wedding pictures

Everyone click on the pic and enjoy a recap of the greatest thing that has ever happened in our lives:

Click at the bottom for a link to the album, which you can copy at your pleasure.

http://lbanderson.com/JayBecky2008/

Honeymoon pics

Enjoy! Thanks to all of you who made this happen for us!

Added to Thursday Schedule

For those of you not interested in doing the bachelor/ette party stuff, Jay's parents have opened their house for people to socialize and have some ice cream.

We have directions for you, when you get here. Feel free to go to either. We just don't want you all to get here and be bored!

We'll see you very soon!

schedule (now with picture!)

All right, faithful readers! Here is the schedule for the week of our wedding (click to see it larger)! I know we've posted this before, but there may be some adjustments. I don't remember all of what we've said in the past, but this is what we plan to do from Wednesday through Sunday morning.

We can't wait to see all of you! Safe travels and let's party!

Friday Night Activities

Well, it's less than two weeks to the big day!!! We are so excited for the day to be arriving, and we are so happy to be seeing our friends and family soon! We thought it would be a good idea to revisit the plan for Friday night, since it all gets a little hazy sometimes.

Friday morning: nobody call nobody. Thursday night is designated as Rowdy Thursday, so cut each other some slack Friday morning, especially the Bride and Groom. The hotel does a hot breakfast this morning (as well as every morning), so enjoy that. Then for anyone who wants to, I can show you how to get to the Riverwalk where you will see some genuine nature (!) and you can skip rocks across the river. We will probably have a picnic lunch available (see Malisa and Scott), and the river is a great place to feel the natural vibrancy of the area.

Then! Wedding rehearsal for the bridal party. For everyone else, it's hang out, enjoy the afternoon, and make it to Duck Park (directions will be available when you get here) for the rehearsal dinner. Folks, this is going to be a good one. It's BBQ sangwiches and outdoor games at a wonderful park by the river. then we can go hit up the local watering holes and take in Canon's fantastic night life.

So that's Friday! We can't wait to share all of this with all of you!

What to pack?

Well the answer to that question is...

The weather here is getting warmer (nothing compared to Fresno/Texas weather) but it's getting up to the upper 80's low 90's. It is probably going to be the same in the coming weeks.

The nights here cool off to the 50's/60's. If you come from warmer climates, you might get chilly faster.

If you plan to go to The Golden Bee; No shorts or tank tops (We think it is ok for women to wear tank tops, we'll call to make sure). It is a fancy joint and they want to maintain that. Wear casual dress up.

If you plan to go rafting; no cotton. It is best not to wear cotton. Swim suit or polypropylene (fast drying material) is best. Bring a towel and a dry shirt. Shoes need to be Teva or Chaco type of shoes. No flip flops! You can rent booties, but they are kind of gross. Echo's website is a good resource for questions about what to wear and what to expect.

The rest is up to you. This is not a formal wedding. Be comfortable, but know that we'll be taking your picture.

Public Transportation

We've been doing some research and to answer some of your questions, there is no public transportation. There is no shuttle to and from the airport. The only transportation that is available here in Canon are taxis.

Sorry about the bad news, I do hope that all the juggling of your trips are worth it from our end and that you can make it out here without a hitch.

crunch time

Hey everyone,

If you are planning to go rafting, now is the time to sign up! The rafting company benefits a lot from knowing ahead of time, so give Echo a call and tell them that you want to be on the Anderson-Stiglich wedding raft trip!



Echo can be reached at 1-800-755-3246 or www.raftecho.com

Hope to see you on the river!

River

We have had a lot of snow and rain this past winter and are expecting epic levels of water this year! Not to scare you off from rafting but it will be exciting!

Besides rafting Canon has to offer lots of wildlife, fishing, hiking, and cruising. We have a beautiful riverwalk that goes about 12 miles. A great place to stroll, watch birds, stare at the river and take a picnic.

Who's Hungry?

We've got dinner for you hungry travelers when you get here!

Guess what it is!

CARAVAN!

Last weekend we had a meeting of the minds with Jay's parents and came up with the greatest idea that we get more and more excited about as we think about and plan it.

Traditional weddings used to have the guests line up and toss rice on the newlyweds symbolizing wishes of fertility. Studies have shown that rice is dangerous for the birds. Now there are substitutions of confetti or bubbles. We didn't want to clean up a big mess and Jay thinks bubbles are stupid (sorry for those who had bubbles at their wedding). So we decided that flower petals would be a wonderful substitute. They are biodegradable and they won't hurt birds or the newlyweds... it won't poke our eyes out. So look for a bucket of flower petals on your way out of the chapel.

We would like you to stick around to add this touch of celebration! THEN...

We will lead a caravan to the reception! My school is located 1 block away and the parking is a lot easier than driving in circles on Main Street. We will lead you over to the parking lot and guide you to the Annex. Our families will stick around and take some pictures (we promise not to be long! Really we want to get to the celebrating!).

We will meet you at the reception and get the party started right and quickly!

Couple of Events-Wedding Weekend

Canon city is hosting a couple of events the weekend of June 21-22.

Canon City Metaphysical Fair I don't know much about it, except it looks at a number of holistic remedies. I'm sure Canon's best will be there.

Art on the Arkansas. There isn't a website for this one, but I know they have some booths set up with artist works, maybe some crafts, and various foods. I haven't been yet, but the locals like it.

Canon City Historical Ghost Walk. You begin the tour at the original women's prison now the museum of Colorado Prisons. Learn the colorful past of Canon City, the good and the bad. See the Baptist church where the minister was the Grand Dragon of the KKK of Canon City. Rates: Adults $8; Child 6-12 $5; under 5 Free. Tour begins promptly at 6:15 pm. I have never been but it sounds pretty fun!

Woodpecker Hill Cemetary Crawl. Tour the Woodpecker Hill section of Greenwood Cemetery and hear the tales of the infamous prisoners that lan in wait there. Arrive at the museum promptly at 6 PM. Rates: Adults $8, Children 6-12 $5, Under 5 Free.

FYI

May 18th is the last day to reserve rooms at the discounted price.

There might be some of you still looking to share a room. Jay's friends have already posted in the c-box (chat box on the upper right of the blog). If anyone is interested in sharing the cost of staying at the hotel....chat it up.

We also found out there is a free hot breakfast offered to guests. I'm not sure how good it is but talking to the employee, they were pretty proud of it.


ALSO...

Be sure to make your reservations with Echo Rafting Company to reserve your spot on the rafting trip.

AAA Baseball Games in the Springs

I just found out that our triple A baseball team is playing Fresno's triple A baseball team our wedding weekend!

The battle begins Saturday, June 21 and goes through June 24! The field is great, for directions and prices for tickets visit the website!

Sky Sox are also playing at home earlier that week. They play Salt Lake City Bees June 17-20.

Bishop's Castle

About an hour and twenty minutes away tucked back from the freeway, one can go and view the phenomenon known as Bishop's castle.  Jim Bishop a man with a passion for swearing, yelling, and ranting, also is building a castle.  

You can climb around and explore his work.  Last time we were there he was working on his moat.  Who knows how far he's progressed on that.  

Be sure to check out his hand made signs, rants and be careful with what you say you might trigger the beast, not the dragon he made...but Jim.

It is a site to behold!

Skyline Drive

A few miles west of Canon City is the entrance to Skyline Drive, off Highway 50. It is a one-way, paved road that runs about 3 miles along an extremely narrow 800 foot high ridge and winds along following the crest of the Dakota hogback. In many locations the ridge is only as wide as the road, with sheer drops on both sides. Skyline is open to drive, but you must drive slowly and carefully.

Down the way Dinosaur tracks were found. You can drive a little past it to park and get out and take a look at them.

There is Canon! It is a fun drive! I reccommend taking it. Did I mention the inmates built it?!?

The Royal Gorge

A place to go see while you are out here is the Royal Gorge. It is remarkable! There are a couple of ways to go see it.

First is the Royal Gorge Bridge and Park. They have a suspension bridge that you can walk even drive across it, a gondola that you can go across it, a vertical train that will take you down to the river, a pioneer town, a swing that will swing you out to the gorge, and probably many more attractions to appeal to everyone. The cost is around $23 (at least it was that last summer). They have some deals, check out the website for more information.

On the way to the bridge and park, there is a lookout point. Drive to the park, go around the parking lot and the parking for the lookout is on the right. You have a little walk down but the view is breathtaking!

Another way is take the Royal Gorge Train. They have various train rides offered; such as dinner rides, and tourist rides, ride and raft, and many more. Check the link to see all that is offered and what deals they give as well. The train will take you through the Gorge and look at everything...up. The experience is amazing!

And finally rafting! We will be rafting a calmer stretch upstream on Thursday, but for those of you who are die hard rafters, the Gorge is an experience. Echo, the same company we are going on our trip, offers full day rafting that includes the trip we are going on and the Gorge. Check out their website on information for both the full day and half day.

Two Months!!!!!!!

Hey everyone!

We are just so excited that today is the two month pre-montha-versary of our wedding! We just got my ring (this is Jay) and I love it so much! I tried it on and I miss it a lot now that I can't wear it anymore, but I am so ready to be married. We both are. This has been the longest engagement ever, and we are so excited for the wedding!

As an update, I have been looking more into our honeymoon location and I am extremely excited to be going to such a wonderful place.

Thanks again to everyone who is coming put to send us off to the beginning of our marriage! We love you all!

Pre Party Party

So hey, what's up? We are so excited about our reservation for a structure at Centennial Park (btw, our state is the "Centennial State") for the rehearsal dinner barbecue. Now, we're not going to ask everyone to show up for our rehearsal, because it's gonna be boring, but hey, it's tradition to involve out-of-towners in the rehearsal dinner, and since almost EVERYONE falls into the "Out-of-towner" category, the rehearsal BBQ is open to everyone and everyone they know.

What I'm saying is that the rehearsal BBQ is going to be nearly as big as the wedding reception. Except casual. There's going to be bocce, croquet, frisbee, whatever... There's a park that always has geese who like being fed, you can fish in the river that runs through the park if you have a temporary fishing license, there are volleyball and baseball/softball diamonds, kiddie gym/slide, all the stuff that people love to do outside in the beautiful Colorado afternoon.

We really appreciate that people are coming out, and we really want to have something for everyone. If there is a certain game that people want to play, please let us know and we will make it happen. We have a grass volleyball net, so if you really want to get after it, let us know!

Much Love!

Getting ready for Croatia

Dobar dan!

We are starting to get ready for our travel by reading up on Dubrovnik as well as learning a little Croatian. We got the Pimsler audio lessons and listen to them whenever we have some extra time to spare.

Everyday we are looking at pictures or searching about history and culture. I think this is the most excited we've been about traveling.


Dovi jayna

P.S I don't know how to spell anything in Croatian, this is purely phonic.

Whoops

As we are getting the RSVPs, we realized we didn't edit it. Originally, we were going to put in little slips to say whether or not you wanted to go rafting. Then we were going to total them and make the reservations.

Plans for the reservation process changed -- those of you who are interested in rafting should call Echo (1-800-755-ECHO) and make the reservations for yourself.

So you probably have seen the RSVP cards and wondered what slip we were talking about-- there is no slip, so just call Echo.

***Almost perfect!....Dang it!***

Welcome!

By now, most of the invitations have landed.  So welcome to our wedding blog!  We have some information here to help you plan your trip and fully enjoy your time in Canon.

We've posted a few times in the past, so you can search old posts by using the "search blog" bar in the top left.  Or comment and ask us questions!

We are so happy to have people coming and we can't wait to have you here!

100 Days!

100 days left till we are married!

Kid's activities

As the spring comes, Colorado seems to come out of hibernation. Soon there will be many activities for everyone including little ones to do. We will gather this information and post it here as it comes to us. Many of you have children around the same age maybe we can put together a couple play dates for them.

Gateway Historic Chapel

A little while back Jay, his mom, and I went to the chapel and took some pictures and brainstormed how it would look. I figured some pictures might be nice to show.

The building is over 100 years old. It has a lot of character. As soon as we walked in the first time, I knew it was the place where we should get married. It will look at little different for our ceremony, but not much.

From the balcony.


In the back, where the bridal party will be coming from.


There are four sections of chairs total, you just can't see them in these pictures. There is actually 3 aisles.

For our Tower friends

Ed and Adam have booked rooms so far. Contact one of them or both of them if you want to bunk up with them. We have a couple sleeping bags you can borrow too if you need that.

Rafting

We talked to the owner of the rafting company this week. ...He's a buddy of mine. We are getting a fantastic and almost unfair deal. Looks like we are going to benefit from knowing how many people intend to go rafting that week. So let us know if you want to hit the rapids on the thursday before the wedding. Even if you think we know that you're going, please let us know again. Plan for about $40 a person for a fantastic half-day trip on the Arkansas River, which runs through our town.

Much love,

Jay

4 Months to Go!!

The countdown is ticking away, I can't believe time has flown by. We are working on our invitations but, because Becky is an English teacher and not a math teacher, she has had to order paper about 3 times because we keep running out. As soon as the next batch of paper comes in we will finish them up and start to send them out.

In the invitations you will find inserts that will have information about directions, the schedule of events, hotel information, and information about this blog. We want to create many avenues that will allow us to get all our information out to you.

Our hope is to not only celebrate our relationship and our love but also give you a good excuse to go somewhere new and have a good time being here.

Golden Bee Wednesday

Wednesday night, June 18th, we will be leading a trip up to the Golden Bee Tavern at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs. It's a ragtime good time for everyone!

...This is where you can get those oh-so-cool embroidered bee stickers if you sing loudly and raucously enough...

There is pub fare to eat and drink, if you like, including some truly tremendous crock cheese. Yum!

We'll probably leave around 7 pm from the Quality Inn lobby.

Car Rentals

You ask and you shall receive...

For those of you flying in and planning to rent a car here are some helpful numbers.

Car Rental agencies in Colorado Springs Airport:
Alamo/National (800) 327-9635
Avis (800) 331-1212
Budget (800) 527-0700
Dollar (800) 800-4000
Enterprise (800) 736-8222
Hertz (800) 654-3131

Car Rental agencies in Denver International Airport:
Advantage (800) 777-5500
Alamo (800) 462-5266
Avis (800) 230-4898
Budget (800) 527-0700
Dollar (800) 800-4000
Enterprise (800) 261-7331
Hertz (800) 654-3131
National (800) 227-7368
Payless (800) PAY-LESS
Thrifty (800) 367-2277

Hope this is helpful!

Hotel Info

The Quality Inn & Suites in Canon City ("Canon City's only full service hotel") offers:

Deluxe Continental Breakfast

Free High-Speed Internet Access

Coffee Maker, Iron & Board, Hairdryers

Cable TV with Expanded Cable Channels

Mini-suites with Refrigerator

Free local Calls, Data Ports and Voicemail

Indoor Hot Tubs

Outdoor Heated Pool open ALL YEAR

Meeting and Banquet Rooms

ON SITE Bar & Grill

On Site Laundry/Valet

Ample Free Parking

Close to Royal Gorge's Railroad and Bridge

Call 800-525-7727 to make a reservation.  The rooms are blocked at $79.99 a night for guests of the Anderson/Stiglich wedding.

We can't wait to see you!

Welcome!

Thanks for visiting our wedding blog.  We will put information here as we establish dates, places, etc. for our wedding ceremony and the associated events.  

We would like to extend our appreciation to everyone who is taking part in our preparations, and just say that we are constantly floored by the generosity and love you all show for us.

For information about the setting, lodging, the area, and everything else surrounding the ceremony, please visit the links to the right.

Thanks again, and we hope to see you for the celebration!