Jackson Hole Recon Mission #2

Jackson Hole was AMAZING!!

I was so nervous before leaving because this trip has so many potential things that could have gone wrong and completely screwed us up. Had our flight been delayed for any amount of time, we would have missed all our appointments on Friday. If we had to reschedule for Saturday, we wouldn’t be able to get any skiing in. And if we couldn’t ski on Saturday, then Sunday was going to be a really miserable day because we didn't have enough time and Ryan would be so disappointed. So we were praying for great weather and no delays.

Our flight to Jackson Hole was packed with excited skiers. We had a group of hard-core ski bums surrounding us who didn’t stop talking about all the different runs and difficulty of the mountain. I was excited, but growing more and more nervous about this adventure. I’ve only skied twice in my life…and both times were two weeks ago when Ryan and I went to Hidden Valley, the make-shift “ski resort” on a golf course about 20 minutes from our house. I had taken a private lesson both days and felt comfortable enough at Hidden Valley to brave the “big hill” and make it down alive, but I was by no means comfortable on my skis. I’m definitely not a “natural,” but I have strong legs from running and balance from gymnastics, so I was picking it up (it took me longer to figure out how to get off the chair lift safely than to actually ski). But I knew that Rendezvous Mountain was incredibly vertical and one of the most difficult mountains in the country for beginners, so my confidence was next to nothing.

We landed in Jackson Hole (right on time) to mild weather and cloudy skies. I was disappointed that the clouds were blocking our views of the Tetons and really hoping that this would clear up soon. We got our bags and rental car (a huge Chevy Suburban) and headed for the Lazy Moose. Seeing the Lazy Moose was the entire reason for the trip, so I was anxious to get there and make sure we had made a good decision on the wedding location. We met our wedding planner, Kathi Michel in Wilson and made our way up the road. As we pulled into the driveway of the Lazy Moose, we could tell that it was going to be spectacular. It was a gorgeous log home, sitting up on a hill, overlooking the valley and the mountains. We crossed over Fish Creek on a little bridge and made our way past a greenhouse and gardens. Of course, everything was covered by 8 feet of snow, so we were imagining what the place would look like.

Upon walking inside the Lazy Moose, I knew immediately that we had made the right decision. The place was GORGEOUS! It had such a warm and cozy feeling. It had all the Western charm we were looking for, but was still elegant and sophisticated. The owners, Robin and Cherrie, were absolutely fantastic and made us feel right at home. I’m more excited than ever about the wedding! Here are some pictures.

After visiting the Lazy Moose, Kathi, Ryan and I headed into town to do our tasting with the caterer and cake company. We sampled 7 hors d’oeuvres and picked our 5 favorites. Then we tried a couple of the entrée options. Everything was absolutely fantastic! And then the best part – CAKE! Monica from Jackson Cake Company brought us the most fantastic cupcakes. They were moist, delicious and had the lightest, most perfect icing I’ve ever tasted. Yum.

Next stop was Teton Village for ski rentals. The entire village was covered in snow and twinkle lights and looked like it was straight out of a fairy tale. The village is modeled after a Swiss chalet ski village and was picture perfect. We managed to rent boots, skis and poles with little difficulty and then headed to Jackson Hole Resort Lodging to pick up the key to our townhouse. Jackson Hole Resort Lodging was so fantastic – they gave us a complimentary 3-bedroom townhouse for our visit, in the luxurious Moose Creek section of town. Our place was unbelievable, with a private hot tub, garage, full kitchen, balconies, fireplace and gorgeous furnishings. And the best part, in the morning, we put on our ski boots and the lift was right outside our front door!

Saturday morning was spent on the slopes. It was a crystal clear and sunny day. We caught the Moose Creek lift and had a couple small easy runs down to the Village to pick up our lift passes. Unfortunately, my boots were so unbelievably uncomfortable that I could barely make it down the mountain. On the verge of tears, we switched out my boots for a different pair and all was well again. Ryan spent the morning with me on the green slopes. It took a few runs for me to feel comfortable again, but by that time, it was time to meet Kathi and Shawn at the bottom of the gondola for our scouting trip up the mountain.

It was my brilliant idea to see if we could have our rehearsal dinner on the top of the mountain. Shawn, from Jackson Hole Mountain Resort has been working with us to make this possible. She’s been great about everything – being flexible with the menu, coming up with creative ideas, and working with us to make sure everything is perfect! We all boarded the gondola and took it to the base of the Headwall at 9,095 feet. Up there, they have a gourmet restaurant and a deli. Of course, the gourmet restaurant would be fantastic, but was WAY out of our price range. So Shawn suggested an outdoor Mountain-top BBQ outside the deli on the patio, overlooking the entire valley. Perfect!! We’ll have our guests ride the gondola up to the summit, then treat them to a BBQ buffet, with a bar and s’mores, followed by toasting and roasting. It’ll be such a great relaxing evening with our friends and family before the wedding.

Us at the top of the mountain.

Ryan skied down the mountain from the summit, and I took the gondola back down with Kathi and Shawn. We met at the bottom for our next run: my very first blue slope! At first I was doing really well. Not completely great, but confident enough that I wouldn’t die going down the mountain. That is, until Ryan accidentally took me down a black diamond slope. Yep, I was done. After a number of bad falls, backward somersaults, losing both skis, nearly breaking my arm and fighting back the tears I finally made it back to the blue slope. Needless to say that Ryan was in trouble. I sent him on his way to do the hard stuff himself, while I went back to the bunny slope to nurse my wounded pride and confidence. And although the bunny slopes helped, there’s nothing like being out-skied by a bunch of 4 year-olds to make you feel like such a loser. However, overall, it was a really fun ski adventure. That’s a hard mountain! I just hope that next time we do this, I’m a little better and can enjoy and appreciate it more.


The rest of our weekend was relaxing and enjoyable. We were absolutley exhausted, so we didn't do all that much. We had a wonderful dinner at the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar on Saturday night. We spent Sunday shopping in Jackson (Ryan had to hit the fly fishing shop) and driving around Teton National Park looking at the mountains and for wildlife. We ended up seeing a couple coyotes, a ton of elk, a deer and two moose. It was such a great trip; we were not ready to leave. Fortunately, we’ll be back soon! And who knows, maybe we’ll just pack our bags and move to the mountains one day!

Me with two moose in the background

The Tetons

Adios Jackson Hole!

Wedding Update

Hello! As we're getting closer and closer to July, I've been getting all kinds of questions about the wedding and how things are going. And my only answer right now is...we'll see after this weekend! Tomorrow Ryan and I head off to Jackson Hole for a weekend of wedding-related activities. We're planning on (1) seeing the new venue; (2) picking a ceremony location; (3) picking table decor and china/glassware; (4) meeting with the florist to discuss bouquets, boutonnieres and decorations; (5) having a tasting with the caterer; (6) tasting and designing the wedding cake; (7) seeing the rehearsal dinner location; (8) picking the rehearsal dinner menu; (9) touring the lodging arrangements; (10) and possibly meeting with the judge that will marry us. And if there's any downtime at all, we're hoping to hit the slopes! Whew! What a weekend!

I'm pretty excited and very very nervous about this trip. With the way our wedding luck as been going so far, I have no idea what to expect. As a lot of you know, we've had some rather unfortunate news with our wedding venue and it's been a pretty crazy few months trying to get it all figured out. If you remember, I flew out there last May to check out locations for our wedding. I wanted something cozy and rustic, but elegant with spectacular views. Ideally, I wanted an outdoor spot for the ceremony overlooking the Tetons, an indoor place for the reception (so we wouldn't have to tent), and somewhere closeby where we could get ready or stay. Enter Crescent H Ranch. It was a a former Orvis fly fishing lodge with ten little rustic guest cabins, each named for a native or renowned trout species, a gorgeous lodge for the reception and a meadow overlooking the mountains for the ceremony. It was in our budget and even had a fly-fishing trout theme. PERFECT!

However, seven months later, the nightmare began. The planner at Crescent H called us and said that the owners of Crescent H received an offer to sell the place to some of the local homeowners around the ranch. The ranch was not for sale, but the potential buyers asked how much they would accept for the place and then matched it. The buyers wanted to privatize the ranch for their own personal use…meaning that if the deal went through, the new buyers would not honor any of the contracts for next year, including ours. Ahh!! They said they would know whether the sale went through in three weeks...would we wait? If we didn't want to wait, they would give us our deposit back and we'd have to find somewhere else. Begin total panic and chaos mode.

Right away we realized that we still wanted to have the wedding at Crescent H, if that was an option, but we also had to start looking at other places. Unfortunately, there were no places that I visited when I was out there back in May that I loved nearly as much. Other places were nice, but didn’t have all the things we wanted or were way out of our budget. Our wedding planner starting working overtime to see what else would be available that weekend (so we wouldn't lose the deposit on the photographer, band, etc.). Needless to say, this made me so mad b/c I had my pick of all the places in May when I went (b/c I was so early), but now all kinds of places were already reserved.

Our wonderful (and very patient) planner advised us to relax and remain calm…there was still a chance that either the sale wouldn't go through (for some reason) or that maybe the buyers woudl have a change of heart and would honor the contracts for the summer and then privatize it later. We just didn't know. When the time finally came, we got a call from the ranch that the owners had extended the deadline to the end of the year. More waiting. We still weren't ready to pull out, without having a back-up location and it was the holidays, so we just decided to keep waiting.

In the meantime, we happened upon another little rustic ranch that might be a back-up place to have the ceremony and reception. My photographer shot a rehearsal dinner there last year, and I fell in love with the pictures. As for style and elegance, it was probably even more spectacular than Crescent H. It didn't have the fly-fishing theme or the cabins on the property, but was really beautiful with horses, a bar with saddle stools, big hearth stone fireplaces, elkhorn chandelieres and and outdoor lounge area. Very cozy and western. Of course, it's more than we had originally budgeted (and would require a lot of additional charges that we weren't considering) but it was available on our date and beautiful. Hopefully we could work something out.

January 5th finally comes along and we hear from Crescent H...they owners extended the deadline AGAIN. Now the buyers had until the end of January. At this point, we were through. The owners were obviously doing whatever they could to make this sale happen. And even if the sale didn't go through, what was to keep this from happening again in a few months, when it was too late to find another place? Our confidence was completely shaken. We had to move on and find some place else. So, we will not be getting married at the little fly fishing villa we fell in love with. However, our back-up location looks so amazing, and we are in the process of getting everything finalized to proceed as planned. The new place is called the Lazy Moose Ranch. It is also located in Wilson, Wyoming, in between Jackson and Teton Village. Although it doesn’t have the fly fishing motif of the original location, my photographer and wedding planner both say that the Lazy Moose is even more beautiful and elegant. We cannot wait to see it!!!

Talk about stressful! I thought we were going to avoid a lot of the stress and drama of wedding planning by having a destination wedding. Wrong! I can't believe I haven't had a nervous breakdown yet. Anyway, my fingers are crossed that everything will work out in the end for the best (everything happens for a reason, right?!). I think we'll love the new place - I promise to take lots of pictures!

Halloween Party 2008

This year’s Annual Haunted Halloween Costume Party was better than ever. I was pleasantly surprised with what a great turn-out we got, especially with so many other parties (and new babies) this year. The weather was perfect and the food was great, but I was absolutely blown out of the water by how good the costumes were this year!! Talk about creative and fun!! Here are some highlights…

Me as Madonna and Ryan as "The Dude" from the Big Lebowski

Winners of the Couples Costume, the Reno 911 cops

Winner of the Best Individual Costume, Busch Stadium Beer Man

Best Couples Costume Runners-up, Michael and Debbie Phelps

Jennifer Beales from Flashdance

The religious contingent

Newlywed Prizefighters


Redneck Fishin'

Sarah Palin's daughter Bristol and high school hockey star & baby's daddy

MU Homecoming 2008

This past weekend, Ryan and I ventured back to the University of Missouri, my alma mater, for Homecoming. Did you know that the tradition of "Homecoming" was actually started at Mizzou??

In 1891, the football border battle rivaly between MU and KU began, as the Tigers faced the KU Jayhawks on the college football gridiron. This rivalry would become the oldest college football rivalry west of the Mississippi River. Perhaps because of this intense war between the states, the battle always took place at a neutral site, usually in Kansas City. In 1911, a change in conference regulations required that all intercollegiate football games were required to be played on campus. At this time Missouri trailed in the series by a count of 12-3-5 so there was a need to renew some excitement to this series. Fearing low attendance, Chester L. Brewer, MU's Director of Athletics, invited the alumni to "come home" for the game. As part of this celebration of "coming home," there was a parade and spirit rally to coincide with the actual game -- and the tradition of "Homecoming" was born. Since that time, the University of Missouri has served as a model for the various Homecoming celebrations that take place across the nation.

This year’s Homecoming weekend was fantastic and exciting as usual!! The weather could not have been better and we had the most amazing tailgate location (thanks Jewell!). Ladder golf, beer pong and BBQ were all appreciated. Both my brothers were there, as well as tons of friends. And although our team is highly ranked, the losses in the last two weekends to Texas and Oklahoma State (both top ten teams) had us all a little nervous. However, Colorado was no match for our Tigers, winning 58-0. MIZ-ZOU!! Here are some pictures of the tailgate and game.

Catching up on Birthdays

Since we have a bunch of birthday celebrations coming up soon (Jaquie, Heather, John, etc.), I figured I should post the pictures from the last few birthday parties we had.

Ryan's birthday was in April, he turned 28. I threw him a nice little Fiesta birthday party with mango margaritas, a taco buffet, cerveza, sombreros and a fantastic homemade birthday cake.

The next day, we drove to Columbia to celebrate Kirsten's birthday with the whole gang. Even with all the spankings, I'm pretty sure she had a good time. :)

And happy birthday to all those that have had birthdays in between: Chris, Lindsey, Alice, Stuart, Will, Jay, Annie and Freckles.

"Stand By" for Tarpon Madness at Location X

I know, I know. It's been forever since I last posted. I'm sorry, Mom - I know you've been impatiently waiting for tarpon pictures and the story, so here they are!

It was a GREAT trip!! The first morning, before it was even light out, we met our guide at a little dump of a bait shop, boarded our flats boat and were off! As soon as we got settled in our magical spot, Ryan began "warming up" by casting and stripping. It wasn't light enough to see any tarpon more than 5 feet from our boat, but unbelievably, on his second/third cast...tarpon on! Our guide starting coaching Ryan through the process but his hook set was a little too aggressive (can you blame him...he was really excited!) and the fish snapped the line. We couldn't yet see the fish, but we now knew they were there - VERY promising!

The water was pretty muddy, which is apparently a good thing. It was bright and sunny, with very few clouds. The conditions were "perfect" and excitment was in the air. After another few sightings and stalkings, Ryan finally hooked and landed his first tarpon! It was a little guy (only about 60 pounds), but put up a hell of a fight. Upon getting hooked, these fish take off like wave runners, jumping and splashing and fighting. We chased it for quite a while and Ryan did great reeling it in and manuevering the rod. So, after three years of chasing silver, he finally landed one!

And then it was on! The next two were much bigger, 90 pounds and 110 pounds! We ended the first day with three tarpon caught.

Day 2 was very different than Day 1. The water was like glass that morning, with no waves and no wind. The guide was able to spot a tarpon over a quarter mile away and then position the boat to where Ryan could cast to it. Once the sun came out and warmed the water, the tarpon stopped moving and laid up on the top of the water, where we could happen upon them and surprise them. It was a completely different kind of fishing, and very exciting to watch. Ryan caught one enormous tarpon of about 120 pounds first thing in the morning. He had a few others that he "jumped" and chased. By the end of the day, the waves were pretty intense. I felt like I was riding a bull with all the bucking and rocking - not ideal fishing conditions, but we still managed to chase a few more. We ended our fishing expedition with lots of smiles and excitement for next year!

Great job honey! I'm so proud of you!

Chasing Silver - Location X

As you may have learned from reading this blog, my darling fiancé Ryan is obsessed with fly fishing. Actually, I’m not sure obsessed adequately describes his passion and commitment to the sport. Usually, he can be found fishing for his beloved brown trout in the rivers and streams in Missouri, Arkansas, Montana and Colorado.

But the ultimate saltwater fly fishing experience is flats fishing for tarpon. Tarpon are large silver coastal fish considered by many anglers to be the ultimate fly rod target. They grow up to 8 feet in length and sometimes weigh 200 pounds. The tarpon is considered one of the great saltwater game fishes, not only because of the size it can reach and its accessible haunts, but because of its fighting spirit when hooked; it is very strong, making spectacular leaps into the air.

A normal tarpon fly rod outfit uses 10-12 weight rods and reels spooled with appropriate line and using a class leader tippet of 12-20 lb. Pretty light tackle where the fish may weigh 10 times or more than the breaking strength of the leader! Typically an angler stations himself on the bow of a shallow water flats boat and with the aid of a guide searches for incoming tarpon on the flats (inshore areas of the ocean that are very shallow, typically no more than 3-4 feet deep). When a tarpon is sighted, the guide positions the boat to intercept the fish. The angler usually has no more than 6-10 seconds to cast out enough flyline and make an accurate cast to the fast moving fish. Accuracy and speed are paramount but the task is compounded by the inevitable excitement and nervousness of seeing a fish that may top 180 lb bearing down on the angler. Once the cast is made, hopefully a tarpon sees and pursues the fly. The hookset is difficult due to the hard mouth of the fish which has been likened to the hardness of concrete. For that reason many tarpon throw the hook on the first few jumps. If the hook stays secure, then the fight is on. Tarpon have tremendous endurance and are one of the most exciting gamefish to fight - frequent spectacular jumps, long runs, and stubborn bulldogging are all part of the game. The average angler can usually land a tarpon anywhere from just under one hour to more than three hours.

A few years ago, Ryan had his first taste of tarpon fishing in Key West, Florida. We flew down there for his birthday, giving him the chance to spend one day out on the flats with his friend John and their guide Joe. Towards the end of the afternoon, after "chasing silver" all day, Ryan had the perfect opportunity to catch the fish of his dreams. Although he’d been practicing the tarpon hookset all morning, he instinctively set the hook like he was catching a trout, and pulled the fly right out of the tarpon’s mouth. Fish lost…John’s turn. John, after learning the hookset lesson from Ryan’s painful loss, ended up catching a tarpon immediately. Although thrilled for his friend, Ryan was devastated and vowed revenge on the tarpon.

For the following two years he thought about the tarpon that got away. He became determined to have another opportunity to catch one. He read books and articles. And he began watching a show on the Outdoor Life Network called "Chasing Silver," all about tarpon fishing. Each episode of Chasing Silver was filmed in a different tarpon hot spot. Locations included Key West, Belieze, Boca Grand, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, etc. But his favorite episode was called "Location X."

Location X was an undisclosed location, where veteran tarpon anglers were blindly taken to experience the best tarpon fishing of their lives…on film. In a cloud of secrecy, the anglers are transported to a clandestine spot to fish with a masked guide, lured by reports of large, willing tarpon in shallow water. Passing through dark mangroves identified only by a lone stake with a black 'X' burned into its weathered surface, the unsuspecting anglers travel to wide, mottled flats backed by a featureless shoreline. It all looks normal enough, even sedate. Then they are awakened by some of the most spectacular tarpon eats yet captured on film. Pretty exciting stuff, and I don’t even fish!!

So last year for Ryan’s birthday I wanted to surprise him and take him tarpon fishing again. I knew he’d be thrilled about spending a few days fishing and hanging out in Key West, on the beach. Unfortunately, I waited too long to book Ryan’s usual guide Joe, who was unavailable (he said was completely booked by December). He looked into finding us another guide in the Keys, but no one had any days in April or May available. It appeared that Ryan was going to miss his chance to chase silver.

However, I had a call in to our good friend Steve, an incredible fly fisherman, who works for Orvis. He knew how badly Ryan wanted a tarpon and was determined to make it happen for him. One afternoon I got a giddy phone call from Steve who told me that he had two days guided tarpon fishing for us, but we had to say yes and not ask any questions. Hmmm…what does that mean? He needed an answer right away. That wasn’t a decision I was comfortable making secretly without getting any feedback from Ryan. I didn’t know where we’d be going, how long we’d be away from work, how expensive it’d be or any other details…and I couldn’t ask!

I immediately called Ryan and told him what I’d done. He was incredibly excited at the thought of tarpon fishing, but was apprehensive about agreeing to something without having any idea what it was we were signing up for. He called Steve and convinced him to give us the basics. Turns out, Steve got him two days of tarpon fishing, in Location X, with the guide from Location X!!!! Ryan was freaking out!! Steve said this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and not to pass it up. We still didn’t know where it was, but we agreed to go and booked the guide!!

A month later, now having all the details, we boarded our plane and headed to Location X. It was an amazing place. We had the guide booked for two days, but unfortunately, due to bad weather, Ryan only got one good afternoon of tarpon fishing. I even got to tag along and take pictures! We got up hours before dawn and headed to our top secret destination. The morning wind was rough and the water was choppy. Since tarpon fishing is all done by sight, it didn’t really work until the sun came out. In the afternoon, we saw about 15 tarpon, 6 sharks, some dolphins, and all kinds of jacks. Ryan did great - he hooked a couple, but didn’t manage to land any. Those fish can really jump!! But he learned a lot about tarpon fishing, and had an amazing experience. Still, the silver fish eluded him again.

However, the days we booked with the guide became ours – meaning we have them every year until we cancel. So, we’re going back!! We leave on Monday for Location X!! This year, it’s ON!! Happy hunting Ryan!!

Scouting Trip - Jackson Hole

As most of you know, Ryan and I are getting married next summer. We had a difficult time deciding where to have the wedding. Neither St. Louis nor Louisiana seemed like the right place. We wanted a destination wedding, somewhere a little exotic, with our closest friends and family there. We opted against the traditional beach wedding (we'll save the beach for the honeymoon) and decided we wanted to get married in the mountains! Exciting! But, there are a lot of mountians in this country...where do we go?

We started looking at a number of places online: Aspen, Vail, Breckenridge, Telluride, Lake Tahoe, Sun Valley, Jackson Hole, Park City, Steamboat, Keystone, Big Sky, etc. We liked the idea of Jackson Hole, Wyoming - its an up-and-coming but laid-back Western ski town nestled in between the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone. Jackson Hole had the most amazing quintessential mountain views and we really loved the feel of it's open ranges and roaming bison (they are NOT buffalo). The more we tried to convince ourselves that it would be closer and maybe cheaper in Colorado, the more we really started to love Jackson Hole more. So, after about a month of discussing pros and cons, we picked Jackson Hole.

So, I leave for Jackson Hole tomorrow for my first scouting trip out there to look at places and venues for the ceremony and reception. I can't tell you how excited I am!! Most appropriately for this Mother's Day weekend trip, my mom is going with me. Isn't that sweet?! My wonderful wedding coordinator has set up about a million appointments for us with hotels, ranches, photographers, florists, restaurants, and even a band. We're going to be busy, but I think we're going to have a fantastic time.