Viva la Sumerlins: The Pre-party

As many of you may be aware, Ryan & I were recently in Mexico for Shawna & Austin's wedding/the best vacation ever.  I have taken a while to get around to posting about this because it's actually a fairly daunting task for my organized, type-A-to-a-fault little brain.  How do you organize 5 days of vacation-, wedding-, and friend-time-fabulousness into 1 succinct post (especially when color-coding is not an option)?!  So, my ultimate conclusion was that you can not.  Thus, Shaustin: The Wedding will be brought to you by the letter S (did anyone catch that Seasame Street ref?) in 3 installments.  Today's post will cover the Rehearsal Dinner.  Annnnd.... go!

Austin's sweet parents generously threw a "Welcome to Cabo" party on Thursday, January 12th for everyone who was lucky enough to duck out of work early enough to arrive in paradise a few days before the wedding.  We were all treated to the most delicious Mexican smorgasbord my stomach has ever, or will ever, see in its lifetime, a photo montage of Austin, Shawna and the various squirrels (Tupac, Skeelo & Dena) they grew up with, touching words of wisdom from the proud parents of the groom, and excellent company.  It was a truly wonderful evening. 

Of course, when you're in paradise and your BFFs are getting married- the party never ends, it only takes a nap or migrates.  So, of course, after the party it was the hotel lobby (bar), where we repaid the resort's hospitality by bursting into inappropriate song, toasting to male anatomy with parentals and creating general chaos.  When the lobby bar closed for the evening, we all headed to Desires (affectionately deemed "Desiree's") where we continued to astound resort staffers with our artistic ability - this time in the form of dancing.  After all, the gang doesn't believe in hiding our light under a bushel- only shaking our groove thing on top of one.  As I'm sure the pictures below will demonstrate, the evening was an absolute blast and one that neither I, nor the Dreams resort, will ever forget.  Thank you to the gracious hosts and to all participants!

I believe this translates to: VIP.

Just beautiful.

Just seeing this makes me crave ceviche.

Some of this fajita steak would also do.

The guests of honor.

Austin's parents, Austin, Austin's hilariously wonderful grandmother, Shawna's sweet grandmother, Shawna & Shawna's parents.  With these genes, I predict that Shawna & Austin give birth to the first travelling band/baseball team.

Rindy & Mike imparting the secrets to a happy marriage, or maybe just celebrating the fact that somehow all 3 of their "kids" (Jimmer, Austin & Ryan) found women to put up with them.

If 1 finger is good for finger pointing, 2 must be great.  Matt is definitely a visionary.

David's smile is because he's thinking about how many pieces of cake he wants to order from room service later.

Jen is an incredible artistic photo director.

A small sampling of the beautiful Florida ladies- and the most handsome of Florida men

"What should I do?"

20 plus years of AOL exploits, riding bikes into pools, Ebay purchases and beer cans under beds.

Adorable Gartz clan.

Beth has a secret.  She has a husband.  And a short dress.

Melanie, Yo, Jules, Jen & Brianna

Obviously not natives, no matter how fantastic our Spanish is.

You know how I know these men are classy?  2 words: red wine.

A toast to the after party!

Getting the dance party staaaaarted.

Inevitably coming up with genius inventions.

The beginning of a beautiful love affair.

David, how do you say CHEERS?!

Break-dancing.  Duh.

Black Swan goes to Cabo.  But less weird.  And ballet-y.

Showing us how it's done.

Blue Steel meets blue shot.

Nothing says good night like getting Night at the Roxbury-ed by your husband and his friends.

Old Antics, New Year

Oh, hello there, neglected diary!  Seeing as we have been in 2012 for 22 days now, I suppose I should document how I rang this bad boy in.  I believe when I get into specifics, my whereabouts when the clock chimed midnight will come as no surprise to those of you who know me well (and/or those of you who went to college with me). 

Being the borderline crotchety old couple we have become, we had zero interest in anything that a) required a cover, b) involved strobe lights and/or c) included music above decibel levels native to elevators.  These facts basically rendered one possible location to ring in the New Year- the lake.  Julie & David, Shawna & Austin, Jen & Brendan, and Melanie, Jonathan & Jake were kind enough to indulge our desire to be lame low-key by joining us.  We spent the evening as we do most social outtings these days - chatting, adult beveraging and exclaiming over how cute the children are (including the whiskered ones).  We also threw in some flip cup and beerpong for good measure.

Sometime between 10 and 10:30 yours truly was found asleep on the couch.  Attempts to move or wake me were met with loud grumbling and general senility.  Apparently making meatballs and guacamole is something I find very taxing.  Orrrr... perhaps it was my old age compounded by a couple of tough beerpong losses.  Who really can say?  Either way, despite my lack of conciousness- I rang in the New Year surrounded by some of my favorite people, in one of my favorite places.  If that's not an omen for good things to come in 2012, what is?

P.S. Jen- please note that David has been "tagged".  He's offish.

Dallas, David's puppy.  Like most really attractive men- he's a little high maintenance.

Pondering the meaning of life... or maybe just thinking about which area of shrubbery needs the most puppy pruning.

Size comparison.

Dogs everywhere.

Oh hey look - there were humans too.

Hugs as a means or pre-paying bad behavior later?  Not his first rodeo, ladies & gentlemen.

(Earmuffs Mel & Yanny) Jake's first harem of lady fans.

A brother/sister shot that I'm absolutely positive was not posed (sarcasm font).

I'm trying to do something here.  Could I get a little space? (Editors note: Jake & Ryan's approach to other people's pantries is strikingly similar.)

My hair was channeling Elvis even more than usual, it seems.

There is only one conclusion to draw from a picture of a man surrounded by carpet cleaner, a clothespin, beer and a sharpie- Austin was working on his science fair project.

"Act natural."

Look, Shawna is taller than me.

Jules & the Hern.

...an equally cute couple.

I just adore that little face.  Jake is okay too, I suppose.  (HAAAAAAAAA).

Flipcupping together 2 weeks before your wedding is good luck.  It's an old wives tale.

Cooler talk!  (Do you see what I did there?  Bc they're ON a cooler and they were PROBABLY talking... Get it?)

Per usual - everyone manages to keep their eyes open except Ryan.

When selecting the perfect New Years Eve kiss, it's best to explore all options.

Celebration of female victory.

Welcome, 2012!