After over 8 years of dating and 3 years of being "engaged", Lani and Kyle finally got hitched.  The wedding day was 7-17 and the day's events took place in Kyle's backyard in Columbus, Ohio.   But, as one could imagine, the celebrating went on all weekend and was SO MUCH FUN!

The weekend kicked off with Lani and Kyle's siblings and cousins meeting each other for the first time and going out to dinner in downtown Columbus.  Lani and Kyle were at a fancy dinner with both sets of parents while the siblings met.  They were both so nervous about if/how well we would all get along.  We enjoyed traumatizing Kyle over text that the night wasn't off to a great start, when in fact we all got along fabulously.  It was so great to finally meet everyone after ALL these years!  After a delicious dinner at a Mexican restaurant we headed to Jeni's for ice cream.  We fell in love with this place.  Everything is local, organic and in season.  And they had a dark chocolate that was phenomenal - absolutely stunning.  We were excited to see that they ship. :)  We united with Lani and Kyle & parents at Jeni's and filled the place.  It was the perfect treat on a hot mid-west night.  From there Kyle and Uncle Kevin gave us a late-night tour of Ohio State.  That campus is beautiful.  Too bad I didn't get to see it in the daylight.

Friday was a day of fun.  We got nails done and then Lani and I went to the Pfaffenbach's to make 150 chocolate chip cookies.  Lani LOVES my cookies and it's what she wanted for a treat throughout the weekend.  Good thing Nancy had two ovens - otherwise we never would have finished in time for the evening's events.  And boy, what a night it was!   The "Party Bus" arrived at 5pm to take the families to Cincinnati for the Reds vs. Rockies baseball game.  The Kalembas cheered for the Rockies while the Ohio side cheered for the Reds.  And although we would have loved to see Colorado win, it was a good thing the Reds won that night.  Apparently the last time the Reds won the World Series was in 1990.  And for some serendipitous reason, the 20th anniversary of the Reds winning the World Series was being celebrated that night.  They brought back the lineup from 1990, they brought in MC Hammer (who performed) since "Can't Touch This" was the theme song for the Reds in 1990, and they had the most incredible fireworks I've ever seen.  The stadium SHOOK with the booms of the fireworks.  It was awesome.  Not to mention, the park is beautiful.  Before arriving I didn't think anything could compare to AT&T park in San Francisco, but this one was very similar - only on the Ohio River.  But more fun than the baseball game, was watching Kyle and his cousin turn into the 12 year old boys they were in 1990 and how unbelievably excited they were to have the old team there.  The night couldn't have been more perfect.  The bus ride home was also quite memorable -- I doubt the bus driver gets many families quite like ours.  California Gurls was the theme song of the night with dancing to match.  Kyle and Jason also put on a good blues performance - (until they realized that the music wasn't really the blues, but a repeating alarm on the iPhone).  Once we returned back to Columbus, the three of us girls were of course, hungry and so Kyle and Kevin took the four of us (Lee's included) to Hound Dogs.  An all-night pizza joint.  We loaded up on greasy, buttery, fat-kid pizza at 3am.  It hit the spot.

With a 4am bed-time, we didn't move so fast on Saturday.  Lani and Kyle anticipated that and the wedding didn't start until 4:30pm.  We headed over to pick up the car at 3:45pm, in time to get Lani to Kyle's parents house by 4pm --- only to discover I had managed to leave the lights on in the rental car and the battery was dead.  Off we rushed to find jumper cables -- thank heavens the delay was minimal.  The bigger delay was the traffic on the freeway.  It really was a good thing that Lani is so laid back, that the wedding was incredibly informal and low-key - we were some of the last to arrive.

The wedding took place in Kyle's backyard. Lani and Kyle didn't walk down an aisle or exchange vows - but they had each parent and sibling speak, and one extended family member.  So much had to happen for 7-17 to actually happen, that everyone who spoke got a little (if not a lot) emotional.  I cried more on Lani's wedding day than I did at my own!  And the real kicker here - is that Lani even cried.  It really was a lovely ceremony - and my dad wrapped it up.   Thanks to Kara and her finagling with the U.S. Post Office, Lani's ring (she's not had one before the wedding day) arrived the DAY of and Kyle was able to slip it on her finger at the "ceremony".  It's beautiful.  Kyle, on the other hand, got a "ring pop" that didn't last the hour.  :)

Pulled Pork was on the menu for dinner, the mint dessert and angel food cake were the "wedding" cakes, and Lee was the photographer.  It was casual and perfect for Lani and Kyle -- (or Lyle and Connie as they inadvertently were called several times over the weekend).  The evening ended with some corn tossing.  We've got to get our hands on a set - or have Lee make one.  They were awesome!

Sunday we enjoyed a DELICIOUS brunch at Nanny's (Jason and Nanny cooked) with some more corn-tossing before the awesome mid-west thunderstorm hit.  The day was pretty chill (everyone was exhausted) and some people had to catch planes and head on out.  The evening ended at the Pfaffenbachs with more food and card games.  Lee and I did a pretty great job of staying on California Time all weekend -- didn't even have to adjust.  :)

We had such a great time.  We loved meeting all of Kyle's family.  We loved seeing Lani ad Kyle actually marry each other! And we loved seeing the family that was there.  And we loved Ohio!  It was a fabulous weekend.  Congrats to Lyle and Connie!

One day I'll get all the pictures posted!  When I do, these ones I will be sure to share!