. While the guys played golf at Black Mountain Golf Course and some of the girls got pedicures, the rest of us went to a nearby park to play.

Saturday was the big day. While we were in the temple viewing the sealing of Christina and Jeff, some of the older cousins watched the younger cousins in the parking lot of the temple by watching a movie in the car. Luckily, it wasn't hot that morning and temple sealings are not very long.

Reina and Baelor both got to be part of the wedding party. It's tough to get a two-year old boy to take pictures with all the gear on AND smiling AND staying in one place. We had to resort to bribes with grapes, which you can tell in many of the pictures.

I figured that this event was a good enough excuse to try to get some nice headshots/age shots of the kids. I just pretend to know what I'm doing, but you can't get a bad shot of cute kids!

 

Reina Suvi Guinn, age 5

Baelor Leevi Guinn, age 2

 

During the intermission before the ring exchange and reception, we attempted naps. But Baelor was not going to let anyone nap seeing that all of us in one hotel room was just too much fun! Ugh....so to the pool we went.

Cousins Benjamin and Madeleine joined us the next day

 

I loved the colors and style of the wedding. Gorgeous flowers and the perfect amount of vintage charm. Maybe I can make Reina's wedding just how she envisions?

The flower girls got just a LITTLE bored...but they stood there the whole time

Reina with cousins Madeleine and Lauren

While Reina felt special being part of the wedding, Baelor slacked his ring-bearer duties by finally taking his overdue nap. Little did we know he was going to throw up in the parking lot while watching the newlyweds' car get decorated. Phew! We couldn't have planned a better place for him to get that nasty bug I had just the day before.

 

Easter Sunday was different than any in the past. Since we were staying in a hotel, the Easter Bunny had visited leaving dozens of candy-filled eggs for the kids to find on their way down to breakfast. This was our first year hunting for plastic eggs instead of hard-boiled.

An hour later we all met up at Aunt Lynnette and Uncle Travis' house for Easter brunch (or as the hobbits would call it second breakfast) and another Easter egg hunt with all the cousins. Our kids don't go wild for candy. Reina preferred to give all of her eggs to everyone else and keep just a few big ones that were filled with Peeps for herself.

By Monday, everyone had left while our plane wasn't departing until night so we spent time touring a little of the "clean" side of Vegas. We visited Pro Bass Shop which is similar to Cabella's. It was exactly like Paul wants his mancave to be decorated: thick, wood furniture, animal heads adorning the walls, and endless gear to get lost in.

What made it a true Las Vegas store is that it connected to a casino that had this massive aquarium filled with dozens of varieties of fish. We even saw Dori from Finding Nemo who played with our kids! Paul even gave Reina her first target shooting lesson. Don't worry, there were no bullets!