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!

Week in review

What a week. First we got to hang out with Jud (soon to be married) for a weekend. Then Amy was here for nearly a whole week! A rare treat when one's children live far (St. Louis) and wide (Pennsylvania). I'm feeling the love!

I like seeing and being with their "others" - Jud's fiancé, Kara, and Amy's boyfriend Corey. But this time we got each of our children alone. And they met each other for lunch Sunday in Hannibal as Jud traveled back to STL and Amy traveled here after Kara's bachelorette party). It was like old times. And just what we needed before the big life change coming up when we happily welcome Kara to the fam.

This weekend is Jud's bachelor party in St. Louis. his buddies from college, who we got to know during those many tailgating weekends, traveled from places afar to party with him one last time as a single man. His local pals from town are there too.

Amy's visit here was a working trip. She's a graphic designer, a small business owner who doesn't have the luxury of "just saying no" to customer emergencies - and they all are, aren't they? "I need that label tomorrow!" There were highlights - Paul's birthday dinner at Smokey D (on Amy), Paul and Amy waxing her car, game watch Friday with Jane Flack at Draught House 50. We had to do breakfast at the Waveland on Amy's last day.

 
Being with our children is certain to bring up memories of them when they were children. Those years went by quickly - in retrospect. I love having adult children and the people they have become. Not younger versions of either Paul or myself, but their own people. Good ones!

Today marks the birthday of my twin nephews Alex and Paul Kohan. I went out to help my sister with the little guys after she had a difficult pregnancy - 3 months bed rest prior to popping out these two guys. Then mastitis. I left Paul in charge of our two cherubs - Jud was just over 1 at the time and Amy was four. Nanny Leslie!

I was only there for a few days, but in that short time I decided that I wouldn't wish twins on anyone! When one would be clean and resting, the other was messy and screaming. Or they both were! They weighed in at about 6 pounds - 2/3s the size as my  babies were. I did what I could to help Betso and husband Wayne to care for the kids, do laundry and their kitties, who were out of sorts because they'd been replaced by screaming meemees. When I returned home to my kids - Jud seemed giant by comparison to A&P!

Fast forward 26 years - Alex and Paul have grown in to fine young man. No doubt thanks to early nurturing by yours truly! I'm looking forward to seeing them at Jud's wedding in a few weeks. HBD guys!

Goodbye CB on to Portland

We had to say goodbye to the Kohans and Cannon Beach Saturday morning, along with our temp home near the beach. Betsy and Wayne plan to rent this place next summer since the house they've been renting is on the market. I hated to say goodbye to Betso - I don't know when I'll see her and the rest of the clan again next.

Then the Lefebvres, Goldsmiths and Kara packed into the Grand Caravan (amazingly we fit!) and headed for Portland. Gar pointed us to the Marriott Courtyard downtown and we dropped off everyone and the luggage. Paul and I had to take the van back to the airport Alamo, which was a drag. We took the Max - light rail back, for $2.40 a piece. Very clean and efficient!

The Max

We hopped off downtown right near a shopping area, and ran into Jud and Kara in an overpriced Nike Store. Paul found something at the Columbia Store. Downtown Portland is an interesting place. There seem to be a lot of homeless people there and we were approached by a number of people for strange purposes - ultimately for money. It was a bit un-nerving for this Midwestern gal. That said we enjoyed the eclectic experience - the shopping, restaurants, bars etc.

 Saturday night we started out at Herman's - a place Bolder had scoped out. It's got a frost bar - a strip of frost where you can set your drink to keep it cold.

Amy takes a photo of our drinks on the frost strip at Herman's

Jud in his "Big Jud's" shirt Bobbie got him in Boise with Cindo at Herman's

We couldn't decide where to eat that night, so we ended up sitting in our motel room. We had pizza delivered by bike. It was delish! Kara, Jud, Amy, Paul and I sat and chatted until 10 or so. Then Kara and Jud went to see the sights. The rest of us hit the hay.

In the morning Jud and Kara took off in a rental car for Seattle. Kara works for Cerner Corporation in Kansas City, providing medical software training. This week she worked in Seattle. How convenient! Jud rode along with her on the drive to Seattle and flew back to KC that afternoon. We were so glad they were able to spend a few days with us. We hugged Jud goodbye about 9 a.m. and off they went.

Amy didn't have to fly out Sunday until later that afternoon. It was misty when we woke up, but we were determined to trek to Voodoo Donuts - a place we'd seen on the Travel Channel, and scoped out online. We were lucky that due to rain, the line of people craving sugar and starch wasn't down the block. Amy had to order the voodoo guy donut but she couldn't eat the lil guy, cuz she can't eat stuff with faces. (I didn't remind her that at one time a hamburger had a real face...). The donuts weren't really anything special but the place was interesting due to the S&M/Voodoo theme.

The voodoo donut in the middle was filled with red jelly that oozes when you poke him with the pretzel sticking in his chest

We did a bit of shopping that day. We found a "dancing girl" theater with the name Stewart above it. That's my Grandma Zora Stewart Bullock's maiden name. So Cindo and I kicked up our heels there.

I can't get my leg up too high...plus no boobs. I'd make a terrible dancing girl

At one point we walked by the Roseland Theater - I saw this:

Rock On - Foghat was in Creston this summer!

We had a nice brunch/lunch and all too soon it was time to walk Amy to the Max light rail and hug her goodbye. It will probably be a fall football game before we see her again. That's what is hard about having kids who live far away.

That night I was crabby. End of vacation, sayin' goodbye crabby. Cindo told me to snap out of it and I did my best. Of course I knew that when I got back I'd have a day of work and then my shoulder manipulation to deal with. And Cindy had her second partial knee replacement in Vail, Colorado. She had the first one in April. What a couple of old has-beens we are! We've been texting each other about Physical Therapy and pain levels...

We wandered around Sunday night trying to figure out what we were hungry for, finally stopping at an Italian joint, in the lounge. The waitress saw us hesitating and did a tremendous sales job. She had us a "best ever lemondrop". Or perhaps that was me...It was really great food and we had a nice time! Our hugs in the elevator that night were teary. We'd had a great week together - love those guys!

Photo from earlier in the week of two of my fave peeps

Paul and I had to get up at 1:45 a.m. and a car was awaiting for a trip to the airport. We needed to be there too early for the cheap light rail. So it was $50, but worth it (the driver had a difficult to understand accent and liked loud country music). Flights went smoothly - through Seattle, with a couple hour layover back to Kansas City. After a frantic night of unpacking and laundry then packing again it was back to DSM early Tuesday.

What a lucky girl I am to have such a fab family! I love each and every one of them and thank my lucky stars and that higher power for all my great fortune. Not stuff, but relationships.

Now on to healing this nasty shoulder. Very painful. No fun - don't ever get one! Thanks to all for texts, cards and encouragement. Mendy even dropped off cookies. The only way they'd be better is if they contained painkilling drugs!