As Cabelas is to Men. . .

Our trip last weekend held some fun times other than attending the beautiful wedding.  As I said before, we drove up on Saturday, attended the lovely rehearsal dinner and went to bed.  

On Sunday we got up and did a couple of things that we consider our "vacation"--the first one with all but one of us since 2007.  What did we do?

We went to IKEA!!!!    I have been dreaming about visiting Ikea for quite a while now but knew there wasn't one within an easy drive of our home--only three choices: Chicago, Dallas or Minneapolis.

So since we were in Minneapolis and staying across the street from the Mall of America and Ikea we visited both places in the few hours that we had free that day.  

Ikea was amazing.  So much fun to traipse through the showroom floor and pretend to live in all of the beautiful room settings they have there.  Yeah, we got a few groans and moans about how boring it was from a couple of male family members. But, hey, we rationalized that it is to women what Cabelas is to men. We have certainly visited THOSE type of stores more than a couple of times!

The whole store is fascinating (especially if you live in the boonies like we do).  The marketplace floor and the self-serve floor were equally thrilling to us.  I could have lived in there for about a week I think.

So much to see and touch!  But, alas, we were on a limited time schedule and the guys could only take so much of it.  

I got a couple of things and I am excited to show them to you.  One is something I once pinned and the other was a pillow that I could NOT resist for the price.  It is SO Scandinavian and since our kids are part Swede I had to get it.  

Here is the little cart I got to help keep my little office area neater:

Isn't it cute? It is turquoise and that means it is PERFECT.

Here is the pillow on my bed and you have to admit it looks adorable:

That very Swedish print was on many textiles there but this one was the cutest and the most portable!  Isn't it fun?!

After this we went over to the Mall of America where we had been before (since Craig's sister lives like 5 minutes away) and walked around the amusement park floor a bit, had lunch and then Anna bought a MN sweatshirt.  

By then we had to go back to our hotel and get ready for the wedding since we had to be at the church by 2:30 for a family picture.  

The wedding was at 4 and it was so lovely.  Heidi and Jon are an adorable couple and the wedding ceremony was so sweet and Christ-centered.  Not only did we get to see Heidi get married, but our other niece and two nephews sang and played for the special music song so we got to hear them sing together for the first time.

Here's the darling bride and groom:

All in all it was a great (although brief) time with family in the Northland.

I'll sign off here, joyfully thinking about the new IKEA being built in Kansas City that will open in 2014!