Fantastic Weekend

What an amazing weekend; Christopher and I were able to see all of our friends in one fantastic weekend! Our journey started with a missing wallet and someone, not to mention any names--Christopher--missed his flight due to a scheduling error, but after everything got situated we were on our way to Moline, IA. We started off with a fun adventure on a country road trip out to Sam and Samantha's in Illinois City, IL. We had a fun day sitting around catching up, drinking some beers and wrapping up the evening with a bon fire. Samantha has an amazing garden and has inspired me to buy property in NC and start my own garden :) We had a great time and can't wait to do it again.

The next morning we woke up and headed North to Galena, IL--a really cute city! I met up with Abby and Momma Cates to run some errands, got a much needed pedicure, got ready for the Rehearsal Dinner and caught up with Heather and Brent. 5:30 the Rehearsal started at the church (it gave me goosebumps just thinking about how much Abby and Luke have been through), then we headed over to Vinny Vanucchi's for dinner (delicious!), we made our way over to Gobbies for drinks and a fun evening. We ended up getting our taxi driver a ticket by driving the wrong way to pick us up :) Chad and Terri (Luke's brother and sister in law), Heather and Brent and Chris and i ended our evening at the Ramada on the back deck smoking cigars and having a few beers. Fun times.

Saturday, June 6th Abby's Big Day!
The morning consisted of getting ready, writing a little speech for the reception (that i freaked out about) and taking lots of pictures. Abby was so beautiful in her gown and made a beautiful bride--We jumped on the trolley and headed off to the church. The ceremony was wonderful...tears. It was so awesome being a part of their big day. I got to ring the church bell and then we were off in the trolley to take pictures around Galena. We had a party trolley that took us to different parts of the town to take pictures and then went to a little Irish Pub to take a congratulations shot! Off to the reception--it was fantastic! The room was beautiful, the people were a blast and we just got after it. I was able to spend time with my parents, dance with Heather, give a speech and tell a friend how much she means to me and just see two people grow over the past four years has been a blessing.