Thats right, Cooper finally did it ...

We just got back (barely) from Denver this past weekend where wedding bells were ringing for Cooper and Katherine. By now they are on their way to sunny Maui for their honeymoon. Unfortunately it was a short trip (Friday - Sunday) but it was good to see everyone. Denver is a beautiful area surrounded by the Rockies. Unfortunately we were waiting until Sunday to take some pictures but we woke up Sunday to a snowstorm so our traveling around the area was cancelled because we didn't have any tire chains!

The rehersal dinner was at the Old Spaghetti Factory (yum) and then we went for a few drinks and to catch up with everyone.

The wedding was great, no cold feet from what we could tell and the reception was definitly fun. A few of the old Clarkson crew - many with their signficant others were able to make it out:

Although we really tried to stay out even later after the wedding, we realized that we were just getting too old!

The snow on Sunday forced us to leave a little early for the aiport but by the time our plane was supposed to leave everything was getting delayed or cancelled! They switched us from Delta to United in the hopes of getting back in time but we didn't leave until 9 hours of sitting in the airport! It was a late night but well worth it, even though I told Cooper they should have gotten married in the summer!

To view all of our pictures, click HERE.

Home for the Holidays

We made our whirlwind tour back to the East coast for the holidays this year. Thankfully we made it back in time for the Franz Christmas party which we haven't been to since we got married! It was great to see everyone (and meet Shelleys boyfriend Chad!) -Myra says: `Aren't they so darn cute together`?!

There are a bunch of great pictures from the family Christmas party

HERE.

We were also able to have a 'Hat Party' for Mary the same day! It was fun to see all the great hat's everyone found for her - she said it felt great to get that wig off for a little while!! :-) Here's all the ladies wearing hats - to see a picture of John, Johnny and Joe, click HERE...

Christmas day in Syracuse was a blast and I have to admit we were pretty spoiled again this year thanks to Dad & Mom Franz. We shared dinner with Lin, Bill, Shelley, Chad and Grandma and then took the ATVs for a spin...Myra and Shelley are maniacs! Joe had a blast tooling around on the ATVs with Dad the whole time we were there, blazing new trails, and getting muddy. Although it was brief it was good to have breakfast with Dave/Jen and Rob/Nicole, of course we were the only childless ones there!

We headed down to PA after Christmas for a few days to see everyone and got spoiled again. Christmas dinner #2 didn't help the waistline any either. We were there for the Longs Christmas party which we haven't been to in years either.

It was great to see all Joes high school buddies too.

There haven't been that many of us together in a long time!

Thanks to Jody and Matt for providing the feast!

We got bumped on the way back and left on New Years Day (a day later than planned) so we spent New Years Eve playing games and keeping Dad and Mom up till midnight! Even better...they flew us back First Class since we gave up our seats! Wish we could afford that all the time!

Turkey Day in Monterrey ...

Yes I know Thanksgiving was two months ago but as MANY of you have pointed out, I haven't updated our blog for awhile!

We went to Mexico to visit Joes brother and sister-in-law and his parents and grandparents flew in from Pennsylvania too! After a 3 hour ride from McAllen Texas to Monterrey (thanks for picking us up Jer!) on Wednesday night, we had a very traditional Thanksgiving meal with the Turkey and all the fixins the following day.

We spent a bit of time at some cool art stores like the commonly referred to 'Eyeball' Store. There was this one art store near their house that had some 'interesting' sculptures out front - like this ornament clad David statue.

In the evenings we went out to some cool restaurants downtown like an Argentinian place with the BEST empanadas.

One of our last days there we ventured out outside the city to a cave (Grutas de Garcia) that you tour through after taking a tram ride to the entrance. Thankfully Jer & Erin could translate everything the tour guide was saying! We also stopped at a pretty cool waterfall that day on our way home.

We packed up on Monday and Erin drove us back to the border (making record time getting us across I should say) for our flight back which was pretty uneventful. Unfortunately we left the 70-degree weather in Mexico and came back to some SNOW which is so rare for Corvallis!

Everything was great and we can't wait to see where they are stationed next so we can plan our next vacation! HERE is the full album!