Epic Road Trip Part 4: Fun with family in Westminster

From Erie we headed down I-25 about 20 miles to the town of Westminster, where we checked into our room at the Drury Inn & Suites and met up with a dozen other family members also in town for my cousin's wedding. It had been nearly three years since we'd all been together (the last time being my cousin Miranda's wedding in Texas) so it was our first opportunity to introduce everyone to Eddie! 

The rest of Friday afternoon and evening was spent catching up with family at the hotel as everyone arrived in town for my cousin Jen's wedding the next day, Saturday, June 11th, which was held at the Shrine of St. Anne Catholic Church in the nearby town of Arvada, with the reception following at the Church Ranch Event Center in Westminster. Sunday was spent hanging out by the pool with family and then going to my cousin Syndi's home in Lafayette (which I'm disappointed to admit will have to go undocumented because I failed to take a single photo). We topped off the weekend by hosting a wine tasting for our family back in our hotel room on Sunday night.

Our three days with family in Westminster went by way too fast and, as always, left me looking forward to the next time we're all together again!

Visiting with family upon arriving at the hotel. The hotel offered a complimentary breakfast AND happy hour cocktails and snacks every day. so we got to spend a lot of time together in this room.

Eddie charming the crowd

Avalon and Eloise getting reacquainted with my cousin Kayla

Later that night a bunch of us got together in my parents' room for pizza (and more cocktails)

Wedding time! Do I have the cutest kids in the world or what?! :)

Eloise insisted that I take a photo of her with this picture that she drew

Thanks to my Uncle Jim for snapping this family photo outside the hotel

Family selfie in the church, minus Ellie, plus my cousin Ally the Photobomb Master

Four generations photo with my dad and Grandma Smitty, who will turn 90 in December! (I was soooooo mad at Ellie for refusing to be in this photo...)

Ally and Avalon at the reception

Eloise and Kayla. It seems like every trip we take Eloise chooses a "favorite" person, and this time Kayla was it. ;)

I don't remember what was so funny, but I love Avalon's smile. She's so good at posing for photos that it's rare for me to spontaneously catch one of her real, genuine smiles.

This poor guy got stuck at our table, but he won the girls over with the idea of trying to make prayer cards (there was one at each seat) stick to their foreheads. Really nice guy, too bad I don't remember his name!

Eddie with my Uncle Jim

:)

The kiddos unwinding with a little TV back at the hotel. We were kind of party poopers and left before the music and dancing even got started (but in our defense, it was 9:00!). A nice, relaxing end to a very long day!

This pic was taken nearly 24 hours later, about 8pm on Sunday evening. (I am so annoyed with myself for not taking a single pic all day until this one!) This is Avalon posted at the door of our hotel room, waiting to greet "guests" and hand each one a wine glass for the wine tasting we hosted. :) 

A few shots of the group...

Last pic of the night, shortly before everyone headed back to their rooms and we readied ourselves for the next phase of our adventure... the one-day, 1000 mile drive to Reno!