Jennifer Bivens and Brian Stokes' Wedding



One of Russ' former Academy classmates, Jenn Bivens, was getting married in San Antonio, TX and sent us an invitation.  Obviously, we accepted.  The ceremony was beautiful and held in a lovely church, but I didn't include those photos since you're likely reading this blog for updates on Russ and/or me.

This photo below has six members from the Air Force Academy, Class of 1996.  Russ doesn't remember the name of the first lady on the left, who was in another cadet squadron.  The next five from left to right are:  Taylor, Jennifer Bivens, my handsome hubby Russ, Jack Floyd and Walter Jackim, all from Cadet Squdron 26.

It was much cooler than expected for April in San Antonio.  I hadn't brought a jacket or even a sweater to go with my outfit.  Fortunately for me, Russ is a chivalrous man.

Here's Jenn with her husband, Brian Stokes.

Poor Walt!  I'm sure he spent years enduring being the "most vertically challenged male" in his squadron.  Now he had to be shown up by Amy and Jenn picking him up at the wedding!

I'm glad Jenn and Russ were such good friends all these years because they would have made a very handsome couple otherwise (and I wouldn't be posting these blog updates!).

It was a lovely ceremony and beautiful reception.  I'm so glad we were able to go and I was able to meet more of Russ' friends.  (Several came to our wedding, but that was a pretty hectic weekend for me.  So I didn't really get to know his friends during our wedding.)

Chomper's Last Day

Russ has a 55-gallon fish tank that he brought to the marriage, along with several fish that kept growing and growing.  Sadly, as we'll be moving in June, we knew we'd need to start finding homes for the fish.  As Chompers and Poky are such large pacu fish, he called around to several aquarium stores to see if any of them would take them.  He found a store in Hampton that would take one at a time due to their size.  Since Chompers is the larger fish, he was the first one to go.

Russ divided the tank and netted Chompers, who was on the right side of the tank.  

He put him in our wheeled cooler and took him to the store.

 

 It was a rainy day, which matched our mood at having to part with a family member. Bye-bye, Chompers!

 

Busch Gardens Hairdo

Last year I "took a chance" and bought 2005 season passes for Russ and me.  (Considering we weren't even engaged yet when I bought the passes, you can tell I wasn't being my usual frugal self.)  But Busch Gardens was offering free entries for the remaining of the 2004 season for people who bought 2005 passes.  If nothing else, I figured I'd at least have a season pass to use for myself for 2005.  Plus Russ and I went to Busch Gardens and Water Country USA enough times in 2004 to make the season passes worthwhile.  Luckily, I'm still getting to enjoy the passes with Russ.
We didn't take many pictures, but I had to laugh when I saw Russ' new hairdo after after riding the Loch Ness Monster roller coaster.

Russ and Chad Flight Logs

I may have mentioned that Russ loves flying.  One of the things he loves to do after flying is making entries in his flight log.  The manual/written entry isn't sufficient.  He also needs to make a computer entry.  (That way he can sort by aircraft flown, destination of trip, etc.)
Although I "vowed" during our wedding ceremony to act excited about all things related to flight, this is sometimes a challenging promise.  Fortunately for me, Russ' best friend, Chad DeNaughel, is almost as geeky as Russ when it comes to this flight log tracking fascination.  I'd had to find out what all their laughing was about (because men don't giggle) and discovered they were just making entries in their flight logs after their flight down to Kitty Hawk, NC.

Wedding Gifts

Although we'd noted that the greatest present our friends and family could give us would be there presence at our wedding, many people still gave us presents.  Fortunately for us, several of our friends who came from Virginia brought extra suitcases so we could send gifts home with them.  Unfortunately, we hadn't unwrapped the gifts before we sent the gifts home.  And airline security unwrapped all the gifts, not keeping the cards or wrapping papers with the gifts.  We tried matching up the wrapping paper by size of the gifts, but that didn't always work.  So if you received a rather vague thank you note, you'll understand why.
One of the most creative gifts we received came from Russ' work section.  As Russ had proprosed to me on a Scrabble board, his co-workers made a very unique welcome sign, which we proudly display in the entry way of our home. 

The Initial Honeymoon

As Russ and I both had to return to  work the week following the wedding, we took a very short honeymoon. We went to Northern Arizona and "played tourist" in Flagstaff, Sedona, the Grand Canyon, Snow Bowl, Sunset Crater and Wupatki National Parks. The only thing that would have improved this short trip would have been a warmer season. You'll note from the pictures that it was pretty cold wherever we went. But we had a great time!

Russ' Birthday - Snowboarding at Snow Bowl

With all the excitement of the wedding preparation and the chilling outdoor wedding, I was sick by the time we were on our honeymoon.  So I played "snow bunny" in the lodge while Russ enjoyed the slopes of Snow Bowl, north of Flagstaff.

 One way to ensure you receive a gift you'll like is to let the gift-giver know what would truly be appreciated.  Otherwise, I can honestly say I never would have picked up "Stick and Rudder" on my own as a gift for Russ.