Michael and Amanda's Wedding in Santa Rosa Beach

Well, we are back from Michael and Amanda's wedding in Florida and I'm not going to lie, it was nice being at the beach. It is amazing how fast you forget what it's like to sweat when you are doing absolutely nothing. We left at 4:00am Mountain Time Thursday morning to catch a 6:00am flight to Atlanta, followed by a flight from Atlanta to Panama City with the hopes of being on the beach with a cold snack in hand by 2:00pm. That never happened. Apparently there are luggage check cut-off times of 45 minutes before the plane departs and we missed it by 4 minutes. So they had to re-book us for the next flight. Not a problem. The problem was getting from Atlanta to Panama City. All flights out, except the last of the night were overbooked and that one only had one seat. Since my ma is a flight attendant, I always fly stand by. This time we wanted to guarantee a seat, so we paid for our tickets. So here I am for the first time in my life with full fare tickets and were flying stand by. BUT, I did get to see my mama! She was flying out to India the same day.

Mom and Me in ATL airport

The last flight of the night: I got on, Josh didn't. Because the flight was over booked, they had asked for volunteers to give up their seats in exchange for $400 in Delta vouchers, free hotel, free transportation to and from hotel, meal vouchers and a guaranteed seat the first flight out the next morning. Did I give up my seat? Heck yes I did. So, 14 hours after getting to the Denver airport, we were turning out the lights at the hotel.

Not a bad deal and it was totally our fault. But we did miss a night out with the wedding party and friends and music with a special guest by the name of Brock Butler (Perpetual Groove). We got in early on Friday morning and I think we were on Santa Rosa beach by 10:30.

It was a gorgeous day. We entered the horse shoe tournament, lost, but had a great day in the Florida sunshine. That night we headed to a meet and greet at the house Michael's parents were staying at, followed by a bonfire on the beach. And much to my surprise and excitement... Brock was there to serenade us with some of his originals and a few covers.

Brock

The day of the wedding was similar weather and we got a lot of sun. We had never been to a beach wedding before and it was awesome!

Me and Josh before the wedding

The ceremony was beautiful. Short and sweet. Unlike a loooooong Catholic wedding ;).

Mr. and Mrs. Michael Connor

The reception was a blast and Michael, Amanda, and their families did such an awesome job with everything. The champagne was instinctively flocking to me like the salmon of Capistrano.

Jason Sanders, Amanda, Me, Michael, Josh and April Sanders

Our buddy JT, who happens to be a medical doctor, threw Josh off the golf cart on the way back to the MTV House (tagged for it's hilarity and real life drama). JT assessed his scrapes and he was fine.

JT and Josh - post golf cart sling out

We stayed an extra day to relax and recover ;) Monday equalled back to Boulder for these former beach bums.

"Visions of good times that brought so much pleasure, makes me want to go back again..."

First Trip to Loveland/First Ambulance Ride

Hello! Sorry I haven't posted in a few weeks. As most of you know, our first ski/snowboard day as a Colorado resident landed me in the hospital. We went to Loveland on Monday, April 20 - the same day that our good friends Lauren and Patrick welcomed a baby boy into the world. James Peyton Brunson. The drive up was beautiful! We went down about 5 runs and that's about all I remember, and I vaguely remember that.

On account of Josh: He came up behind me and I was on the ground crying. I told him I was fine and snowboarded to the bottom. When we got to the bottom, I was clearly out of it. I couldn't answer the simplest of questions (i.e.: where are we?), so Josh decided to notify Ski Patrol. They brought me to their hut and told me to remember the number 15 (I later thought that it was the color blue they were asking me to remember. haha). After asking me a series of questions that had no answers to (where do you live? Where do you work?), the medic asked me what I was to remember. All he got was a blank stare. That's when they decided that I needed to go to the hospital. Loveland is over an hour from the nearest hospital, so I had to ride in the ambulance, just in case I had neck trauma. I was in an ambulance for over an hour and have no recollection of it what-so-ever. Pretty crazy, huh? Josh followed the ambulance and called our families to let them know. At the hospital, Josh said I just looked really scared. I had a cat scan and some xrays of my neck. Everything came back ok. What a relief!

I started to come to and I asked Josh where I was. He replied "At the hospital in Denver." I said surprised "At the hospital?!?!?! In Denver?!??!" He explained to me what happened and it never clicked. I still don't remember the fall, the ambulance ride, or the cat scan. I thanked God alot on the ride home...

I was wearing a helmet. The doctor said he can only assume that things could have been a lot worse had I not been wearing one. I have worn my helmet on every bike ride since, even leisure rides. I sometimes wear it around the house, just to be cautious. (just kidding, sort of.)

Loveland Ski Area

Josh

Annie

The newest addition to the Brunson gang: Peyton (born 4/20/09), and John Patrick (2 years)