Name: Andy Goers
Status: Usher
How We Met: Andy and I were randomly selected to live together my sophomore year, his freshman year. I dare you to try and find two more compatible people that were randomly paired together. We both have a great appreciation for knowledge and learning. Many nights we got little sleep because we were sharing what we knew with each other.
Actually, I first spoke with Andy on AIM before meeting him in person. The one thing that struck me as really odd about those conversations was his use of smiley faces. He used then when I would not have expected someone to smile. It made some more sense after I met him and saw what a big smile he has. Little did I know that this characteristic of Andy would end up playing a role in my favorite memory of him.
Favorite Memory: On a football weekend at ISU, many of our friends came to town and we decided to eat at Applebee's. We probably had about 12 people at our table including Aaron and Kyle. Andy was sitting on one end, I was sitting near the other, and my high school friend Ryan Marx was sitting in the middle. When our waitress was serving us our waters, she accidentally dumped a large quantity in Ryan's lap. Most of us, knowing Ryan very well, didn't know how to react. Sure it was funny but we also felt bad for him. Then, seemingly in unison, everyone looked over at Andy who was trying to hide his big smile. The tension brook as everyone burst out laughing. Whenever someone retells this story, they also include their account of seeing Andy's smile.
The best example I can give of Andy's smile.
Andy is the middle person in the front row. We got third in our division of ISU's intramural basketball that year.
This is my surprise 21st birthday.
Andy gradated from ISU in May 2010 with degrees in Math and Physics. This fall, he will begin his graduate work in physics at the University of Maryland, College Park. In fact, he is already there working for a professor this summer.
After I asked her to be a part of the wedding (right after she got so excited about being able to help).
Dinner after dress shopping...too cute!Name: Kyle Halligan
Status: Usher
How We Met: Kyle and I went to the same elementary school, so we go way back. In elementary school, I had two groups of friends that we shall call "jocks" and "nerds". Kyle was in my "nerd" group of friends. Every year for my birthday party, I would invite both groups, which always made for an interesting time. Even though I labelled Kyle as a nerdy friend, we also played on the same soccer team some number of years. My mom has team photos somewhere.
Favorite Memory: My favorite memory of Kyle is of a more general nature. Everyone knows that I like to argue and Kyle frequently argues back...to the bitter end! Kyle also went to ISU. Many times Kyle, Aaron, and I would eat dinner together at ISU's Union Drive Marketplace dinning center. Sometimes, our whole conversation was taken up by an argument between me and Kyle. Most of the time, Aaron would play Swedish by remaining neutral through silence.
Tailgating before a football game.
Standing in line waiting to get into a football game.
At a football game. (That is me on the right.)
Kyle graduated from ISU in 2010 in Mechanical Engineering. He continues to reside in Ames and is employed as a transportation engineer for the Iowa Department of Transportation.
Update:
Here are some pics of us when we were just wee little chaps.
Name: Cathy Du
Status: Hostess
How We Met: Cathy and I lived in the same dorm (though on separate floors) our freshman year at ISU and were also involved in a couple of clubs together. Sophomore year we lived on the same floor (though we basically lived in each other's rooms) and we were then official roommates for three (yikes!) years.
Favorite Memory: A couple of summers ago (only the second time Tyson and I were ever actually together) he and I plus Cathy and her now-boyfriend Wilber were all hanging out together one night. Cathy and Wilber were in the back of the car when she started talking about how Minnesota is so much colder because it is SO much closer to the North Pole than Iowa, "Like, it would probably only take about 8 hours or so to drive there." Within five minutes of this revolutionary statement she proceeded to say (completely unrelated to anything else going on at the time), "Hey...shouldn't it be called un-planned parenthood?" My other favorite memory was when we decided it was a good idea during our sophomore year to watch all of the Grey's Anatomy episodes from seasons 1 and 2-a good 29 hours or so-in about the span of one week. We would stay up in my dorm room until at 2, 3, or even 4 in the morning because watching Grey's was so addicting. Good times. :)
...to summers in Minnesota (don't ask me to explain this picture)...
...and back to Minnesota (Cathy's newly adopted home-state) :) ...
I'm so glad I met this girl over 4 years ago (and especially glad that I have friends who were also on the 5-year plan! *High-five*)!Name: Aaron Walters
Status: Usher
How We Met: Aaron and I met in 7th grade because we had the same home room. Home room assignments were based on last name, which is why I met Dan Yap the previous year. However, I did not meet Aaron in 6th grade because he was at Hayworth that year. Our home room was awesome, literally the best. It was the mod tech room, which was air conditioned.
Favorite Memory: Aaron and I stuck together after high school because we both went to ISU. In our first semester, we both started out as engineers. It was pretty obvious that Aaron was not enjoying the engineering track. In the second semester, engineers take Physics I. Here is (the essence) of a question that we had in one of our exams:
You are on top of the ISU Campanile at a height of 80 m. You throw a ball weighing 5 kg directly parallel to the ground at a velocity of 20 m/sec. If you ignore the friction from the air and assume that the acceleration of Earth's gravity is 10 m/sec2, how far from the base of the Campanile will the ball be when it hits the ground?When I read this question, I thought...
"The Campanile is not 80 meters tall!"Needless to say, Aaron switched that semester from the college of engineering to the college of business.
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Not quite sure what she is thinking in this picture...but she is still pretty stinkin' cute!Name: Dan Yap
Status: Groomsman
How We Met: Dan and I met in 6th grade because we had the same home room. You know how I usually just say whatever I am thinking and only consider whether or not I should have spoken afterwords? Sometimes when this happens in school, certain classes get collectively annoyed at me. I remember this "class" being one of those, but Dan would just be laughing with me when everyone got mad at me.
Here is another story about home room. Dan and I would play Gin Rummy. I don't know what Dan's problem was, but he would take FOREVER to decide what he should do. While deciding, he would stare with complete focus at his cards relatively close to his face. As punishment for taking so long, I decided that I would cheat. Since Dan was so focused on his own hand, he never saw me when I would reach out, look at the top card on the draw pile, and put that card somewhere else in the deck if I didn't like it.
Favorite Memory: I was not there at the genesis of this inside joke, but Dan created a pair words: boji (pronounced "bo-ge") and boje (pronounced "bo-jeh"). They are both nouns that describe "a person that is so fat, if you pushed them over on a hill, they would roll all the way down." We used these words frequently in high school.
I rarely (if ever) have created my own words like this. So I found it really funny to discover one day in high school that Dan was not the first person to describe someone "as being so fat that she is round.
"...she is spherical, like a globe; I could find out countries in her."I just read the context in which this quote is found for the first time and the whole thing is funny.
~Shakespeare: The Comedy of Errors (Act III. Scene II.)
...and the requisite pose with the cookie.
Name: Tyler Jay
Status: Groomsman
How We Met: The summer that I met Shannon (summer 2007), we met one day when I went to Shannon's house to pick her up or drop her off.
Favorite Memory: Last summer, the three of us (Tyler, Shannon, and myself) were playing Catch Phrase. It was Shannon's turn to give the clues. Giving her clue, Shannon said (in her normal voice), "Some people say I have this when I talk." The correct answer was accent; Shannon has a Minnesoootain accent. However, before I could respond with the correct answer, Tyler said, "Lisp."
"No," Shannon replied. "If that was the answer, then I would have said, 'thome people thay I have thith when I talk.'" We all laughed for a very long time.
(Big) Chippewa Lake 2008
Notice how nice the weather looks and how comfortably we are dressed.
(Big) Chippewa Lake 2009
Notice how crappy the weather looks and how bundled up we are.
This was just last weekend. Everyone was there for Shannon's graduation from ISU.
My shirt is from my (previous) undergraduate university and Tyler's shirt is from his (future) undergraduate university. He is going to Kent State for musical theater.
Name: Matthew Delzell
Status: Groomsman
How We Met: Since Matthew is my older cousin, we met at my birth.
Favorite Memory: How can I have a favorite memory of my cousin that I have known for 22 years? (Does this sound familiar?) Well, generally speaking, I enjoyed playing with Legos with Matthew. Every birthday and Christmas, we would shake our presents to see if they contained Legos. Matthew always had the best creations. My two favorites were his time-travelling pair of DeLorean and locomotive from Back to the Future I and III respectively. Sorry, no pictures :( Also, Shannon says that smart kids play with Legos :)
I also have a specific memory that comes to mind. My parents did not allow my brother and me to have any kind of video game system other than two Game Boys. Luckily my cousins had a Nintendo. Other than the classic Super Mario Bros. 3 and Duck Hunt, they had Christian video games. My favorite was Spiritual Warfare. We have beaten the game countless times, but this memory comes from before any of those victories. One day when my aunt and uncle were gone and Emily (Matthew's older sister) was in charge, we were all playing Spiritual Warfare together. The excitement grew as we passed a point in the game that we had never passed before. Then, Matthew accidentally bumped the Nintendo and froze the game. As a punishment for getting out of control, Emily made him sit in the other room...by himself.
This is from a birthday party of mine in the garage of our old house. Did I get Legos? It doesn't look like it.
Here we are hangin' out at his church.
...but we sure make some hot bowlers...
...and look slightly scary with guns...
and all in all we are pretty darn cute!Name: Travis Arthur Williams
Status: Best Man
How We Met: Since Travis is my younger brother, we met at his birth.
Favorite Memory: How can I have a favorite memory of my brother that I have known for 22 years? I can't, but here is one that is pretty good. One day a preschool, we were served the provided lunch, but no one knew what the food was. I was not sure, but after thinking about it for a minute, I announced to the kids that it was pizza. I mean, it tasted like pizza and kind of looked like pizza. That should be enough, right? As soon as Travis "knew" that it was pizza, he started eating it and saying how good it tasted. A teacher heard all the excitement, so she came over to see what was up. Somehow, she figured out that we thought that we were eating pizza, so she corrected us by informing us that we were eating lasagna. My thought was, "Cool, I like lasagna," but my brother's reaction was, "Yuck, I hate lasagna" and stopped eating it. Even years later, our cousins would give him crap about this.
What a worthless baby. He can't even roll himself over.
Why the weird look on your face? Did you eat some sand??
This picture is obviously Photoshoped because I don't wear jeans. I wonder if I hit Travis in the face?...Mom, why would you have professional pictures taken with a wound like that?
Sending my brother off to college. (If you are like me, then you are wondering what is in his hands. It's hangers.) He went to the University of Iowa (as hinted by his hat) and is currently in his fourth year there in the athletic training program.
When I asked her to be my maid of honor...
A typical night at our apartment...
