August 1, 2015

Hi, finally I have something a little more interesting to post about!  2 days and 11 hours of driving we are finally home.  It was a very nice 2 days, but we are both stiff from too much sitting.  We really have to learn to stop once in a while and just walk around.

We left around 8 yesterday morning, heading east and north to Duluth.  Emily's wedding was at 4 in Hermantown.  Neither of us were familiar with that area, and I'm, at best, an inept user of my phone map thingy.  But we muddled through and made it by 2! What to do for 2 hours??  Well, we drove around a bit and saw a Sam's Club.  Well, who can resist?  Plus we needed to walk around a bit.  We made it back to the church by 3:15 and then there were more people there.  We had a chance to say hellos to family and friends.  Of course, there were many Moellers there, and we never see them, so that was nice.  And saw Beth and Tom and their family.  I wish I had taken more pictures, but my mind wasn't there, I guess.  We did get a few before the ceremony when they were taking the formal pictures.  I don't think I got one of the whole bridal party, though, which was huge!  She had 8 attendants plus Stephanie as maid of honor.  She was a lovely bride, and I really liked the bridesmaid dresses, too.  They had chosen yellow as their color, and it was so fresh and pretty!  Peter Moeller (son of David) sang and played "The Lord's Prayer". It was his own arrangement, just lovely.  Chris was going to see if she could get a copy of it, but don't know if she did or not.  Chris and Eugene were at our table, too.  So glad that Eugene was able to come. 

 The lovely Moeller sisters and their beautiful Mom, Barb.

 And the bride and her groom.

Duane gave a very entertaining speech at the reception.  I tried to get a decent snapshot, but he kept moving around!  This table includes the Kock family, and if you look to the left you'll see Duane.

And a few pictures from the reception area, of the Duluth Harbor.

It was really a picture perfect day.
There were several toasts made, and a yummy supper served.

Becca stopped at the table to visit, that's the Buszman's seated with us. 

I stole this picture from Barb's FB post, but this is all of the cousins, can you pick them all out?  From left, Carisa, Kayla, Nathan, Josh, Jonathan (who chauffered us to the reception), Daniel, Adam, Emely, Rebecca and Stephanie.  And if I got the twins mixed up, please excuse.  Great picture.

I think we were the first to leave the reception.  That must be old age creeping up.  Plus we had decided to just head home that night.  Chris had kindly offered to share their room, but we had plans to stop in Mankato, and thought we would try to get part of the way yet that night.  Well, we made our way out of town, an accomplishment in itself, and stopped in Moose Lake, but they were kind of expensive yet, so we kept going.  Got to Hinckley and found a very nice motel there.  They just had standard smoking rooms, but she gave us a jacuzzi room for the same price, non smoking.  It was late, so I'm sure that helped.  We did not make use of the jacuzzi, though.  We just kind of fell into bed and slept soundly until around 7.  They had a complimentary breakfast, which was okay, and we were back on the road by 8.

We made it to Mankato by lunch.  We took the kind of roads Darwin would have liked, the scenic route!  Not by choice, we just kept running into detours on 15.  We texted Jeremy and he said, oh yeah, he just takes back roads.  Which we did. The best thing to do in situations like that is just follow the traffic, the locals usually know the best way around it.  

We met Jeremy, Laura and Maria in town for lunch.  Bad news there, Laura isn't able to take time off for the lake (which I had expected, she just started a new job) and Jeremy and Maria are only able to make it for a few days.  The crowd is just getting smaller and smaller.  After lunch we went to Sibley Park and walked around for a while.  We needed that after the hours we've spent sitting so far.  

This is the cow statue that Laura was sure the head had moved.  I gave her the benefit of the doubt, but the guys did not!!
Then we said our goodbyes and got our hugs and off we went!  Poor Orrin, he did all the driving.  We stopped in Marshall for our Culver's, but then decided to go to Cold Stone Creamery instead and that was just yummy!  

And then we just came home.  I got in the Buick and went to pick up Teddy.  He's always so happy to go to Vicki's, but is always excited when I come to pick him up again. 

I think I've covered the high spots, if I think of anything else, I'll put it in the next blog. You know, it's just good to be home again!

Hugs, Orrin, Linda, and Teddy is back  :)

 You are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
Ephesians 2:19-22