The Melhus Family: Wedding Weekend

Last weekend Avree and Matt were lucky enough to both be apart of a friends wedding. Avree was the flower girl and Matt was an usher.
We were a little worried that Avree wouldn't want to walk down the isle, but luckly there were 2 older ring bears who kinda took her under their wing. :-) She loves kids and following them around, so we thought this would be a piece of cake to walk down with them. Rehearsel went great, she walked down in the middle of the boys and wanted to do it again, and again, and again.
Wedding day came and what a beautiful day! It wasn't that hot, but it was sunny so that made it feel nice out! Avree and I got to the church late afternoon so I could get her all dressed and ready. The bride and bridesmaids were just "oohing" and "awwhhing" at how cute she was all dressed up. They kept asking her if they could hold her and of course she just gave them the "I don't think so look" and said "no". :-)
Well it was go time!!... Matt stayed in the back with Avree and I sat in the front row, so she could walk down to me. Well I guess she didn't want to carry the basket with her (which was fine) and off she went in the middle of the ring bears.... About 6 pews down, she decided to turn back around and run back to dad. Everyone just got a little giggle. Not sure if she felt a little embarrased at everyone looking at her, or if she wanted dad to go down with her or if she decided she DID want her basket of petals. It took her a second and then she grabbed the basket out of Matt's hand and off she went again... Down the isle all by herself!! What a big girl!! She did great and everyone loved her "little stunt". She was a "hit".
I had SO many people come up to me after the ceremony to ask how old she was and how cute she was. They kept saying she needed to be a model. So everyone thought she was adorable and did a great job... phew...
The wedding party had to wait around the church for a bit after the ceremony so they could take some group pictures. We tried to get some pictures of our own, but of course in most of them Avree HAD TO HAVE the paci. Or she "wasn't in the mood" for pictures. We did get a couple good ones though.
Avree was lucky enough to ride with the whole wedding party on the trolley to the reception. Matt said she LOVED it.
Of course when we got to the reception she was FULL of energy and just wanted to run around. Matt and I were trying to hold her in our laps during dinner, which was very difficult. Finally the dancing started! We knew that Avree likes to "dance" but we had never seen her dance this much and what great moves she has!! She was on the dance floor the entire night! We had SO many people pointing and "awwhhing" and wanting to dance with her. But NO WAY, Avree wanted to dance by herself. I wish I had the video camera of her on the dance floor. She again was the hit of the night. Our little dancing queen. She finally started to slow down a bit around 10:30, but after a little rest she was ready to "go at it again". So off she went to the dance floor. Finally I was exhausted and ready to go, so around 11:15/30 we left the reception.
I am so glad we decided to get a hotel room (last minute) and we stayed just a block away from the reception hall. We were all out once we hit the pillows.
It was a GREAT day/night!! Congrats Mike and Falohn Swanson!!