A VERY big and important thing happened in November. My brother, Scott married a lovely lady, Kristin. Everyone flew out to Arizona to attend the wedding and hang out with family for a few days.
I'll let the pictures do the talking.
First of all, this is where Scott and Kristin live. This is their backyard. No matter how many times I visit my family in Tucson I cannot get over how beautiful it is.
Scott and Kristin's kiddo, Autumn, is unabashedly curious and says the damndest things.
Every time we drove up to Scott and Kristin's house we saw and/or heard a different creature. Deer, coyotes, quail, and many other birds.
The first night there we celebrated Autumn's birthday. Back row: Kristin and Louie, Robert, Rachel, me, Rusty (brother), Scott. Middle row: Izzy and Kristin's sister, Courtney. Front row: Autumn and Harper, who belongs to Rusty and Heather.
Ice cream at Isabella's. Izzy, Autumn, and Scott.
My mom and her boyfriend, Glenn hosted a lovely lunch the day before the wedding. This next picture is one of those great candid shots I love. In true grandparent form, Grandma Pepper (Rusty, Scott, and I's mom) gave her grandchildren flutes. Here she is explaining how to play the flute to Izzy, whose face says everything about how she feels about the flute. In true sibling form, Scott and I are probably giving each other shit about something.
Even though he's a married man now he's still Scott the Snot, and this picture confirms this.
Once you're Scott the Snot, you're always Scott the Snot. A pain in the butt sometimes but someone I'll forever look up to.
I may have two storytimes and spend my days surrounded by children, but here's a little secret. I am terrified of babies. They are fragile, yes, but also give some super judgy looks sometimes. Landyn, I'm thrilled to say, gave no judgy looks and was one of the most charming babies I've met.
Landyn charmed everyone. We all spent quite a bit of time holding him.
But it was Rachel who hogged the baby pretty much the whole time we were there. Turns out she's a natural.
On the morning of the wedding Robert, Rachel, Izzy, and I celebrated Rachel's birthday at a place near and dear to Izzy's heart.
When Izzy lived in Tucson she would often walk the trail at this park.
Though it's tough for Izzy to put into words, I think this trail is special to her because she spent a lot of time processing her emotions and working through her past while walking it. I also think that, even though she never consistently saw the same people on the trail, the trail gave her a vital sense of connection to others.
People who walk this trail leave golf balls for others to find. I think it's a small way to let others know they're not alone, and that can be a life-changing thing for some people to hear.
Thanks to a few explorations through Scott and Kristin's backyard I had found a couple golf balls for her to hide.
We spent a glorious morning looking for golf balls. You know as weird as this sounds, it's probably not the last time I'll repeat this sentence.
Oh yes, and there was a WEDDING later that day.
At one point Autumn told me, "Scott, mommy, and me are getting married." I can't say it any better.
Did I mention that Robert officiated? Yep, he was a fine officiator. I know this because Scott and Kristin smiled the whole way through. A couple times it looked like they were going to bust out laughing, but they kept it together.
The next day, while Scott and I swept off his patio this little fellow (pardon me if you're a girl) buzzed in just a couple feet away from where I was standing.
I have guesses about the appearance of this hummingbird, and I think Scott does too.
Robert and Izzy went home that day for work and school, and even if Robert won't admit it, for Ella, who is getting harder to leave alone.
The next day, Thursday, we hiked one of my favorite places, Sabino, which was everything I remembered it to be and more.
Brothers : D
When I showed Izzy this picture of a rock tower we had built at Sabino, she said, "oh that's a ____," and though the word wasn't correct, it was enough information for me to do a little sleuthing. It turns out this is a cairn. A cairn is Gaelic for "heap of stones," and has various meanings depending on the source.
For me, using a combination of these meanings makes the most sense. I think it's a little like hiding golf balls, letting others know they're not alone. It also symbolizes the connections we make with others, how we balance all the love we have for all of our loved ones. It can be a grave marker too, a place to create closure that can't be found any other way. Most importantly, it's a beautiful way to watch the odd but beautiful combination of silliness and concentration blossom in the faces of people I love.
After hiking Rusty had to go to work that afternoon, but managed to squeeze in some lunch time with us.
We spent our last day exploring 4th Ave some more.
After we saw a tortoise in someone's yard, we knew it wouldn't get any better so we went back to Scott and Kristin's to listen to some records Scott had bought.
That evening we had the pleasure of attending Autumn's Fall Festival. Autumn nailed her art teacher with two pies, which was pretty awesome. She also raced through all the bounce houses faster than we could keep up with her.
Rachel and I had a great breakfast with everyone before flying out.
More pictures will be coming soon. The photographer for the wedding will be sending more pictures by the end of the month.
