Wednesday, June 4, 2008

wild wedding weekend: the recovery

all right, all right, i know that this "weekend" was actually two weekends ago now, but stick with me people. i'm only a little bit behind and i'll get us caught up before you know it. so, back to two weekends ago...

with lots of fun friends in town for the wedding festivities and a glorious no-work monday ahead of us, we decided a trip to the trusty woolley cabin was in order. the original plan included the boat and water skiing, which seemed completely reasonable given that it was memorial day weekend, but we were thwarted by the continuation of crappy weather. it was snowing up there. not cool. i should add that justin, who is from canada, suggested that we could still go water skiing since *he* had a wet suit, and it wasn't that cold anyway. we disagreed. and we won.

but even without boats and water and sunshine, it was another successful cabin outing. we are quick becoming cabin veterans, and i even drove there all by myself without getting lost or taking a wrong turn or having to turn around or anything, despite marc's claims that he couldn't read my handwriting and subsequent dodgy navigation. i did miss a pretty critical turn on the way home, which travis and marc were quick to point out, but not quick enough. luckily, ck had a sharp eye out and called me within seconds to steer me back on track.

some highlights:

recounting hilarious stories about the newlyweds, like the time i first met chris and he said, "so frances, have you ever been self-conscious about your name?" or the time jane convinced me that we would get places faster and use less energy if we sashayed instead of walking. (i gave a demonstration of which there is, sadly, no photographic proof.) more ridiculous than this particular claim is the fact that i sashayed around boston for three days before finally abandoning the project.

lots of delicious food, including a gourmet breakfast courtesy of brad. (i think the "primitive" facilities worked against him and some of the pear-and-pecan pancakes were, well, raw. but some of them were downright yummy. and there was back-up french toast.)















cabin games! marc, james and i were the winning "trivial pursuit: 90s edition" team, probably because our board piece was kurt cobain. the game also featured definite over-usage of the word "dude." the next day, my all-time favorite, speed scrabble, was temporarily supplanted for a game of dominoes, which was quickly abandoned because none of us could quite follow heidi's rules. and all that adding was giving me a headache. i am much better with letters. and i did manage to win a few games of speed scrabble, but then susan wanted to keep track of points and then we were back to adding and i was over it.













but by then it was time to go outside! it was only sort of freezing and sort of raining. we girls headed out on a muddy, marvelous hike (sadly cut short by snow on the trail...)














while the less environmentally-conscious boys struck out on the four-wheelers. but not before a lot of time and effort was spent trying to figure out how to start them. not to mention filling up massive tires with a bicycle pump. i am not sure exactly what was happening, but i do know that there was a lot of grunting and pulling of a cord, and lots of boys leaning perplexedly over the vehicle until ethan pushed a button and the thing just started.
















and we celebrated travis' birthday. travis had a pretty awesome candle-blowing-out-technique and he got every single one in one big puff. but he also spit on the cake. we were all careful to avoid that part.




the weekend also included some unexpected intrigue. travis got down to his room in the basement only to discover the window was broken and there was glass everywhere. my money is on a snoopy raccoon, but i guess we will never know what really happened. and then the power and water went off on monday afternoon so we decided to leave. and then it all came back on just as we were loading up the cars. and another successful cabin adventure had come to an end.

Friday, May 30, 2008

wild wedding weekend, part two

after days of rainy, dreary weather, the wedding morning was bright and sunny and wonderful, which was such a relief. on the less relaxing side, there were also three of us to get through the shower, dressed and made up, and a last minute black tank top-related bridesmaid crisis to attend to. the last sealing i went to i barely made it in before the bride and groom, an experience i was not eager to repeat, but luckily we made it in plenty of time, and the rest of the day looked something like this...



robin, shaunna and melissa outside the temple...



the happy couple (jane asked chris not to cut his hair...)



photo madness...



and the kids aren't too happy about it...



robin capturing the action, and looking quite lovely...



we wanted to be in some pictures, too...



a man none of us recognized thrust this camera into shaunna's hands and asked her to "handle it." he was the same man trying, very loudly, to bunch the wedding party together for a photo until jane's dad came off the steps and, leading him away from the group, said, "we actually have a professional photographer to handle all of that so why don't you just stand right over here..."



friends...



waiting for the luncheon to start...



as a sidenote, while we were sitting in the lobby of the joseph smith memorial building, who should walk in but my old district leader, elder tashiro. my japanese is pretty pathetic, but i did manage to surmise that he has been living here since the beginning of the year, going to uvsc. and there was no misunderstanding when he asked if i was married. when i said no, he said, "still?" awesome.





starting the ring ceremony...



the luncheon was also a reunion with tandis, our third roommate, and another college friend, erica. i tried to get robin to switch spots with me so i could sit next to tandis and catch up, but instead she left me next to uncle scott (or richard? i can't remember), a marriage and family therapist who pretty much did nothing but ask this question: "why are there so many women of your generation in the church who don't get married?" maybe i should have introduced him to elder tashiro...



and then, after a quick rest and a costume change, it was off to the reception. with a beautiful cake...


... and adorable chocolate-covered children (we actually overheard one boy, running to the chocolate fountain shouting, "stuff dipped in chocolate, gooooood!")













the bouquet toss went slightly awry when jane launched the flowers way past where we were standing and they landed with a thud on the concrete, roses popping off everywhere. but, despite robin's best efforts to ignite my dress, the sparklers were a great, and safe, success, and off the happy couple went.





and home we went, sore feet and happy hearts, all.

Thursday, May 29, 2008

wild wedding weekend, part one

jane, my old college roommate and one of my most near and dear friends, got married last weekend. which meant a non-stop party for days on end! as you may know if you know me (or if you have been reading this blog for a while), i am not super into weddings, and i usually try pretty hard to avoid them. i am willing to make an exception to my usual wedding hiatus, however, when the blessed event involves people i really like and don't see very often coming to town and staying at my house.

like robin and shaunna. robin and shaunna were also roommates in college, and lived right across the street from jane and me. we ate almost every meal together, watched thursday night tv together, walked to classes together. robin and i even had an intense morning work-out schedule going for a while, which seems sort of amazing now that i am lucky to make it to work by 9:30a.m. i hadn't seen shaunna since her own wedding, five years ago, and robin since two summers ago, so it was about time for a reunion. we did lots of girly things, like shopping and baking and watching romantic comedies. and we enjoyed some delicious stoneground pizza with robin's younger brother, tanner, and his friend, michael. (or it might be matt. for some reason i have real trouble remembering his name.) as a funny side note, tanner called just as we were leaving the house and said, "can you bring some lotion that i can put on my face? it's really dry." when i said yes, he said, "girls are awesome!" how right you are, tanner. how right you are.










we got off to a strong start, and did our best to keep going, but it didn't take long to discover we're just not as young and energetic as we used to be.