Matt, Christen, Derek & Rylie

Kristin and Victor's Wedding
We were so honored and excited to be able to attend and be a part of Kristin and Victor's wedding. God put Kristin in my life at just the right time! She has been an amazing friend who has walked life with me for the past 4 years. Kristin and her family "adopted" us into their family! We are so grateful for the way they invested in our lives and the life of Derek. Derek knows Kristin as Auntie K. She came with us on our house hunting trip to AZ and we flew her out to help when Rylie was first born. Its been a joy to watch the Kristin and Victor grow in their relationship with one another and now get married. Derek was the ring bearer in the wedding.

 Derek loves his Auntie K (9 months old)

after dinner one night when Victor and Kristin were first dating

Auntie K helping us out when Rylie was first born

Our flight to CA was not only Rylie's first fight, but my first time flying along with both kids. Matt flew in later that night at midnight. By the time Derek was 8 months old he had been on 10 round trip flights. Both kids did awesome and I was so grateful.

Here we are at 6 am...ready to check in

 

Derek LOVED watching the airplanes land and unload luggage etc.

Derek watched Cars on the iPad.

Rylie even took a nap after take off.

Janet picked us up at airport. I cried tears of JOY when I saw her. It had been about 18 months since we had seen any of our CA friends. It was a pretty funny scene watching Janet and I get everything to her car. Janet had Jude (10 mo old) in the Ergo and I had Rylie (8 mo old) in the Ergo. Janet was carrying our 2 car seats and I had 2 large suitcases. Derek ended up pushing the stroller because we didn't have enough hands. Wish we had thought to have someone take our picture. We spent the afternoon at Janet and Tim's new house. They have an amazing backyard and the first thing Derek said was, "Can I play outside?" He had a blast playing with Caleb and Asher. When the boys weren't playing in the backyard they were playing trains.

Jude and Rylie

Ellen drove Derek, Rylie and I to the rehearsal in the Presidio.  Traffic and rain made for a long drive, but that's San Francisco for you. Rylie fell asleep on the car ride up, after screaming for a long time and Ellen graciously offered to stay in the car with her. Derek did a great job practicing walking down the aisle. And it was SO great to see Kristin and her parents give them a big hug!! The rehearsal went long and since the kids had been up since early that morning I decided to call it a night.

We stayed the night at Jamie's house, in the Presidio, only a 5 minutes from the rehearsal. I taught at Trinity School with Jamie. Derek and Rylie were so amazing. They were so tired from our long day that they fell asleep right away. Matt flew into San Jose and drove up to the Presidio arriving after midnight. The morning of wedding, we went with Jamie, Chris, Caden and Emma to the Aquarium by the Bay in San Francisco. Derek loved it! Before leaving we stopped by the sea lions on Pier 39!

 Derek had a blast playing with Caden and Emma. Here are the boys watching Cars.

Derek was the CUTEST ring bearer ever! In order to keep him occupied before his time to walk down the asile he played with Gordon or watched Cars. He really wanted to walk along the curbing and run down the hill, but he kept getting wet. He was adorable in his tux and Rylie looked so cute in her dress. Unfortunately, it was too difficult to carry around my camera and watch the kids, so all our pics are from our phones.

The wedding was amazing, but with just Matt and I to watch the kids we had to keep running in and out of the ceremony. Kristin was a GORGEOUS bride. It was so special to watch her and Victor say "I do!" and have their first kiss!

After the reception we drove to Menlo Park to stay with Vanessa and her family. Vanessa and I worked together at Trinity School. Derek enjoyed playing with Mariana and Lucas too! I also got the opportunity to visit with Ana (another fellow Trinity teacher) and meet her sweet girls Olivia and Zoe.

 

We went to church on Sunday morning at Peninsula Covenant Church and got to see so many great friends and hear Gary preach, such a treat. While in Menlo Park we visited our old stomping grounds (our apartment, downtown (Santa Cruz Ave), and Peet's). We also ran into some friends who just happen to be downtown too! God's timing was awesome.

Coffee at Peet's with Bethany

 It was so nice to have Matt with me on our next flight. We flew from CA on to UT for Thanksgiving.

Rylie did not want to sit still at all...Derek LOVED watching Cars 

(see a common theme with his iPad time? :) )

We had such a wonderful trip visiting dear friends and being back in CA. Derek and Rylie were amazing and God blessed our time. We miss everyone so much and hope to catch up again soon.