Broncos Game at Invesco!

So it all began a month ago when Andy and I were talking about fun things to do BB (Before Brady gets here!) and one of us mentioned going to see the Broncos play downtown.  I'd never been to a professional football game before and told Andy I'd love for us to go sometime.  Within the week he called me from work with tickets to the Broncos - Oakland game.  So exciting!

The day started off beautifully.  The air was crisp and clear.  The leaves were changing in the trees -- brilliant hues of gold, orange, and red set against the autumn grey sky.  The day was filled with promise.  Andy pulled out his two Broncos jerseys (one to fit over my baby bump!) and we packed long sleeve shirts and a blanket to take with us in case the weather cooled.

After a short ride on the Light Rail to the Invesco station and a looong walk through shouting vendors and make-shift booths selling (what my favorite vendor yelled) "slightly less expensive overpriced crap," we arrived at the stadium.

We walked around (and around!) the front sidewalk until arriving at Gate 4 where we were told to go find our seats.  MAN were they great seats!  Section 112 Row 15!  That's just fifteen yards off the field right at the corner of the end zone; luckily on the Broncos side of the field, too!  We were there in time to watch the players warming up and could pick out Coach McDaniels, Quarterbacks Orton, Tebow, and Quinn (so cute!) from our seats.  This was really cool.

Things started with a cute "junior cheerleader" routine from 600 local girls dancing with the Broncos Cheerleaders, while people on the sidelines blew up the inflatable Bronco surrounding the Broncos entrance to the field and made ready the smoke machines.

Next, they freaked me out by announcing four skydivers who spiraled and soared onto the field (and nearly killed themselves... okay not really, but I was paranoid for their safety!) trying to land on specially colored rings as a contest.

Then, the Broncos were announced and all came rushing in to smoke, fireworks, and fanfare...

The coin was tossed.  The game began.

Our faces dropped

...as the Broncos let the Raiders score three touchdowns and a field goal within the first quarter.  Ouch!  Again and again and again, the Broncos fumbled at catching the ball, slipped and slid on the grass instead of making the tackle, and allowed the Raiders to march down the field to score far too many points for one game.  It was a sad, sad state of affairs for Broncos team members and fans alike.  Kyle Orton was not at his best, but remained in the game as the Broncos quarterback.  Fans in the stands started chanting, "We want Tebow!" to no avail.  The few Oakland fans scattered throughout the stadium stood and whooped and cheered time and time again.  The beer guy ran up and down the stairs of the stadium selling Budweisers and Coors to sulking Broncos fans who resorted to drowning their sorrows while they watched the rather abysmal game unfold.

After the first quarter, the Raiders were up 24-0.  That's 3 touchdowns and a field goal to no defense.  By the end of the second quarter, Oakland had scored two more touchdowns to Denver's one, making the score OAK 38 - DEN 7.  The stadium nearly emptied at halftime as Broncos fans rushed to the food and drink stands for distraction.  When third quarter started, I was somewhat hopeful as Denver pulled out an early touchdown.  I thought, "All right Broncos!  Now you're playing football!"  Then, they let the Raiders score 3 more touchdowns.  People around us started packing up and leaving, without wanting to stick around for another quarter of this massacre.  At point I said to Andy, "The only defense our team has are the 5-10 yard penalties called against the Raiders by the refs!"  Sheesh!

With a final score of 59-14, Oakland marched off the field proudly while Denver licked its wounds, falling to 2-5 for the season.

Today, the Denver Broncos website quotes Head Coach McDaniels as saying that the game was "uncompetitive" to say the least.  "It's not good enough -- it's not even close to good enough," McDaniels said. "I apologize to (Owner) Pat (Bowlen) and the organization, all the fans and everyone else. It was awful."

Despite the devastating game, I at least can say that I had a wonderful time at the "Mile High" Stadium.  Just being there, so close to the field and the game, a part of the crowd and the cheers (and many boos) was exhilarating.  And I can't help but hope that there is still some small ray of victorious light yet to come for this struggling Broncos team...

10~10~10!

Continuing with my nostalgia, I would be remiss if I didn't mention a wonderful wedding that occurred in Virginia on the fetching date of 10/10/10.  When I think of my childhood, there are a few people that come to mind whose presence in my life was major:  my parents, of course, the "Rayford Jr's" (Mom's brother and his wife and daughter), a couple of close church friends, and Erin who lived two doors up the street from us on Chancellor.  Erin and I are loooong time friends who met on our big wheels (Erin's was Cabbage Patch Kids themed and for some reason I can't remember mine) at the age of four.

Yeah, 80's flashback!

Erin and I are not ashamed to admit that we were Barbie girls.  We each owned Barbie's Dream House and about a hundred or more Barbies with multiple outfits and brushes.  (And for those of you Barbie lovers out there, did you ever actually get any of Barbie's shoes to fit and stay on?  Total waste of an accessory, if you ask me.)  All throughout our childhood we would take turns playing at each other's houses: from Barbies to swing sets, pool parties to sleepovers with scary movies, burning tea bags (true story) to practicing moves for color guard.  We trick-or-treated as witches several Halloweens in a row and then later in life filled pumpkin themed trash bags with newspaper to wear with green tights and parade around the neighborhood with our friend Alexa as pumpkins one especially cold year.  Yes, plenty of embarrassing photos exist of us that I will not share with you now... maybe later;-)

 Best Christmas present EVER! ;-D

Alas, after much tribute to our *gasp* 25 years of friendship I come to the weekend of October 10th, 2010 when Erin got married to a great guy by the name of Eamon.  I was honored to be a part of the wedding and it was such a wonderful weekend of reconnecting with Erin, her family, Alexa, and other friends.  What a joyous occasion!  Here are a few of my favorite photos from the weekend:

Me and Brady (6 months pregnant!) getting ready for the rehearsal.

(Left to Right) Alexa, Maid of Honor, and Erin, Bride!

Erin and Eamon - the happy bride and groom:-)

Wedding Day!

Gorgeous dress.

Glamour Bride

It was a special day full of Ritz-Carlton classiness, fond childhood memories, happy tears, good friends, and a whole lot of celebrating one terrific couple!  Here's to you, Erin, and may this new chapter of your life be only the best:-)

Philosophical Musings on a Decade of Good Experiences

Yesterday was my 29th birthday and no, I am not ashamed to share my age.  Instead, as I embark upon the last year of my twenties I am feeling rather nostalgic, reflecting on all that I've experienced and accomplished in this decade.  Exciting yet tumultuous at times the decade of your twenties is characterized by change.  Everything changes when you are in college and turn 20.  You're no longer a teenager (which makes you feel even more independent, grown-up, and invincible than before) and, if you're a college goer, you start delving into your major with classes that genuinely interest you and thoughts of your bright, shining future as a successful, financially independent, adult member of society loom large on the sunny horizon.  Oh, and you're almost of legal drinking age;-)  Then, you hit 21 and you party in style to celebrate your legal arrival at adulthood.  When I turned 21 I was a senior in college, so that spring I was attending every job fair in sight while preparing for graduation. 

In my early twenties, I graduated from college.  Hooray!  I now had a bachelor's of arts degree to go out into the world and be recognized as the next brilliant author, publisher, editor, what-have-you with my ever-so-useful-and-impressive English major, right?  Wrong.  It was 2003 and employers weren't exactly leaping to hire that year's newest liberal arts graduates.  I did, thankfully, land a fun summer job working for the Governor's School of Virginia for the Arts and Humanities.  Then, that September I landed my first "real" job in the marketing department at the headquarters of AOL near my hometown in northern Virginia.  Life was my oyster now.  I was making a good starting salary, had my own company-supplied laptop, great benefits, fun coworkers, and I lived at home which meant I was saving lots of money.

Thus began the rather tumultuous part of my twenties...

9-5 repeat.
9-5 repeat.
9-5 repeat.
9-5 repeat.
TGIF! 9-5 repeat.
Hooray for the weekend.
REPEAT.

Restlessness didn't take long to settle in.

We'll call it an early quarter-life crisis;-)

After working in a lovely cube farm with very little appreciation for the good, steady job I had, I decided change was better.  I up and moved across the country to a new city I thought sounded cool -- Denver, Colorado.  Major change!  This was more rewarding and challenging than I could have originally imagined and yet it was one of the most empowering moves (literally!) that I've ever made.  Here in Denver I tried my hand at publishing (too cut-throat!) then landed another good, steady job in the training department (yeah, future teacher!) at Pulte Mortgage.  I signed a lease with a friend on a great apartment and we began literally building a life for ourselves out here in The West!

It was not long after this major life change when I met the love of my life and soon-to-be husband, Andy Getz.  A couple years later, in my now mid-twenties, Andy and I married and started another wonderful (and ironically also another cross-country) adventure of life as newlyweds.  We lived on two coasts in the first two years of our marriage, then settled back down in the Denver area.

The later half of my twenties has given me the experience of graduate schooling!  Yes, after two years of hard work and a fun semester of student teaching I now have my M.Ed. degree in Secondary English Education from George Washington University in DC!  I can't wait to have my own classroom one day.

So what final adventure awaits this last year of my twenties???  You guessed it!  PARENTHOOD!  *Gasp*  I couldn't be more ready.  Amidst all the excitement and major milestones I've accomplished in my twenties (college degree, cross-country move, marriage, master's degree, three European trips) I imagine that parenthood will be one of my proudest accomplishments.  It's one that I will get to share with my love, Andy, and we are so very excited to welcome our first son, Braden Hawthorne Getz ("Brady" for short!) into our family.

Something tells me that this last year of my twenties shall be the greatest of them all... :-)

3 magical years - the celebration!

Now that you know our story, let me tell you about our celebration.  This year with the impending arrival of our baby boy in just three short months, we decided to stay local for our anniversary celebration and do something relaxing right here in downtown Denver!  Andy's work awarded him a gift card to Maggiano's and we thought Italian food sounded perfect for our night. 

Two years ago when we were preparing to celebrate our first wedding anniversary, we discussed what precedent we wanted to start concerning gifts.  Do we go the traditional route and purchase items for each other based on the traditional gift for that year?  Do we follow the modern route?  Do our own thing?  After much discussion, we decided it would be way more fun for both of us to celebrate our anniversaries not through gifts but through experiences shared together... oh and with personalized cards for each other, too. 

For our first anniversary we were living in Alexandria, VA so we went to this nice local restaurant in Old Town Alexandria, got a couples massage that afternoon, and stayed in a beautiful boutique hotel near the restaurant.  Great experience!   

For our second anniversary we were on our fabulous Europe trip and spent the day visiting Cambridge, England (where Joy studied abroad) and had scones with clotted cream for brunch, toured Kings' College Chapel, went punting on the romantic River Cam, and had a wonderful dinner in the favorite Indian restaurant Joy had frequented 8 years prior.  So incredible!

This year our downtown excursion started early when Andy surprised me by taking a half day off work to spend the afternoon with me!  He walked in with a beautiful card, my favorite peanut butter M&Ms, and later delivered the most exquisite autumn bouquet of roses.  Aren't I the luckiest?!  We then drove downtown to enjoy a delicious meal at Maggiano's (Thanks to Uncle Ray(theon)!) followed by a romantic horse-drawn carriage ride along 16th Street Mall!  It was a magical evening.  The stars were out. The air was crisp with the hint of fall.  Sixteenth Street was alive and well with pianos sitting out at each block for people to play at their leisure.  Outside Maggiano's the shopping area was adorned with white twinkle lights crisscrossed overhead.  Conversation was delightful and the company was perfect! :-)  I love you, Andy Getz!

3 magical years

So on September 29th, Andy and I celebrated our third wedding anniversary.  It was fantastic!  But first, let me explain a little bit about how we met and fell in love...

It all started back in the summer of 2004.  Andy had just graduated from college, started his engineering career at Raytheon, and bought his first love - a shiny black Subaru STI.  Joy had just sold most of her possessions in a yard sale, packed her Jetta full of whatever was left, and driven cross-country with a friend to move from Virginia to Colorado.  We first met in November of that year at Grace Chapel.  Andy wondered who that attractive redhead was sitting next to his brother at church.  Joy wondered who that tall, good-looking guy was who just introduced himself and gave her a tour of the place.  The holidays came and went before Joy and her friend Megan showed up at church again in January.  From that point on, Andy knew he was going to get to know them.  Andy became Joy's first real friend in Colorado.  They hung out all the time whether it be during ultimate frisbee games, camping trips with the church group, or just chill evenings at The Bluffs where Joy and Megan shared an apartment and were always welcoming friends. 

It took several months of friendship before the two started dating, however once they did all their friends said, "It's about time!"

Joy was thrilled to meet Andy's large family and be included on their annual Lake Tahoe vacation the July of 2005.  It was obvious there was something special there in Joy and Andy's relationship and the family was thrilled.

Andy asked Joy out by saying, "You know you're going to marry me someday, Joy, so you might as well date me first" and boy was he right!  A year and a half later, in March of 2007, Andy planned a romantic day in Williamsburg, VA (where Joy went to college and where Joy's dad proposed to her mom) after a business trip and mini visit with Joy's family.  We walked along "DOG" (Duke of Gloucester) Street, taking pictures of Colonialville until they came to the infamous spot where Joy's dad had proposed to her mom - Bruton Parish Church.

Andy popped THE question outside the back corner of the church (bottom right of the above photo) where we had some privacy from tourists, Joy cried, and their love blossomed as they began seriously planning for their future together.

Six months, and many wedding magazines later, we enjoyed a beautiful wedding ceremony in Golden, CO on September 29th, 2007.

Looking back on that day, I can still smell the sweet fragrance of roses and perfume in the air.  I can feel the excitement bubbling within like I felt as I awoke that morning at 7am and bounced on the beds of my bridesmaids to wake them with my joy.  I remember practicing the "Thriller" dance on the hotel patio with Tabitha and Megan after breakfast, trying to stay calm as the girls fixed my make-up and hair, then finally slipping into my gorgeous white, satin gown and feeling as happy and beautiful as a queen.  It was so special seeing my love waiting for me at the end of the church aisle, tears brimming in my eyes as I willed myself not to cry with my happiness and ruin all the nice wedding photos.  I remember the relief when we kissed for the first time as man and wife and proudly exited the church amidst the applause from our dearest family and friends.  The whole affair was magical.  The reception was fun and flew by so quickly I was amazed when the Hawaiian tunes began and we danced our last time before Andy whisked me away to our elaborate honeymoon suite.  The flowers, the candlelight, the bright, smiling faces on the people we loved.  Everything about our wedding was special and beautiful and I'm so thankful that I was the lucky one to marry the man who stands beside me today in preparations for our first child.