Chris & Maria's Blog

We took the kids (the dogs) up the mountains this afternoon. As I suspected, there was a lot more snow there than here in the valley. I would guess there was 5 to 6 inches of snow where we went. We couldn’t get to the top of the mountain, as the Rangers close down those roads. No one wants to slide off the side of the mountain, after all.

Ginny didn’t quite know what to make of all the white stuff. It was nearly as deep as she is tall. As you can tell, she was wearing her green sweater, but she still shivered a little. We weren’t out long, so don’t send the SPCA after us.

Trixie seemed to have a great time. She didn’t even notice the temperature. They both sniffed every flake of snow before letting us drag them back to the car.

I went to bed last night knowing that we had some snow flurries going on, but didn’t really give it a second thought.  Knoxville frequently gets flurries, but it hardly sticks to the ground.  Keep in mind that yesterday it was 60º F here (15.5 C).  We just don’t get a lot of snow.  So, to my immense pleasure this morning, I looked out and saw this.  Granted, it’s not a lot, but it’s some!  It wasn’t enough to even cancel school, but it’s still nice to look at.

There should be a considerable amount of snow up in the mountains.  I’ll check with Maria to see if she wants to head up there this afternoon.  Maybe we can take the dogs.  Trixie loves the snow.  If we do, more pictures will follow.

In case you didn’t know, we made it back home safe and sound. I realized the last you heard from us here was that we were waiting to get on the plane. Aside from a 45 minute delay, everything was fine. We were a little worn out, and still trying to adjust to the three hour time difference. That seems trivial, but when you can’t fall asleep until 2 a.m. and you have to get up at 8 a.m. for work, it’s significant. I think it finally caught up with me yesterday. I got home and crashed for an hour, and was still ready to go to bed at 9:00. We managed to get into bed around 11:00, and I got to sleep by 12:00. Maria didn’t drift off to sleep until 2:00, though.

We’re now in the process of collecting loads of documents and data to get her a green card. There’s a HUGE list of things you have to do and get in order to just be ready for this process. And yes, it is indeed a process. We’re working through the list, checking things off, but it’s slow. And in case someone in INS sees this blog, it is indeed a real marriage and we’re not just going through this so she can immigrate to the US. Why would anyone go through all that work if they didn’t intend to be together forever?

Tonight I get the rest of my things that were not destroyed in the fire. That too has been a process. I huge THANK YOU to all of our friends who are pitching in and helping out. It really is greatly appreciated.

Last, but certainly not least, another big THANK YOU to our Leaky friends for all of their support. Were it not for Leaky, Maria and I may have never found one another. Your continued support and love are heard and appreciated. Thank you all so very much.

Well, the week has come to an end and we’re now sitting at the airport waiting for our plane to start boarding. What an amazing week. Exhausting, but amazing. Sadly, I’ve walked more this past week than I have in the last few years. Thank God I have the metabolism of a humming bird. Tomorrow morning we will be back home, where I understand it’s freezing cold and the worst viral sickness the world has ever seen awaits us. Oh joy.

I really appreciate all the comments and well wishes we have received this week. It really brings a smile to my face to know there are so many of you out there who are cheering us on and wishing us well. We love all of you.  Well, most of you anyway :P.  We get in at 6:00 am, and once we get to the house we will probably sleep until about noon. If, after that time, you would like to call or get together, just let us know. That is assuming, of course, you live near us. For everyone else who isn’t within driving distance, hopefully we’ll see you soon and we can celebrate then.

Again, thank you all for comments and support this week. We will see you all very soon.

Here I am with Penn from the show Penn and Teller.  We went to see them tonight, as our big last bash before heading back home.  What an amazing show!  Not only were the magic tricks great, but they had loads of personality and humor to go along with the performance.

We were sitting 3 rows back from the stage, and there was some concern about being called up on stage to participate.  Maria had a really close call, as Teller came down our aisle to look for a volunteer.  There were only 6 people in the row, counting the two of us.  Fortunately for Maria, he picked a lady two over from her.  The trick was the one with the goldfish bowl, the coins and goldfish.  You have to see this trick to believe it.  Like most of their tricks, it’s initially funny and kind of cool.  But when Teller produces a dozen or more very large goldfish out of thin air, the entire theater was floored and erupted in applause.  Bottom line: if you go to Las Vegas absolutely take in this show.  It’s worth every penny (which isn’t that much if you go to the discount ticket booth).

It’s been the best week I’ve had in my entire life.  I have married a wonderful woman and gained an amazing new family.  Tomorrow we head back home and settle back into the “routine”.  But I do that with a smile on my face, since I know I’ve got someone special to share it with.

As promised, there are more pictures from the wedding.  You can have a look here.  There is also a DVD, but we’ve not watched it yet.  Now if we just knew someone who was good at streaming….

We spent the morning at the Planet Hollywood casino.  It was interesting, but like their restaurants,  it just lacked a little something.  It had a nice mall, though, and we spent quite a bit of time in there.

Now we’re off to the northern part of the strip.  We’re going to walk around up there until dark, then head downtown to Fremont Street for the “experience”.   I’ve never been down there in all the times I’ve been to Vegas, but have always wanted to go.  I know it sounds corny, but I’m more looking forward to it since it will be somewhere I’ve never been and I’ll get to go with my wife.  It’s the first of many new places I look forward to visiting with her.  Plus, Jim told me you can get deep fried Oreos there.  :)  But really, it’s more about seeing new places with her than the Oreos.  Really.

Well we did it! Everything went without a hitch (well except for the main one of course). The limo driver, co-ordinator and minister were all perfectly lovely and the ceremony went smoothly throughout. I managed not to cry right up until the end at the “I now pronounce you…” part. We’ve got lots of photos to go through but here is one for now. (Sorry Erica I didn’t wear a flashing veil.)

Thank you all so much for your comments, messages and texts. The whole day has been completely stress-free and wonderful. I have never been this happy and the best part of all is that now I need not call him Mr. Dotson. I may call him “my” Mr. Dotson.

(I expect Sue, Doris, Erica, Hilde and any other Jane Austen fans to get that reference!)

More pictures to come tomorrow!

Today is the day.  THE day.  In less than 8 hours from now we will be married.  Phones have been going off since 7:30 this morning.  Granted, the first was work, but after that they just kept ringing, beeping and buzzing with calls and text messages.  You people do know we’re hours behind you, right?  😛

It’s good, though.  No worries.  It was difficult getting to sleep as well as staying asleep.  Do you remember, as a kid, that feeling you got the night before Christmas?  It was so hard to go to sleep because of the anticipation of what the next day brought.  That’s how I felt last night.  I think Maria felt like that too.  After the buffet (p-a-r-t-y), we came up to the room and crashed on the bed while watching TV.  We were in fits of laughter for most of the evening.  Even things that weren’t that funny in all reality we found hilarious.  I can’t really remember a time when I was this happy.

It’s 4:00 here in Vegas, and the sun is starting to hang low in the sky.  We spent the day between the Venetian and Treasure Island.  We just got back from the pool (yeah, in February no less) and are getting ready to head back out again.   This is the last day both of us will be single, so we’re “going out” in style.  How are we celebrating, you might ask?  We’re going to go back to the Venetian to Madam Tussaud’s wax museum.  Oh yeah!  After that, there has been talk of taking in the buffet.  Do we know how to party or what?

More picture are up on my flickr.  We were just so worn out yesterday, even after the three hour nap, that I couldn’t be bothered to upload them.  I’m on a Verizon card, and while it’s fine for simple surfing and checking mail, it’s not so good on the uploading of pictures.

We’re about ready to head out, so I’ll wrap up.  I’m really looking forward to tomorrow.  I’m not really nervous.  Everyone who has met Maria knows how wonderful she is.  I’ve met the majority of her family and I love them all.  Tomorrow, they won’t be her family anymore…they will be ours.

The first of the pictures are up. You can see them here. To see the ones with us in them, you’ll need to have a Flickr account and be listed as a friend. If I’ve not listed you as a friend (or family), then either you’ve not sent me the request or you now know what I think of you. 😛 Kidding! Just send me a note and I’ll add you.

The picture here is a view from our room. To the right, out of the picture, is the Bellagio fountain. Every 15 minutes this evening they’ve been running the fountains. Since we both hurt, we’ve decided to skip tonight and go watch it one other night this week.