........... my two dads: June 2008

17 June, 2008. An historic day for families like ours...

Arriving for our 8:00 am appointment at the Santa Ana Courthouse. The courthouse was filled with excitement as we approached the Clerk Recorder's Office. Once inside, the staff was all smiles and there to help us through the process of first obtaining our license to marry then facilitating the civil ceremony. Both Jeff & I were jittery as we tried to anticipate the process, manage our two children and review the official documents while the press were asking a zillion questions about our day, our lives together and our children.

Completing our marriage license;

The reporters swarmed the scene to capture the moment;

License in hand, we waited in the front room for our witnesses, Ray & Julie Smith to arrive.

With our witnesses, Ray & Julie Smith (with daughter, Summer), we are all set for the ceremony;

Lucas attends to last minute details as we prepare to exchange our vows;

Carmen performs the ceremony as I place Jeff's ring on his LEFT HAND!!! (Lucas did a GREAT job as ring-bearer as Kate continues to sleep ;o)

More press capture our moment as we are introduced as married spouses for life;

NBC interviews us afterward;

We wore Miss Kate out from all the excitement...

Afteward, we headed over to Zov's for brunch with the Smiths. Then we were off shopping at Euro Bath & Tile to look at fixtures for our new master bath...kids went to Grammy's for the rest of the day.

We ended the day with a delicious dinner specially prepared by the chef of Napa Rose at Disney's Grand California Hotel. We sat at the Chef's Table and had wine pairings with each course. My personal favorites - petit filet cooked medium rare covered with melted brie & walnuts, the William Selyem 2006 Pinot Noir from the CentralCoast and the pistachio & cherry gelato with cinnamon crisps. Of course we had to have one more cocktail at the Uva Bar at Downtown Disney. What a great day!

Some surprises when we got home from Grammy & the Holland Family...