Hoopfest Weekend

Growing up, Hoopfest was never really a big event in my family. I played in it a couple times as a kid, but we usually just went to the lake instead. That all changed when I married Jordan. Hoopfest is his favorite time of year in Spokane -- case and point, he played on not one, but TWO teams this year! Team one was a co-ed team with Jordan's brothers, Joel and Joseph, and sister-in-law, Julie. 

Jordan tries to convince me to play on a co-ed team with him every year, and he thinks I'm kidding when I say no because my parents won't let me. When I used to play basketball, I would get so fired up and my parents were always afraid I was going to hit someone. And they were probably right. :) Volleyball was a much better choice for me...

Since Joel and Julie are both in the Army, they got Army uniforms and their team name was "In the Army Now." It was a little traumatic the night before Hoopfest watching them all try to turn their t-shirts into cut-offs, which, as you can see, turned into an absolute comedy... :)

Joel, Julie, and our nephew, Beau, stayed with us all weekend, which was a blast! Joel has been in Atlanta for the last 6 months doing Army training, so it was a great reunion to have their family back in Spokane for a little while.

Here is Julie shooting a free throw in their morning game on Sunday...

They won their first two games on Saturday, and had a rough day on Sunday, losing their first two. Here is the result of having four competitive people on a team during a timeout... :)

Jordan's other team was with his law school buddies, Nick and Shamus. Nick's wife works at Weldon Barber and was able to get their team sponsored by Weldon, which meant they got free uniforms, food and drinks all weekend, and their entry fee was paid for! Pretty sweet deal!!

The Weldon team won two games and lost one on Saturday, and ended up winning two before they lost their last one on Sunday. I think they ended up in the top 5 or 6 of their bracket.

Here is Jord, shooting one of many free throws... Hoopfest is such a physical tournament. It's seriously like playing football on pavement, without pads or refs.

There was actually one more guy on their team who's not in this picture, but here are the future lawyers from GU -- Shamus, Nick and Jord.

Shamus and Nick are definitely Jordan's closest friends at school, and I just so happen to love both of their wives, Breanne and Katie! The joke of the day was how our roles as wives instantly turned into water girls at Hoopfest... :)

It was so much fun to watch Jordan play basketball, and I have to admit, Hoopfest is definitely growing on me. However, I make no bones about the fact that the huge shaved ice cones are my FAVORITE part of Hoopfest! If there weren't shaved ice cones, I probably wouldn't go! :)

Needless to say, we were all hot and exhausted by the time we got back to the house Sunday afternoon. Uncle Jordan had the brilliant idea to show Beau how to run through the sprinklers in the backyard to cool off... 

I don't think Beau was quite prepared for the freezing cold water, and he was not very excited about it! I love this picture of the two of them though.

Despite being a little unhappy and soaking wet, Beau still mustered up his cute camera smile for his Aunt Whitney. He's such a trooper!

Julie and Joel watching the sprinkler masquerade from the patio...

Beau fell in love with Maggie this weekend, and was so curious about everything she did. He was totally enthralled with her dog door, and at one point we saw him contemplate going through it! So funny!!

He also wanted to be everywhere Maggie was. He loved sitting in the little bed we have for her on the couch, which was just a wee bit too small for him. :) He's getting so big!!

All in all we had an awesome weekend! Friends, family, sun, basketball, shaved ice, BBQs -- you really can't beat it!! We decided between Hoopfest last weekend, and the Fourth of July this weekend, these are two of the best weeks of summer.

A Fresh Start

I've been going back and forth about the blog ever since we got home... Should I keep it going? Should I not? Will people think we are totally self-involved for posting about our lives, even though nothing specifically "exciting" is going on? No more living abroad, no babies in the near future, nothing "exciting" or out of the ordinary...

Just day-to-day life.

After much deliberation, we decided (and yes, I can say "we" because I asked Jordan's opinion) to keep the blog around, at least for a little while to see how it goes. Quite honestly, I've kind of missed it the last month. Well, okay, I've kind of missed the care-free life of having the blog be my only real time commitment. :) Which explains why coming back to reality has been a harder transition than I thought it would be!

It's crazy that we've only been back for a month, yet London and our life there already seems so distant. I find myself looking at all our pictures lately to remind myself that those 5 months really did happen. They seem almost surreal.

Okay, shifting gears...

My plan for the blog is to post fairly often about any fun projects we're doing (i.e. the Extreme Makeover we're currently doing on our backyard), fun trips or vacations we take, the everyday funny happenings of life, and anything else I think is post-worthy. :) I also really want to make photography a legit hobby, and I think having the blog will keep me accountable for taking pictures more consistently.

So with that said, here's to a fresh start in our life back in Spokane and in the blogging world!