Bearer of the Ring

Our journey to Illinois began on Thursday night.  We picked Ben up from work, ate dinner in the car and made our first stop in Eau Claire.  Cole thought Dad was driving too slow, so he decided he would help out.

However, we thought he would do much better sleeping.  And he did.  Over the hills and past the woods to Great Grammie's house we went.  We slept at Grammie's and took off again the next morning to complete the journey.  Of course we had to take a pit stop at Bass Pro Shops...our trip wouldn't be complete without it...ahem.  Right. 

The rehearsal went well and the rehearsal dinner was yummy Chicago pizza.  Cole even tasted his first lime!  I know...we're mean aren't we?  He didn't seem to mind it too much though!  Check it out!

The big day came and it was my task to figure out how to cut Cole's two-nap day to a one-nap day all while preventing any meltdowns, keeping him clean, keeping his tux on and making him smile for pictures.  We kept him busy in the morning until he crashed at about 10am.  Luckily he slept until almost 1:30pm and I couldn't have been more thrilled.  It was a bit tricky getting out the door and to the ceremony site in time for pictures as everyone else was already there.  But we made it and he looked unbelievably adorable.  But don't take my word for it!  See for yourself!

Getting ready for pictures

My two handsome boys - I'm such a lucky girl!

Strike a pose

Cole did a great job "walking" down the aisle with Daddy.  About half way down,  he started to freak out, but I popped my head out so he could see me and all was well. :)

The long walk....

The lovely couple was Ben's brother Mark and our new "sister" Beth. 

What a little man!

Our little family

The reception was fun and Cole changed into his party clothes to be able to move around and dance!

Cole in his "after party" attire - keeping with the tux theme of course

Of course, he only lasted so long and fell asleep on Uncle John's shoulder to flashing lights and bumpin' music.  Hey, when you're tired, you're tired!

Uncle John making a good pillow.

Cousin Dave making just as good of a pillow

Overall, Cole was such a trooper and did such an amazing job!  We couldn't have asked everything to go any better.