You know, up until 2009, I had never flown before, and now I’m starting to lose track of all the times I’ve had the privilege. To me, it’s like riding on a fun rollercoaster, just enough thrill without getting too crazy. Unless of course, there’s turbulence. That’s a little too thrilling for me!
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| This is the mesmerizing fountain in the Detroit airport |
Friday morning Brian dragged me out of bed so that I could meet my mentor and friend Sabrina for breakfast. She caught me up on all the news from the last year, and we had a great time talking about blogging!
After breakfast, I had a few minutes to gather all my wedding attire, and then Brian dropped me off on Welch Ave. to meet more friends for lunch while he took my stuff over to the wedding location.
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| Amazing Chinese food for incredible prices |
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| Good old Welch. Brian and Jay lived down this hubbub of campus activity. |
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| Lake Laverne and the Memorial Union |
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| Lancelot and Elaine, the ISU swans. |
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| One of the many locations Brian and I used to sit for long chats |
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| The camponile, with the amazing CyRide! |
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| The beautiful MU |
During lunch I remembered one of my favorite things about ISU. I was eating with a friend from Russia, a friend from Puerto Rico, and a friend from Hong Kong, at a Chinese restaurant with both Asian and Mexican employees. ISU and Ames in general is such a diverse city. I loved that about going to school there.
By the time we finished eating and chatting, Brian and the rest of the wedding party were on central campus taking wedding pictures. I said good-bye to my friends and walked over to meet them and ride back to the wedding location.
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| A sweet moment after the mothers placed the unity sand up front. |
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| Waiting for the Bride |
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| Announcing Mr. and Mrs.! |
We had about an hour before the reception, so we milled around the lobby and enjoyed the hor d’ouevres and catching up with people we knew.
The couple had arranged so that both of us wives of the groomsmen got to sit at the head table with our husbands, which I really appreciated! It made the reception so much more enjoyable.
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| Awwww |
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| Us at the reception, lookin’ good |
Brian did a great job with his speech! I was quite concerned, because if you know Bri, he’s not much of a public speaker, but he is quite the rambler. And sometimes he thinks things are funny that no one else understands. He allowed me to read his notes before hand, and I was impressed with what he had, and when he actually delivered it, it was even better! I was so proud!
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| Brothers 🙂 |
We had so much fun at the reception. I was so excited that I got Brian to dance with me! He’s always insisted that he can’t dance, which I totally understand, because I can’t either, but I still enjoy it! Even though we kept stepping on each other’s feet, we had fun!
After a late night, we had breakfast with a big group of our college friends at the ridiculously early time of 8 a.m. In spite of making us late by spilling coffee down myself twice, we finally made it there and hung out with them until almost 11.
Spending time with them definitely made us homesick. The only thing we don’t like about living in Arizona is that in the year we’ve lived here, we have just as many friends as when we started: two. And friends our age? Zero. And we haven’t figured out how to meet people our age with similar interests.
We were bemoaning that with our friends, when one of our friends said something really interesting. While having college friendships that endure through the years is wonderful, “I think we need to move on too, and make new friends where we are now,” he said. He mentioned that his parents have friends from college that they still keep in touch with, but no close friends where they currently live.
He’s right. We need to maintain our friendships, but we need to find/form a new circle here too.
Well, after breakfast, we checked out of the hotel, picked up Jimmy Johns to-go, and headed to our home town. That evening, we had a picnic on Brian’s parent’s deck for all our family. We celebrated us being back, and also my brother’s 12th birthday.
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| A great candid shot |
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| The birthday boy! |
I invited my best friend Rachel, and she came over early to hang out, and stayed late.
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| Rachel! |
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| My sister, brother-in-law, and niece |
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| I heard crocodile tastes like chicken… |
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| Edward was very excited about having an Iowa State cake |
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| Happy Birthday!!! |
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| Ethan is making his action hero eat the cake, and Eric thinks it’s pretty funny |
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| My FIL scooping homemade mint chocolate chip ice cream |
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| Edward is a big ISU fan, if you can’t tell! |
We went to church the next day at the church I’d grown up in, and got to see many old friends. We had lunch with my older sister and her family, and before we knew it, it was time to head to the airport.
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| Good-bye Iowa! |
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| On to new horizons! |
So, now things have settled back into the normal rhythm for the most part. We’re still catching up on sleep, and pondering how we can form a new circle of like-minded friends here. If you have ideas, feel free to share!
School starts in three weeks. It’s hard to believe the summer is almost over! Do you have any big plans for the last few weeks before back-to-school hits?
