Birthday Weekend Part 3: Road Trip!

On Sunday of Malakai's Birthday weekend we had a wedding to go to for a friend of mine from college + work. We didn't have any more "birthday" activities, but I'm including this post in the series as it was all part of the busiest weekend of our lives so far.

 {Remember this post about her gorgeous Bridal Shower?}

It has actually been a lot of fun to have Malakai's birthday and her wedding fall on the same weekend. We've been counting down to "our big weekend" together since they set their wedding date.

That morning we got a slow start. Mostly because we thought that we had a 2 hour drive ahead of us, but according to google maps, we had a 2 and a half hour drive! So we bumped up our departure time by a half hour. We realized this at about 11:30am and needed to get out the door by 12:30pm! Needless to say, we didn't really get on the road til closer to 1pm. We even had to wake up Malakai from his nap. He was so sleepy I thought he'd just drift back to sleep. Instead, he just quietly sat there, looking a bit spacey for the most part. He was happy, and that's all I cared about!

Once we got to the church, it was 3:10pm, and the wedding was supposed to start at 3:30pm. I wanted to get Kai's diaper changed, dress shirt + shoes on before we went into the sanctuary. I headed to the women's restroom- NO CHANGING TABLE! I just about panicked. I went back to the front of the church, asked one of the lovely girls at the guestbook table if she knew where I could find one and she pointed me to the nursery. SAVED! It was also nice because the nursery had a tinted window into the sanctuary. Ben + I agreed that if Kai had a meltdown during the ceremony he'd take him in there so I could enjoy the wedding.

He babbled a few times and when he got really loud Ben took him out into the foyer, but no meltdowns! This was his 2nd wedding, but the first was when he was only 2 months old. He did such a good job! The ceremony was beautiful and I was so happy for Krista + Matt!

The reception was in the fellowship hall which was attached to the nursery, so nice + convenient. 

Malakai met another college friend of ours who lives in California now. Whitney was a bridesmaid in the wedding. There were two other times she was supposed to meet Kai but her trips got cancelled, she was so excited to finally get to see him in person!

Later Malakai couldn't decide which bridesmaid he wanted to hang out with...so he chose both!

The reception was very casual. Just eating, visiting, toasts, + cake cutting.

{lovely centerpieces}

 Malakai cruised around a bit and we made sure he got some time outside as well.

One of my best friends, Carina, was really helpful to have around when we needed an extra set of hands. She's a very fun "auntie"! She also took this next photo for us. LOVE it!

This was the first time we stayed for the entire reception since Ben and I have been together. We are so glad we didn't miss the send-off. When Matt + Krista got through all the people and bubbles, there was no getaway car!

After a few very confusing minutes, someone drove it around front. Every wedding has to have a fun story like that!

It was after 6:30pm so we got Kai in his PJ's to make him more comfy for our long drive back. He passed out before we even made our first turn towards home and slept the whole way!

Ben + I enjoyed each other's company and the sunset all the way down I-5

We got home just after 9:30pm and settled down as our crazy weekend finally came to a close. 

Now this week we've been trying out a new schedule with watching Henry. It's been interesting as the last 3 days Malakai hasn't taken very good naps. He either wakes up to early or won't go to sleep before we leave, and always refuses to nap while we're there. Thankfully he's fallen asleep on the way home and stayed that way for me to transfer him from car seat to crib. Luckily, this schedule will only be going for the next few weeks!