The Wedding Ceremony

These are some of my favorite photos from my wedding day. Not everyone present is represented, and while there is some order, it may not be perfect. Enjoy!

My dad Chris and my brother Mitchell getting into their tuxes.

I like this photo because it is one of the first ones taken and they are both so happy.

 This is one of the first photos of me, and I also look happy (thank goodness!) Just kidding - I was very excited at this point.

This is one of Than's first photos. He is drinking some liquid courage, courtesy of Pineau.

My brother walking my mother Janet down the aisle. I think he isn't smiling because he was nervous about going up and down the aisle so many times - I only had to go once, but he had to seat several people.

My mom and Than's mom (Frances) placing the sand ceremony containers. Fun fact: my mom is the same age as Fran's oldest daughter...

Than's face when he first saw me. He wrote me a haiku the month before the wedding about me walking down the aisle:

I spy a blue dress,
Then another and one more,
My heart leaps at white.

Than and I pouring sand during our sand ceremony. We didn't realize the sand was so fine and would make the smoke effect you see in the photo.

Donald Tallman singing Be Mine by David Gray. Donald is a professional tenor and the Executive Director of the Colorado Railroad Museum (why yes, that is where I work). His performance was outstanding and all we could think about was how much we wished we had asked for a second song!

My favorite photo of Than. He was teary-eyed from the moment I got up there and I had to keep looking around so I didn't start crying too.

The Rehearsal Dinner

We held our wedding rehearsal the Friday before the wedding. After a brief and entertaining run-through at the Foothills Wedding Chapel, we caravaned over to Abrusci's Italian Restaurant for dinner. Here are some of my favorite photos from that day.

About 10 years ago Than traveled the world for a year with his friend Chris Tarr (on the far left). Chris currently lives in Singapore and Than figured there was no way he could make it to the wedding. When Chris decided he was definitely coming, we kept it from Than and turned it into a big surprise.

I like to compare these two photos. My bridesmaids and I are laughing hysterically, while Than and his groomsmen look nervous and/or bored... No, just kidding - I'm pretty sure the photographer snapped the shot at a weird moment. And we are laughing because the officiant started rapping a poem Amy was supposed to read, which everyone found hilarious.

 

Practice kiss!

Toast at Abrusci's.

Long story short, the School of Mines had canceled a fireworks show because of fire danger, and rescheduled it for the Friday night before our wedding. In other words, there were fireworks after our rehearsal dinner...we like to pretend it was for us. :)

The Wedding Shower

I would like to say a gigantic THANK YOU to Angela & Cortney for throwing me such a wonderful wedding shower brunch yesterday morning. A lot of people couldn't make it, (which is a bummer since I will only have one wedding shower), but even with a small crowd it was still a great party. Here are the highlights!

Menu
Tomato, basil, & goat cheese quiche
Ham, green pepper, & onion mini quiche
Blueberry & Maple muffins
Fruit salad
Green Walnut salad
Blackberry & Mango Bellinis

Angela made me a blackberry Bellini as soon as I arrived and consequently many of the photos I took were blurry. Mix one part fresh fruit with one part simple syrup - add champagne and enjoy!

Ang & Cort took a brunch cooking class from Generous Servings the weekend before and I think it paid off.

Than enjoying wedding shower games. He ended up winning, which I suppose is fair compensation for being the only guy at a wedding shower. (My dad was also there, but he had no interest in games.)

Cortney, Angela, me, my mom, Rachel (Than's niece), & Clara (Than's sister). Thanks for coming everyone!

Red Potatoes & Green Beans

I made one of my favorite dishes last night - Red Potatoes & Green Beans. My mom taught me to make this when we lived in Idaho. It is a farm dish (meaning you make it up to use what you have) and I'm not sure it's going to be that easy to put down in words, but I will try.

Ingredients
Red Potatoes (or Gold, or new or Spring) - as many as you would like
1 onion, roughly chopped
3 to 4 slices of thick bacon
Fresh green beans, trimmed- approximately the same amount as the potatoes
Chicken stock
Garlic powder
Salt & Pepper

1 heavy dutch oven or similar pot. My mom prefers to use a pressure-cooker, but I am somewhat opposed to using cookware that could potentially explode in your face. It's your call.

Step 1 - Brown bacon on the stove-top until crispy. Remove & drain on paper towel. Reserve bacon fat for later.

Step 2 - While bacon is cooking, rough chop your potatoes and onions. Trim the beans.

Step 3 - Once bacon is out of the dutch oven, add the onions and a teaspoon or two of the reserved bacon fat. Sweat the onions on med-low until they are translucent. As they cook, occasionally scrape the bottom of the pan to bring up tasty bits left by the bacon.

Step 4 - When onions are done, add the potatoes and green beans. I like to put the potatoes on top of the onions with the beans stacked on top of the potatoes. I can't really say if there is a reason for this, or if it just appeals to my organizational side. When you get everything in the pot, add enough water to reach the pot's halfway mark. Who knows how much this will be - it will depend on the size of your pot! Your pot should more or less look like this.

Step 5 - Bring everything to a boil. This is where using a heavy dutch oven becomes really important. The goal is to steam-cook everything using a high boil. If you use too thin of a pot, the bottom ingredients will probably burn and stick. And this is where using a pressure-cooker comes in handy. I don't mind checking my pot every 10 minutes or so for about 45 minutes. My mom prefers the dish to be done in 10 minutes flat, with no checking - hence her love for the pressure cooker.

Step 6 - Cook your potatoes and beans! This may take 10 to 45 minutes (see previous paragraph). Stir occasionally - add salt, pepper, garlic powder, and anything else that sounds good. Sometimes I throw in a tablespoon of butter. As the potatoes soften, leave the pot top off so some of the water may evaporate. As the water cooks off, add your chicken stock. (If you happen to have a lot of chicken stock on hand, substitute it for water and use it from the very beginning. My frugal side likes to use water initially and add stock right before serving.) 

Step 7 - When your potatoes & bean are soft enough to your liking, remove and serve! I love to eat this dish with sour cream, but it is also delicious plain.  I find it is even better as leftovers, after the chicken stock has soaked into the potatoes. Enjoy!

Non-News Update

News is scarce around here. We furiously worked on the house all weekend and while I hope to post some photos soon, as of yet I've got nothing. (Anyone want to see the new grading in the backyard?... Didn't think so!) We did get a snow storm yesterday morning, which I  have posted below. By noon everything had melted and it was a balmy 60 degrees when I came home from work. This afternoon it was sunny enough to go for a bike ride. March is pretty schizophrenic in Colorado.

 

In other non-news, Castor has discovered the back yard. At the Peery house Castor had his outdoor privileges revoked because he kept getting into fights. There wasn't a backyard per se, and wildlife often came up to the back patio. Whether he was defending his turf or just terrorizing the other neighborhood cats, Castor always seemed to come up bloody. After a few trips to the vet, Than decided to keep him in permanently - at least, that is until we moved. Our new house has a fenced backyard and we were excited to give Castor some quality outdoor time. I say "were" because as Castor has discovered the backyard, we have discovered his new favorite activity is to find the smelliest pile of dirt available and roll in it repeatedly. Castor is a pure white fluffy cat and any hint of color in the following photos is not a shadow - he was covered in dirt and extremely proud of himself.

Of course, the dirt piles he finds are sticky as well as smelly (how do pets know where to find those?) and it is almost impossible to brush him clean. We were forced to give him a rub down with a wet towel (worse thing that could possibly happen to him) and then brush him vigorously (best thing that could possibly happen to him). We're not sure if the towel will dissuade him or if the brush will encourage him...

The Chainsaw Massacre

So at 4:30 PM yesterday afternoon my brother showed up with his chainsaw and demanded to know what we needed chopped. We had previously discussed possibly trimming and/or cutting down some of the trees in our new yard, but did not have any firm plans. Apparently my brother thought if he showed up with a chainsaw and some attitude we would give him something to cut. Well, it worked.

This is a street view of the front of our house. As you can see, we've got a bit of a forest.

Mitch & Than attacked the trees and twenty minutes later the tree on the right looked like this. The other pine got a trim too, and then the boys moved onto the backyard.

This large tree is in our backyard. We had a landscaper check out our yard on Thursday (what a coincidence) and he recommended we cut off most of the lower branches to even-up the tree. Mitch thought that was a great idea.

Mitch & Than scoping out the tree. Note the rope.

The plan is for Mitch to cut the branch, which Than will then "catch" with the rope and lower to the ground.

The branch yanked Than off of the  ground and crashed into the house, ripping down our telephone line.

Well, the rope idea didn't work exactly as planned, but we weren't too upset about the phone line. We only cell phones anyway. I thought this would be the end of the excitement, but I was wrong. Another twenty minutes later and I looked out my window to see this:

That's right, the chainsaw-ladder combo. Because operating a custom-made chainsaw isn't dangerous enough; you have hold the chainsaw over your head while precariously balancing on a ladder to really make it interesting. Than did it to, on the other side of the tree, although he managed to escape being photographed.

I can't say I'm a big advocate of this. I had a volunteer slice off the tip of his finger with the table saw at work that Thursday afternoon (yet another coincidence) and I had just lined up a safety-review meeting for the roundhouse no more than two hours before this went down in my backyard. So much for safety! This pretty much scared the bejeezus out of me and I quietly ignored what they were doing. I figured me screaming "What the hell are you doing? You're going to cut off your arm! GET DOWN." out the window wouldn't help anything. So I pretended not to hear the chainsaw and stayed away from the windows. In the end the boys lived, the trees got a good haircut, and my volunteer didn't lose his finger (they sutured it back on). I suppose all's well that end's well - but if you're going to try and pull this off, I suggest you map out the quickest route to the hospital and have a cooler with ice on hand before you get started...

Fighting With My Osteophytes

Well, Than and I are finally settled in our new home. Between moving, planning a wedding, work, and trying to squeeze in a little play, I'm afraid this blog has been neglected. Prepare to  be overwhelmed by information...

Left arm bent as far as it will go.

I visited a chiropractor this week. The last time I went to a chiropractor was in high school, so I was curious about the appointment. I am having problems with my shoulder, and it seems to be getting worse. I hypothesized my shoulder problems are caused by my elbow problems, and it turns out I am right (sort of). I broke my elbow when I as nine, and after the cast came off we discovered I could no longer bend my elbow. I went to one session of physical therapy where a man tried to force my arm to bend (which didn't work), and then the doctor announced he would have to re-break my arm to fix it. Being only 9 years old, I decided leaving well enough alone was fine with me. Fast forward twenty years.

Right arm bending properly.

My arm still does not bend, but now I am discovering how the knee bone is connected to the hip bone (I love that song.)  Since my arm won't bend, my shoulder ends up compensating when I do things like lift weights or rock climb or ride a mountain bike or wear a back pack. According to the chiropractor, over time my body has identified my shoulder and my elbow as damaged areas, and has been sending calcium to help fortify them. While good in theory (thank-you body, for trying to protect me), the calcium builds up in little deposits and as it ossifies, can potentially limit your range of motion. This is what is happening in my shoulder area. My calcium deposits are beginning to push on my scapula, which strains all the associated muscles. Same with the elbow. So while I continue to be active in an attempt to keep my body healthy, my body interprets my activities as damaging and continues to deploy calcium.

Gangly chicken wing.

The only short term solution is to let the chiropractor break down the calcium deposits. This is extremely painful - imagine a packet of glass shards being rubbed into your body. I had this treatment yesterday and felt like my elbow was re-broken. (Arm on fire, tender to the touch.) I do believe this is helpful, and am now very aware how sensitive my elbow is. I don't think it has ever really healed and I can only imagine what condition it will be in in another twenty years.

Perfectly functioning right arm.

As for a long term solution, I have considered having my arm re-broken and re-set. This may or may not be possible depending on what exactly is going on in there. My chiropractor hypothesizes osteophytes grew over the fracture and are blocking the joint from bending. Apparently, this not a unique condition (bones often grow osteophytes over fractures or frequent stress-points, like an in-body band-aid), and there are surgical treatments available. Referred to as bone spurs, osteophytes are commonly found in the heels, knees, and shoulders of athletes. I guess there is new laser technology that can remove bone spurs with minimal scarring. This sounds like a good option to me, but I will need X-rays and possibly an MRI to know exactly what my options are. Considering we just bought new home, we are about to host a wedding, and that I have been living with this for twenty years, I'm not sure elective surgery is on the horizon just yet.