leading up to the big day

it has been a crazy and exciting week to say the least. our flight out of houston was an adventure into itself. supposedly hurricane edwardo was barreling down on the texas gulf coast and everyone with flights on tuesday and wednesday (when the hurricane was predicted to be drenching houston) was trying to board an earlier flight and catch the 80 plus mile an hour tailwinds out of town. needless to say... the airport was a madhouse.

jenn and i got bumped from our first flight (which was two hours late already) in exchange for $400 in southwest vouchers apiece! go us... although we are pretty sure that southwest doesn't fly in kyrgyzstan. we also had the option of getting bumped from our next flight (and another $400 apiece) but we would have to spend the night in san antonio and wouldn't get into southern california until the next morning. so we passed on headed off. our first flight was brilliant as we had exit row but our connection flight was brutal as we ended up in the last two seats on the very back aisle of the plane. right next to the bathroom with seats that didn't recline.

we should have taken the money and flown in the next morning as we arrived in southern california with no one to pick us up. there was some lack of communication with jen's mom so she wasn't around to pick us up. after almost two hours of waiting (we were falling asleep at this point), jenna showed up to get us in a car that only had room for a handful of our bags. people didn't seem to understand that we had NINE BIG BAGS with all of our belongings for two years in bishkek. so after frustratingly trying to load up the car, we decided to take a shuttle to moreno valley and jen's moms. our driver was a very nice, older man who had either just received his driver's permit or didn't understand that you weren't suppose to stay in your lane. we were shocked that we made it alive! we kept telling ourselves that it was good training for the driving in bishkek!

tuesday was all about spending time with jen's mom (soon to be my mom) and getting some logistical stuff done for the wedding and the move.

wednesday found randy and rex arriving in town. jen and i met them for lunch and spent some time hanging out as rex only knows jen a little bit and randy had never met her. good, good time. the guys then headed up to california state university san bernardino for an afternoon of basketball with my friend cory (a professor at cal state). it was good being back at the university and running into folks whom i use to work with. the highlight though, and this is a testament to my priorities in life, was rex, randy, cory and myself holding the court and winning eight games in a row! every team we played against must have been at least 15 years younger than us and in there early 20s. go old men. the funniest part of the day, was after the game, we went to drink a couple of beers at bar. and instead of celebrating our victories on the court... we passed around the bottle of ibuprofen since we were all so sore and could barely walk! the night ended in typical dave/randy/rex fashion with us heading to the hotel pool and walking butt naked out to the pool to go swimming. some things never change.

thursday was a wedding prep day and we met jenny in the morning at the church to set up tables and chairs (all for naught as everything was changed later!) in the reception hall. we then headed to lunch and hung out for a while with jenny. we departed ways in the afternoon to head back to redlands for bachelor party night while jen went to a bridal shower with friends in moreno valley. thursday was a great night. lots of friends from cal state came down to hang out and we visited our old haunts - redlands market night, oscars, and the dirty bird. a long, fun evening of the world's strongest margaritas, pulled pork sandwiches, and shuffleboard. lots of fun and the night ended way to soon/late! really made me appreciate the community jen and i had built in redlands. and from all accounts, jenny had a wonderful bridal shower with twelve of her friends.

friday can be summed up as follows - moving large potted ferns multiple times, decorating the reception hall (which as mentioned earlier, was totally changed from the day before), and dealing with wedding detail stress. randy and rex were troopers with all the work they did setting up and the job jen's mom and her friends from church did setting up the place was unbelievable. unbelievable. they transformed a carpeted gymnasium into a classy, beautiful ballroom. it was perfect and easy to imagine what saturday would look like, filled with our friends and family, jenny in her dress and us being together for the first time as a married couple. sigh...

my dad (aka my best man) arrived friday morning and it was wonderful having him there, introducing him to jenny's family, and spending time laughing with him, randy and rex.

the night end for me after we all went out (my guys plus jen and her family) for pizza in redlands. jenny and i parted ways knowing that the next time i would see her she would be wearing her wedding dress and getting ready to say "i do" (or at least i hoped!). i went back to the room and crashed... completely wiped out.

jenny as i learned later... stayed up to almost six in the morning working on last minute details for the wedding. i owe her so much dish washing already!