my trip to CA

ok, i finally made it through all the pictures...and here are 5 of the best ones from the weekend. i was only there 3 days - but it sure felt like a lot longer - in all the best ways!

it was nice to be a sister...and cousin...and daughter...and niece and not have to always be a "mom" first. i thoroughly enjoyed every minute i got to spend with my family.

the wedding took place in a garden at a friend's house - so there was a lot of work to be done. but it didn't even feel like work when i was doing it alongside such special people in my life. and it all turned out beautifully!

the cousins...heather, chris, me, leah, steve and hannah

(chris - are you still smiling??? i'm still dancing!)

jeff and leah with leah's parents, dianne and chuck (my aunt and uncle)

the "east coast crew" that made it to CA for the wedding!

chris, richard, susan, my mom, kim, my dad, hannah, steve, me and heather

me and my dad

my mom has 3 sisters (one of them was the one that's daughter was getting married). they have other cousins that live in CA...these are the ones that were at the brunch on Sunday. it was PRICELESS sitting there listening to them tell stories about when they were little. and one of them brought a photo album that had 50 year old pictures in it-unbelievable! i won't forget that for a long time. history and families and photos are just precious.

thanks to my wonderful husband, i was able to leave my home and kids for almost 4 days and not worry at all. i missed them like crazy. but i was able to create memories that i'm going to treasure for the rest of my life.

congratulations, leah and jeff!

click below to see the slideshow of some more of the pictures. or don't. (don't worry - it's not all 400 of them)

slideshow of the weekend in CA

ok, so i also just created a "photo book" of the trip - same pictures, just with captions under but no music like the slideshow. just decide which you want to use!
http://www.onetruemedia.com/shared?p=2dfdc356387fd6f2a78604&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=text_url