Jess and Eric's Wedding

This post is all about my friend Jessica. Jessica and I have known each other for about 15 years now, ever since 6th grade when her family moved to Colorado Springs. Jess and I were in the Children's Chorale together. We were locker partners for 3 years in high school (a fact I'm sure she would want documented here).

Here we are getting ready to graduate from high school.


After graduation Jess and I went off to BYU together. We lived together our freshman year in the dorms.


We were both at BYU for 7 years working on our bachelors degrees and then masters (me) and law (Jess) degrees. In that time we were roommates for 3 years (3 seems to be our number). Below we are celebrating graduating from college.


This week Jess and I were reunited once again. On Thursday morning I flew to Atlanta so that I could be at Jessica's wedding on Friday.


I met up in Atlanta with another friend from middle school, high school, and chorale, Erika. Erika and I hung out all weekend and shared a hotel room. It was really fun to see her again.

Jess wasn't exactly on time for the wedding, but technically, I guess a bride can't be late. So while we were waiting for the festivities to begin, Erika and I sneaked into the Bride's Room to hang out with her two hilarious sisters, Andrea and Sarah, and wait for Jessica to arrive.



When Jess arrived, Andrea and I laced up the back of her dress, and it looked awesome, if I do say so myself. I was very pleased with my small contribution to the event.




And then the moment had arrived. Here's the setting before all the guests took their seats.

The adorable flower girl. The best part was that when she got to the front of the aisle she turned over her basket and dumped out the remaining petals.

The bride and groom.

Cutting the cake. Jess and Eric had a really delicious wedding cake!

Congratulations to the happy couple! I'm looking forward to the next 15 years.

Corn Maze

JoLee and I went through a corn maze today. When it's a beautiful, windy 85 degree day in Kansas City, you have to take advantage of it.

If you drive for 30-40 minutes away from civilization, you truly feel like you live in the middle of the country here. Fall really is the best time of year. Here JoLee is getting psyched for the corn maze.


The corn maze was divided into two halves: one side for KU and the other for MU. Here I am looking like a dork.

JoLee thought it would be best if she explained to me how corn grows. It's an amazing plant really. Besides being useful for labyrinths, you can eat it and make gasoline from it.

Here we are racing through the maze that takes several hours to complete. The goal is to hit all 24 check points. We only got 14 before running out of time.


Each check point had a hole punch and a map. Face it, there was no way we were going to get to all of the check points without closely following a map.

The corn maze was great, despite getting lost a few times. We were a little disappointed that there were no prizes for getting 14/24 hole punches.

The Flying W Ranch

A few months ago when Nate and I went out to Colorado, my family took us to The Flying W Ranch for my birthday. The Flying W Ranch is an actual working mountain cattle ranch located in the foothills of Colorado Springs, but the really cool thing about the Flying W is that they serve chuckwagon dinners while the Flying W Wranglers sing and tell jokes. The Ranch also has a mountain village that you can explore before you sit down to eat and be entertained. Most of the buildings are shops where you can buy cowboy gear - like this really nifty hat.

Last time I went to the Flying W, Paige, Nicole, and I had a really great time riding the tiny train, and Paige told us to ride the train for her when we went. Unfortunately that plan was foiled.

After looking around the village we sat down in the big outdoor picnic area to eat our dinner.

Then we filed into the ranch house to hand over our tickets in exchange for a chuckwagon dinner.


The great thing about the Flying W is that everyone gets the exact same dinner. Beef or chicken, baked beans, baked potato, biscuits, and applesauce. The food is served on a tin plate and the Wranglers remind you to get your cold applesauce so that you can hold onto that hot plate.

After everyone got their food, the Flying W Wranglers took the stage to sing all their cowboy songs and tell their cowboy jokes. Taggart and I were especially happy to hear "I'm my own Grandpa." When we were kids, we had that song on a Flying W Wrangler tape, and we listened to the tape so much that it eventually broke. We loved the Wranglers so much that we bought their CD and listened to it on our way back to Kansas.

Bird Update

We have five baby birds on our balcony. They hatched last week. We were not pleased with their parents' choice to build a nest in our flower pot, but we are happy to keep them safe for the next few weeks. The parents are very busy flying back and forth feeding their new chicks. They don't like the cat, but neither does our cat like them. Zephyr watches the birds for hours while making an occasional lounge for at the window. It's really a lose-lose situation for both parties.

Edwards Fam

JoLee and I took a trip out to CA a few months ago and visited her old track-mate, Kristen, who now has three kids. After hanging out with them at their house, we went out for sushi and ice cream. We had a great time, but sorry, Kristen and Cory, your mugs did not make this post. Your three kids stole the show.

I can't remember what inspired this jumping contest, but it lasted for some time. Perhaps it was the popsicles.

Here's Rachel in one of her more contemplative moments.

Blake invited me in after filling up the pool, but I declined. (I've always been suspicious of those kiddie pools.)

Baby Ellie, who judging by the age of this picture, probably does not look like this anymore.

We all piled onto the couch to look at our pictures.

Beauty Masks

JoLee and I just watched a show called the The Human Face in which they explained exactly what makes a face beautiful. Scientists have developed a mask whereby they can quantify beauty. They contend that all beautiful faces fit into the mask perfectly. After the show we downloaded the mask from beautyanalysis.com to see how well we matched up.

 

Not surprisingly, JoLee matched up rather well.

 

I, on the other hand, found out I am a freek of nature. Did I mention that the show said it was more important for men to have sense of humor than to be beautiful?

Four Wheeling With Toby

Last month I took a business trip out to Utah. My old pal, Toby, was kind enough to put me up for the week in his mansion and show me around some of his hills. Here's a taste of my very busy week in Utah.



Toby has spent countless hours restoring this Land Cruiser. Needles to say, it's awesome.

Toby, like his father, makes everything an adventure, including driving out of his driveway.

To everyone's utter amazement, Kai found a buried treasure left by Jeremiah Johnson. The treasure contained some of Jeremiah's most precious possessions including Tick Tacs and Skittles. How they survived years of being buried under a large purple rock is beyond me.

Sinus Surgery

Recently I had surgery to correct a deviated septum. It's taken six weeks, but I think I've fully recovered. That first week was really tough, as the doctor put splints in my nose that made me talk like a goof. I decided I wouldn't shave until I went back to work. I'm so glad it's over and I can breath again normally.

For the Birds

Two weeks ago a Carolina Wren decided to start building a nest in one of our flower pots located on our balcony. The flower pot is on the other side of our bedroom window. We awoke to the bustling activity of the birds building their new nest and the perfectly still gaze of our cat watching her next conquest. Zephyr hasn't been this interested in anything since she saw Eight Below on DVD last winter.

Carolina Wrens are small (about 5 inches long) non-migratory birds that primarily inhabit the southern states. They often build their nests in odd places like mail boxes, car bumpers, and broken tail lights. In our case they chose to nest in a flower pot.


We tried to discourage the birds by letting our cat have free access to the balcony. We figured they had neglected the three most important rules of real estate (i.e. location, location, location), and that they would be better off finding a new home. Unfortunately, within a few days we discovered an egg. For four days thereafter, we discovered a new egg every morning.


Needless to say, we have now locked our cat out, which she very vocally objects to throughout the day. She has settled on waiting and watching the bird nest from our bed for hours at a time.


We're expecting the birds to hatch soon. They will spend about two weeks in the nest before flying away. We're hoping that all the eggs hatch so that we will have five beautiful new wrens to watch.

Rampart Reunion

Nate and I just got back from my 10 year high school reunion, and we had a good time - even better than we expected. On Saturday, a bunch of us had our own unofficial reunion at the Garden of the Gods and the Phantom Brewery.

My fighter-pilot friend Erika brought her fighter-pilot boyfriend, Jeremy.

Susan brought baby Grace.

And Amy brought her two kids.

Jessica brought her shiny new engagement ring. It's on her finger you just can't see it.

The official reunion events included a Sky Sox game and a fancy dinner, but we only took one picture of those events. Here I am with Jenn, Jessica, Donna, and Erika. Although, it may seem so from the picture, I really wasn't the only person at the fancy dinner that wasn't in black.