Here are some more pictures from Amanda and Derek's beautiful wedding at the Bell House. Amanda and Derek (and Liz, Lyle, Ashley) you were all SO much fun! Thank you for letting me be a part of your wedding day. (if you haven't already you can see the sneak peek here)

I wasn't planning on going home again this year, I've already been home a record three times, but I figured that we should probably take advantage of the whole kids under 2 fly free thing one more time. 

Ruby's time flying has been pretty good, as far as babies traveling goes. I've been lucky that the seat next to me (in the very back) has always been empty. Otherwise...oy... I don't even want to think about how terrible the flights would be. Even with the free seat it is still hard to keep her contained, trust me I've tried. For this flight she was in the aisle, in the empty seats across from us, and under our seat. I'm not a germaphobe, otherwise I'd probably be upset that I caught her eating peanuts off the floor. 

Of course the biggest event of our trip was the 12+ inches of snow! I wasn't really prepared to take her out in this much snow but she seemed to do okay with a couple extra layers.

The snow trapped us inside until day 3 of my trip. I was going a little crazy so we escape to my grandma's place where I gave her a bath and she got to open her birthday gift. 

And that is about where I stopped taking pictures. Someone was being a toddler and trying mommy's patience and I spent about half the trip frustrated as hell. I think I am going to have to take up yoga again so that I can handle the next year without imploding. Or two years...since everyone keeps telling me about the Terrible Threes. Heaven forbid! 

Less than 8 hours after we arrived in Minnesota winter storm Ceasar hit and left about 12" of snow up at my parent's house. This was Ruby's first experience with any significant amount of snow. She went between being excited to faces likes this whenver the wind blew snow into her face:

She also didn't like when she fell in the snow. The roads are getting better but are still not drive-the-speed limit-able. We've been stuck at my parents house since Saturday and yesterday morning I was ready to get the hell out so we went and visited my grandma. Usually I eat lunch with her when I'm up but yesterday the cooks "couldn't make it in" (really?) and all the seniors had to fend for themselves. I cooked lunch for her her, gave Ruby a bath in her sink (my parents have crazy rusty water...yuck), and thankfully my cousin arrived with her son to help distract Ruby from destroying things.

Last night my aunt watched Ruby while I went out to eat with my brothers and their significant others at Famous Daves. Dinners like that, although a bit crass at times, really make me miss home a lot.

I am in Minnesota! Ruby and I arrived this afternoon after a relatively easy flight. There was little screaming on her part but plenty of squirming. At one point she was wedged underneath our seat and another she was throwing a small-scale tantrum in the middle of the aisle. Thankfully the flight was quiet and I was surrounded by empty seats. I let her do some things that I am pretty sure were against Delta safety regulations but it kept her occupied and the flight attendant didn't seem to care so I just went with it.

After we arrived at my parents house cousins and aunts and uncles convened, dinner was prepared, and good times were had by all. The only stain upon the evening was the viewing of the god-awful Frosty Returns. If you've never seen it before-stay away!!

The plan for the next five days include my nephew's birthday party, a little Christmas/birthday get together for Ruby, and a photo session, hopefully with snow!