Youngstown

This weekend we were privileged to be able to travel to Youngstown, OH for birthday and wedding fun!  Our gracious hosts for the weekend, Cindy and Tom, threw Avery a birthday party when we arrived on Friday.  We had a wonderful time-and Avery was spoiled!  Cindy's parents were there to celebrate too-and spoil Avery some more!!  They got her a yummy ice cream cake-which she absolutely loved because she loves ice cream:)  Later in the evening, Beth and Dave arrived, and in the morning we all got to hang out and then got ready for why we were all there-Amy and Stephen's wedding!  The wedding was beautiful-thankfully the weather cleared up from the ton of rain they got the day before-and Avery was pretty good through the ceremony!  There were many SMC girls there and we enjoyed getting to see everyone. Deanne (Czajkowski) McKenna and her husband, Doug were the other couple at the table with us, Cindy and Tom, and Beth and Dave.  It was so nice to get to catch up with her!!  She looked great and she and Doug will be celebrating their 1st anniversary in December.  Avery was quite a handful at the reception as she didn't want to sit in her booster at the table AT ALL.  She only wanted to run around searching for outlets (the electrical kind) and anything else to get into.  Thankfully, Domenico, Adrienne's husband (fellow smcer), gave me some perspective and told me that Avery walking this soon is good because she is learning more-I think that's the doctor in him speaking, but I know he has a point!  At one point, I calmed Avery down with a spoon (seriously who knew that's all it would take) and she found a pumpkin they were using for decoration that was just her size.  She was a sight to see with a spoon in one hand and a pumpkin in the other!  You would think, as a good mom, I would have had my camera ready to take pics of the cute things she was doing and all of the people she was visiting with-well I didn't. Unfortunately, I barely have any pictures of the entire weekend.  I think I got so caught up in visiting and enjoying everyone that I really didn't take as many pictures as I normally would.  I'm rather sad because we saw so many people that I would like to have pictures of, but I don't.  I don't even have any pics on my camera of Beth and Dave-hopefully I can get some soon from another source!  After the reception we headed back to Cindy and Tom's to watch the Notre Dame game-Avery even got to stay up a bit past bedtime!  Then we concluded the weekend by having breakfast over at Cindy's parents', Mr. and Mrs. C's house.  They made us a wonderful meal and we had a great time visiting with them this weekend as much as everyone else!  I think Avery gave them a glimpse of how much fun they are going to have when Cindy and Tom's little one arrives late winter/early spring!  Thanks to our hosts for a great weekend, and everyone who chased Avery around and helped watch her!  Here are a few of the pics I DID manage to take this weekend!

Avery with her balloons that she got for her birthday-she is in love with balloons and she dragged them all over the house!

I love this picture!  Cindy and Tom's dog, Lady, couldn't get enough of the paper from Avery's gifts-it was so funny, she stole the show!

So cute, Avery wearing her pumpkin hat she got with her pink scrubs that Adrienne and Domenico sent for her birthday-she had so many compliments on those scrubs:)

The beautiful ice cream cake that we all enjoyed after Avery's yummy birthday meal-Avery had chicken nuggets while everyone else (minus me of course) had steak!

Amy and Stephen cutting their cake-everything was so beautiful and classic.  Amy's dress was gorgeous and their wedding definitely reflected their personalities-Artie loved the band they had-L80's Night!

After the reception, Avery watched some of the ND game from Uncle Tom's lap with her new Care Bear, Cheer Bear!

Aunt Beth is responsible for this one!  She taught Avery how to do "touchdown" so here she is showing off her brand new skills!

The ladies on the dance floor-from left: Cindy, Beth, me, and Avery...we didn't get to dance too much before we had to leave, but we enjoyed the 80's music!! (note the spoon Avery is still holding on tight to...we had a tough time getting it out of her hand before we left!)

Tom and Cindy outside the reception.  It was a beautiful view.  Beth and Dave also had an adorable couple picture taken here...but, of course, I didn't get it on my camera:(

Family pic outside!  Avery was mad because she was trying to take the bow out of her hair, but mean mommy wouldn't let her-however, shortly after this picture she showed me and took it out anyway, it never made it back in her hair!