i drove up early the next morning to meet the group and hike with them to a nearby hill for sledding. boone was pretty much in heaven. we returned back to bishkek around 100pm.
Showing posts with label our wedding. Show all posts
Showing posts with label our wedding. Show all posts
Saturday, December 5, 2009
outdoor adventure club
friday night i took a group of bis 12 and 13 year olds on an overnight trip to the alpine fund dacha just outside of ala-archa national park. ten kids total with myself and two other teachers from the school (mr. victor and mr. wes). this is second year that i have taken a group of kids up to the mountains (jen went with me last year... boone replaced her this time around). the night started with a great dinner of plov (courtesy of nina) and salad. shortly after dinner one of the kids got really sick (not from the plov i hope) and i ended up driving him home back down the mountain in the dark and snow. as it was so late by the time i got to bishkek i ended up staying home with jen and olivia. no complaining on my part. i got a nice, quite night's sleep while victor and wes were up all night with loud, hormonal kids. oh... and the power went out for them at midnight so other than a very modest and fast burning fire in the stove... they froze all night. i pretty much made out on that one. thank you nurtay for getting sick.
i drove up early the next morning to meet the group and hike with them to a nearby hill for sledding. boone was pretty much in heaven. we returned back to bishkek around 100pm.
i drove up early the next morning to meet the group and hike with them to a nearby hill for sledding. boone was pretty much in heaven. we returned back to bishkek around 100pm.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
one month...
today is our one month anniversary.
wow. it feels so much longer than that! i mean that in a good way. i believe that jennifer is truly the person that my life has brought me to AND SHE IS SO AWESOME. everything i have done and been up to this point has led me to her. she is my best friend and my soul mate and i can't imagine being anywhere else but here with jenny .
i love bishkek. love living in central asia. but we could move back to houston or to redlands. or start fresh in portugal or croatia. we could even move to detroit and i would feel blessed.
i love you jenny and thank you for being my wife and best friend. i am so excited about our life together and starting a family with you (three cheers for kyrgystanly and grant).
we finally got our wedding photos. here are a couple of our favorites...
wow. it feels so much longer than that! i mean that in a good way. i believe that jennifer is truly the person that my life has brought me to AND SHE IS SO AWESOME. everything i have done and been up to this point has led me to her. she is my best friend and my soul mate and i can't imagine being anywhere else but here with jenny .
i love bishkek. love living in central asia. but we could move back to houston or to redlands. or start fresh in portugal or croatia. we could even move to detroit and i would feel blessed.
i love you jenny and thank you for being my wife and best friend. i am so excited about our life together and starting a family with you (three cheers for kyrgystanly and grant).
we finally got our wedding photos. here are a couple of our favorites...
Sunday, August 10, 2008
sushi dinner
some photos of our post wedding sushi dinner with friends and family at ocean blue in redlands.
here are the photos
Saturday, August 9, 2008
The Conover Wedding
We are a WE!
(The only reason we have waited is because we were hoping to post photos too, but that will have to wait since we don't have the photos yet. Suspense!!! We know they will be great!)
It's hard to speak about that day, because it seems so special.
You know, one of those moments that is hard to capitulate because of it's sacredness. That day, the day we had been waiting for for so long has happened.
It was more graceful than I ever expected and am with someone better than my imagination ever conjured. I remember the lighting that day, the smiles we exchanged at in front of the bishop, and how we both could have cried and laughed at the same time.
David looked so handsome in his suit and tie. The groomsmen and bridesmaids were up there so beautifully. My mom and dad walked me down the aisle. Mom was so happy and had tears of joy in her eyes and dad was so sweet too. David's Dad was there as the best man. Kyle was in the groomsmen line. Everyone in our lines are people who we have known for over 15 years. It was a wonderful culmination of life's best memories, all rolled into one event.
(I'm crying writing about it!)
To lighten things up a bit, my cousin Christy pointed out, in true Jenny style, that I was late to my own wedding...it's a bridal trend though right?
It was so great to see everyone, Dave and I were so shocked to walk in to a full chapel of people when we were only expecting about 35! Thank you to all that came!
The reception was friendly and quaint, and it felt like a family and friend reunion.
I am so happy to be Mrs. David Conover. When I look at him, I know that he is the man that I knew before we were put on this earth. We are the people that can accomplish marvelous things together. 'We' is our favorite word right now.
Friday, August 8, 2008
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!
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!
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
sitka men's club
tomorrow is a pretty exciting day. my best friends randy and rex are coming into town (jen and i are in california getting ready for the wedding) to hang out for the week. i met both of them while we were all living in sitka, alaska. with another friend, duane, we formed the sitka men's club which was nothing more than a fancy name to call all of our beer drinking, fishing, camping, kayaking, basketball playing, disc golf throwing, and philosophizing on life.
i am so excited to see them! we are getting a hotel in redlands and plan on getting in lots of basketball, disc golf and time to talk about our feelings (also known as hanging at sports bars). good stuff!
Sunday, August 3, 2008
texas wedding reception - photos part two
we are playing catch up but here are some more photos from the texas wedding reception!
here are the photos
texas wedding reception - photos part one
saturday night was our texas wedding reception. more details to come about the evening once we catch our breath... until then, thought we would share some of the photos take by my (awesome) student staff from the university of houston.
here are the photos
more photos to come soon
Friday, August 1, 2008
engagement photos part three
one of the most lovely places in houston is hermann park, which is located about a mile from our place in montrose. we met paul, the photographer jen assists for, there to take engagement photos.
here are the photos
thanks paul... we love them!
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Better than Chocolate!
Saturday:
David and I went to Tacos-A-Go-Go where we had some tacos and chips & queso. (Notice that I am documenting the delicious food we ate because I know that we won't find such heavenly morsels in Kyrgyzstan). David told me that we would be driving around taking pics of our favorite Houstonian places since we would be leaving, so I had my camera. We were driving down Alabama and he asked if I wanted some chocolate, and I said yes, so we stopped at the Chocolate Bar.
We go into The Chocolate Bar, with my eye on the prize I start to head to the candy counter. David prompts me to go toward the ice cream. I think to myself, "ya, ice cream would be good too", so I start examining the flavors and out of the corner of my eye I notice some people that I know. Lots of them. And they are watching my ice cream choice with intent. And they aren't stopping, or saying anything, then someone says "Surprise" and I took a second to think about why, and then it hit me..."Ooooooh, it has something to do with us leaving or us getting married. Then I realized it was all women, and David softly whispers into my ear, "Have a good time with the girls, Honey. Have all the chocolate you want..."
I mean, if he didn't already give me a ring, I would be shoving one on his finger! It was sooo sweet. He had been planning it for weeks. He went and got the flowers for it in the morning and the vases. April had invited everyone and planned the games. Everyone had a great time, and I am so happy that we got to have a fun girl day with so much chocolate around. David kinda benefits from this little plan of his since he knew that there would be lingerie involved!
Thank you, to everyone who came! I hope you had as much fun as I did!
here are the photos
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
life details
the next three weeks is going to be wacky crazy to say the least. we keep getting asked for "details" so here they are...
tuesday, july 29
david's farewell lunch at work
vaccinations (tetanus, hepatitis a and b) at the doctor's
teeth cleaning (hope that is all) at the dentist
game night at the salud wine bar in montrose
wednesday, july 30
jen's bridal photos with paul
wedding shoes and makeup trail run for jen
thursday, july 31
david's last day of work
jen does a magazine cover photo shoot
friday, august 1
pick up david's wedding suit
engagement photos with paul
plan and prep for the texas wedding reception
hang out with michael and annessa who will be in town from austin
saturday, august 2
texas wedding reception
sunday, august 3
breakfast with michael, annessa, holly and brandon
monday, august 4
last minute house packing and dog time
flying to california
hang out with jenna!
tuesday, august 5
wedding prep and time with jen's family
wednesday, august 6
randy (alaska) and rex (san diego) get into town... lots of good guy time!
2 on 2 basketball championship with randy, rex and cory
thursday, august 7
double's tennis championship with randy, rex and cory
jen's california bridal shower
bachelor and bachelorette party at market night in redlands
friday, august 8
david's dad arrives in california
christy and denise arrive in moreno valley
setting up church for the wedding
rehearsal
informal rehearsal dinner
saturday, august 9
our wedding at 1200pm!
informal friend and family dinner at ocean blue sushi in redlands
sunday, august 10
friend and family breakfast at martha green's cooking things
last minute packing craziness
monday, august 11 to thursday, august 14
leave california for london, england
stay with simon and lauren
friday, august 15
arrive in bishkek, kyrgyzstan
saturday, august 16 to tuesday, august 19
learn to speak russian and kyrg!
find and apartment and move in
wednesday, august 20
new teacher orientation at bishkek international school
wednesday, august 27
first day of school
tuesday, july 29
david's farewell lunch at work
vaccinations (tetanus, hepatitis a and b) at the doctor's
teeth cleaning (hope that is all) at the dentist
game night at the salud wine bar in montrose
wednesday, july 30
jen's bridal photos with paul
wedding shoes and makeup trail run for jen
thursday, july 31
david's last day of work
jen does a magazine cover photo shoot
friday, august 1
pick up david's wedding suit
engagement photos with paul
plan and prep for the texas wedding reception
hang out with michael and annessa who will be in town from austin
saturday, august 2
texas wedding reception
sunday, august 3
breakfast with michael, annessa, holly and brandon
monday, august 4
last minute house packing and dog time
flying to california
hang out with jenna!
tuesday, august 5
wedding prep and time with jen's family
wednesday, august 6
randy (alaska) and rex (san diego) get into town... lots of good guy time!
2 on 2 basketball championship with randy, rex and cory
thursday, august 7
double's tennis championship with randy, rex and cory
jen's california bridal shower
bachelor and bachelorette party at market night in redlands
friday, august 8
david's dad arrives in california
christy and denise arrive in moreno valley
setting up church for the wedding
rehearsal
informal rehearsal dinner
saturday, august 9
our wedding at 1200pm!
informal friend and family dinner at ocean blue sushi in redlands
sunday, august 10
friend and family breakfast at martha green's cooking things
last minute packing craziness
monday, august 11 to thursday, august 14
leave california for london, england
stay with simon and lauren
friday, august 15
arrive in bishkek, kyrgyzstan
saturday, august 16 to tuesday, august 19
learn to speak russian and kyrg!
find and apartment and move in
wednesday, august 20
new teacher orientation at bishkek international school
wednesday, august 27
first day of school
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Monday, July 21, 2008
Looking up, Looking ahead.
There are 18 days until our wedding date.
There are 11 days until our Texas reception.
90% chance of rain for our Texas Reception date, August 2nd.
100% chance of fun!
We noticed a typo on our invitations so we will not send them out until Tuesday. But, lots of people know about it already and are planning to attend and we love that. Ya. Postage is on the envelopes and everything. So, we are going to have to reprint!
And, David's computer crashed...which had all of our wedding music downloaded, along with all of the other music he has illegally/legally downloaded.
So, we are a one computer family now. Hey, it's one less computer to have to take out at security in the airports.
There are 11 days until our Texas reception.
90% chance of rain for our Texas Reception date, August 2nd.
100% chance of fun!
We noticed a typo on our invitations so we will not send them out until Tuesday. But, lots of people know about it already and are planning to attend and we love that. Ya. Postage is on the envelopes and everything. So, we are going to have to reprint!
And, David's computer crashed...which had all of our wedding music downloaded, along with all of the other music he has illegally/legally downloaded.
So, we are a one computer family now. Hey, it's one less computer to have to take out at security in the airports.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
engagement photos part two
one of the advantages of jen being a professional photographer is that she has photographer friends. several have offered to take our engagement photos.here is a link to the first batch... montage photographers.
the photo shoot was so much fun as we just drove around the city go to spots that had meaning to us... like the sculpture works warehouse and downtown. we laughed and generally acted ourselves while trung took photos.
although we think trung did an amazing, amazing job... i feel like i should apologize for the photos of me sitting on a toilet in one set and of my trying to pose sexy like in another! i am kind of goofy that way.
next week we are possibly taking some more with jen's friend paul, who is also going to do bridal photos and our wedding in california. yea!
Friday, July 11, 2008
wedding mix music
thought it would be fun to start posting music that we are going to use at our texas wedding reception.
* the song will open in a new window and depending on your connection speed the music might be a bit slow.
nine in the afternoon by panic at the disco
be my yoko ono by the barenaked ladies
all i want is you by barry louis polisar
sweet pea by amos lee
out loud by dispatch
stick by you by andrew lipke
one voice by the wailin' jennys
orange sky by alexi murdoch
realize by colbie cailat
gracie by ben folds
hold you in my arms by ray lamontagne
the one who loves you the most by brett dennen
only want to be with you by hootie and the blowfish
chasing cars by snow patrol
see the world by gomez
bring it on home by little big town
want to by sugarland
* more music coming soon!
* the song will open in a new window and depending on your connection speed the music might be a bit slow.
nine in the afternoon by panic at the disco
be my yoko ono by the barenaked ladies
all i want is you by barry louis polisar
sweet pea by amos lee
out loud by dispatch
stick by you by andrew lipke
one voice by the wailin' jennys
orange sky by alexi murdoch
realize by colbie cailat
gracie by ben folds
hold you in my arms by ray lamontagne
the one who loves you the most by brett dennen
only want to be with you by hootie and the blowfish
chasing cars by snow patrol
see the world by gomez
bring it on home by little big town
want to by sugarland
* more music coming soon!
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
texas wedding reception
jennifer and david invite you to celebrate their upcoming marriage and move to bishkek, kyrgyzstan during a picnic reception at the menil collection parksaturday, august 2
700pm to 1100pm
the park is dog friendly so feel free to bring your pets as we enjoy an evening of bbq, drinks, music, dancing and games.
directions
menil collection park
115 sul ross
houston, texas 77006
located off of west alabama
between montrose and dunlavy
next to st. thomas university
bride and groom are registered at:
recreational equipment, inc.
registry number GR1771329
gift cards to rei, barnes and nobles, border's books and itunes are welcomed
please rsvp to conoverwedding@gmail.com
Sunday, July 6, 2008
engangement photos part one
today jen and i went to the menil collection park, the river oaks plant store, and to an alleyway near our house and took engagement photos for our texas wedding reception.
jen made the signs herself! lots of fun...
Thursday, July 3, 2008
wedding license
wednesday was an exciting day for us. we got up in the morning, got all fancied up, jumped on the scooter and headed off to get our marriage license.
our first stop was at houston's flower district where we visited our favorite shoppe and put together a marriage license bouquet for jennifer. then we scooted downtown to the courthouse to get the license. we finished the morning with a celebration breakfast at our favorite taco place - taco's a go go.
we are feeling pretty excited to being one step closer to the rehearsal in texas and the wedding in california.
our first stop was at houston's flower district where we visited our favorite shoppe and put together a marriage license bouquet for jennifer. then we scooted downtown to the courthouse to get the license. we finished the morning with a celebration breakfast at our favorite taco place - taco's a go go.
we are feeling pretty excited to being one step closer to the rehearsal in texas and the wedding in california.
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