St. John Snorkeling

Barracuda ©2012 Jeff Blaylock

A barracuda swims by me as I snorkel off Mary Point in Virgin Islands National Park.

During our honeymoon, my wife and I went on two guided snorkeling trips. Our first, with Cruz Bay Watersports, took us to Lovongo Cay just outside the boundaries of the national park. There our new underwater camera failed, the second one I’ve “lost” in the Caribbean (The first is at the bottom of the Bio Bay on Vieques.). The next day, we took an all-day snorkel sail with Captain Jamison and the crew of the Kekoa. Jamison happened to have the same Canon camera that I was carrying, and he happened to have the nice underwater case for it. And he just happened to let me borrow it for our snorkels off Mary Point and in Leinster Bay near Waterlemon Cay. These photos are from those two snorkels.
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Reception No. 1 in Photos

Cutting the Cake ©2011 Photography by Karen

One of the few traditions we upheld was the ceremonial cutting of the cake. As neither of us are dessert people, the only bites we had of it were the ones we ceremonially fed each other.

On our wedding day, we held a reception at the Wildwood Inn in Denton. We had rented out the hotel for the night of and night before the wedding. We had taken most of our photos before the ceremony, but we had a few to take at the end. So we arrived about half an hour after most of our guests.
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Our Wedding Ceremony in Pictures

Escorting Each Other ©2011 Photography by Karen

It was important to each of us that we walk down the aisle together. This was one of several wedding ceremony traditions we turned on its head.

Here are some highlights of the wedding ceremony itself. The ceremony began precisely at 5:30 p.m. on the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year. In Denton, Texas, it was sunset, and the last rays of the setting sun shone through the west-facing stained glass windows.
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Before the Wedding

Angels on Our Shoulders ©2011 Photography by Karen

Angels sing on our shoulders in Cole Chapel.

Here are some highlights of wedding day photos, taken by Karen Scruggs and her excellent assistant. Lisa was already thoroughly photographed before my first turn before the cameras. Since we were going to escort each other down the aisle, and take photos beforehand, we decided to have a formal “First Look” moment for my first view of my bride.

First Look ©2011 Photography by Karen

Prior to our wedding ceremony, we had a few moments with just the two of us (and the photographers) so I could get a "first look" at my bride.


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The Toast

The Best Man's Toast ©2011 Jeff Blaylock

My best man toasts the happy couple during our wedding reception.

My best man Brett quoted Edward Abbey in his toast to the bride and groom:

May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. May your rivers flow without end, meandering through pastoral valleys tinkling with bells, past temples and castles and poets’ towers into a dark primeval forest where tigers belch and monkeys howl, through miasmal and mysterious swamps and down into a desert of red rock, blue mesas, domes and pinnacles and grottoes of endless stone, and down again into a deep vast ancient unknown chasm where bars of sunlight blaze on profiled cliffs, where deer walk across the white sand beaches, where storms come and go as lightning clangs upon the high crags, where something strange and more beautiful and more full of wonder than your deepest dreams waits for you — beyond that next turning of the canyon walls.

2011 in 12 Photos

As I have done in past years, this post highlights one image from each month of the year. These are not the 12 best photos of the year, just the 12 that tell the story of 2011, a very difficult year which ended in bright light.

January

War Room Sunset ©2011 Jeff Blaylock

The sun sets behind Reunion Tower as seen from my office, the Corporate Communications War Room in the headquarters building of AT&T.

February

Chisos Romps in the Snow ©2011 Jeff Blaylock

Chisos romps in the nearly 4 inches of overnight snowfall in the backyard.


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I Will

I Will ©2011 Jeff Blaylock

Jeff, will you love Lisa as no other and share all that you are with her?

Will you honor her goals and dreams, help her achieve them and hold her accountable to her success?

Will you respect her, support her, be her best friend and soulmate, and love her unconditionally?

Will you take Lisa to be your wife, through health and sickness, through rain and drought, through joy and sorrow, through peace and turmoil, through achievement and loss, through pride and disappointment, through the seasons and the years, over the miles and the horizons, now and forever, until the last step of your journey on this earth?

I will.

It’s Raining!

It's Raining! ©2011 Jeff Blaylock

It's raining! Finally a break in this brutally hot, dry summer.

Texas Multi-tasking

Texas Multi-tasking ©2011 Jeff Blaylock

Texas Multi-tasking: grilling dinner while working on the tan. Probably should wear a hair net though.

Chillin’ With Chisos

Chillin' With Chisos ©2011 Jeff Blaylock

Chillin' with Chisos. The good folks at SICFIT reposted this photo on Facebook and declared I was exhibiting an "unachievable level of swag. Do not attempt." Further comments were positive, so mission accomplished.