UW Homecoming

October 26-28, John and I went back to Madison for Homecoming. I had hoped we'd make it back early enough on Friday night to go to the Homecoming parade and the volleyball game...but we didn't. Instead we ate at the Great Dane and turned in to our hotel on the west side.

Mmm...pumpkin ale

Saturday morning I went for a run. The area we stayed in had grown up a lot since I was last there. The residential area just west of our hotel was a great place to run. Then we headed to campus. We took the Lakeshore Path from Lot 60 to the Lakeshore dorms and then cut over to Union South. The new Dejope dorm is gorgeous! We had a great lunch at Union South, listened to the band outside for awhile, and then headed over to the game. The Badgers lost to Michigan State in overtime but we had a great time cheering them on. It was also Halloween weekend and Bucky put on quite a few different costumes.

John

John at Tripp Circle, his address for 3 years

Welcome Home Badger Alumni!

Camp Randall

The Badger Bash before the game

Bucky in a tutu!

After the game, we took Natalie and Race out to supper...and then Natalie treated us to some ice cream at the new Gordon Commons. Though Natalie insists the food isn't that much better, the building looks more like a restaurant than a cafeteria!

Sunday we were able to visit Jamine, Brandon, Cade, and Blake before driving back to Chicago. It was so good to see them again. The boys are getting so big!  Blake loved my Bucky t-shirt.

This picture was actually from the day before when the boys put on their costumes with their cousins...so cute!

Colors and Bottles

Some time ago I purchased a YouSwoop voucher for a Colors and Bottles event.  Jess and I scheduled it for the Monday after Annie and Ben's wedding.  While we were both exhausted, we had a great time! 

A bar hosted the event.  A real artist was the instructor.  He had a painting there for us to look at and then walked us through how to paint it.  Jess and I both followed the instructions as well as we could...but others in our class really made it their own.  It was so interesting to see how other people interpreted the instructions...and how some completely went their own way.  All painting materials were supplied.  It was such as fun night...and definitely worth $17/person.

The artist's painting

My painting, step by step

Jess and I with our finished paintings.

Annie and Ben's Wedding

The sibling picture: John, Em, Natalie, Annie, Ben, and Lisabeth

We had a great time at Annie and Ben's wedding.  They thought of so many little details...and everything went quite perfectly!

We drove up to Oshkosh on Thursday and met John's uncles, aunts, and cousins for dinner.  Everyone joked that they no longer mattered to 5-year-old Journey because I was there now...but I was soon replaced by 6-year-old Grace.  It was fun to be able to spend some time with them before the craziness of the wedding weekend began as they had traveled from Idaho and we don't see them too often.

Friday I helped Annie, Natalie, and Kathy with a bit of the decorating and then we girls went to get our nails done.  After that was the rehearsal at the church (where Annie had to do confession) and then dinner.  It was a fun night!

Personalized M&Ms for the rehearsal dinner

Sisters: Annie and Natalie

John, John, and Brigitte

Em and John

Ben and Annie

Saturday morning we were up bright and early to get our hair done.  Max, Annie and Ben's videographer, and Matt, the best man, brought Annie her gift from Ben (diamond earrings) and got footage of this part of the day.  Then we headed over to the church to get ready.  It was fun and so exciting to see Annie transform into the beautiful bride she was.

Annie with her hair stylist

Annie and Em

Natalie and Annie

Almost Mrs. Kotenberg!

After a fairly tear-free ceremony (Annie didn't bawl through her vows like I did!) and a few pictures at the church, the wedding party hopped into a trolley for drinks and more pictures around town before arriving at the reception hall.  We had a great time!

The beautiful bride!

Em, Annie, and Natalie

John

Race and Natalie

John and Em

Dinner was absolutely delicious!  I cleaned my plate...and was able to sample a few of the desserts too.  Annie and Ben's first dance was super cute.  I missed the Lenz men doing "the worm" though...so disappointing.  It was fun to chat with my parents and our friends too.  The only downer of the night was that John had a little too much to drink and fell asleep at a table...oops.  We took him home as soon as the last dance ended so I got out of cleanup duty.

John and Mark

Mark, KJ, Em, and John

The Lenz men doing "the worm"...yup, that's Grandpa John on the left!

Sunday, John and Kathy hosted brunch for the family.  I think everyone had a great time...maybe too great for some of them!

I took this when we went back to get our car on Sunday...beautiful day!

Just a sample of the details they thought of!

**Most of these pictures are mine, some are from other people via Wedding Snap and Facebook, and I believe the sibling picture is from Annie and Ben's photographer via Facebook.**