The wedding.

It's been a little quiet here on the blog, but for good reason, I promise.  We had a craaaaazy last 5 or so days, traveling from California to Rhode Island for my sister's wedding.  Which, by the way, was absolutely perfect and she couldn't have been any more beautiful... see?

So the last few days went a little like this... we left out of San Fran on Wednesday... the flight was long, but Riley did really well, until we got to baggage claim in Providence and then she was just so tired she couldn't keep it together anymore (at that point it was about 9pm California time, and she's normally fast asleep around 7).  But we all survived, and slept verrrry well that night!

Thursday we moved hotels and took a huge family nap (which was AMAZING), and then we got to meet up with my lovely sister and mom for dinner and hang out time!  Jennie hasn't gotten to see Riley since June, so she was dying to see her little Riley bug.  And of course, to try on their matching Halloween pajamas.

I think Riley liked her Aunt Jennie, what do you think??  Anyway, after a semi-low key day, the fun began on Friday... we had nails appointments and rehearsal and rehearsal dinner, and it was all fabulous.  Riley was the flower girl, and we had no idea how she was going to do.  At the rehearsal, she was a little shy at first, but then Jennie's BFF Julius busted out the bubbles, and she walked all the way down the aisle holding his hand!  So there was hope for the wedding day!  The rehearsal dinner was a little overwhelming for Riley with all the people and the loud noise, but overall she was a trooper, so we headed back and tried to get her in bed early to prep for wedding day!!

And then the big day!  Of course, Riley woke up SO early, but that made it so she could nap before the ceremony, so it worked out well!  She hung out with Mark while I went and got hair and make-up done with the rest of the bridesmaids while Riley took a nice long nap back at the hotel.

Now, you might be waiting for all the amazing pictures of Riley in her flower girl attire.  Well, you are about to be disappointed.  I took barely any pictures of her, and not for lack of trying.  Trying to play photographer and be a mama and matron of honor at the same time is no easy task.  PLUS, it was cold and verrrry windy outside, so Riley was not pleased to be taken outside for photos.  And any time she saw me, she would shout MAMAMA and sprint towards me.  So yeah, here's the best I could do... cold, not happy, and about to run and grab my legs.

Anyway... so yeah, no photos of the baby, so I'm hoping Jennie's wedding photographer got some good ones!  Now, I'm sure you want to know how she did during the ceremony, and she was PERFECT!  She walked down the aisle perfectly, sat with her daddy during the first part of the ceremony very quietly, and then he took her to the back of the church just in case she started to get restless.  In fact, the only time I heard her was when I was doing my reading, and she heard my voice and said "mama!" a bunch of times.  She was perfect!!  But again, no pictures since I was walking down the aisle myself.  Once we got back I was able to take a few pictures of Jennie while Mark tried to get Riley down for a second nap, so at least I wasn't totally hopeless behind the camera!

Jennie's dress and bouquet were GORGEOUS.  Although her bouquet weight like 15 pounds, that thing was THICK!

So the wedding was amazing, and the reception was so much fun!  Lots of work though, trying to keep Riely quiet at all the right moments!  She was really good for most of the toasts, and then started to cry during the maid of honor toast so Mark took her out of the room, which is good because it would have been really difficult for me to give my toast with her in the room!  But it was clear that Riley was quite overstimulated and overwhelmed with all the people and the noise, she would start to get a little bit clingy and irritable, so we would take her upstairs to the quiet for a break, and she was a totally different baby.  Loud, running around, happy, she just needed little breaks from all the wedding activity!

Then on Sunday we headed back to California.  I though it was going to be a nightmare, since Riley was getting more and more tired each day we were there, since she was only getting about 8-9 hours of sleep at night instead of her usual 10-11, but we managed to get a little nap in the car for her on the way to the airport, which helped!  And she was pretty much the perfect baby in the airport and on our first flight, and then we had a few hours to kill in airport number 2.  Our next flight was 6.5 hours (YIKES), but Riley was AMAZING!!  She stayed up for a bit, we read books, played with the ipad, watched a DVD, and she fell asleep in her car seat for an hour and half.  Then she was up for a few hours, and then about an hour before landing she was just so tired and ready for sleep, so she cried for a few miuntes trying to get comfortable and fall asleep, but then she was OUT.  She slept through until anding, then slept through me carrying her off the plane, trough the airport, through getting bags, transferring her to her stroller, going out in the cold and loading on the shuttle, all the way until we had to transfer her to her car seat.  She woke up and cried for a little bit and then fell back asleep.  Seriously I could not have asked for it to go any more smoothly. 

Now of course, the whole thing was exhausting for all three of us, and Riley was still so tired she took a solid 3 hour nap today, but we had a really good time and the wedding was amazing.  I am sad though because I know I may not get to see my sister again for another year or so :(  But it toally reaffirmed my desire to eventually end of living close to family, and having that be the top priority in deciding where we want to settle down permanently.

Anyway, congrats to my sister and her new husband Philip!!  They are currently enjoying a nice warm, tropical honeymoon and I am extremely jealous. :)