A Mile High Get Away

If you follow this blog with an regularity, you may remember that Cary Anne's brother got engaged to his girlfriend on a year, Makenzie, shortly after CA and I moved to Chicago, and just a couple of weeks ago, it came time for us to fly out to Denver for the actual wedding. Our friend Ben drove us to the airport, and he brought along with him a mix CD he apparently used to use to get pumped during his 45-minute drive to Six Flags when he used to work there a few years ago. Surprisingly, it was largely U2, Coldplay, and show tunes. He cringed when a Gin Blossoms came on, but CA and I just laughed and proceeded to sing along. Our flight to Denver was pretty uneventful, except that we sat next to an old woman with a dog under her seat, and I kept trying to get Cary Anne to let the things loose mid-flight. She refused. CA's parents picked us up in Denver, and took us to the hotel. It was nice to see them considering we hadn't since they visited Lexington back in May of last year. The drive was a bit bizarre, coming from a metropolis like Chicago and being transported to a place where flat land stretches for miles until the mountains rise up to meet the sky. 

Cary Anne was actually in the wedding so when she was involved in wedding activities, I was often running on the treadmill at the hotel. Therefore, I let her give you the run down on the actual rehearsal and wedding itself (since it was her brother and because she rarely contributes to “our” blog)...

"I was incredibly blessed to be asked to be Makenzie's bridesmaid, which came with additional responsibilities (unbeknownst to me at the time of acceptance) such as lip-syncing a song and dance organized by Aunt Summer at the rehearsal dinner, which naturally turned my brother the most flattering shade of red you've ever seen on a man his age/size. After we were all rehearsed and ready for the impending ceremony, I was able to sit and hang out with family and friends from Virginia and just reminisce about our time together there (I haven't been back since I got married almost 2 years ago).

The ceremony was gorgeous. I don't think you could've asked for more perfect weather or flowers or venue… We were up in the mountains on a deck that overlooked the valley. It was beautiful during the ceremony and after when the sun went down and you could see all the lights. Makenzie didn't want the bridesmaids to match (other than in color scheme) so I made the mistake of  decided to make my own dress. Needless to say, the weeks prior to the wedding were full of sewing and avoiding sewing and nervousness that the dress would look awful and wouldn't match… but it all worked out fine and I was fully clothed walking down the aisle and I have to say we bridesmaids looked pretty good together. The reception was fun and I danced my heart out, which didn't take much, the thin air up there is no joke!

  

It was a fantastic wedding and I can't believe my brother is MARRIED and I HAVE A SISTER! (can you tell I'm still super pumped about it?)"

The day after the wedding, Cary Anne and I had the chance to meet up with my friends Hunter and Ashley. I lived in a beach-side hotel with Hunter and Ashley back in the summer of 2006, when we were all part of a Campus Crusade summer project. Hunter and I were accountability partners, and we would often spend afternoons at In-N-Out, eating burgers and talking about Jesus and girls. In 2008, CA and I went to H&A's wedding in Kansas City, but we hadn't seen them since, so it was great catching up. We were actually crashing the 1st birthday of their daughter, Lily, who apparently had no interest in taking part in our photo. 

That evening we caught a flight back to Chicago with Cary Anne's parents since they had were planning on visiting for a few days and learning about our lives in the Windy City. But more on that in our next post...


Meanwhile, enjoy our 5 seconds-a-day from June...