Noni's B'day Celebration

First, my apologies to Aunt Shannon and Noni for taking a week to get up pictures from their first South Dakotan adventure! To make up for it, there will be 2 posts!! Too many cute pictures to cram into one post.

Election week was a tough week. It was the first time since I was 18, that I could not vote--because we were not registered in time. Turns out that the DMV office in Vermillion is only open on Thursday's and Friday's...hope, you like waiting in line! We also closed on our Hamilton house. This was emotional for many reasons. I will spare everyone the elaboration.......It was a crazy busy week at work (cloning has commenced in the Moore Lab!), and flu shot week (poor Baby Bean!)

Needless to say, seeing Aunt Shannon and Noni at the tiny Sioux City airport was MORE than AMAZING..it was like Dalen's Italian Wedding Soup on a cold, rainy day and like Auburn beating Georgia and going to the SEC Championship (War Eagle!)--all wrapped up into one! It was cool bringing them to our new home for the first time--Dalen has been working hard to help if feel more like our home. That night we ate dinner at the nicest restaurant in town, Red's. Aunt Shannon quote of the day: "Wow, it's almost like being in a restaurant in Atlanta". Hey, we just recently got indoor plumbing too--just in time :). Anyway, the beautiful thing was that the stresses of the previous week were just melting away......Westin amazed them with his standing skills and how well he is sharing/playing with Copper (Copper is also appreciative of this particular new skill:)).

We could not have asked for better weather. It was sunny and in the 70's during the day and the 50's at night. So we took them on walking tours of our little town and neighborhood. Say what you will about Vermillion (and, yes, sometimes it does smell like cows), but it has a lot of character and cool old homes.
We also celebrated Noni's 60th B'day. Dalen cooked an amazing meal and we had some wonderful cake from Monica's. Westin enjoyed some cake...just a little sliver, but enough to pitch a royal fit, when Dalen took it away, so Noni and Aunt Shannon had to calm him down. Tough night all around, right?? We really appreciate Noni and Aunt Shannon making the trip--it's true: it is easier to get to South Dakota than Montana. That's good news for everyone!