Thoughts on a long weekend...

From Kally and Kris's wedding to an MSU game to the Super Bowl. So much to say... Friday night: - Wedding rehearsal. So Kally decided to have all her little neices and nephews participate in the wedding. Plan was to just have them walk down the aisle in matching dresses (for the girls) and matching pants and sweaters (for the boys). Simple enough. Question was, how to do it. The initial idea was to have Hannah (7), Haley (5), and Kennedy (4) hold the hands of the younger ones (Graydon and Brady (3), Zachery and Harper (2) and Alex (1+)). Problem. Hannah is holding hands of Graydon and Harper. Haley holding hands of Brady and Alex. All the younger ones decide to go in opposite directions. Poor Hannah and Haley, trying to corral the little kids. And poor Kennedy. Zach just cried because he wanted to hold Brady's hand. Sheesh. Anyway, there was a good, albeit humorous, solution (see below). - I substituted for one of the missing groomsmen during the first runthrough. I have a couple of thoughts about this. First off, I've never actually been a groomsman. I attribute this to either the fact that I'm antisocial and have no friends, or the fact that most of my friends are old and/or married (sorry Jeff and Kirk). Not that I'm sad or anything. Far from it. My job was to chaffeur my daughter, my wife and a tree. No worries, no stress and no excessive standing. My kind of wedding. Needless to say, I was replaced after the first runthrough. I wish I could say I was victim of downsizing, but alas, I fear I was fired for poor performance. - After the rehearsal, we went back to Kourtney's house to help find music downloads for the wedding. We found a great hip hop version of "Here Comes the Bride". And while everyone joked about using it, no one had the guts. Wimps. Saturday afternoon: - Family pictures an hour before the wedding? I don't think so. We did get them done just after the wedding. Not only did they want to get all the kids to smile and look forward at the same time, they expected them to sit, on their own, on the step in front of the adults. Ooookay. Of course, even if they had gotten all the kids looking forward, they probably would have gotten all the adults looking down at the kids while saying "Look forward! Smile!" I also noticed they stuck me just behind Kally's veil. What's up with that? - The wedding was beautiful. I can say that. It truly was. It was full of all the sweet things weddings should be full of. Not to mention a little humor. As I said above, they came up with a solution of sorts to the kid issue. Someone come up with the great idea to have the kids just hold on to a navy blue ribbon/rope thing. Very quick thinking, if you ask me. Anyway, so here come the kids down the aisle, all pretty smiles and pretty clothes. Suddenly, Graydon, who was second in line, lets out a "Choo! Choo!", complete with arm motions. A couple of more Choo! Choo!s later and the train arrived at its destination. Had us all in stitches. Pretty cute. And yes, I said cute, as I'm secure in my masculinity. - As I said, the wedding was beautiful. Kally was glowing and, besides the fact that she was first marrying Kirby's wife (Kristin) as opposed to her own intended (Kristian), everything went off without a hitch. It was a brief ceremony, which is always nice. - Mom Kappes's new wedding cake recipe was awesome. However, it's a closely guarded trade secret, so I can't list it here. - The groom's cake was a hit, as well, as it depicted a scene that contained, in Kally's words, "All the things that Kris loves." It was basically a construction site, complete with red pickup, bulldozer, forklift, gravel, block walls and a port-a-potty. Since it supposedly contained all the things that Kris loved, I can only assume Kally was in the port-a-potty. - Speaking of Kally, I was all good until she and Kris were making their exit. I looked over at Dad and his face was all contorted like, complete with tears. Thanks, Dad. Thank a lot. I thought later that Kally was only 12 when Kelsee and I got married, which means I'd seen her grow up. She is more like my little sister, not just my sister-in-law. She's grown up into a remarkable woman, an interesting mix of Kelsee, Kourtney and her own free spirit. I think she's heading in the right direction in her life. - As for Kris, I had two interesting experiences regarding him last week. First off, we were playing ball on Wednesday and he just seemed off his game. At one point he expressed his frustration after a missed shot. Being on the opposing team, I teased him a little, and then excused his game, commenting "Your mind is on other things. You know what's happening in a couple of days." Innocent me was of course referring to his wedding. However, without skipping a beat, he drops the "boom-chicka-boom-boom" generic porn music line. Hey, whatever's on your mind, pal. The other experience involved a discussion between me and Jesse, an employee of Kris's who had come to play ball. We were sitting out a game waiting for our next run and we introduced ourselves to each other. I asked who he came with and he said Kris. He then proceeded to tell me that he had worked for Kris for four years and felt Kris was like a brother to him. "I think the world of him." What greater testament can you have than that? Not that I needed confirmation, but it never hurts. Saturday evening: - We headed to the Morehead basketball game (not Kally and Kris, who took the "get a room" line seriously). Nice win over a clearly overmatched Kentucky Christian team. We got a good glimpse of our key rotation guys next season, assuming we can keep these guys. Let me just say, the last time I enjoyed a team like this was during the Fick-Kinnard-Boardly-William-Majick-Witherspoon days in the mid 90s. Can we just pretend the Macy era never occured? Done. - Morehead is third in the conference at 8-5 and 11-10 overall. We've won 7 of 8. We have two seniors and a plethora of sophomores and freshman who contribute. Look out next season, folks! Sunday morning: - Church. Ivan taught the Young Men, so that was good. Sunday afternoon: - Nice, long nap. Sunday evening: - Super Bowl party. As usual, good food (way too much of it). A couple of good commercials, but nothing spectacular. A phenomenal game, complete with a play for the ages (near sack becomes miraculous catch). - This game might be one of the best SBs I've ever seen. Huge underdog pulls off unbelieveable upset over undefeated team many are tagging with the label of "best ever". - Manning's made the leap. - Super Bowl XLI and Super Bowl XLII, or Manning Bowl I and Manning Bowl II? - I don't care what anyone might try to say, but the Patriot's season IS a disappointment. I rooted the Mariners on in 2001 when they won 116 games (tying a record), but lost in the ALCS. Sure the season was fun, but without a title, they might as well have lost 116. Same thing here. 18-1 just doesn't have much of a ring to it. More of a thud. - Did I mention that the food was good? Sheesh, this is long. I'll leave with this wonderful video...