Lara & Dan's Wedding Weekend

In June we attended the wedding celebration of David's cousin, Lara, and her now-husband, Dan.  The wedding festivities took place north of Spokane at the Deer Lake Resort.  Many many aunts, uncles, cousins, and second cousins were in attendance so it was a Lidster family reunion of sorts too.  There was card-playing, beer-drinking, s'more-roasting and lots of other mountain fun.  Especially hilarious was the bride and groom's first dance ... a choreographed medley of every hit you can think of, including Baby Got Back.  I hope someone caught that on video!  We had a great time.  Congratulations to newlyweds Lara and Dan!  You make a beautiful couple and we wish you many blessings in your marriage.

Lucy meets cousin Berlynn or Zuri (they are identical so I'm not sure ...).  Of course her greeting is a kiss.

Uncle Jerome and Amanda with one of the twins

Lucy conveys her intent to later dominate at Cribbage.

David, Jerome and Kamala with the babies!

Deer Lake

More Deer Lake

Some little gnomes spotted on my walk.  These people had some serious yard decorations.

Deer lake country scene.

David and Jerome playing cribbage while Doug, [Zach's friend], Zach and Uncle David look on.

Chowing down on some watermelon while the men play cards and drink beer

David with Ruth and Joanne on the dock.



Pre-rehearsal dinner with my sister-in-law, Erin.

Tim and Eve at the rehearsal dinner.

Scooter makes a sartorial statement at the "casual" rehearsal dinner.

I heart peonies.



The Bride thanking her mom, Cathy, for all her hard work in preparing for the wedding.

At the post-rehearsal dinner campfire

Erin, Jordy and Gia out for a Saturday morning run

Pryles family.

Eve and Tim.

Mother of the Bride!

Here comes the bride ...

The twins in their chariot.

The bride's sisters (and co-maids of honor) look on.

David and Lucy at the reception.

Our little family.

Maureen and Bill on the dance floor.

Lots of crazy cousins.  Clockwise from L: Kamala, Zach, Erin, Michael, Jordy, Gia, Amanda, Sam.  David is not pictured because we were back at the condo with our tired baby.

Lucy's great-grandpa, Harry, with Maureen.

Harry and some of his many descendants.

Lucy chats up the twins at breakfast on Sunday.

Sweet Lucy Sleeps

Lucy - 12 month photo shoot

Need a little recent Lucy eye-candy?  Head over to Kendall Price Photography's blog to check out some highlights from Lucy's recent portrait session.

The AFTER after party

The after-party celebrating Paige's graduation was followed by the after-after-party.  After putting Lucy (and David) to bed I met back up with Paige and her friends at her friend Katie's house, where they were continuing to celebrate.  The unbridled joy of the late-night dance party is one of the hallmarks of the American college (social) experience (okay maybe of your entire 20's ... I really miss it!) and I was delighted to witness Paige and her friends having such a good time.  I had a good time too, taught them about monster ballad interpretive dancing and was amused that her friends were shocked that I'm an actual grown up, with a job, husband and baby, and not approximately Paige's age.  Ha! I'll go ahead and take it as a compliment.

Paige Graduates from University of Oregon!

In June, as part of our week long Northwest Tour, we attended Paige's college graduation in Eugene, Oregon.  Paige graduated magna cum laude with a degree in Psychology and a minor in Spanish.  We're so proud of Paige and can't wait to see what endeavors she tackles next. 

It was our first time in Eugene.  Eugene was very pretty and we had a great time seeing some of Paige's favorite places (McMinamins, the Excelsior, Glenwood), seeing where she lives (her room was decorated very nice but it has literally been months since the front yard grass was trimmed ... ah, college), meeting more of her friends and visiting with the ones we already knew. After the graduation ceremonies we celebrated Paige and her friend Katie at a fun party at Katie's house.

Another highlight of the weekend for me was the wonderful family dinner (plus Paige's dear roomie, Natalie) we had the the Excelsior during which Lucy managed to dump a full glass of ice water in David's lap and also reached across the table, grabbed his filet mignon right from his plate and started chowing down.  Have a couple of glasses of wine and a baby at a fancy restaurant is a great source of entertainment. 

Here are some fun photos from the weekend.

Main graduation ceremony.

Outside the psych clinic, where Paige worked many long hours helping with research.

Psychology department graduation ceremony.

Lucy astride a lion at the SAE house (David was an SAE at Nevada)

Paige and Katie. 

Lucy and Daddy play during the party

So proud of Paige and enjoying the after party.

All smiles from my proud father!

Lucy really liked this very realistic toy truck.  It had a trailer and horses as well, which she also found amusing.

Attack of the giant baby!

One of the first times Lucy stood up on her own.

 

Baby tricks - walking!

Lucy started walking on July 2, 2011.  She had taken little half steps before but the walking really started last week when we were at the O'Mara's Tahoe condo for the long holiday weekend.  Here is a little video (shot on July 11, 2011) of her new skills:

Lucy-Rex

When Lucy was a wee-unborn baby we called her "T-Rex" and then "She-Rex" when we learned she was a girl.  The origin of this fetus-nickname was a conversation we had before we even learned that Lucy was on the way.  It went something like this:

CMO: [Acquaintances] named their baby [silly name]. 
DCO: That kid is probably going to get [his/her] a** kicked.
CMO: That's why we're going to name our baby something fierce, like T-Rex.
DCO: Yeah, our baby will be pretty bad-a**.

Yes, Lucy's fetus name stemmed from a petty conversation making fun of the name some perfectly nice people gave to their offspring.  When we found out we were expecting, "T-Rex" was the perfect fetus name and we referred to her by that name so much that our family and friends also started to use it, or some variant.  Our little niece, Abby, even included "T-Rex" in her nightly prayers and when asked what we should name the baby she looked confused and her serious answer was, "T-Rex."  Plus, at a certain stage, an unborn baby even looks like a T-Rex.  When we got a good peak at her during the 12 week ultra-sound she looked like a little dinosaur (short limbs and all).  Lucy's unborn-nickname resulted in a certain affection for dinosaur-themed things and she received as gifts some dinosaur books and, of course, the roaring dinosaur that David used to "inspire" me during labor.

All of that is by way of back story to the adorable birthday card Lucy received from her Uncle Kyle and his fiancee, Alyson.  Alyson is a talented artist and graphic designer (see her Etsy shop, Bristle & Snap, and her website).  Isn't this adorable?

Kyle-Rex and Lucy-Rex.  (This is a photo of the card itself, posted on our fridge.)