Oregon Wedding

My dear roommate from Great Basin got married at the end of July.  Since she and her now husband met at Great Basin, I knew both of them which made it all the more exciting.  I felt honored when Jennie asked me to stand with her during the ceremony.

 

Oregon is lovely.  I didn't realize how much I missed trees and water.  The morning of the ceremony, we had an informal 5K.  It had been over two weeks since I'd run but I did just fine.  The course was great, right along the Willamette River for most of it.  The day couldn't have been more perfect.

The ceremony was held on a farm.  By the start time, the trees were completely shading the seats.  Like I said, perfect!  The flowers, the setting, the decorations, it was simply lovely.

The small house on the property where we all got ready was really nice too.  Here's Jennie and I before the ceremony.  PS- Jennie designed her dress and had a seamstress make it for her.

 The groom, his brother and best man, and me, all getting ready to process down the isle.

The groom's brother and I. 

Getting married!!

Married!!

It was a wonderful weekend!  I danced and danced and danced at the reception until my up-do began to fall out, despite the 18 bobbi-pins.  I was able to spend a day with an old roommate as well while I was in Oregon.  It was great to have a break from work and what better excuse to take time off than to celebrate two friends' gettin' hitched!

Carl S. Bat

Carlsbad Caverns hosts a bat flight breakfast each summer.  The program starts early in the morning, before sunrise, and people can come eat breakfast and watch the bats fly back into the cave.

 

When I was in high school, I wanted desperately to be the mascot.  However, I was shy and definitely not in the right social circles to do so.  But man, I really wanted to be the Bellaire Cardinal.  When I was at Utah State, I was overcome by the same strong urge to dress up as Big Blue.  Our college had a mascot, Paul Bunyan, and I was able to dress up as Paul once and I absolutely loved it.

 

When I heard Carl S. Bat would be making an appearance at the breakfast, I signed up fast as I could for that job and got it!  I had a blast.  I gave a lot of hugs, almost lost my head piece, danced, and had a grand ol' time.  Hopefully I can make another appearance as Carl before my season is up.

 

Posing with my co-worker Matt. 

Need to make sure you know who this bat works for.  I'm a Mexican Free Tail; can you see my tail?

The real thing.  Hard to see, but the things that look like specks of dust on your computer screen silhouetted against the sky are the bats flying back into the cave.

Thank you to Jen E. for the photos!