Touring the Facilities

Last Saturday my nephew and I took a tour of the Oregon Ducks' world-class training facilities. One of the guys on the team is in our ward and he was kind enough to arrange a private tour at the last minute (thanks, Will!). Since the founders of Nike went to this school, they have put millions and millions of dollars into this program, so they can afford to have all of the high-tech training equipment (and over a dozen 60+ inch flat screen TVs). Did you know that Nike makes contact lenses for both day (black lenses) and night (red lenses) vision?
Anyway, I didn't really take pictures in the training rooms, but I did in the indoor field and while in Duck Mecca, aka Autzen Stadium. It was fun to run around on the fields. Did you know that when you slide on that new, grass-like turf that it doesn't even stain your jeans? Not that I dove into the end zone while racing my nephew or anything...
Here are some pics (in addition to the rad one up top). Enjoy!

Braden chillin' on the field.

Walking through the team tunnel.

Braden and Ducks D-lineman Will Tukuafu

He's stormin' the field and tearing down the goal post!

The end zone...yep.

He's a zippy little sucker...

...and he sprints like a gazelle!

This is my favorite picture of them all. We came, we saw, we conquered.

Back to Utah

I took a last minute trip to Utah a couple weeks ago to get my hair done. I feel so dumb telling people that, so let me explain myself. :) For our adoption, we need to put a profile together complete with pictures and we've been told how huge of a deal the pictures are, which makes sense to me now. I hadn't had my hair done since September and I love, love, love how my cousin, Jen, does it. So I made the trek to Utah to have her cut and color my hair. I figured if we're spending so much money on this adoption, why not spend a little more to get my hair done so I'll be completely happy with the pictures. Plus, this way, I'd have someone do it that I know will do a great job - she's been doing my hair for the last 6 or 7 years and has ALWAYS done such a good job. She's amazing. I know I have a picture somewhere of her doing my hair, but after searching everywhere, I can't find it - she'd probably kill me though if I put it on here. :) Thanks again, Jen!!

So I ended up making a longer trip out of it and spending some time with my family and some friends. It was such a fun trip!! But I did miss Dan a lot. It's always nice to get home. :) I didn't take as many pictures as I usually do, but here are a few I did take.

Checkin' in

It has been a long time since we have posted on this blog and even longer since I, Daniel Jedediah Phelps, have authored one. I've been out of the blogging spirit the past couple of months and I have since repented of this iniquity. Now get off my back! jk

I had an awesome post planned out that required me to take some pictures. But Angie is out of town and took the camera with her, so that post will be postponed. Zing! (Honestly, there was no pun intended when I originally typed that. I guess I'm just that clever.) Here are some awesome pictures to hold you over until the next post (which I promise will not take another month to do). Enjoy!

...and one more for the ladies:

You're welcome.

Big Decision

After a lot of thought and prayer, Dan and I have decided we are going to adopt! We are so excited about this new adventure we're about to go on. We're in the very beginning stages of the process, but we wanted our friends and family to be able to read about our journey. Some may wonder why we have made this decision. Let me give a brief history: We've been married 4 1/2 years and have been trying to have a baby for about the last 4 years. We've been to multiple doctors and haven't found anything wrong. It's been a long, frustrating, and very hard road for us as we've been anxious to start a family. We still have other options, albeit, more expensive options, but this is the right choice for us right now and we couldn't be more excited! I've decided to start a new blog so I can keep track of our journey - thoughts, feelings, dates, etc. It will be a private blog, so if you'd like to join us, please let us know and we'll send you an invite! Thank you all so much for supporting us in this exciting time in our lives! We love you all!

Disneyland

Last week Dan and I went to Disneyland with my entire family to celebrate my dad's 60th birthday that's next month. Growing up, my dad loved going to Disneyland with us, so we figured it would be a fun present for him to be able to go with all his kids and grandkids. We had so much fun! We'd been planning this trip since last July-ish so that everyone would be able to get time off of work and make arrangements. It was so fun to have every single person in the family there. It's been a long time since we've all been able to go on a vacation together. We had a birthday cake for my dad on Sunday night after we all got to California and then went to Disneyland on Monday and Tuesday. It wasn't very crowded either day, which made lines really nice - although it rained on Monday. Dan and I figured we'd stay a couple of extra days since we were already down there. So on Wednesday, we went to Knott's Berry Farm (which was totally empty) - mainly for me since I love roller coasters. :) On Thursday, we took it easy and drove out to the coast. We went to Newport Beach and Laguna Beach. As a result, we would both love to live in Newport. Too bad it's so expensive! Here are some pictures I took. Since we split up at the park a lot, I don't have pictures of everyone unfortunately.