Right time-Right place

 So does this little girl look happy to see her big brother?

She was so excited.

She misses all the big people around here.

 David was very aware that there was way more going on at Stanford this last weekend than the Regional NCAA Cross Country Championships.

Gotta love the welcome the hotel had for all of the out of town college guests staying at their hotel---LOL.

 And then there was this lovely sign right out front.

We may have been sporting our Washington State University Crimson and Gray but......

We are Oregonians after all.

So early Saturday morning we headed over to Stanford University.

Their campus is absolutely gorgeous.

 Hannah beside one of the 'small' statues on campus.

 But this is why we made an early morning trip to the campus.

The right time-right place part.

 For all you football fans.

Saturday's College Game Day program was done live from the Stanford Campus for the 

Oregon vs. Stanford football game later in the day.

 Quite an experience to be there among all the craziness.

And yes, David yelled right along with all the other crazy people when the camera would zoom across the cables above us.

Though we are Duck fans, we were wearing our crimson and gray for WSU, so we actually looked somewhat like Stanford Fans.

But if you look at the red flag flying on the right hand side of this picture, you can almost tell it is a WSU flag!

Most of the colleges in the new Pac 12 were represented in one way or another.

 Yeah our crimson, kinda blended in with this side of crazies.

 Thanks ESPN and Home Depot for the unique experience.

 Caleb, David, Hannah, and David's nephew and name sake, David enjoying the cool morning.

Sometimes David's need to fill every moment of the day makes for fun memory makers!

Oh and by the way...

Even though Oregon was predicted to loose this game here at the Game Day hoopla...

We were privileged to listen to the whole game on our drive home on our XM radio and.....

Oregon proudly pounced on Stanford!  Yeah!

A two hour diversion

 When you are in the bay area of Central California, what do you do? 

 But head a couple hours out of your way to hit a famous landmark and see the city from afar in the fog and driving rain!

Especially if you are a Jordan!

 They were doing some work down here low and up higher.

Caleb, who is afraid of heights, was amazed at how high people had to go to work on it.

I think he was sick just thinking about it.

 Do we look cold?

It was!

What an amazing site, even after all the times I have seen it.

 Fun times---Fun memories

 My amazing husband who is usually behind the camera.

 A rescue training operation out of the coast guard station.

On our way out to seen Drew and thankful we could use the bridge to get there faster now rather than driving all the way around the bay!

I was one anxious mom to see my far away son!

NCAA Division 1 West Regional at Stanford

Wow---What an amazing weekend!

We were blessed with the amazing opportunity to watch our oldest son race in the

NCAA Division 1 West Regional at

Stanford University

There were 172 of the West's top athletes competing at this weekend's competition. 

Here you see about half the field.

In the first photo you see Drew and standing behind him to the right, is the eventual winner, Lawi Lalang, a freshman whose home country is Kenya.

 Washington State knew going in they would need amazing races from all their athletes to secure a spot to Nationals next week, but they also knew it was within their abilities.

 Drew knew that he and his teammate, Todd, would be key in their position at 5th and 6th runners. 

Cross country scores top 5 runners with 7 runners being allowed to compete per team. 

First place scores one point and so on with LOW score winning.

6th and 7th runners are for tie breaking and also add points to other teams scores, by being in front of their scoring runners .

Here are Drew and two of his teammates early in the race.

 I love this picture with him looking to the side.

The west region features some of the best runners in the nation with the top two teams advancing automatically to nationals, and 13 at large positions across the nation.

With Stanford, Oregon, UCLA, Cal Poly, Portland and California,  Washington State knew they were in for a battle and were going to have to run tough races to get in the hunt.

Drew would race for a personal best, as would almost everyone of his teammates on this amazing day.

Drew would place 61st in a personal best time of 30:43 for a 10K for a 6th man on his team.   To put this in perspective, he ran 20 seconds faster than he did 2 years ago when he won his state meet and then did the whole race over again at the same pace.

 The improvement that Drew has seen is amazing and it was so fun to watch him run strong after his struggling last track season only to find out he was battling mono all season.








His teammates placed:
 14 Andrew Kimpel 29:46
 16  Jono Lafler 29:47
 33 Justin Englund 30:14
 41 Todd Wakefield 30:21
 45  Andrew Gonzales 30:24
 61  Andrew Jordan 30:43
 65  Lee George 30:47

















Then they would wait on pins and needles for the scores.

When they started reading scores and these guys who had placed 6th last week at the Pac 12's were getting pretty excited as they heard:


UCLA   6th



Then.....

Oregon   5th

And their reaction to

WASHINGTON STATE 4TH!!!!!

One happy group of guys.

And we found out yesterday that 4th was good enough for one of the at large positions, so they are headed to nationals next week in Indiana.

For the first time in many years Washington State will be represented at nationals by their cross country team!

Congratulations men---we are very proud of all you have accomplished this year.

You can see full results here   http://www.gostanford.com/sports/c-xc/stats/2011-2012/west_men.html

and at this site http://www.gostanford.com/sports/c-xc/stats/2011-2012/west_men.html  you will find and article as well as an interview with his coach and top runner.

Also here is a short video from Flotrack  http://www.flotrack.org/coverage/240454-NCAA-D1-XC-West-Region-2011/video/515433-Mens-NCAA-West-Regional-2011-Race-Highlights  You can see Drew at about 55 seconds into the video on the left hand side in the red.

Hayrides and Corn Mazes

The Gang's all here!

Still trying to do some life catch up.

So here is pumpkin patch fun with the church homeschool group.

I must say I have good lookin kids!

This is one of those 'awe Mom do we have to pictures.

Bethany, Hannah, and Anna

Goats and Sheep

This kiddo is very excited we are talking about getting chickens!

The corn maze which these boys of course walked through like they were told--NOT

Hannah going for hay in the pants.

Now we are king of the mountain.

Mounds of fun.

Hannah and Bethany's turn at the maze.

They took turns deciding which way to go.

Finding their way out.

Friends!

He was actually enjoying all the info.

We had fun on the very front seet of the hay ride!

Caleb and with the boys group--He was not about to join ours!

Harvest Celebrations

Hannah always looks lovely in face paint.

 We have spent many years avoiding all things reguarding this most recent holiday.

We did choose this year to let the kids enjoy a couple great harvest festivals at a couple local churches.

Sunday Hannah attended alone because Caleb was at a football game.

Then Monday we all went to a big game time in the evening.

Then off to ballon animals made by our friend "Pirate Heather"

Our pioneer was totally into the pony ride.

Caleb the football player enjoying games and candy.

Hannah was right where she wanted to be.

Yes, they are about the same size.  They hear it all the time.