Fun Facts: Groomsman – Jared Long

It was always my dream as a future groom to compose my side of the wedding party with as many large, red people as possible. Although the inclusion of Grant prohibits me from filling the spots with three as I would have preferred, our third groomsman more than makes up for it. Enter: A. Jared Long.


Fun Facts about Jared:
-Jared has danced around in a leotard more than once.
-Jared has big, dopey, loving dog named Echo, who is Attila’s best fried/boyfriend. Jared gets mad when they make out.
-Krystle’s mom purposely makes more food when she knows that Jared is coming over.
-Jared has a long-term friendship with Brittney, the MOH.
-Jared once ate over 20 chicken drummies in a single sitting.
-Jared has a sweet cabin on the Hood canal, which is pretty much why we’re friends with him.
-Jared and Krystle have known each other since he was 9 months old.
-Jared was Brittney’s (the MOH) date to homecoming sophomore year.
-Jared drills things for a living.
-It takes Jared 13 bullets to kill a rabbit.
-Despite what he may think, Jared is not a good singer on Guitar Hero. Seriously.
-Jared loves tank-tops.
-Jared also answers to “Jare-Bear.”
-Jared is afraid of gypsies.
-Jared had to run after Krystle when she tried running to Jack in the Box one night, which included across a busy street in front of a police car.
The Bottom Line: While we (mostly Krystle) make fun of Jared a lot, we have actually missed him since he went to Montana to work over a month ago. We’re excited to have him as a member of our wedding party, and can’t wait to tear it up in Mexico with him!

Fun Facts: Groomsmen - Grant

Grant Watson. Hmmm… well he let us put him in the dog crate once, he’s gone several days without showering before, and has tipped over Honey Buckets. Somehow, he’s still managed to wrangle a place in our wedding party. We actually are pretty excited about it too. Is something wrong with him… or with us?


Fun Facts About Grant
- Until Grant was about 6 or 7, he watched the following movies almost daily: Lion King, Beethoven and Homeward Bound. It’s no wonder that Krystle can still recite most of the lines to those movies.
- Grant used to be able to make a noise that sounded exactly like a dolphin. Then his voice changed. He can no longer make said noise.
- Grant’s a master of the obvious. Case in point: Krystle, Jared, Ryan, and Brian on a chairlift. Grant: “Guys, when there’s snow on the trees it means it snowed recently”.
- Grant had the best imagination growing up. He would use his toys to make scuba gear and mountain climbing gear to go on expeditions. He was typically summiting the stairs. With the dog in tow. 
- Grant loves dogs – he received stuffed animal dogs several years in a row for Christmas and always had names picked out for each of them ahead of time.
- Brittney (MOH) thought Krystle trained Grant to like her more when he was little.
- Grant prefers hiking up a mountain and skiing down, rather than taking a chair lift like normal people.
- Grant drives a car that is the same age as him – 1990 Ford Ranger.
- Grant broke Brittney’s finger when he was little by smashing it with his toy guitar.
- Grant loves to ski, snowboard, scuba dive, wakeboard, mountain bike, and hike. He’s not really a “team sports” kind of guy. Probably a reason why Grant and Brian get along so well.
- Grant once sold Krystle his bike for $100. The bike was broken. Krystle was unaware of this at the time of purchase.
- Grant’s been letting Brian borrow his really nice Trek road bike. Note: Brian does not wear the stretchy shorts like all other road bikers do.
- Grant already has the name picked out for his future German Shepherd: Jerry Lee.
- Grant is a freshman at Oregon Institute of Technology.
- Grant loves fireworks. He’ll be in charge of the Mexican fireworks at our wedding. Is this a bad judgment call?
- Bottomline: Even though he does have the tendency to text his friends whenever he’s hanging out with Krystle and Brian, he’s a pretty great little brother. He’s always willing to watch the dog for us, come hang out, and is actually very helpful. We’re so glad he can be a part of our day – plus he’s always wanted an older brother… so he’s kind of getting one now.

Fun Facts: The Best Man

What is a best man? Is it a person who is big, red and loves beer? In our case it is! Even before I had proposed to my lovely bride, I knew that my best man could be none other than my best friend, the incomparable Jon Carey!


Fun Facts about Jon:
-Jon and I know each other through Troop 3: the Groton, MA branch of the Boy Scouts of America.
-Jon was a fat kid, like me!
-Jon is married to Andrea. She is more attractive than he is.
-Our aforementioned fatness may have come from sharing numerous pizzas and cases of Mountain Dew while watching movies and forsaking any sort of physical activity (this is speculation, as it still has not been proven beyond a reasonable doubt).
-Jon and I went to Australia together; and although he may tell you otherwise the whole thing was my idea.
-I was the best man at Jon’s wedding, where I got a little tipsy prior to my speech and may have referred to Krystle as “chemically imbalanced” – I don’t remember this though.
-Jon has been known by many names… actually he hasn’t, but I just wanted to refer to him as a beer-robot again.
-Jon has the uncanny ability to get A’s in school without doing much work, or at least procrastinating until the very last second.
-Every time I have attempted to match Jon drink for drink I have ended up with a multiple-day hangover.
-Jon and Andrea have a cat named Finn.
-Jon is allergic to cats.
-We are both Eagle Scouts, and although Krystle does not believe me, we don’t do a bird call when greeting each other.
-Jon will be moving to Washington sometime in the future: he does not have a say in this matter.
-Bottomline: Jon is the most loyal friend I know, and I could not think of another person whom I would consider to stand beside me as my best man on my wedding day!

A step back in time...(part I)

In the last post, I mentioned that Brian and I (clearly it's Krystle writing this thing... come on, folks) have been dating for five years. However, there are some of you who may not know the full story of how Brian managed to land such a classy girl, like myself. Since I'm guessing you're dying to know, and let's face it - I'm a little bored today, I'll give you the facts.

Once upon a time, a girl named Krystle had a dream to go to Australia. Some folks said it couldn't be done. Too bad for them - she did it anyway. So she got into a study abroad program (Australearn) and started planning her trip. Luckily, her parents had several thousand frequent flier miles and gifted her the ticket. The only downside - she would fly separate from the rest of the group. So she got on a plane, by herself, and was off. While in the sky a creepy dude who had gotten deported from the US rubber her feet while she was asleep. Yup, that was her first introduction to Australia. Brian is pretty lucky she didn't just turn around there. Annnnnnnnnyways... after spending a night alone in Syndey, she was finally going to meet up with the rest of the group. Upon spotting a fellow WWU student (Megan Strobel, now Megan Lervick), she got pretty excited and apparently (and CLEARLY not typical) started talking rather loudly. Little did she know that two awesome dudes from MA overheard this exchange and were commenting to each other about how loud that girl is over there (they probably thought it was pretty cool... right?).

Little did Brian (who was one of those dudes from MA - the other is the best man) know - that was the girl he'd choose to spend the rest of his life with. So as they all took off to go north to Cairns and spend a week up there - lives were changed for ever. (No... I don't think I'm being over-dramatic) They hung out in a large group together in Cairns and then headed down to the beautiful section of Australia known as Townsville. It was in this army-base, barren, nothing-like-the-pamphlet town that Krystle and Brian really got to know each other. Soon enough Brian asked Krystle out to dinner (they went to an Italian restarant and had very awkard conversation), they walked on the beach, and continued to date throughout their time in Australia. As the trip was approaching it's end (they spent about 5 months in Townsville) - Krystle made the bold move of suggesting they try to stay together back in the states. The only problem? Krystle lived in WA, while Brian lived in MA. Upon heading back to the states - they worked hard to have a relationship over the phone, Brian came to visit in January, Krystle went to visit Brian in March (and have an interview at Emerson College in Boston to get her master's degree), Brian opted out of a trip to Hawaii to watch Krystle graduate from WWU... and they kept the relationship going. As life continued, Krystle moved to Boston - got her degree, worked at a horrendous company; Brian got his degree, started teaching...and life looked pretty good. Then Krystle decided to up and move to San Francisco for another job. Too bad Brian refused to life in CA. So he did the best he could - moved to Seattle and waited for Krystle to return. Luckily, a client needed onsite support in Seattle and Krystle got to move back 9 months into her stay in SF.

Yes, this is a long story... it's a complicated story... but it's made us who we are today.

In the next edition - their first apartment in Issaquah, the proposal, and where we are today.

What's up with the wedding?

Yup, it's true... after FIVE years of dating, living together, living across the country together, and everything else in between... we're getting married! We're hoping to use this blog as a place to provide information to those who are planning on joining us, those who are unable to join (but are curious to see just how awesome this wedding will be), and probably let some creepy internet stalkers hang out too.

So here's what we know so far:
Date:July 3, 2010
Location: Casa Romero, Akumal, Mexico (both ceremony & reception)
Time: TBA (probably pre-cocktails around 5:30, ceremony at 6)
Bridal Party (more specific details on these wonderful folks in later posts): Maid of Honor: Brittney Watson; Best Man: Jon Carey; Bridesmaids: Laurel & Caitlin Murphy; Groomsmen: Grant Watson & Jared Long

We'll be posting details on flights, hotels, things to do in Akumal, trivia about ourselves and the bridal party. In addition, feel free to use the comments area - we'll check back to answer questions.

Can't wait for the big day & hope that you can all make it!