Wednesday, July 7, 2010

{mr. and mrs.}

My little brother is...married?!?!! what??? In my mind, he is still the skinny little 9 year old {ok, 15 year old} who shoved peas and grapes up his nose with alarming regularity. but now, he is someone's HUSBAND. {who, for all i know, still shoves grapes and peas up his nose}





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photo credit for this amazing shot goes to Deiter Wiselogel, Laura's boyfriend

A few weeks ago, Lizzy flew cross-country out to our neck of the woods and we showered her with love & pottery barn kitchenware {wait, aren't those the same thing?} Our neighbor Mary eschewed the longstanding tradition of elegant gift wrap in favor of enough masking tape to protect the enclosed dishware from armageddon itself.

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All of our decor was southwestern & red & blue, in keeping with the couple's july 3 arizona ranch wedding. In exchange for a 6 pack of a micro brew, shawn spent hours stamping and circle punching little "E" medallions {what a guy}. I, for one, learned the hard way that the glue gun manufacturer was not joking when it stamped its product with a sticker reading "will burn flesh." I spent the next three weeks typing 2-fingered {very slowly} at work as a result of that little "life lesson."

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The party planning committee & the bride-to-be.

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Hugh calls Lizzy "peanut," and of course we also call Connor that. However, it should be apparent that the moniker is far more appropriate for Hugh's petite little bride {please see photo above, wherein I, at a quite average 5'7" look like some sort of hulking polka-dotted giant by comparison} than for our enormous infant {who appears to be on track to reach 7 ft tall, 800 pounds}.

Connor enjoyed playing with the balloon I took home, and enjoyed eating several pieces of the tinsel-wrapped balloon weight before I realized what he was up to.

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So, last Tuesday we packed up Connor and flew out to Arizona, which was surprisingly easy.

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Moments after touching down in Tucson, Shawn located the nearest In n Out Burger, using nothing but his own fast-food intuition. It was kind of scary. And kind of impressive.

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Since we arrived on Tuesday night, we took a few daytrips in the days leading up to the Big Event. On Wednesday we drove to Nogales. Here's how much Connor enjoyed that:

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While in the.. uh, lovely.. border town of Nogales, I came within one u-turn of inadvertently crossing the border. I was driving {first mistake} and Shawn and I were reassuring each other, half-jokingly, that it could not be possible to accidentally drive to Mexico. Then, on a whim, I looked at a small sign that I was thisclose to passing by.. and to my horror, saw that it said "last u-turn before Mexico." Thankfully, I jerked the wheel to the left and didn't have to explain to my brother why a bridesmaid, a groomsman & an honorary ring bearer couldn't make the wedding because they were stuck in Mexico without travel documents.

Connor had significantly more fun at a wacky sort of cafe we stopped at in Patagonia, where he enjoyed the centerpieces mightily. And by enjoyed, I mean, of course, that he tore them to shreds.

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We really loved having breakfast at Millie's. For one thing, they open at 6:30. Which is really nice when you've traveled across three time zones and your 9 month old thinks it's time to get up at 4:15 am. All of the ladies there were really sweet, and remembered Connor's name. And the regular patrons didn't seem to mind too much when Connor starting hooting like an owl at ear-piercing decibels.

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Shawn and I have discovered that, when in a restaurant with Connor, we just have to keep feeding the beast. Whatever it takes to keep him occupied and relatively calm. To that end, we discovered that he really digs taking shots of coffee creamer. He opens them like a human Keurig-- piercing the tops with his sharp teeth, then draining out the cream.
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On Thursday, we drove up the winding mountain road to the top of Mt. Lemmon. At the base of the mountain stands an army of desert cacti, standing sentry, with arms raised in a perpetual salute to their ancient roots.
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As you travel up the mountain, though, the cacti and the 100 degree heat give way to a 65 degree coniferous forest that more resembles Canada than the southwest. Burned out silhouettes mark the path of wildfires, and signs warn of the dangers of bears. seriously, bears. I doubt they make their way into town very often.
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Hugh & Lizzy got married at the Tanque Verde Ranch, which was really fantastic.
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Connor put on his party shirt for the rehearsal. It was a hit, but didn't last long, though, since he dumped my rehearsal-dinner margarita all over himself. The rehearsal dinner in the cottonwood grove was fantastic, although I spent the evening wrangling my tequila-soaked baby and shuttling food to Shawn, who was near death with heatstroke/sinus infection back in our cabin.

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Then it was the Big Day.

Wedding photos courtesy of the very talented Vickie Lan {who little Jack crushed on big time, asking repeatedly throughout the reception, "where is the vickie!?"

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The groomsmen decided to take a "tough guy" sunglasses photo... only Shawn didn't have any sunglasses. So my dad lent him his. You know, the big orange ones that snap-on over your glasses. With the "uv protection" stickers still prominently displayed on the lenses.

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The wedding was perfect, in the way that weddings should be perfect. Not everything went according to plan. The bride found out the hard way that a cathedral length veil makes an excellent horse fly trap, and the unity candle wouldn't light on account of the wind. But none of that really mattered. The ceremony was beautiful, and would have been if they had gotten married in a fluorescent-lit city hall office rather than against the backdrop of a gorgeous desert sunset. Because it is impossible to dull down the beauty of two people clearly meant for one another pledging their lives to each other.

There's no way to remember everything about a wedding {or any event, really}. So, I try to take just a handful of mental pictures, or short video clips in my head, when I really want to remember something. In 20 years, when I can't remember what Hugh & Lizzy's first dance song was, or what color bridesmaid dresses we wore, or the name of the ranch, I know I will remember 2 things from their wedding. 1) The first time I saw Hugh's wedding ring reflecting the Arizona sunset as he lit {well, attempted to light} the unity candle; and 2) watching a big fat bumble bee land in Lizzy's bouquet and knowing that her mother was blessing this perfect union from above.

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Congrats, little bro. It's a brand new day.


2 comments:

  1. I can't believe Hugh is married!! That's awesome, it really does look like a perfect day for both of them!

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  2. i know that my commment should be about the absurdly adorable 9.5 month old and/or the gorgeous wedding festivities for hugh and lizzy(felicitations!!)... but my comment is: i wish i was at the bridal shower. i adore the party planning committee.

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