World Cup Widow

So while Bryan watches France and Uruguay (?) play soccer, I thought I'd enjoy my Friday night by posting the much-anticipated pictures from Oregon. I actually don't have much to say tonight as I'm just blatantly tired from the entire week and looking forward to a day of tux-hunting, rehearsal dinner planning, and table card-making tomorrow (Bryan and I want to do something cute for the tables!).

But let's get down to business. To the left, you can see my future B.I.L. (brother-in-law, hehe), the Groom (for that weekend!) and myself and Bryan. We ended up convincing the lovely B.J. to hang out until all hours (well, until 1 a.m. - I'm not quite sure how my future B.I.L. was still awake as he and Sonia had flown in that morning!). But we had a Shuffleboard Showdown in which the future in-laws took down the cousins (Bryan and B.J.). Jon and I clearly will still beat you even if you're getting married in two days and especially if you're on the same team as Bryan! :-)

After a late night, Bryan and I went to the Stepping Stone Cafe which we had seen on Man vs. Food on the Travel Channel. I still haven't decided if I'm more grossed out or fascinated, but the Stepping Stone Cafe peaked my interest. In front of me, you see a short stack of THIRTEEN INCH PANCAKES. No joke. And what else? An omelet with chicken-fried steak, jalapenos, potatoes, and I don't even remember what else. Then it's topped off with gravy. The omelet was INCREDIBLE. Bryan and I split it and devoured it. The pancakes were also delish, but honestly, if we had taken an "after" picture, you wouldn't have seen a difference. We didn't even make a dent!!! But it fueled us sufficiently for hiking lots of falls!

Us outside the Cafe...I was easily the biggest tourist there.

Below, we stopped at something called The Vista House. It was pretty cool and apparently one of the sites in the first Twilight movie.

Ahhhh, LaTourell Falls. This first one wasn't a hike, but this was just a warm-up.

Below, Bryan and Jon at Bridal Veil Falls. Bryan took about 15 pictures of me at Bridal Veil because of the name, and I liked this picture of the two gentlemen the best.

Bryan, myself, Sonia, and Jon all at Montnomah Falls. The Falls were unreal, so what did we decide? Hey, let's hike up it! There was a sign that said, "1 mile hike". The four of us collectively said, "Hey, we're all in decent shape, this won't take any time at all".

Below, 45 minutes later...this is the 1 mile sign...NO FALLS!!!

We couldn't stop. We kept going and on the way, got an incredible view.

When we got to the top? Eh, it was ok. Actually the view was better from the ground. So if you want to experience Montnomah Falls again, scroll back up. Otherwise, we're getting to the real excitement of the weekend - the wedding!!!

A congratulatory banner at the entrance of Amanda's parents home the night of the rehearsal dinner. Unfortunately, all Bryan's pictures from the evening suggest he may have had a few adult beverages...

The Fairbanks School and site of the wedding! If you don't know the story, Ben and Amanda completely restored this schoolhouse both together and with the help of family and friends. It was a fabulous setting for the wedding. They even had an album of pictures that led the guests on their journey of cleaning the place up. It was nothing short of incredible.

Inside the schoolhouse after the vows. I love this picture. They both look super happy.

And below, another happy couple!

This is a random lady I spoke to for a good hour or so at the reception (it may have been longer, I don't know. The champagne started at noon-ish, and this was about 5pm, probably - you do the math). I don't remember her name, but she was AWESOME. She's been married for a really long time (to the same person!). So we had a lovely discussion about marriage over some spirits. I love getting marriage advice from people over a glass (or bottle) of wine. If you're reading this and we haven't done this yet, sign me up!

Speaking of bottles of wine, Sonia and I had our clear favorites for the day. Mine was called...drumroll, please...EVOLUTION. Can you guess why I picked it???

Above is me feeding a horse carrots from my bare hand for the first time in my life. It was awesome. The horses were so beautiful. Now I want horses, we must open up the house search for a farm.

The end of the evening...this is one of my favorite pictures. Bryan laughs because in almost every picture I'm always looking at the camera, but no one else is (he gets people when they don't expect it). In this picture, I'm not certain if Sonia knew Bryan was taking this or not, but it's an awesome pose.

But basically, this says it all about the weekend. It was a blast!!!

Congratulations again to the happy couple, Ben and Amanda! We had the best time and many amazing experiences out in The Dalles!