ANOTHER Wedding
This past weekend was my cousin's wedding. It was held in my parent's back yeard. They spent, easily, over $2,000 on landscaping and other home improvements -- but the kicker is that they did ALL the yard work / labor by themselves!!!
As the pictures below demonstrate, it was well worth the effort. For those of you that have not been out to my place back home, hopefully this will entice you into coming out this September for another party (like last year). Now I just gotta float that idea past my mom and dad!!!.
I'll just let the pictures do all the talking!
Here is the view of the house when you first pull into the yard.
Can you believe it's nearly 15 years old???
This is the front flower garden just north of the garage
Here is a close up of the left side of that flower bed. Gotta love that pig!
AND the right side of the flower bed
The picture and the next one come from the flower bed in front of the house.
I don't know where this was found...but it's pretty cool.
My parents have a knack at finding these kinds of statues.
Here is the west side flower bed
And more of the west side. Check out the lizard and the humming bird ball
We're getting too "girly"...I'll fix this by showing hot cars!
These were the cars that transported the wedding party.
Southwest corner now...wait, what's that lurking?
Why...it's an alligator!
This swing is about the most comfortable thing you'll ever sit on. On the left side of the picture, you can see a REAL old fashioned butter churn...filled with flowers, of course.
Southeast flower garden / retaining wall.
There is actually 3 different levels to this flower bed.
South view of the house. The walk out basement makes it look HUGE
This is the outside of our outdoor bar...has to be seen to be believed.
This is pretty cool...it's called a "living easel".
Here is a close up. As you can see, the bird house is shaped like a church.
This was built, from scratch, and served as the "alter"
Around the alter were these heart shaped hanging baskets.
One thing Cori did for the wedding was make this aisle runner.
Here is a close up of the finished product.
She monogrammed it and everything.
Now I'm just bragging...
Here is some baby photo's of my cousin's youngest son.
And here is ANOTHER baby photo of my other cousin's daughter.
This cake WAS a delicious as it looks
AND FINALLY
This has nothing to do with the wedding...but it's my parents wood fired barbeque. That puppy can cook more than 120 steaks at a time!!!
She was busy...WINNING GOLD MEDALS!
Today I got to celebrate an ass kicking that my wife laid on the field of sprint competitors.
Corinna is modest; but I do not have to be. Winning feels good...and, quite frankly, without me there to cheer her on, I'm not sure it would have happened! Okay, I should clarify that at this point, I think that I should mention that I feel like a groupie. Or a roadie. You know...hang out with the band, maybe get to go backstage once in a while...and, although I do nothing to contribute to the success, I get to trick myself into thinking that I'm the reason for the gold medal...
Saturday day was Corinna's one and only day to practice open water swimming. You see, that was the only unanswered question about this whole triathlon... Lane swimming in a covered pool is one thing; but swimming in a lake is quite another. Swim practice was treacherous. Not only did Cori not know where to go, but she had to contend with all the leaches in the water! (Ewwww...).
As for the bike and swim; well, she had that covered. She has been working out a LOT lately. An insane amount of running, and biking, and all the while her personal trainer has been getting her into a weight lifting program to get her ready. He was nervous too...while he has trained many people, he's never actually trained a triathlete before until Cori!
I'll skip the words and just jump into the pictures:
This is what a Triathlon Staging set up looks like!
Morning of the event...this is the start area.
Another "morning of" shot. Check out the lake!
It is very important to stretch ahead of time.
Introducing your athletes!
Everyone lines up for the swim...
The start is just mass chaos!
This is Cori coming out of the swim. I would be dying; she looks really strong. She is passing some dude here.
How is THIS for inspiration? Yes...this lady really is handicapped.
I am ashamed to say that I missed the first transition...Cori got changed QUICK. Here she is going onto her first lap of the bike -- 20 KM long!
In triathlon, the transistions are EVERYTHING. This guy was a prostar...had his shoes in his pedals and everything. Unfortunately, he couldn't get them on. The guy crashed his bike and then bent down to put on his shoes. I grabbed this shot after the crash.
This is the bike-to-run transition. Notice how Cori is the first one in her row to make it in?
This is the end of lap one of the run. Cori has vaulted from third to second overall at this point. She is only about 40 seconds behind the lead runner!
Cori crosses the finish line in 1 hour, 20 minutes, and 42 seconds. She is SECOND OVERALL IN THE WOMEN'S SPRINT and FIRST IN HER AGE CATEGORY. She only missed first place by a mere 13 seconds.
Here is what a gold medal looks like.
Yup...it's real gold! And what a snazzy hat...jeez dad, think Newalta wants to sponsor a WINNER??? Next Stop -- Hawaii and the IRON MAN. (Uh, just kidding!)
Naturally, I am extremely proud of Corinna. She trained so hard for this that she TOTALLY deserved it. And as her manager, I'm entitled to 25% of the winnings...
And more of the west side. Check out the lizard and the humming bird ball
We're getting too "girly"...I'll fix this by showing hot cars!
This swing is about the most comfortable thing you'll ever sit on. On the left side of the picture, you can see a REAL old fashioned butter churn...filled with flowers, of course.
Southeast flower garden / retaining wall.
South view of the house. The walk out basement makes it look HUGE
This is the outside of our outdoor bar...has to be seen to be believed.
This is pretty cool...it's called a "living easel". 
Now I'm just bragging...
And here is ANOTHER baby photo of my other cousin's daughter.
This has nothing to do with the wedding...but it's my parents wood fired barbeque. That puppy can cook more than 120 steaks at a time!!!
