my brother's [loveland] wedding

the airport shuttle was set to arrive at 3 a.m.  we crawled out of bed a quarter past two for a quick shower and to throw the last few toiletries into our suitcase.  when i stepped out of the shower at 2:27 and heard the doorbell ring i made my way to our second story deck to see a gray haired gentleman looking up at me.  

"you are not supposed to be here until 3:00!" i exclaimed.

"oh", he says...and continues to stare up at me.

i shake my head and tell him he'll just have to wait.

by 11:00 a.m. we were in denver at the rental car facility where we were set to pick up a little hyundai for $13 a day.  

the hyundai was nowhere to be found and we are upgraded to a jeep liberty for free.

calle conveniently listed me as the only driver, and we set off for my parents house 75 miles away in a little town called greeley.

we immediately realize the jeep was not an upgrade at all as we putter onto the freeway.

calle is fascinated by the completely flat landscape, brown in the dead of winter, and covered in small patches of snow.  in the distance we see the snow capped rockie's; a backdrop that seems almost unreal compared to the miles of flat open land surrounding us.  

on schedule, about 1:00, we arrive at the wear family residence.
we freshened up and made our way to the picture perfect chapel in loveland, co for my brother's 4:00 wedding.

luckily, i had given calle a briefing on the family members he would meet on this special day.  my aunt cheryl & uncle steve, who helped raise me and loved me like their own.  my aunt karen & uncle cliff, who have raised 4 beautiful children and although they moved away from california when i was only 5 they have always made an effort to keep in touch and constantly remind me of the importance of family.  my cousin bethany, karen & cliff's oldest daughter, who is married to mike & has 1 beautiful baby boy of her own named jack [after our grandfather].  and of course my parents, craig & renee, who joyfully welcomed us into their home.  

we finally found our seats after many hugs and lots of happy tears, and waited for our little niece, adelyne rose, to enter. 

in the case of adelyne, a picture does not do justice.  as she stumbled into the church on her stubby little legs, wearing a puffy white dress with gold bows and matching gold shoes, smiling ear to ear, i couldn't hold back the tears.  seeing her completely overwhelmed every sense of my being.  i was happy to see her, excited she was so damn cute, sad this was the first time we had seen her, and sick that it would be months & months before we would see her again.  calle helped me pull myself together and i found adelyne on my lap.  as you can see my tears quickly turned into a great big smile.

my brother found his way to the front of the aisle and stood with the pastor awaiting his beautiful bride.

after the ceremony adelyne spent some time with my mom & dad.  they adore her.

the new bride & groom; mr. & mrs. justin wear!  

after we left the church we went to the budweiser event center for a wonderful reception complete with a delicous dinner and many fine toasts.

the next day after a hearty breakfast with grandma, mom, dad, justin, lyndsie, and addy we visited justin & lyndsie's beautiful home.  we gave addy the standard baby girl christmas present: a cute little dress, stockings, and bows. 

thank goodness for the colorful bows or addy would not have been interested in the gift at all... we played with the bows for at least an hour before i realized it was actually the cardboard packaging she was interested in!

grandma becky [mormor] & adelyne rose happy as can be!
after a day of visiting, calle and i made our way to the denver sheraton which calle had bid & won on priceline.com for a steal of a deal!  we enjoyed some wine in our room and then went out on the town for a nice dinner.  
the next morning we woke up early to check out all denver had to offer.  if you look closely to the center of the picture below you can see steam rising up from the sewer lid because the air was outside was so cold.  this was particularly fascinating to calle because he had only seen it happen in the movies and was jealous when snulle told him it really did happen in new york.  calle was glad to see it with his own eyes!  
denver is a city filled with many sculptures, art museums, and unique architecture.  below you see one of the famous sculptures in macintosh park; a janus head.  the two heads of this statue face west & east, reminding the city that they must look to the past as well as to the future.  suspended between the two heads is a plumb-bob, a tool used by builders to establish a true vertical, representing this location as the beginning of "where a city was built".

a big chair, a small horse, and calle outside the famous denver library/art museum, established 1889.
me, touching the tip of the denver art museum thanks to calle's photo skills.
calle being swept away in this sculpture by swedish artist claes oldenburg.
three little cows. mooooo!
calle in front of the colorado state capital building, officially one mile above sea level.
and what trip would be complete without finding a pink house for snulle?  come on!
although our trip was short, calle was very glad to finally put a face to my family.  

we returned home to california and were greeted by a very hungry, but happy, Ingemar and 70 degree weather.  we enjoyed our standard sunday morning stroll along laguna beach and a latte from zinc cafe. today we decided it would be impossible to ever have a bad day if every morning began this way.