The Adventures of Jess and Luke: January 2009

Wedding Party - August 24, 2007

While trying to plan for this big event, it took a lot of time and effort. I was sure glad when it was all done and over with. At the same time, I was sad. It was so much fun just relaxing and having a good time with Luke, family, and friends. Luke and I were both against having a huge reception with a line and everything so we decided to go in the opposite direction. The week before we got married, we decided to have a party in the park in place of a reception. Where Luke grew up there is an amphitheater and it was the perfect place.

The morning started out with us setting up the park. The Shelton's all pitched in to get it all set up so it would be perfect. My favorite part of the set up was the lights that we hung over the stage. It took so much work but in the end it looked so good. Luke spent a lot of time making these massive photo boards. We decided that instead of doing a video, we would just put up a bunch of pictures from our lives. It was a fun idea, but after the hours of scanning in old photos, it wasn't so much fun anymore. In the end, it turned out like we thought it would though. Candace was our fabulous photographer. Thanks so much for taking such good pictures.

Everything was perfect. We had lots of good food, good fun, and hung out with a lot of fun people. I had to make sure that I kept Luke away from the sign in book because we put on display some of the pictures that Candace did of me in my dress in Jackson. Luke was good though and he didn't peak. One of my favorite parts of the night was talking to some of Luke's neighbors. Luke had kept the location of our honeymoon a huge secret. It was a week before our wedding and I still had no idea where we were going. Luke was going to have my sisters help me pack so I would know what to wear. Meanwhile, we are chatting with these neighbors and I hear "You guys are going to love Cancun!" And just like that, the secret is out! I felt so bad for Luke. He worked so hard to keep it a secret. I guess to keep it interesting, I still didn't know where we were staying in Salt Lake or in Cancun. The rest of the evening consisted of eating, talking, bacci ball out in the grass, music, dancing, did I mention the food? The night was a huge success. Again since I can't figure out how to do a sideshow, I am just going to put up some of the pictures.

This is Gordon, and and my good lookin' fiance!

This is me finding out where I am going on our honeymoon...

The view from the bocci ball court

Yes, my Dad actually helped out.

Us up on the dance floor. Notice the cool lights up overhead.

It was a great night. Next, the actual Big Day!

Jackson Hole - August 3 - 10, 2007

Back in the day, my mom tried to start a yearly trip to Jackson Hole Wyoming. We went a couple of years in a row and always had a blast. Even after she passed, we kept it alive for a bit with Vic but eventually, we stopped going. So one thing that I am loving being a Shelton is their yearly trip to JH, WY. Technically, for this trip I wasn't a Shelton just yet, but 21 days after we got home I was. This was the second time I went to JH with Luke (only the first time with the rest of the fam) with luke and every time we go, it just keeps getting better. I absolutely love this place.

The Shelton's had rented out a fabulous condo that had just enough rooms for us all. What made this trip special for me is I brought my wedding dress up there with me. Candace wanted to do some pictures to put in her portfolio and of course I jumped at the chance to get more pictures of me in my dress, not to mention get some gorgeous pics of me in one of my favorite places on earth.

The girls were so great and they did my hair and makeup (I know, me in makeup...)

You can see from one of these pictures it is pretty stormy. I was so scared that we wouldn't be able to do any pictures because since it was so close to our actual wedding day, we didn't want to get it dirty. But it actually turned out to be a great day. The lighting was fantastic after the storm. We drove all around the park and would just pull over where ever we wanted. I felt kind of like a park attraction while I was on the fence. People kept honking at us. It was interesting. After driving all over the place, we ended up at one of the many lake that they have up there and took some more pictures at a bridge.

It was a good place to end. After we were all done, I needed to find a place to change out of my dress because we were meeting the rest of the family at the Ox Bow and we couldn't let Luke see me in my dress (you know, the whole bad luck thing seeing the bride in the dress before the wedding). The options were the bathrooms that they had there at the lake and....oh yeah, there weren't any other options. I decided against the bathroom for the obvious reasons and chose the parking lot. It was quite the feat the change without exposing myself to the rest of the park-goers. I really enjoyed playing in the park with the girls. It was even more fun playing in the park in my wedding dress.

Here is me and my sister in law Candace, aka the photographer.

After we got done playing dress up in the park, we were going to meet up with the boys at the Ox Bow. This is something that the Shelton's introduced me to. After all the years that I have been to Grand Teton National Park I have never really noticed the Ox Bow. It is absolutely beautiful there.

Here is one of the pictures that I took while we were waiting for the boys to come around the bend. They started kayaking at the dam and would go and play with the beavers and otters in the Ox Bow. We got done before they did so we had another little photo shoot.

Here is my self portrait.

I mean, does it get any better than this?

Look at that good lookin' guy out there.

While we were there, it started raining on us. This is a choice spot to see moose and other large animals.

So after the boys got done loading the kayaks. We ate garbage salad out of the cars. To the Ford/Pace family, we all know this as taco salad. The Shelton's have put a new twist on things though. We had to feed around 11 people and that is no small task when we are at the Ox Bow. So we did garbage salad in an actual garbage bag (don't worry, it was clean!) It was so tasty. Remember this picture, it is important later on.

The next day, we drove all the way through the park to see all the sights. It was so much fun to drive through the park and just remember when I came here with my mom. This is us at the top of one of the many look outs. This is me getting ready for bed and Luke thinking he is pretty funny taking pictures of me.

One of my other favorite parts of this trip was playing at String and Leigh Lakes. We took out the kayaks and packed a good lunch of sandwiches and chips. It was fabulous. The water was perfect and I almost got standing up and paddling on the kayak done, but of course I just ended up in the water. I love vacations like this where you can just relax and do really whatever you want. We also went into town and did the whole shopping thing. Of course, Luke and I did not last long so we ended up hanging out in the middle of town square which was fine by me.

During the days up there, Luke kept having some weird pains in his chest. Doesn't sound good right. We thought that it would just go away but he kept having pains. The day that we were all supposed to go down the river, we figured that we needed to go to the hospital to get him check out. Luke, Dean, and I headed down to the local ER and checked Luke in. At the registration desk we were answering all the questions and Luke said that he was having chest pain. Bam, next thing we know we are being ushered back to get a full work up. The time passed and our reservation for the river came and went and we were still waiting on results. I was sad to miss the river but Luke is my top priority. In the end we were discharged from the ER and had a diagnosis of pleurisy. Basically a fancy word to say that the lining on his lung is irritated. Remember that picture of the boys lifting the kayaks into the trailer. We think that he might have pulled something with all that repetitive lifting of the kayaks. So I got to see what the inside of the ER in Jackson Hole. Very exciting. Luke was given specific instructions to take it easy for the next couple of days. Don't worry, Luke recovered from his bought of pleurisy and is doing fine.

The next thing we did, besides take it easy, was go to Jackson Lake Lodge. It is a beautiful building that has this fantastic view of Jackson Lake.

Again, it is a good place to look for wildlife.

After a good couple of days of relaxing, it is now time to go home to finish up all of this wedding stuff. I am so excited to continue this tradition.