Tom and Maddy's Big Day

The big day finally arrived.  This wedding has been in the planning stages for a year--actually longer than that since Maddy had decided she wanted to get married in the Methow Valley even before she and Tom were engaged--maybe even dating.  Maddy picked Brown's Farm to have the wedding last July during the height of the fires in the valley last year.  There was no water, no electricity, etc. but she fell in love with the place to have the wedding immediately.

Sherrill had alerted me to the fact that the temperatures during the ceremony would be 104 degrees about a week ahead of time so while I was looking forward to the wedding, I certainly wasn't looking forward to melting in that heat.  But the wedding was beautiful and wonderful.  As Bill says--"it is the best wedding I have ever attended".  And I have to agree that it was truly wonderful and so much fun.

 

 Maddy did a lot of searching on Pinterest to get decoration ideas for the wedding.

I took this picture before they put the flowers on the arbor.  They waited until the very last minute so they wouldn't wilt in the heat.

 The wedding party table all had bows on the back of their chairs.

 And there were some cute signs around the venue.

 Slight error on this sign--the first "I love you" was actually 6-6-2009.

 These windows with photos turned out so great!

 Mr. and Mrs. signs above their heads at the table.

 And Maddy made the cork bar sign and Pete made the wood slices.  I didn't get the centerpiece photos come to think of it but there were wood slices at each table which the flower arrangements were placed on top of.

We got ready at the cabin we were staying in which was right next door to Pete and Marian's cabin.  That was so convenient and of course had a wonderful view of the valley as well.

 Marian and me before the wedding.

 Tom and his attendants before the wedding.  Almost showtime.  Avery, Zach, Tom and Chris.

 Anna helped Pete with his boutineer.

I didn't see Maddy at all before the wedding but this picture was posted on Facebook.  They did her hair and then realized that they needed to cut her t-shirt off so they wouldn't mess it up.

 

Chris took Anika and Rose up the aisle during the processional.

 Pete and Maddy danced up the aisle to "Good Day for Marrying You".

 Tom's attendants--Zach, Chris and Avery.

 

The Ceremony.

 Bridesmaids-Allie, Tristen, Anika, Rose and Anna.  The flowergirls are Tristen's daughers.

 The Kiss.

Most of the photos taken by the photographers were candid shots.  But we did pose for a few posed pictures immediately after the ceremony.

 The poor flowergirls did not want their pictures taken.  It was too hot and they were too tired.

 Tristen, Chris, Allie, Anna, Tom, Maddy, Rose, Anika, Zach and Avery.

 Let's show off those boots!

 Those boots were made for walking.

 The wild card Zach gives Tom a kiss much to our surprise.

 Chris, Tom, Maddy, Zach and Avery.

 The Speer-Osborne Family--Anna, Marian, Tom, Maddy and Pete.

 Our family-Bill, Shannon, Tom, Maddy and Chris.

 Tom and Chris with Aunt Suzanne and Uncle Chuck.

 All the Rollers at the wedding.

 Jeff and Jeff both had cowboy Hawaiian shirts on.  I had to get a picture of that.

My best friend, Suzi, from when I was in the Army.  Hard to believe we have been friends for 30 plus years.
So happy she was able to come.

 Tom sharing a moment with his mother-in-law, Marian.

Suzi and Terry.  I also worked with Terry at the same time that Suzi and I met.  In fact, I probably knew him before they met since I arrived a month before she did.

 Dad and Tom.

 Me with my sissy, Sherrill.

Rhys and Jeff.

The cutting of the cake had a little bit of a mishap.  They didn't practice that obviously and half the cake fell off.  Too funny trying to see them figure out how to fix it and get it back up.

Tom says "Ahh!" and Maddy says, "Am I going to get this in the face or my mouth?"

 The cake was made at the Mazama Store and it was so yummy!

Tom and Maddy chose "Crazy Girl" as their first dance together.  They had a choreographer in Wichita that helped them with their dance and they have been practicing it for months. Link to their first dance.  They did such a beautiful job!

A side note--Maddy actually wore her Great Grandmother Madeline's cowboy boots for the wedding.  How cool is that?

Tom and I chose "My Wish" as our first dance.  The words of that song are definitely my wish for Tom and Maddy as they live their life together.  We didn't really get much of a chance to practice but we did pretty good considering.

Pete spent a few days in Wichita just before the wedding so he and Maddy had a bit of a chance to work with the choreographer to put their dance together.  They chose "Just Fishin'" as their daughter-father dance and it was also really beautiful.  It was the perfect song for this dad and daughter.  Pete is quite the avid fisherman and Maddy goes fishing with him. Link to the Father-Daughter dance.

 I love the look between them in this picture.

 

As a surprise to Tom (we didn't dare surprise the bride), Pete and Bill did a Blues Fathers routine and sang "Sweet Home Chicago".  Bill has his Blues Brothers schtick that he does with Jim West on occasion for fundraising type events.  Bill got this call several months before the wedding from Pete and Marian that they wanted to do this for the wedding.  So once they got Maddy's blessing--they moved forward on it.  And it was a fun addition to the wedding dance.  Link to a little bit of Blues Father's Video.

 Pete and Marian.

 Tom asked his mother-in-law to dance.

 Maddy dancing with father-in-law, Bill.

 Chris, Tom, Maddy and Anika cutting it up on the dance floor.

 Not quite sure what these girls were dancing to but it is such a cool picture.

 

Suzi and Terry out on the dance floor. 

 Tom dancing with a flower girl.

Time for the garter toss.  All the single guys lining up to catch it.

 Chris dove for it and came up with it.

 Bouquet toss.

 Sister Anna came up with it.

 As the sun was setting on the evening's festivities.

We had such a good time.  It was a beautiful wedding and so much fun.  Tom and Maddy are now off on their honeymoon and our wish it that they are having a fantastic time and that they have many happy years together.

Pre-Wedding Parties

Bill and I headed up to the Northern Cascades on the Wednesday before the wedding.  We flew up to Omak which was the closest place to rent a car.  Driving from Vancouver takes about 9 hours to get to Mazama so we elected to fly as close to it as we could.  The Methow State and Twisp airports (which are the closest airports) don't have rentals available.  So we landed in Omak and rented a car from one of the car dealerships in town and drove the last hour and a half of our trip to the wedding location.

The first night was fairly low key.  Just Pete and Marian (Maddy's parents); Tom and Maddy; Zach, Tom's best man; Anna, Maddy's sister and maid of honor; and Bill and me.  We enjoyed an evening of conversation, dinner and playing games.

Thursday-Tom and Maddy had some activities planned with their wedding party.  Tom and Zach went hiking at Blue Lake.  Maddy and some of her bridesmaids tried to go to favorite swimming spot on the Methow River but the water was too low so they went wine tasting instead.

 Zach and Tom on their bachelor party hike.

I have never been hiking in that area but this gives you an idea of how beautiful it is there and why Tom and Maddy love it so much. That is a glacier at the other end of the lake.

 Still a little bit of snow still there.  But it was so hot that they jumped into that ice cold glacier fed lake to cool off.

After attempting a bachelorette party on the river, Tristen, Anika, Maddy and Anna did a little wine tasting at the Lost River Winery.

Thursday night was when things started hopping with more of the wedding party and family arriving.  Pete and Marian hosted a barbeque at their cabin that night.  Here are a few pictures from that night.

Before the guests started arriving, Tom and Zach tried to clean some old antique windows that we were going to be using for wedding decorations.  Such a gorgeous view from Pete and Marian's deck.

Tom and Maddy bought the entire wedding party t-shirts.  Bill and I were on Team Tom of course.  Here we are in our t-shirts.

 Tom and Zach in their t-shirts and enjoying some libations.

 Anna enjoying a little bit of dad time with Pete.

There were a few gifts that were presented to the bride and groom that night.  Some decorations for the wedding (and their home) were included.

 Chris arrived after he finished class.  It is a bit of a haul from Bellingham too.

 Some of the wedding party gathering at the cabin that night.

Friday was a busy day moving into the wedding venue site and getting everything setup for the wedding and rehearsal and rehearsal dinner.

The weather was incredibly hot--104 degrees every day.  So we got a taste of it at the rehearsal to know what the wedding temperatures were going to be like.

This is the extent of rehearsal and rehearsal dinner pictures that I was able to take.  I was much too busy.  As much as we tried to make it easy, it still was a lot of work to feed the over 50 people that came to the rehearsal dinner. We got a bunch of pizzas and had a few salads and cookies and called it good.  Everyone seemed to enjoy it so that was really nice.

Because it was so hot, I was not feeling so great and feeling a little overwhelmed so I didn't make any speeches.  But Bill did a great job of welcoming all our guests and giving a very nice toast to the bride and groom.

 

After we left, the bridal party and the cousins went swimming on the Methow River until they lost light and headed back to Brown's Farm.

 The morning on the wedding, we got to see these turkeys next to the cabin we were staying in.

We all had been seeing a lot of deer along the road, jumping in front of our cars driving and walking through the wedding venue to try to get to the river but it was fun to see these guys too.

The morning of the wedding we went into town to meet up with all our family and friends that had come to the wedding.  Jeff, Sherrill and Rhys came up.  They had quite the trip.  They drove to Chicago, took the train from Chicago to Denver, rented a car in Denver to take Graham to the Air Force Academy for him to start school, flew to Seattle from Denver and then drove up to Winthrop for the wedding.  In addition to going out for breakfast, we went to the glassblowing shop with them.  They have some really beautiful glass things and it is fun to watch the glassblower work.

So that pretty much covers the pre-wedding festivities.  Next blog--the wedding!

Father's Day 2015

It has been a busy time for us as a family and will be getting even busier for me at work so I guess I have some blog catching up to do this weekend.

Tom and Maddy arrived in Washington the weekend before Father's Day to do wedding preparations.  We were hoping that they could come down to Vancouver for a couple of days so that we had time to spend with them before the wedding.  I knew that we would have little to no opportunity to visit with them at the wedding which did turn out to be the case so I am glad that they came down to see us.  Chris came down for a few days too.

They came down after they went to Ellensburg to pick up Maddy's wedding ring.  So they had a long day of driving but enjoyed seeing their college town again for a bit.

I was thrilled because it was just as much or more of a Mother's Day celebration for me as it was a Father's Day celebration for Bill.  Bill was taking a film director's course for five days so he wasn't home until dinner time on Father's Day.  Chris went to church and out with friends so it was just me, Tom and Maddy for the day.  We spent a good six hours walking a little bit and going wine tasting.  We had never taken them wine tasting here in Clark County before.  We went to Gouger first and the kids enjoyed playing with the wine dogs--Doche and Dakota--a couple of very nice labradoodles.  Then we went to Bethany and enjoyed sitting outside next to the pond and visited.  Tom hit it off with Walt talking about what he does in the Air Force (turns out Walt is also an Air Force veteran which I didn't know).  It was such a wonderful afternoon to get my one on one time with them.

After Bill got home, we headed down to the Kennedy School for dinner.  Several months ago, Maddy had posted a list of bars from around the country that she wanted to visit and the Kennedy School made that list.  I told her the next time she came to Vancouver, we should go there especially since she is a teacher.  I thought it would be fun to take her to an old elementary school turned restaurant, spa, theater and hotel.  It was nice to enjoy some dinner and libations there.

I was happy to see this picture of Darren, Dad and Dane celebrating their Father's Day in Tomah. 

Hope all the fathers out there were able to enjoy time with their children or at least get in a phone call with them.  I know we enjoyed having our whole family together for the day.  Such a rare treat that it truly was special for us.

Astoria Weekend Getaway

Bill and I just got back from a very pleasant weekend in Astoria.  We usually go on at least one flyout with the Columbia Aviation Association (a flying social club that we belong to) ever year.  This year we signed up for a trip to Astoria.

We don't normally stay at luxury hotels when we travel.  We usually look for the most inexpensive or reasonable place to stay.  But the hotel that was selected for this trip was quite wonderful.  It was the Cannery Pier Hotel and it is a relatively new one---only about 10 years old.  But it was quite impressive.  It was built 600 feet out into the Columbia River on a pier that was rebuilt for the purpose of building the hotel.  It is on the site of what used to be the Union Fisherman's Cooperative Packing Company Cannery.

It was built in a style to reflect the design of a cannery but is a totally new building.   They had a video about the building of the hotel which was quite fascinating to watch.  The fact that we were out in the river made the views from our room spectacular.  We could watch the ships go by, see the sunset over the mouth of the Columbia, view the bridge crossing over into Washington and watch the birds perch on the pilings in the river.  When the ships passed--it was like they were right next to the building--they were that close to get under the highest span of the bridge.  Unfortunately I never had my camera with me when it happened.  Once we were in the lobby for happy hour and saw one pass and another time we were eating dinner in a nearby restaurant--the Bridgewater Bistro (which is wonderful by the way).

 They had these two vintage cars that they would take people around in which were quite fun.

On Friday night, we ate at a nearby hole in the wall called the Portway Tavern.  It was established in 1923 and had quite a history.  I didn't go looking for it but there is a claim that there is a trapdoor under one of the tables in the bar that was used to Shanghai sailors back in the day.  Most stories about being Shanghaied are from the 1800's but there seems to be at least some proof that it was happening as late as the 20's.  

Saturday morning we went to the Coast Guard Air Station Astoria.  We were given a tour by two of the helicopter pilots, a rescue swimmer and a crew chief.  We spent a couple of hours there.  It was a great tour and we got to see one of the helicopters take off while we were there.

We also got to go inside this plane which was recently retired.  In addition to the helicopters, the Coast Guard needs additional air support to keep track of them in case they run into trouble.

In the afternoon, we headed out to Fort Clapsop to "get a little history" about the Lewis and Clark winter camp there.  I have been there with the boys and by myself in the past but Bill had never been there so we went out to tour the visitor center and the fort.

After a sumptuous dinner at the Bridgewater Bistro, we headed downtown to the Liberty Theater to hear a Beethoven concert.  This was the first weekend for the Astoria Music Festival and the Beethoven concert was just one of many concerts that will be taking place at a variety of venues in Astoria over the next few weeks.  It was a fantastic concert and they played the 5th Symphony which was fabulous.

Sunday morning we just relaxed until it was time to catch our ride back to the airport and fly back home.  Nice little get away to tide us over until the wedding in a couple of weeks.

Off To The Races

Bill and I were invited to attend a Boys and Girls Club fundraiser.  It was a Triple Crown Derby themed party which was held at the home of Bill and Sandee Kirkwood--the owners of Big Al's.  It was a lot of fun.  Their home is set in Ridgefield with a beautiful view of Mt. St. Helens.  And their home is spectacular.  I only saw a bit of it walking through the living room to get to the party being held on the grounds behind the house--but it was out of this world beautiful.

The Kirkwoods own racing horses so it was the perfect place to hold a Derby themed party.  Everyone was encouraged to wear their best derby hat and there were some pretty amazing ones.  I got my hat very last minute--just hours before the party but I found the a great "Four Weddings and a Funeral" hat that I thought was perfect for the party.  Two of their mares and their nursing colts were out on the paddock for us to admire and pet.  That was great fun to see them.  And they had a trumpeter to start the activities as if they were starting a race.

The tables were decorated with the theme of the three races in the Triple Crown.  We were at a Preakness table with Buckeyed Susans for our centerpiece.  The food was fabulous--a truly gourmet buffet put on by three different chefs from three different restaurants.

It was a fun evening and a lot of money was raised on behalf of the children.  It always amazes me with all the fundraisers that Bill and I attend that there is so much generosity in our community for so many different causes.  Makes me proud to be part of such a generous community.

Quarter Century Old

Maddy turned 25 this past week.  Tom took her out to a special dinner the night before her birthday and then invited friends over for dinner on her actual birthday.  She had a wonderful celebration weekend.

Memorial Day

It has been my custom the past few years to go to the Memorial Day service at Fort Vancouver.  I went again this year.  They had another soldiers' bivouac as well.  I especially enjoy the Civil War era reenactors.  

 The 1st Oregon were there.  There are a lot more women involved now than I have seen in the past.  Especially as cavalry"men".

 The horses were a big draw for those that came to see them.

 Weapons were demonstrated.

 There were WWII reenactors as well.  This was an aid station setup.

The Vancouver Fire Department raised this flag during the ceremony.  Luckily they were there.  One of the Patriot Guard Riders and his wife had a motorcycle accident right in front of me as I was walking to my car.  We had to go run to get them to take care of the wife who was hurt.

Veterans from present time to WWII were present to honor our war dead. 

Always a reminder that our freedom isn't free.  There are many young men and women that risk their lives for us every day.  Prayers for those who have lost their lives defending our freedom, for our families and those who are currently serving.  May that be safe in their duty.