A Beautiful Wedding

Melissa & Gabe, with Mitch officiating


The day finally arrived and last Saturday my oldest son Gabe and his beautiful bride Melissa were married. It was an exhausting and a crazy day but well worth all the effort. The skies threatened rain for awhile and it did rain all around us but not on us thankfully. It was a pleasant 80 something, much better than the 104 on the prior Wednesday.
My handsome boys, Mitch and gabe

The beautiful bride, Melissa

Days like these are such a reminder of what wonderful family and friends we have, without them this wedding would not have been the success it was. My brothers and their families pitched in to haul, decorate, cook, and clean. My friends Trudy, Mary, and Julie helped prepare and serve food. A special thanks to my brother Larry who did more dishes than any man should have to. Pulling together we had a beautiful venue and a beautiful ceremony.
Gabe and his groomsmen

Melissa and her grandfather
Melissa and Grandfather
Lighting the unity candle

Married at last



Janie & John. Celebrate!


Gabe and his buddies
My son Mitch officiated the service and he did a marvelous job. He already has another wedding lined up to do on NewYears Eve. It was amazing to see my two sons looking so handsome and so grown up. I’m not ashamed to say there were a few tears. The years go by so quickly and too soon my babies have become men. 
We now are preparing to travel once again and John and I are oh so ready. The plan is to head out on Sunday morning toward South Dakota and the Black Hills. We may a stop at our “hometown” of Madison to do a few things and probably one more overnight stop on our way to Custer State Park. We have reservations at Custer for a week and good thing because I recently found out that we are there during the Sturgis motorcycle rally. That wasn’t the best planning but John will enjoy seeing all the cool bikes. We hear they are all over the Black Hills during that time not just in Sturgis. After Custer we will be headed to the NW with stops in Livingston MT, Missoula MT and Spokane WA for Labor Day weekend. Our plan originally was to go to Bellingham WA to visit John’s brother but found out he won’t be there until the end of September. He commutes to Prudhoe Bay AK and so has a very different schedule. That opened the schedule up and allowed us to attend the RV-Dreams rally in Harrisburg OR and I think we may get to spend a few days at Crater Lake and see our friends Terry and Lu. 
Now that we are set to travel again I will have more to blog about. It is so hard to write when you are staying put doing the same old, same old. I really admire blogs like Rick who find interesting things to blog about on an almost daily basis. 
I hope you enjoy the photos from the wedding.
Happy day!!!
Happy Trails..............................

Comments

  1. The Odd EssayAugust 1, 2012 at 3:37 PM

    Well, I'm not ashamed to say that your photos and words made me tear up... it's just wonderful when families remain families... even as they grow up to have lives of their own. Congratulations to all!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Travels with EmmaAugust 1, 2012 at 4:08 PM

    Yes, it's hard to believe our children are adults with their own lives.

    Safe travels to you both. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Kenny And Angela's AdventureAugust 1, 2012 at 4:39 PM

    Truely a beautiful Bride and looks like a lovely wedding. Angela

    ReplyDelete
  4. owensontheroadAugust 1, 2012 at 5:30 PM

    What a lovely wedding! You should be very proud! Sounds like you are ready to hit the road for sure. Cool that you can go to Howard & Linda's rally too!

    ReplyDelete
  5. RickAugust 1, 2012 at 11:41 PM

    What a beautiful wedding. Thanks for posting all the great photos of the beautiful bride and the handsome groom too!!

    Thanks for your kind words even though I do feel I post clunkers too!! Strangely, I sometimes find more to write about when I'm home rather than on the road.

    ReplyDelete
  6. RV Khronicles of KevelynAugust 2, 2012 at 7:46 AM

    Beautiful wedding, lovely pictures. You and John look very nice. I'm so glad the weather cooperated. I'm curious what requirements Mitch had to fulfill to be able to officiate a wedding. Our best wishes to the happy couple. Enjoy your travels. We stayed at a KOA near Wall Drug several years ago around the time of the Sturgis rally. Quite an eye opener. Lots of women wearing skimpy leather and little else :)
    I'm very interested to see how you will like an RV Dreams rally.

    ReplyDelete
  7. NanAugust 2, 2012 at 8:04 AM

    I appreciate your having problems blogging when not on the move! We also have the same problem.

    You can be very proud of the men in your family.

    ReplyDelete
  8. AnonymousAugust 2, 2012 at 10:15 AM

    Beautiful looking wedding! Glad to hear that the lovely couple are finally married and that the weather cooperated, given how terribly hot it has been across the country. We certainly hope to see the two of you at Crater Lake. Safe travels and welcome back to the road!

    ReplyDelete
  9. heyduke50August 3, 2012 at 8:26 PM

    we still have a wedding ahead of us in our future so I can imagine what it is like to plan from the motorhome as a base... looks like it all went off very well...

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Time for me to learn to drive this rig.

Image
Trail at Squaw Creek park Yesterday we moved back to Morgan Creek park (about a 15 mile drive) and I drove the rig! We have always said that I needed to start doing this but I never seem to do it. The first year I think John just felt he needed to get proficient at all the driving & parking things before he had me do it and then we just got lazy. It was just easier for him to do it. Recently friends of our that we met in Tucson, John and Terri had a very harrowing experience that reminded us why we both need to be able to drive this rig. John they think had a seizure while driving, luckily not towing but still it is amazing that they survived it. What this meant is that now Terri had to do the driving back to their former home town Sacramento and like me she had not done much driving. She did great and they are now coming off the road and starting a new phase of life. All of John's test look good so far and we wish him the best and hope that it was just a one time isolated...
Read more

Three plus years of full timing....what have we learned

Image
Zion National Park,  Utah, December 2010 Harris Hawk at Sonoran Desert Museum, Tuscon Feb. 2011 When we left Cedar Rapids it began our 4th year of living and traveling in our RV. The last three years have flown by and we are still not ready to go back to a sticks and bricks life. We have traveled a lot of the western US but even with time out there all three years there are so many places we have yet to discover. This year will be our first going south and east, all new places for me and many new ones for John. I think one of the things that I learn every time we find somewhere new is how beautiful this country is. If you slow down and take the time you will find amazing things everywhere. I think the thing I appreciate the most about this lifestyle is that freedom to take it slow. BLM land near Quartzite, AZ in January 2011 Putah Creek, Winters CA in Jan.2013 Crater Lake, Oregon, fall 2012 Diamond Lake, Oregon, fall 2012 When we first took off we w...
Read more

The Urban Life

Image
The view from our balcony I have been thinking about this post for awhile. When we are not traveling I find it hard to sit down and write but I have wanted to tell you about our new digs and what living downtown has been like for us. Another balcony view We moved into a one bedroom apartment on the west side of the river in the downtown Cedar Rapids area. This is a brand new building that actually they are still working on. The first floor is businesses, floors 2 and 3 are apartments and floors 4, 5, & 6 are condos. We love the building. Every apartment and condo has a balcony that looks out over the river and the McGrath Amphitheatre. Our little apartment in this building is 767 sq. which, after living in our 5th Wheel for 7 years, seems huge. We feel these apartments were well thought out. The kitchen is wonderful. It has a large island (all  solid countertops - quartz I think) with a large sink and plenty of seating room . We started by buying 3 barstools but f...
Read more