We were lucky enough to have two different wedding photographers at the wedding, each with a varied style. They both did a great job as I’m sure you’ll agree.

In my previous wedding photos post I talked a bit about how lame I feel in posed photos and how lame I end up looking. I blame my general dislike for posed photos on my short preteen modeling career.

We never do the portrait studio family photo thing (well, last year was the exception), we much prefer to take our own photos as the “in the moment” shots are usually of the most value to us in the long run… but with a growing family of young, squirmy kids, letting someone else take the photos is honestly less stress and headache.

So, to make a long story short, we were open to formal photography for the wedding because it’s one of those things you just do right? We weren’t so sure about how well the photos would turn out, considering the subjects (LOL)… but MAN were we pleasantly surprised!

Eric Cook Photography seriously blew us away with their ability to take formal, staged photos of us where we didn’t look all awkward and overly staged. Even the unstaged photos (like the bathroom one you see to the left) look super fabulous.

Below is a summary video made for us of the low resolution images that will give you a nice glimpse of the wedding:

I am personally in love with this family photo…

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Nathan has a funny story about the craigslist ads we placed, several stories actually. He should blog them… But to sum it up, we got a bunch of headaches and hate mail resulting from the ad and we also found many talented and passionate candidates.

We found a winner with Pretty Please Photography out of Flagstaff, Arizona because she has a great candid approach to photos which is key because at your wedding it’s all a total blur! Seriously, the day after the wedding when people asked how I felt about it, I couldn’t answer because I hadn’t seen the photos yet. I personally like the “in the moment shots” the best anyway since I often look like a fool in staged shots, so lucky for us we found TaNee’ of Pretty Please Photography.

The photos from TaNee’ are now unveiled and they look great! She got so many intimate captures and many special moments from the wedding, plus some truly beautiful formal photos that I never knew I’d be capable of appearing in (without looking “a fool”, LOL).

Here is a glimpse of what the she captured…

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Then next experience was homemade root beer soda. This was a slightly more dangerous experience, the one gallon glass bottle that the root beer was stored in completely exploded in the kitchen and shards of glass flew everywhere! I got a few nice welts on my neck from the flying glass, luckily I was not cut by the glass. The explosion was so loud and startling, I thought someone was shooting up the house!

This time the beer is bubbling, burping and oozing out of the 5 gallon carboy… It’s a messy batch. I made a video to show you just how messy it was. If you want to read more about beer brewing check out this blog post: The Enjoyment of Homebrew.

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This first photo is of us at Walnut canyon is filled with Indian ruins that line the cliffs of walnut canyon. We hiked a 185 feet climb in 204 steps. It was a great hike going down because gravity worked in our favor.. We practically ran down the 204 stairs because it was easier. After the 204 stairs we walked the path that takes you all the way around the “island” in the middle of walnut canyon. We got to actually go into the rooms of the ruins. The weather was perfect for the hike. We got to walnut canyon (just east of flagstaff) right after a nice rain storm so it was over cast and cool outside. Going back up the 204 steps was a bit harder but we did it. Basically you need to drink water and pace yourself going back up the canyon. Because of the higher altitude it is harder to breath so don’t feel bad if you a toast after the first few sets of stairs. We finished the hike in about 45 min. It was nice!

Earlier that morning we drove out to the sunset crater volcano. It is supposedly the youngest volcano in our area. This hike lets you walk the lava flow path. Along the way you learn about the types of volcanoes in the area and the history behind them. This hike was fairly easy but it was also very interesting. The thing that sticks out in my mind was the temperature change from the moment you stepped onto the cinders. You could feel the heat coming off the cinders from the days sun. Also the dramatic landscape change is amazing!

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I am sure you can already tell that my holiday weekend did not go that great. I went down to Phoenix for my brother’s graduation. We are so proud of him, we went out for ice cream to celebrate and then we went to the Scottsdale courthouse to take care of my other brothers warrant. All that went fine and it was nice to see the family.

At about 7:30pm I was heading back up the hill to flagstaff. I had planned to head home at right about sundown to avoid all the campers and holiday travelers heading up north for the long weekend. Traffic was still busy but not nearly as bad as it was at about 4pm.

Anyway I am driving along, using the cruise control because I want to regulate my speed. I know that cops are going to be everywhere handing out speeding tickets and I want to make sure I don’t get one!!! My cruise control is set just under the 80 MPH mark and I am coming down the curves and hills just before the sunset rest area. I tap my break because I need to turn the cruise control off since the traffic in front of me is slowing down. We are now going down a big hill. The cruise control won’t shut off. The break has tons of pressure behind it and doesn’t seem to be slowing the car down. I am pressing the break with both feet trying to get the car to slow down but the car keeps accelerating! I glanced at the speedometer and saw the car was going over 90 MPH!!

I really began to panic once I realized the car was speeding up and the breaks were not doing anything. To make maters worse I am boxed in by other cars in the left lane. I threw on my hazard lights and thankfully the car next to me backed off and let me move over to the right hand lane. Once I was in the right lane I began to ease onto the shoulder with the car continuously accelerating. Once I was clear of the highway lanes I began to slowly pull the emergency brake.

The car slowed down considerably but still would not stop. I then noticed the car was revving to 8RPM’s. I honestly did not know if the breaks would be able to continue slowing the car while it was revving so high. I slid my foot under the gas pedal to see if maybe the pedal was stuck or something. The pedal was floppy and was not caught on anything; it just felt like the gas pedal usually does when the car is in cruise control.

The car is going about 40MPH now that the emergency brake is fully engaged, I am approaching the sign for the sunset rest area and I just want the car to stop so I can turn it off and get the hell out of it… I grab the shifter and throw it into park… The car abruptly stops, I take a deep breath and get on my cell phone to my mom. She doesn’t answer so I then dial Nathan. While I am on the phone to Nathan I see smoke seeping out from under the hood. I quickly decided it was not safe to stay inside the car so I grab all my stuff and I walk about to about 40 feet from the car and wait to be picked up.

I was so shaken up by the cars behavior that I had the chills. I really could have caused a major accident, killed myself and many others if I hadn’t gotten that car off the road when I did. The car was literally accelerating on it’s own and the breaks were not stopping the car!

When my mother picked me up she wanted to see exactly what the car was doing so we started it up and the car was still revving to 8 RPM’s sitting there in park!

N’s friend Rich came down to pick me up from New River where my mom and brother crammed tequila and food down my throat to calm me down. We left the car on the highway and headed back up the hill that night…

Since then the car has been towed to Black Canyon City and it will be checked by my mother’s mechanic on Tuesday. N and I are pretty sure the car is toast.

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