we bought a house!

kristen is keeping up with the goings-on at her blog--check it: http://kristenheil.blogspot.com

a couple pics

to note--we may be closing on a house in the next week or two. it was originally scheduled for the 19th, but it may be moving up to this coming friday which is completely thrilling. if you have any kind of google account (gmail, etc.) you can see pics at my picasa album here.

going backwards in time...

brian and i went to game 6 of the western conference finals--maybe the nuggets would've won if our seats were a little closer:


memorial weekend:
luke and sarah were out from kansas and we did a multitude of things with them--highlighted by staying overnight in estes park at their parents' timeshare. we did a lot of hiking both around dnever and in rocky mountain national park. for way way better pictures that my own, take a look at luke's gallery here. here's a steller's jay:


me and kristen:


here's kristen--not hiking so much, but still having a good time:


a broad-tailed hummingbird:


luke's parents took us all out for dinner--good times with good folks. i wish my life consisted of more of these "reunion" types of activities:


hiking on sunday in rocky mountain national park:



saturday night--grilling at brad and jess's place:


saturday afternoon--hiking and playing at red rocks:


a baby with a mohawk:


luke and sarah--hiking saturday morning:



the weekend before memorial weekend, kristen and i did all sorts of gallavanting around--here's buffalo bill cody's grave:





hiking in golden gate park:


my girls:


easter weekend kristen and i went home for her sister's baby shower and to spend time with family in general--here we are at dad's place with my bro, cousin, and mom:


andrew and annelise introduced us to the newest member of the family--logan--quite the chunk, but man he's one cool dude:


back at the beginning of march madness (around the peak of my modeling career) we had a bunch of folks over for some fun and games and basketball--kristen was all about the bean bag toss, despite it being a ku board:


at the end of february--the weekend after we were engaged--kristen's dad was out for a weekend on the slopes--good times indeed:


and that's a couple pics from the last couple months. the next couple months promise to be plentiful in adventures--between the possibility of a our first house on the very near horizon and 3 months leading up to the wedding, we are going to be some busy kids--but man, when we get through all this and can sit down and have a lemonade, won't life be grand? i say yes.

it's been too long

[warning: way longer post than it should be]

when was my last post? march? unacceptable. really. and it's not like there's nothing going on--there's wedding planning, house hunting, massive work projects, sporting events, travels and much more. it's because of all those things that i haven't been posting anything. i'm not gonna lie--i'm exhausted. but i'm starting to come out of it a bit. all that stuff is still going on, but i think i'm just starting to get used to it. so let's talk about what's been going on:

wedding planning: all is well on that front--we've nailed down location (we actually did that the morning i proposed--jumped the gun a little bit, but hey, places were getting snatched up!). we've got rehearsal dinner and reception caterers lined up. we've got a photographer. we've got a website: http://bradandkristen.wordpress.com. we've got a bunch of the decorations in. so now we're getting into some nitty gritty details, like, oh yeah, planning the ceremony. we haven't started that yet, but at least there's been mention. so. i'm pleased with how it's all progressing, but i know there's still a ton of decisions to make. in the end, if kristen's happy, i'm happy.

house hunting: we've been under contract (!) for two months now. yeah. that's too long. we found a house in a great neighborhood in our price range that could be a fantastic home over the long run. unfortunately, it's a short sale, and we think the owner just declared bankruptcy, so the house gets wrapped up in all that mess--meaning we could wait months or years to find out if we could still get it. so we've been actively looking again and may have come across another that would fit us well. i'll update on that as it develops. part of the reason i never felt the need to update on the house we're under contract for is because as we progressed through the process, it became less and less likely that we would actually get it. so, we may start the whole thing again and we'll see where it takes us.

massive work projects: really, it's just one project, but it's engulfed 100% of my time at work. i'm responsible for coordinating the development and implementation of a new product that companies will use as a test during the hiring process. much of my time has been devoted to the development of the program itself--i've actually spent much of the last 3-4 weeks working out of our developer's office. it's come a long way, but it feels good to be getting that portion of it wrapped up and start beta testing with it in companies.

sporting events: these have just been nuggets games--but i've had phenomenal seats--best was 2nd row behind the nuggets bench for free. yes. mmm. love me some connections. we were on tv for half of the game--every time the ball was at our end. pretty cool to be that close. and now the nuggies are in the western conference finals which means the city is electric with excitement. kristen and i are still playing a lot of soccer--she's in 3 leagues and i'm in 2. the 2 that she and i are on together are both outdoors at this point in the year and it's been great to get out of the warehouses and play on grass in the sunshine. the bad luck is that we've had a bunch of games canceled so far due to rain and snow. here's to hoping the weather bucks up soon.

travels: kristen and i went home over easter weekend where i got to introduce her as my bride in my home church--definitely a highlight. the main impetus for going was her sister jen's baby shower. the 3 boys (me, kristen's bro-in-law, and her dad) were all asked to serve drinks to the ladies at the party and once our duties were done, we were allowed to leave. we promptly did several manly things--ate gyros and then, with the help of some brews, cut down tree branches with chainsaws. good times. kristen and i spent saturday night through monday afternoon in elkhart which was fantastic--it was good to spend time with family over easter--and we got to meet landon--my cousin andrew and his wife annelise's baby chunk. we celebrated my birthday on monday both with my family and then with kristen's when we went back to chicago--had a great meal out, despite some issues with flights being canceled and delayed and things of this nature. but we made it back safe and sound and are looking forward to a trip next weekend down to the sand dunes.

much more: a great hike in golden gate canyon state park last weekend, helped tear up and re-floor a bathroom (friends just bought a house--may as well work on someone's if we can't work on our own), march madness partaaayyy, and more things that i just can't remember because it's been so long since i've written anything down. i'll try not to let it happen again.

hopefully more updates and some pics to come soon.

and...i'm a model

i'm in the stripes on the left and my good buddy zach is painted on the right.

visit espn's men's college basketball page and scroll down about halfway on the right. if it's a guy in blue and white, just hit refresh till you get me and zach COMIN ATCHA! from what we understand, there will be more to come. goodness.

UPDATE: so, i guess this banner ad isn't always on the page--so it'll be a matter of keeping the ole eyes open to see where it pops up next.

she said 'yes'!

kristen and i ran up to the top of table mesa and as it turns out, i had a little more planned than just an afternoon jog. as we looked out on the colorado foothills with the town of golden nestled at the foot, i asked her to be my wife.

and she said 'yes'.

and we are both very pleased. :)

national western stock show and rodeo! ...y'all!

yeah.  a bunch of us went to this.  it was awesome.  it was everything a rodeo should be: saddle bronc, tie-down roping, team roping, barrel racing, steer wrestling, mutton bustin', bull riding, and the special event: free-style bullfighting.  all in all?  awesome.  

nuggies v magic

mo, mark, zach and i were fortunate to take in a nuggets game from the 8th row behind the nuggets bench a week and a half ago.  too bad their play wasn't as good as our seats--despite having a great season so far (2nd in the west), they let orlando walk all over them.  still provided for a great night and some solid pics:

chauncey et al. in motion:

chauncey out of motion.  sweet kicks:

i gotta admit--seeing dwight howard up close as a highlight, although he didn't throw down any ridiculous dunks like we were all hoping.  he is still a large, large man though:

we met this kid out in the hall after the game--i asked him if that was dwight howard's shoe--"yeah, he just threw it into the crowd and i got it!"  size 17.  good lord.

winter park

a bunch of us rolled up to winter park to stay at brian and angie's cabin the week of new years for some slopes and slop. we made some marinated chicken and steak tacos--and goodness--that warms the soul on a cold night.  we hit up the powder the next day and the hot tub the next night.  brilliant combo that.

one year

sooooo...kristen and i have been dating for a little over a year now and i thought she/we deserved her/our own post.

i took her out to "the best sushi in denver" for a little celebration the weekend after new years--a place called banzai sushi.  if you don't know, kristen LOVES sushi--kinda makes for easy special occasions because i don't have to decide what restaurant will please her best--as long as it's sushi, it's a winner.

but sushi isn't the point.  the point is that i'm pretty pleased that after a year we're still beaming brightly in pictures together.  she's a good catch--even better than the catches they had at banzai--which, i might add, were fantastic.

k:  i  Y u.  

mo & annie's wedding

so mo and annie got married.  it was a lovely time.  for those of you who don't know, mo was one of my roommates the first year i lived out here in denver and annie and i went to emu together.  connections galore.

my lovely date:

tough guys:

dancing brads.  b squared.  b 'n b:

after mucho dancing--with much more dancing to go:

a holladay photoshoot

manitou springs

yeehaw!  manitou springs!

i took kristen down to manitou springs for the weekend to celebrate her birthday which was last monday.  we stayed in a brilliant bed & breakfast and there was plenty to do in the area.  plus, we completely lucked out and had amazing weather--60's the whole first weekend of december?  sweet.

our first outing on saturday took us to the manitou springs cliff dwellers museum and preserve.  i question the "preserve" part of it as exemplified by the next picture:

those were some skinny dwellers...kristen insisted on going through all the passages:

all of them:

after the cliff dwellers we went into downtown manitou and just ambled around awhile.  pretty cool little town.  they have a candy store.  they sell gummy teeth.  we pose:

then we headed out to the garden of the gods.  pretty dang cool:

then it was off to old colorado city--the old capital:

we ate out at a really nice place on friday night, so saturday night we hit up amanda's fonda--a mexican restaurant/bar/log cabin.  good times.  here we are sunday morning in front of our b&b--it's called rockledge inn for any of you looking to go to a pimp bed and breakfast on a thin wallet.  it was fantastic.

this piano is worth more than the 6 acres of land the property sits on.  it's from the early 1900's and is a steinway (read: harvard of pianos).  it doesn't hurt the value that it's made of an extinct african wood that no one can identify.

kristen cheesing off the back patio of the property--that's pikes peak in the background.

on our way out of town we went back for another viewing of the garden of the gods.  i think if we went again, i'd want to go earlier in the morning, or later in the afternoon than we went so the lighting is better, but we still managed to take away a pretty staggering impression--and some great pics.

all in all, great weekend.  i'm excited for our next trip down to explore all that we didn't see.  oh and...

happy birthday kristen!

it's been awhile

US vs Guatemala

the guatemalan soccer team came to town to play the u.s. men's national team--pretty exciting for me what with the living there and all. below is little freddie adu. it's the first time i've gotten to see him in person, and as much as i don't think he'll make it very far, he certainly did impress. the second picture is him taking a free kick from just outside the box--yeah, he scored. it was fantastic.

i dressed in red, white and blue, but if you look closely, you'll note that it's all chivos gear--the club team from xela. the guatemalans behind me loved it.

Albuquerque

mark and i hitched a plane down to albuquerque to visit our friends rus and javi.  it was great to see those guys, and cool to check out albuquerque.  there was much wii, walking, and watering holes.  before we left on sunday we did a little hiking in the foothills.  it's definitely different scenery there than the colorado foothills--but really enjoyable all the same.  rus and mark can't resist the camera when it shines their way:

Thanksgiving in Kansas

kristen and i (and maya, of course) spent thanksgiving at my cousin kris' place.  we had a blast the whole weekend, and like everyone else, ate way too much.  one thing that made this a unique thanksgiving was going with my aunt and uncle to a truckstop for thanksgiving dinner--nothing was open!  ivan called every restaurant in the phone book before we settled on newell's truckstop--a hesston college favorite.

kris and megan got a new camera while we were there so they wanted to take a couple of family pics before we left. you can buy a new fancy camera, but sometimes, just sometimes, the perfect picture is out of your control:

At the Office

you'd think working in an office park that's not particularly close to a forest would prevent this kind of thing, but i guess not:

aslan (not the lion)

mark and i got to see reza aslan in this month's installment of the insight speaker series.  and while desmond tutu was cool, reza's speech was unbelievably informative and educational.  he is a cbs news analyst for the middle east--read: islam.  has one book published, another due out in april.  ridiculously smart guy.  obviously you're going to be well-informed when you spend your life (albeit a short one--he's like 36) studying one subject, but still, massively enjoyable and thoughtful.

here's a clip of him on with guests on bill maher:

there are plenty of other clips of reza on youtube that you can check out if you're interested--i think there's even a speech of his split into 4 parts that would be quite like the one he gave on wednesday night.

i'm excited to either pick up his published book, or get his new one when it comes out.  maybe both.  we'll see.  it's just guys like him that make me want to be smarter.  make me want to learn more.  about everything.  

somethin like an obamanon

welp. i got to go. we got to go. it was amazing. kristen and i booked flights sunday and monday, respectively, to see barack obama become the 44th president of the united states in grant park, chicago. we flew out tuesday morning and met up with her parents who were lucky enough to get 6 tickets to the event. our hotel was on michigan ave at grant park. we ate dinner on state st just north and west of grant park. what i'm trying to say is that we were in the middle of the universe for everything we did. at least it felt that way.


the buildings in chicago were even in one the inescapable mania of the election. below is the art institute of chicago.



there were about 6 security checkpoints to get into the park--it was like being led through a cattle run. it was during the checkpoints that we started to feel the sheer number of people pressing in on us.


once inside, we found a spot quite far from the stage, but with a good view of the jumbotron, which showed cnn as pole results came in and played music when it went to commercial.



as i look through my pictures, i realize that none convey the awe i had in looking in all directions at the tops of heads. looking back towards the skyline, it was so much more immense than this picture shows. oh well.


there were mountains of cheers as barack took the stage.



looking back as we were leaving grant park--maybe this one shows the incredible number of people a little better.




here's 128 amazing pictures from the chicago tribune: link
here's a pretty cool time lapse video of the rally: link
and an unbelievable behind-the-scenes gallery of obama watching pole results come in and prepare for his speech: link

and don't forget to check out kristen's blog: link