The Vows

Here's us taking our vows. You can't tell from the picture, but I have a death-grip on Gavin's hand. I'm sure I left nail marks. The minister my mom found us was really great. He brought, of his own volition, an E. E. Cummings poem to read during the ceremony. Little did he know that Cummings is my favorite poet! :)

Getting Ready

Gavin just loves this picture. There's an explanation, though. I was upset all day because it was raining, so we weren't going to be able to have the ceremony outdoors like planned. Plus, the mountains wouldn't be in the wedding photos. My hair got wet getting into the venue, and I had to redo it myself. Then 5 minutes before we were supposed to start, I only had 1 of 3 bridesmaids present. Everyone showed up right around 4 o'clock and started telling me how Anna had hydroplaned and spun off the road on the way to the ceremony. That story was what prompted this expression. I swear I wasn't about to bolt. :)

The Bridesmaids

Here's me and my bridesmaids. From the left - Anna Novak (my college roommate), Jessica Weiss (my sister), me, and Lauren Mendeck (Gavin's sister). I loved my bridesmaids dresses. Royal blue, of course. The back was a low v-shape; it was actually quite a bit lower cut than I realized when I ordered them. Everybody had fun with bra straps and safety pins.

The Groomsmen

This is a great picture of Gavin's groomsmen. We must have been abominably cute to get that grin on all three of their faces. From left to right, the guys are Jason Sheppard (my lil bro), Andrew Hensley (Gavin's friend from A&M), and Andy Carmain (co-op friend and best man).

Our Wedding

Our 5th wedding anniversary is July 10. I thought it would be appropriate to revisit some of our wedding photos in the week(s) leading up to the big day. Since we're leaving town for 10 days starting next Thursday, I'm going to start now. This first photo is my favorite formal shot of the two of us. We got married at Jackson Hold Country Club in Jackson Hole, WY. That's the Grand Teton behind us. It rained all day leading up to the wedding, and we felt very lucky that we got mountains in our pictures at all.

Aspens in Santa Fe

Gavin took this picture of the aspen trees changing colors near Santa Fe, NM. We were there just at the right time - the color was about the best I’ve ever seen. I usually don’t much go in for the favorite flower/tree/animal statements, but I think I can actually say that aspens are my favorite trees. This is partly due to nostalga - they make me think of Wyoming and playing in the mountains while I was growing up. But who can disparage the fall color displayed here?

Lord of the Rings Exhibit Opening

Cari and I went to the Houston Museum of Natural Science at midnight on June 4 to see the Lord of the Rings exhibit opening extraveganza. Both of us managed to forget our cameras, so we had to make due with crappy disposable camera pictures. This is one of the better ones. You can see the rest in my album.

Inca Outpost

This is one place on the Inca trail that I actually did get to see. This is a small outpost in the valley where the part of the trail we hiked starts. Also conspicuously different than most of our photos from the trip is the blue sky. The two days I spent in this valley (one getting in and one getting back out) were both sunny. It was actually a bit hot the second day, and I had used up all my energy trying to get in the day before.

Soap Rock

Gavin’s sister Lauren actually took this picture of us at Grandmother Sigvor’s house last Christmas. I absolutely love the lighting and our expressions in this photo. We’re actually examining a “soap-rock”. It’s soap that looks like a rock. Seriously - it looks like quartz. Anyway, who knew that soap could evoke such expressions. :)

ZipTrek

This is Sarah zipping upside-down across the creek between Whistler and Blackcomb mountains. The ZipTrek company has built treehouses in the old-growth rainforest that sits between the two mountains. They run tours in which you go from treehouse to treehouse by crossing zip lines. The lines are 400 - 1000 ft in length and 50 - 150 ft above the creek. Although I was nervous about the trek (so much so that I didn't sign up until we got there and only got to go because Cari wanted to hang with her friends in the Village), the motion was more across than down, which is what I was worried about. In fact, on all except the last line, most of us had to stay balled up as we crossed so that we wouldn't get stuck on the line. The last one is a bit steeper, so they taught everyone how to go across upside-down. Everyone tried it but me. I did let go of the harness and lie on my back, though.