CS/9.23.2006

After Nate and I returned from Magone, I had right around 36 hours to do laundry, repack, clean the house, and pull together everything I needed to go to Colorado Springs. My dear friend Sarah was getting married! For those of you who joined Nate and I at our wedding in July 2005, Sarah was one of my bridesmaids-her boyfriend at the time, Daniel, helped my parents finish prepping the yard for the wedding. He and Josh (husband of another good friend, Kayla-from Beaumont, TX. Kayla was my wedding coordinator) quickly became my Mom and Dad's favorite boys with their good manners and quick smiles!

I purchased my airline ticket through priceline.com. I wanted to spend four days in Colorado Springs, but, of course, priceline decided that I should fly into CS at 10:15pm Thursday night and fly out on Sunday at 6:25am! So, really, it was a two day trip. Lucky me.





When I got into CS, Kayla picked me up and drove me to join the girls for Sarah's bachelorette party. We met the girls at a dance club, but quickly moved on to an Irish pub with live music. Since Sarah was a celebrating bride-to-be, the guy had all the girls get up on his stage and dance. I couldn't even tell you what the song was that we were singing, but, man, it was fun! Acutally, another patron had to get up in front of us to show us the motions. Man, I didn't know what to expect in Colorado Springs, so I was totally surprised with all the activity on the street! Pikes Peak (I think that's where we were) was crammed with clubs. We were out pretty late dancing.

I learned some fun tricks from Amber, a fellow married lady...She was pretty slick at letting guys know that she was married. We laughed pretty hard! We had to take a picture of our wedding rings...

It was so fun to see Sarah again and meet all the girls that she's lived with over the last four years! Most of the girls have been in Sarah's life for much longer than that. It was just good to finally put faces with names.

Amber, Kayla, and one of Nikki's (Sarah's best friend) sisters-in-law and mother of a flower girl.



This guy's name was Scott, I think. He came over to our table where half of our party was sitting. He brought a drink and then Amber pointed out that all but one of us were taken. Katy was the lone single girl at the table...Sceptical Sarah is watching over her in this picture. I'm pretty sure we scared this guy off eventually.



Sarah, Kayla, and I! This picture made it up on Sarah's wall for her to enjoy for all time! Hah, Kayla and I are sneaky.



Sarah and her sister, Bethany. Bethany and her fiance, Ben, will be getting married next year.




The next morning, Kayla and I took the opportunity to sleep in (we climbed into bed at 4am). Kayla, her husband Josh, and their son Braden were staying in Sarah and Daniel's room in their house. I had the guest room. I regret not taking a picture of the room, it was so funny! The closet had been turned into a 1/2 bath. The toilet was at an angle in the corner of the closet, so when you sat down, your knees were sticking out into the bedroom. Definately interesting! But cute.

Josh taught me to make some really cool eggs and toast on Friday morning, and then Kayla and I ran errands. We went to the store and put together some really fun pictures and frames to fill Sarah and Daniel's house with us:) These are faves...both are from our freshman year of college. The first is in Cannon Beach when my roommate Lauren, Kayla, and Sarah come home with me for Easter (and thus their love affair with Oregon began...), and the second was taken probably the second or third week of college in my dorm hall.





After running our errands, Kayla and I stopped by the church to see how the decorating was going along. Nikki and her mom, along with Bethany and bridesmaids Katy and Trisha had pretty much finished the decor. The church was gorgeous! Unbelievable!

Candles filled every conceivable space. It literally glowed! The weather had been gloomy for days, as well, so the overcast atmosphere added an amazing ambiance inside the church. All the stained glass looked magnificent.

After checking out the church, Kayla and I raced back to the house to spend some time working on a few scrap book pages as part of a gift from Sarah's friends. When we got to the house, she was there. We worked really REALLY hard to get Sarah to take a nap. She needed it, definately, but more than that we needed her out of the way so she wouldn't see what we were up to. She was so dazed before her nap that it didn't register when she caught us at one point. After her nap and shower, though, I think she figured out what we were up to when she unexpectedly walked into the room and we were clumsy at covering up our project. We put two pictures on her fridge, which she later saw, so I think she thought that that's what we'd been doing. Anyway!


Friday evening was the wedding rehersal. It was nice and short! We all piled into cars and right around 45 people landed at Gieseppie's, a fantastic restaurant! The decor made me ache for Christmas! Just look at this photo.


Some really great pictures were taken on rehersal night, so I'm just going to pile them on here.

After the party, Kayla, Josh, and I sat up for a few hours at Sarah and Daniel's house tying together 175 programs. It was great being able to chat with Kayla and Josh! Before seeing Kayla at Lauren's graduation just a couple months before our wedding, it had been nearly four years. Sarah's wedding was the first time I'd seen Josh in five years, and I'd never met Braden! He's a keeper, definately.


The next morning, I rolled out of bed and got ready for the day. Kayla and I hurried through getting ready, proven by the fact that we left the house and literally half of Kayla's makeup and hair was done. We found our way to Monument and Nikki's house, where the girls had spent the night. Sarah had Nikki working on her hair while the girls were doing their hair and make-up around her. The bathroom was overrun!



It was so fun being a part of Sarah's pre-wedding activities! She asked me to be the unofficial photographer, so I spent most of my time on Saturday taking pictues. The actual wedding photographer, Shannon, was so sweet! She moved to CS from Oregon six or seven years ago, so we had some fun chatting about all the good things Oregon offers. Again, I took so many pictures, here are a bunch to browse.







The weather was soooo cold! It was actually supposed to snow on Saturday. Pikes Peak had been under the clouds, but on Saturday, I was delighted to see it bright and clear in the distance!



As you can tell in the pictures of the girls above, they were absolutely freezing. We made our trip to the park for photos a quick one. It was there that Jill showed up! We didn't know if Jill would be able to make it to the wedding until, like, Thursday morning. She's another one I haven't seen in five years, so it was so good to catch up with her that night!




The ceremony went off without a hitch. Sarah and Daniel said traditional vows as well as their own. The flower girls made it all the way down the aisle, with some help from their moms. No one fainted, almost everyone cried. Including the bride and groom. It was very sweet!


The reception was lovely. It was held at the fine arts center where some absolutely incredible pieces were mounted to the ceiling of the main rooms. I can't remember the artist's name, but his stuff is unique and recognizable. I couldn't get very good pictures of them, though, with the digital camera.


Sarah and Daniel had an excellent reception. We ate some tasty lasagna and partied the night away! They had a money dance, which turned out to be quite lucrative. I don't think I've ever danced so much...I'm by no means a good dancer, but it sure was fun! A couple friends from Kansas, Matt and Ryan, along with Lauren, her friend Scott, and Jill joined Kayla and I on the dance floor. We took up some space and danced to our own beat.


It was just so tough to say goodbye! After going so long without seeing those friends, it really stunk to say hello and goodbye to most of them in the same day. I decided, though, that that's the last wedding I'll go to alone. I missed Nate like crazy, so it was wonderful to come home!


To all of you Kansas friends that are visiting this blog, I love you and I'm so glad to have been able to spend time with you, as brief as it was! Blessings on you all!