Congratulations Stephanie and Corey!

Congrats Stephanie and Corey! We're glad to welcome Corey to the family officially after 6 years. I love this picture of them sharing a little moment between them. They look so happy!

And here we are - still happy after almost ten years!
My dad couldn't resist....while Mike and Taryn were taking pictures of their family, he couldn't help but pop in for a quick hello. I'm sure they were pleasantly surprised when they saw this one! Mom - can't you control him? :)
Wow, Mom, that yoga really does lengthen you! I think the shoes helped a bit, too (only a bit though). I found some really cute shoes (at Payless!) right before the wedding that I decided to wear. I didn't think they looked that tall in the store, but when I wore them at the wedding, I realized I was at least 5" taller! Mom wanted to see what it was like to be as tall as my dad...it's a good look, Mom!What a great looking family!

Grandma had fun watching Jackson, and Jackson enjoyed being with his great grandma. At the rehearsal dinner, he would come up and tap her on the shoulder to tell her a secret or show her his small cars.
Stephanie and Corey's wedding was pure Scottish, complete with a Scottish band to play in the bride. Stephanie had quite the entrance as she walked down the aisle!
After the wedding, Stephanie and Corey came down to greet each guest as they exited their pew. It was such a thoughtful way to spend a little bit of time with each person. I teared up when they first came down to greet and hug their parents. I teared up even more when I realized we all got to hug them!
The reception was in a beautiful room in Mankato. It was a full sit-down dinner. Jackson particularly liked the "snack bar" aka the candy table. Notice his plate his full of goldfish, m&ms and brite crawlers. Steph sure knew what he liked!
Jackson really got into the tapping of the glasses to make Steph and Corey kiss. My mom kept egging him on and encouraged Jackson to try it at home with me and Tom.

Jackson sure loves his Papa! I think the feeling is mutual.

More butter.....more butter please. I haven't seen Jackson focus this hard in a while. He has the Caldwell tongue sticking out during times of immense concentration. I'm embarrassed to say that Jackson loves butter so much that he will eat it all by itself. Please tell me that this is a phase and other kids do it too.

Corey's mom and sister made the wedding cake as well as the cakes placed on each table as the centerpiece. After dinner, each table was able to cut into their own cake rather than waiting in line. What a great idea! The cake was really good, too. So impressed!

Jackson's favorite part of the wedding was the dancing. I don't know where he found this love of dancing - definitely not from me or Tom! He does have quite the rhythm, though, which definitely is from Tom. Enjoy!

The night before after the rehearsal dinner, we all went across the street from the hotel and went to Wow. It was a great place with arcade games, miniature golf, bowling and laser tag. Jackson had a blast! One of Jackson's favorites was the driving game. He actually drove by himself and did pretty well. You can see how focused he was as reflected in the steering wheel below.

He also had a lot of fun riding the motorcycle. He had a little bit of help from his daddy. I think they both enjoyed it!
Jackson also challenged Papa to a few air hockey games. He was actually pretty coordinated!
After we all played several games on our own, the entire family got together to play a game of laser tag. We weren't quite sure how Jackson would do since the game is played mostly in the dark. I worried for nothing. He was so into the game. We had a full group playing, and so I figured that he could just go around with me and Tom without his own vest and laser gun. We were totally mistaken. Once he saw the vests, he had to have his own. The vest was almost as tall as he was - it came at least down to his knees. He put it on so proudly. Once inside, he and Tom went everywhere together. He loved getting people! As the game was over and we all walked into the vest room, Jackson kept saying over and over again "I'm good with my gun!" Ahhh - nothing makes a mom feel prouder than hearing her son say that! (I'm totally being sarcastic in case it doesn't read that way on paper). When we got the statistics back at the end, we saw that Jackson actually had hit 18 people - quite an achievement for a 3 year old considering the coordination it takes to both hold the laser gun and get other people's targets!

We split the 11 hour drive into two days on the way up there. When Paul learned that I was going up to his old stomping grounds, he gave me lots of tips on where to stop for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We ate breakfast in Des Moines at the Iowa Machine Shed. It was so good and tasted just like Iowa home cooking.
The inside of the store was decorated like an Iowa farm. Jackson immediately ran over to this tractor as soon as he saw it. Guess he is a farm boy at heart after all...
Paul recommended that we order some cinnamon rolls while at the restaurant. The waitress looked at us funny when we said we wanted two rolls to go. Boy where we surprised when she came out with these! They are each as big as Jackson's head!
I had another fine mommy moment during our short trip. Just before we pulled into the hotel in Iowa, we realized that we had forgotten Jackson's coat. And it was 20 degrees outside with at least a foot of snow on the ground. So while everyone else was getting ready for the rehearsal, we went shopping at a sporting goods place. It actually worked out really well - Jackson got a super nice coat for way less than we ever could have bought in Oklahoma, plus he also got a spring coat and ski pants. We are now prepared for another wintery winter here in Oklahoma - bring it on!

Watch for other posts coming soon detailing the remainder of our trip. We packed a lot into 4 days!