Feeling the love part 4

Four weddings (and no funerals) since late July. Jordan and Jill 9/20/2017. Paul and I were very happy to witness their marriage, together with many of the couple's family and friends. It was grand!

We actually flew to Denver this trip. We've traveled to Colorado by car so many times the gas station attendants along the route know us by name. (no, not really) Paul had never actually exited the Denver airport before - he'd just flown through. Flying was a big deal! Amy collected us curbside in Dave the car. Franklin (the wonder wienie) and Corey were back at the ranch - their apartment not far from downtown Denver.

It's so weird to think of Amy and Corey as husband and wife. I'm still getting used to seeing Jud sporting a wedding ring!

Look at that blue sky! Last year we ate chili in PA with the Parks

On Friday we attended a benefit chili festival put on by firefighters from around the country. It was on Larimer Street on a beautiful Denver day. Amy had helped a guy re-brand his chili powder and he had donated all the bowls for the day. Pretty cool, and the chili was great. 

View from Pottorff's condo

That evening our peeps started to arrive. Logistics boggle my mind, but somehow - through the magic of Uber and Google Maps, we conquered! Cindy hooked us up with awesome accommodations for Friday and Saturday. Our pals Bonnie and Eric (yes, of Christmas Dinner prime rib fame) have a primo place in the Spire in downtown Denver to go along with their lovely home in Edwards. Yep, the best of both worlds! It's super cool, with a view of Rockies stadium and they split tickets to games with other Spire owners. I love how it's decorated - just right for the space and Paul was digging the large TV. We met Cindy there and settled in.

Later we met Jud, Kara, and Kohans (Betsy, Wayne, son Paul and his gf Christine) at a little place called the Corner Office. It was fun catching up. At the last wedding (Amy & Corey's) we didn't get to chat much. Amy and Corey were at the rehearsal dinner. Later, all the youngsters ended at Amy and Corey's place for a few drinks. I love that they like hanging out. My niece Leslie's husband Jordan (not to be confused with her sis Jordan) seems to be a bit of an instigator. He kept them up late, coming up with interesting topics to discuss.

Doing the prep thing

On Saturday, Cindy, Paul and I took a long walk and settled into Sam's 3 for a big breakfast. Then we heard from Amy that Sister Susi (at the venue getting ready) was experiencing FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) and wished for some visitors. Betso, Christine and I Ubered over to the venue and checked it out. We got to meet Jill's parents and chat with Susi, Jordan, Amy, and Les in the totally cool urban warehouse venue. After, we met up with the rest of the gang at Lucky Strike, a bowling alley in downtown, until it was time to get ready for the main event.

Look at this wedding cake topper - clones of the brides! 

Some jubilant faces

Ashley Alvillar and Amy are beaming, David Alvillar in the foreground

The wedding was so beautiful. Susi looked gorgeous with her lovely silver hair and gown. There was a solo of the song "I Want to Hold Your Hand". If you haven't seen the video, it includes the vows which say so much about how these two people feel about each other. The ceremony was perfect and Jordan's dress was so perfect. Jill was killing it in her outfit - it was so Jill. 

4 of my fave guys. Corey - not so secretly watching the Clemson game...

Susi with grandson James - so fun watching them interact

We got to see so many of our family members again! My cousins, the Lamms, with the family matriarch, Aunt Marty. Again - I love that we dig each other. I liked watching Marty watch her grandkids have fun together. I got to finally meet our great nephews James and Jonah and see David and Ashley Alvillar for the first time in a long while. One of my favorite parts of the evening was watching the three Alvillar siblings dance to - you guessed it, my song selection, "Love Shack".  Tin Roof...Rusted. Kara made sure that Paul, Cindy and I had the appropriate photos taken - for the guest book and at the photo booth. #shessosmart.

With Aunt Marty. Somebody took a cousin pic - but I didn't get a copy, hint, hint

It was much harder to say goodbye to everyone at this wedding - because I don't know when I'll see some of them again. Ugh. But...there is the Kohan wedding next August - so we have that going for us. Getting excited for Alex and Lisa!

Congrats again to Jordan and Jill. They have faced adversity because of who they are. It isn't easy to be someone who because of who they are, they do not conform to other's expectations and closely held beliefs. They are difference makers, helping to show that love is universal. We need more of it.

I swiped this photo off of Facebook - so good. 

We got to get together with just our kids on Sunday after Cindo dropped us off. I have to admit, I wasn't ready to leave! We walked to a food court type place for a bite - then Corey took off to host clients at the Broncos game and Amy delivered the rest of us to DIA for our flights. Can't wait to see them all again for Thanksgiving in STL!

Susi's birthday Ahoy!

It's my big sis Susan Morehead Bullock Alvillar's birthday today. I love that girl! She's been nice to me since I was born.

Susan in the middle - separating the two trouble-makers, Cindo and me. Pre-Betso.

Except for that time she hit me in the mouth with the baseball bat she brought me home as a gift from her Girl Scout trip to Washington D.C. At least I think that's where it came from. For some reason she was swinging it like a big league player and I decided to wander into the flight path. So I guess it really wasn't her fault after all.

Susi is six years older than I am - but she was seven years ahead of me in school. No, not because I flunked! She started school when she was four - which was normal back then. She was a typical first child - high-achiever. She seemed to be a peacemaker with out family. Except with Cindy - I do remember the two of them breaking out in fisticuffs a couple times.

Susi grew up in a different family than the one I did. She remembers my grandparents being much younger than I do. My grandma, Momo played golf! I mostly recall her playing bridge and sitting in her chair. Susi got stuck with 3 younger sisters. I only had 1. She remembers the Germaines as neighbors - in fact she and Johnny burned down the bushes together. I remember the Reinertsons.

So it made sense when she went off to college and studied Sociology at Temple Buell. (It's now closed and ironically the campus is the site of where my nephew Colby studied and received a Bachelor of Science - Johnson and Wales for Culinary School). Where is that, you ask? All the way out in Denver! She went there two years, and then to the University of Denver.

It blew up my world when Susi went to college. I was 11, and was just entering those tender years. I wasn't going to get any guidance and assistance from Cindy. She had her own angst going on! I remember the first time Susi came home from college. She got a ride from someone and when she arrived at our front door, she looked like someone totally different than the girl that left. A hippy! It was 1969, after all. She had John Lennon wire frame glasses and fringed jeans. Wow - radical! I sometimes helped her iron her hair - with the iron on the ironing board - pre-flat iron days.

I've always enjoyed hanging out with Susi throughout my life. She's easy-going and even tempered. But the lady knows how to get stuff done. She needs to as the Government Affairs Specials with WPX Energy. She is a busy person.

Susi and Jim have raised 3 wonderful children. Jim's son David was only 3 when they got married in 1982, so Susi has been a big influence in David's life. He now lives in Manhattan with his wife and baby boy - Jonah who is adorable.

My nieces Leslie and Jordan are gorgeous and smart! Just like their parents. And now Les and her hubbie have little James who is a cutie. We can't wait to meet that little guy sometime soon. Jordie (my niece) lives and Denver and she and Amy get to hang out some. Les & fam live in sunny CA.

Susi is a Girl Scout. For real - not just the "be prepared" stuff. Mom helped with scouts when Susi was growing up (she burned out by my time with scouts - I got Cindy Peterson's mom as a leader...). Susi stayed in Scouts long enough to do the neat stuff like visit Washington D.C. She's given back to that organization many times over by volunteering - even though her girls weren't involved. One year, when we were in Florida, Cindy and I howled with laughter as Susi tried to describe how the girls in her troop insisted they need to have "Fluffernutters" deep fried white bread with peanut butter and marshmallow. Susi was determined to eat healthy and that wasn't what the girls had in mind...

It's also "Talk Like a Pirate Day" today - September 19th. So Ahoy me matey Suso! Hope yer havin' a great Day 'O birth!

Susi is a grandma!

We welcome Jonah David Alvillar, son of David and Ashley Alvillar, into the Bullock family. David has been a part of the fam for 30 years (yikes!). That's how long Susi and Jim have been married.

That's David on the left in the Superman shirt - in Estes Park with the fam

Paul and I remember well the trip to Grand Junction for their wedding. We were engaged to be married in August that year, 1982. Paul had just hurt his knee playing golf - a flair up of a high school football injury. I think he was on crutches, forced to hobble down the airplane steps after we flew into the small Grand Junction airport. Soon after landing, we met our new instant family members. Jim and David Alvillar.

Jim was an intense athletic, swarthy handsome guy. David was a 3-year old cutie pie. He was smart as a whip and Susi already loved him I could tell. David's Mom Betty also lives in Grand Junction, so David spent time with each parent - as many children of divorce do. While he didn't attend all of our family get-togethers, we have been lucky enough to see David quite a bit through the years. Plus Susi kept us up on what he was up to - after High School graduation, Clermont College followed by a career on Wall Street. We got to meet Ashley, by then David's fiance at my niece (his sister Leslie's) wedding in LA in 2010. She seems like a great gal and all the A's love her.

The Alvillars surround Ashley last Thanksgiving when she and David announced baby would be forthcoming

Priceless!

 I'm sure I'll get to meet Jonah someday at a fam get-together. Can't wait! In the meantime there are important questions to be answered. What the hell is Baby going to call the new grandparents? Gran and Gramps? We called our grandparents Momo and Bubba. On Mom's side they were Pops and Grandma. Hmm somehow I don't picture Jim as any of those.

You're on your own Jonah. I'm sure you'll be adorable enough to get away with calling them something cute. I can't wait to see Jim melt into a puddle.