GAMEDAY!!

 We headed down to Corvallis this weekend to watch Oregon State take on  Stanford. Go Beavs!!

The drive over was simply beautiful, of course. 

And if you remember from my trip to the coast earlier this summer, Corvallis is home to a CHIPOTLE!!!! So of course, that was our first stop. 

Then we dropped our stuff at the hotel before heading over to the tailgates. 

Henry quickly made himself at home, as usual. 

These tailgates were crazy! People had huge trucks painted with Beavers logos, TVs set up, and an acapella group even serenaded us with the fight song (probably the funniest thing I've ever seen in my life). It was quite the event!

Although the Beavers didn't pull off the last minute comeback win, the game was so fun, our seats were perfect, and Reser Stadium was awesome!

Raylee (aka the worlds cutest Beaver fan) and I even perfected our secret handshake. 

All in all, it was a great day! Until next time, Chipotle Corvallis!

Lax-O-Lantern Tourney

The day finally arrived! Saturday was the inaugural Lax-O-Lantern 3v3 tourney that I put together. 

I got there bright and early to set up for the day, and boy oh boy, did Mother Nature reward me for the early wake up call. 

Now that's what I call a view. 

We completely lucked out on weather with beautiful blue skies and 73 degree temps. 

From scorekeepers, to decorators, to announcers, to set up/breakdown crews, to field liners, to referees; we were so fortunate to have the best group of tireless volunteers from beginning to end! 

The teams did such an awesome job with their costumes! 

Kate and I even got into the Halloween spirit as well. 

How cute is our little elementary school volunteer dressed up as bacon? She wanted to win the costume contest so bad. I think we'll have to add a volunteer category to the contest next year. After all, it did offer the most sought after prize of the day. 

The tournament was a huge success. The teams had a great time and the parents seemed thrilled with the out of season lacrosse opportunity. Hopefully, we'll be able to run many more of these in the future. 

I had to pinch myself several times yesterday. I couldn't believe we actually pulled this off with such success. It was the best feeling to be immersed in lacrosse games from sun up to sun down, felt like Baltimore again. But of course, there was one difference. We had this scenery to admire all day. 

PICTURE PERFECT

Fall is really kickin' here in Bend! Prepare yourself to be amazed at all the beauty it has to offer, I know me and the Hen-Dog are.

  

Bend does Autumn quite well, don'tcha think?

In other awesome news, BIG shoutout to my Dad who rocked his half marathon this morning, finishing in under 2 hours! SO proud of you! 

Thanks for representing the entire family in the cheerleading department, Mom! 

FRIDAY!!!

Three and half hours until the weekend begins. 

And it’s a 3 day weekend, thanks to Mr. Columbus!!

What a Week!

Well this week has certainly been an exciting one! It started off on Monday with our weekly dodgeball game. We actually won a game!! Who cares if it was because the other team forfeited, a win is a win! We certainly make a lot of jokes about how bad we are and how we are just waiting for the right moment to turn it on, but as a bunch of ex-athletes our lack of wins has certainly been hard to take. So much so that we actually got in a fight this past week. 

You think my eye is bad?? You should see the other team!

Ha! Just kidding, I got nailed during the game, right in the eye with a 100mph fastball by an ex-major leaguer (or something like that). And if that wasn’t bad enough, it happened again in the exact same spot in my second game of the night. Pretty embarrassing!  I've decided, the day you get a dodgeball injury is the day you officially cross over to the dark side. The land of slow as molasses reflexes, sore before the game is even over, can't move for the rest of the week.  It's a terrible, terrible place.  

No worries, though. I won't let a little black eye hold me back, I'm totally prepared for next week now! Nothing is getting by these large and in charge goggles. 

Next up on the excitement list: I got DirectTV today!! Well, thats not really the exciting part, the exciting part is what DirectTV is giving me. I now get.....drum roll please......all of the CAPS and REDSKINS games!!!!! whoop whoop!! 

I am soooo excited, I feel like a real fan again. Online game trackers and the numerous phone calls and texts with updates have been awesome (thanks guys) but I can't wait to see my boys in red light the lamp! And maybe RGIII will start his Griffining again now that his #1 fan is back watching (your move RG). 

I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers

Fall has certainly arrived here, in Bend, and it is b-e-a-utiful!

We decided to take advantage of the great fall weather and walked the Deschutes River Trail on Friday.

Henry led the way as always. 

Jeannelle and her entourage taking in the sights.

And look at little Raylee, is she cute or what?

Saturday was filled with all sorts of Octoberness! We kicked off the fall season with a fun filled day at the Smith Rock Pumpkin Patch! 

Yup, that's real life. Snow covered mountains providing the perfect backdrop to the pumpkin patch, not sure it can get much better than that. 

There was so much to do at the ranch. It was awesome!

I enjoyed my buddies at the animal house the most. 

But of course, the pumpkin picking was fun too! 

Have you ever seen so many different types of pumpkins in your life??

Just like everything else in Oregon, this pumpkin patch was perfect!!