The Bridal Party: Flower Girl and Ring Bearers

Brian and Jess are honored and privileged to have asked the Farrar children to fill the essential positions of Flower Girl and Ring Bearer(s).

Jessica and I are lucky enough to get to babysit these kids every now and then. It's a lot of fun because the kids are great. They love to play outside, use their imagination and create dramatic puppet shows. Jessica has been baby-sitting them for several years now and I used to hear stories about how funny the two boys were. Then Mia came along and the saying "the more the merrier" was solidified again. I only got to know them this past year and I've loved it. Gavin, 9, and Aiden, 6, are the big brothers of the family. Their little sister Mia, 2, is a little bundle of curly-haired fun who just wants to play with her brothers. Together, they might be the cutest group of kids ever. When I first asked them if they were excited about being in the wedding, Mia just looked at me and exclaimed, "I'm excited to be in the wedding Brian!" Then the boys looked at each other, then back to me and Gavin said, "Yeah, I guess. It's just we don't like the name Ring Bearers." So, together we brainstormed and came up with Lords of the Rings, although Aiden still hopes we'll change it to the Ring Flames. Cute, aren't they?

The Bridal Party: Ushers

Brian is once again honored and privileged to have asked three of his best friends to usher guests to their seats at the wedding.

Ushers:

Brandon Butcher

Brandon and Brian met through Brian's cousin Kyle some ten years ago. They saw each other on and off for several years before living on the same floor at the same dorm Freshman year. Together they helped found Mizzou Men's Soccer Club, although Brandon did 95% of the work. Over the course of four and a half years, they became nothing but the best of friends. They tried to out eat each other at the dorm cafeterias much to the disgust/entertainment of Andy Patton and Sarah Phillips. They played soccer together and demolished the competition. They even enjoyed a cool beverage together now and then. Brandon will also be doing some DJ work at the reception. He will henceforth be known as DJ Butch.

Wes Boyce

Wes and Brian met through club soccer in 8th grade, and when Wes came to Kickapoo in high school the two became very good friends. It all started in Mr. Pittman's history class when Wes and Brian sat in the corner and giggled for the entire class period. They often sang in the halls to terrible pop music and on occasion would blare the Backstreet Boys from Wes's SUV. Brian eventually helped Wes snag his wife Michelle by helping him ask her to a dance, and the four of us went to every dance together from junior year on. Wes and the other usher Michael Hampton are in the picture below.



Michael Hampton

Michael (in the middle of the picture) and Brian met in 4th grade at Wanda Gray elementary. Brian thought Michael was just your typical run-of-the-mill tall, gangly goofball. It turned out he was all that and more! They were good friends all through middle school and in high school became even closer. Their group of friends hung out all the time and the two became very close through trips to Hot Springs Arkansas, poker nights, Bill Helfrecht inside jokes and the occasional fishing trip to Bennett Springs.

What to do in Springfield

Some of you may be coming to the wedding wondering "what is there to do in Springfield?" Are the "Simpsons" actually from there? Is Springfield really boring? This post will hopefully help answer these questions and many more.

10 years ago, downtown Springfield was a rundown, beat up, unpopular place. That all changed when nicer restaurants and art galleries started realizing the potential of a downtown revitalization. Now, weekends downtown are booming. From about 6pm to 2am, the streets are lined with a wide range of ages. College kids hitting the bars, young couples relaxing with a nice dinner, and the older folk perusing the newest sampling of art at all the galleries. Believe me, weekends downtown can be exciting. You probably won't see anyone from the Simpsons walking around, but often, the locals like to claim them as our own. Here are some things to pass the time during your stay in Springfield...if you get bored.

First you can start by going to this website. They often have a great list of things to do and a bunch of links to other websites with more fun things. If you are bringing kids, there is a really cool park downtown with a fountain and stream to play in and right next to that is the Mediacom Ice Park for those who want to cool down in a climate controlled environment. On Fridays and Saturdays at Founders Park, they show one family movie and then another, more mature movie. It's called "movies in the Park" and tickets are free at local supermarkets and fast food joints!

When you get hungry, we have a wealth of great restaurants. Anything from a hot dogs only place to the finest dining in Springfield. Some of our favorites include Bijan's (with a really swanky cigar bar upstairs), Grandaddy's Barbecue, and Maria's Mexican Restaurant.

If you want to get some excercise, there are some great biking trails and beautiful parks. And a great day trip with the family can take you to Branson, which has been known to cause children to shake uncontrollably in anticipation and give parents headaches at the same time. There you will find Silver Dollar CIty theme park, White Water, and the newest attraction, Branson Landing.

And finally, when anyone comes to Springfield, they have to go see Bass Pro. It is the outdoorsman's mecca. A shrine to everything fishing and hunting. Just walking around the place for an hour will provide a feast for the eyes. Stuffed polar bears, waterfalls, fish, turtles, snakes, and even a small shark or two.

And if you want more ideas check out Springfield's newspaper.

Downtown Parking

For all those folks new to Springfield or unfamiliar with downtown, here is a little map to help you figure out where to park:



Your best bets are the areas marked in yellow and orange. They are all free after 5pm and on the weekends. There are also two parking garages that the map says aren't completed, but they are. It is a little walk to get to the reception from them, but they are still an option. You can also press your luck and try to find some street parking. It's usually pretty tough to find a spot, but good things come to those who wait.

If you don't know how to get downtown, I suggest a mapquest search or google maps. Here is a link to the Gillioz Theatre maps. By the way....the big stained-glass 'G' is where the Gillioz is located.

I don't know if you heard, but...

Hooray! Jessica got a job! This news comes as a great relief to us in so many ways. We now know we will be living in Springfield for at least a year; we will have benefits thanks to the Springfield school system; and we actually feel like real adults now (at least Jess does). Jess is going to be an English teacher at Parkview High School, the home of the Vikings. She will be teaching English 2 and 4 with sophomores and seniors. Along with her teaching duties, they also informed her she will be in charge of concessions....so you may be seeing both of us handing out hot dogs and hot chocolate for a small price at a lot of Parkview athletic events (although, honestly, I still plan on rooting for Kickapoo when the schools collide). This wonderful news also makes our goal of living downtown more feasible since Parkview is very close to the center of town.

The Cake

For those of you who don't know, Jessica is actually making and baking the wedding cake. I know....crazy right? Yes, Jess likes doing things by herself, but this cake will be better than any wedding cake you've had in a long time. The first cake we made was about taste . . . hence the reason it tasted great but was a little crooked. Cake number two was actually cupcakes. This trial was focused in the flavor of the filling and icing. Delicious, but not as impressive as the cake. The third cake was made to practice technique. Mainly, the stacking technique. After cutting dowel rods into several small pieces and shoving them into the cake and topping off each layer with a solid cake-board, the cake was as straight as an arrow. Jess decorated it for Brian as a ploy to entice him to eat her food (which he doesn't like to do). He agreed it was delicious, straight and filled with lemony goodness. So now, the only test left is getting a made cake all the way to the reception hall without it melting or toppling or Brian eating it. Wish us luck and get ready to be amazed.

Honeymoon

It's been decided. We're heading West! Napa Valley and San Francisco (skyline above) to be exact. The Tuesday following the wedding, we'll grab our bags, drive to Kansas City, fly into San Francisco, drive to Napa for three days, then head back to the bay for 4 more days. We're looking forward to some good food, good sights, and great wine.



When we get to Napa we will spend the first two nights at the River Terrace Inn. It's nothing too awesome from the outside, but our room looks nice and we have a balcony in the back overlooking Napa River. Our last night we are staying at Harvest Inn. It is about 20 miles north of Napa in St. Helena. We will have our own private cottage, yards away from beautiful vineyards. During our time in Napa, we are going to be taking a wine train. Basically, you get a glass of wine, hop on a restored 1915 train, eat a gourmet lunch, try different wines, and eat dessert, all while winding through the mountains in Northern California.


It will be Brian's second visit to the city by the bay (he went with his Grandma for his 13th birthday) and Jessica's first. We are going to see the standard sights: Golden Gate Bridge, Cable Cars, TransAmerica Pyramid, Ghirardelli Chocololate, Fisherman's Wharf, and Chinatown, including the fortune cookie factory. It sounds pretty sweet! We may try to squeeze in Alcatraz, Muir Woods, and Pier 39, but nothing overbearing. Plus, we have a great little boutique hotel to escape to in the heart of the city. The Inn at Union Square is a stylish little place, unknown to a lot of travelers. (We appreciate the help TripAdvisor.) So in the famous words of the late, great Otis Redding, we'll be:

"Sittin' on the dock of the bay,
Watchin' the tide roll away."