Saskatoon

So finally I sit down to write about my experience this summer in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan visiting family and attending my cousin's wedding. It was my first wedding and my first cousin to be married so overall it was a very exciting and busy time! My extended family was in a twist for half the week before the wedding because they were hosting the rehearsal dinner, a post-wedding celebration the following day and most of us were in the wedding whether it was music, bridesmaids, or as I was, the guest registry person.
The week before the wedding was so much fun. I had a great time with a few of my cousins and my sister before everyone arrived for the weekend celebrations. The wedding itself was beautiful and my cousins played the music for the ceremony which worked out very well. The bride was stunning and looked very happy to be walking down the aisle towards my cousin. After we spent the afternoon at my uncle's waiting for the reception which was a fun night filled with amusing anecdotes and sweet stories. Since this was the first time in over ten years when my dad's entire side of the family was together in one place at one time therefore there were plenty of pictures taken to document the momentous occasion and my uncles ensured we remember it by dancing the night away with my cousins and I.
Dancing...wow will that ever be something I won't forget. At one point every cousin and every aunt and uncle were up on the small dance floor groovin out to pop songs such as Taylor Swift's You Belong With Me and oddities that other attendees at the wedding had chosen (we all RSVPd with one song choice...my family's was Rasputin, a song we know from a video dance game). My uncle polka'd with me and my other uncle spun me around so fast I kept stepping on his feet. The best part of the night was when, after a few beers, my closest cousin and I hopped up to the dance floor (I hopped he may have been dragged) to dance to the classic Sweet Home Alabama. Boy did we dance! He learned how to dance similar to ballroom dancing in Norway on a year long trip to a folk school and he clearly remembered those steps because he was good. I've never gotten to dance like that and I had so much fun. Hopefully I can find a man for me who can dance like that someday!
Sunday, the day following the wedding, was full of hangover food, reminiscing, games and tears. We all spent the day at my uncle's lake house outside the city and we just spent hours talking, playing ping pong, boating, and eating together. It was another amazing afternoon and I was immensely saddened to leave that night to head back to Vancouver. I was leaving behind both my immediate family and the family I only see every few years. I love them all so much I was devastated to only get one week with them. I dearly hope I can spend a more extended period of time with them sometime in the next few years. We are all growing up so fast and I just can't seem to slow down time. We couldn't believe one of us was getting married and we joked constantly about the next 7 weddings that were surely bound to happen over the next 20 years. I don;t know who will be next but I hope we can all be there and enjoy it just as we did this one.

Here's a taste of the dancing we all did =)

My cousin, uncle, sister and myself

Dancing with my cousin (my uncle and sis on the right, my mother aunt and cousin in the back)