Wedding Bells

Okay, so I am trying to catch up on blogging for the past two months...

Many of you know that my "big" brother, Karl, married his wife Amy on September 21st in the mountains of Lyons, CO just outside of Denver, where they live.  Michael and I were fortunately able to take 3 vacation days from our jobs and make the whirlwind trip from Seoul to Denver in a span of 5 days to see them, attend the wedding, and spend a short time with some family and friends.  We left Seoul early on Saturday morning and returned late Wednesday evening.  We felt like we were walking in a fog most of the time while we were there because of the extreme jet lag, but it was well worth the trip.  It was great to be able to witness Karl & Amy's marriage ceremony and the love that they have for each other, as well as to get to meet many of their friends who mean so much to them in Denver.  If any of you know the Kukta family very well, you know that we three siblings may look strikingly similar, but we each have our own unique personalities and interests (Michael says we are the three most unlikely siblings he has ever met--of course, he is the master of hyperbole).  Karl is definitely the hippie, philosophical, intellectual sibling.  He has a degree in English, loves to play the drums of any sort, and enjoys sharing obscure music with people (he and Michael are similar in that respect).  We are two years apart and most of my life I was known as "Karl's sister"--he was pretty outgoing and was friends with everyone and I was very shy and reserved (haha, I know, many of you did not know me in those days).  I think my love for baseball and musical knowledge can be attributed to Karl--I grew up watching him play Little League and later high school baseball, and he knows all about pretty much every single musical artist or band known to man (I know my fair share, but I pale in comparison).  We went to high school together for a year, attended and graduated from the same university, and even took a class together in college (his hair was longer and mine was short and our professor first asked us if we were twins--kind of strange).  Anyway, we've had our share of ups and downs over the years as most siblings do (especially girls who are beaten up by their older brothers :), but we've always for the most part been able to enjoy each other's company, which of course is rare these days seeing as we've lived in different states/countries for about 5 years now.  So, it made me very happy to be able to take part in his special day and to see him so happy and content with Amy, my new sister-in-law.  I first met Amy about 3 years ago when she came to San Diego with him for Christmas, and liked her immediately.  Now, I don't know her as well as I would like to because of the distance factor, but what I do know is that she is a very kind, caring person who gives so much of herself to help others.  She is very artistic and creative and has a huge heart for people (and animals!).  They are similar, yet different, which makes them complement each other.  I look forward to maybe one day living closer to them so that we can spend more time together and develop a deeper relationship.

So, I am going to post just a few photos from the day (I don't have as many as I wanted to because my camera batteries died just as I started to take photos--argh!  That seems to be a trend these days). 

Here is Karl waiting patiently for the wedding to begin.  I was sooo happy that he finally cut his long hair off.  It looks great. :)

Amy and Karl with their friend, Mark (?), the officiant, during the ceremony.

Their dog, Osso, the "ring bearer," along with Rogelio and Mikey (?)  Obviously I am not remembering names so well...I think it has to do with the fact that we were in an airplane for the same amount of time that we were on American soil.

Amy and Karl.

Andy, our little brother, whispering sweet nothings in Karl's ear. :)  That's also Ben Ebert next to Andy, an old friend of Karl's from our youth group days.  It was great to see Ben again.

 A kiss!

Both of my dad's siblings made it to the wedding, from CT and CA, and here they are with their spouses, sitting around and laughing.  This was the first time the three of them had all been together in a long time.  It was good to see my aunts and uncles.  We did miss Gramma Kukta, though, as well as the cousins on the Kukta side.  This is Uncle John & Aunt Sue, Uncle Dickie & Aunt Barbara, and Dad & Mom.

We also missed most of the Wilson clan, Papa and Grammy, and most of the aunts, uncles and cousins. Cousins David, Sarah, and Jenny were able to make it and so did Aunt Kathy.  It was great to see them!  Here's a photo of me and my beautiful cousin Jenny!

Here are the two cakes.  They not only looked great, but they tasted delicious (and believe me, I had plenty of each--its hard to find delicious cakes in Korea).

Cutting the cake.

Andy, little brother, giving his "best man" toast.

First dance.

Here's a photo of our family, not the best quality.

Here's another one (I copied it off of the wedding photographer's website, but I am citing it right here so I don't get in trouble).

Here's a photo from the day after the wedding as we headed out.  Me, Karl, and Andy.

We headed to Denver to meet up with some of my best girlfriends from college, and former roommates!  We shopped a little, ate a great dinner at Sweet Tomatoes, went to Starbucks, and then headed to Heidi's house to crash for a few short hours before we flew home to Korea.

Here are Jenny, me, Michael, Anne, Dustin (Heidi's boyfriend), and Heidi.  What a great time to see them and to get to meet Dustin!

So, that concludes our long-weekend trip to the U.S.  Wish it could have been longer, but we were able to do what we needed to do!  More catching up to come soon...

~Leslie