Photos of Nike's "The Opening" - ESPN Rise, July 5-9, 2011 in Beaverton, Oregon

Photo Source:  Pages 2 and 3 of the Nike Program Guide

Last week, Cary and I were privileged to attend Nike's "The Opening", watching quarterback grandson Tyler Matthews (#43 the first day, and #15 on game days) play with 150 of the best high school football players in the United States. The event was held at Nike World Headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon. I hope that you enjoy the pictures ... some are better photos than others, but I tried to capture as many kids as I could.

This is a long post, with approximately 500 photos divided up into slide shows. They are of the players, the fans, our family and everybody that caught my eye. They are in chronological order. No names are on the pictures, even if I do know who people were.  You can click on the slide shows to enlarge them.

As time permits, I will also be writing blog posts about my experience as a spectator. Since I still have a lot to learn about football and this is not a sports blog, I'll write some human interest stories as seen through my eyes. That said, Tyler Matthews, YOU ROCK!!!!

Where We Stayed:  

The Embassy Suites in Tigard, Oregon

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

Photos of the parts of the Nike World Headquarters Campus in Beaverton, Oregon that I got to see.  That place is HUGE!!!

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

Wednesday, July 6th Football Photos:

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

NFL Wide Receiver Jerry Rice and Cary

Friday, July 8th Football Photos:

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

"The Field Generals"

The teams were named after the 
Nike shoes that they were wearing.

Saturday, July 9th Football Photos:

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

 Our new friends from Georgia, D.J. White's Family (#23)

(Z., please email me; I lost your address!)

 

At Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy, if you miss a day, you miss a lot!  All material on this post is copyrighted and not for use without my permission ...Please click here to go to my home page and see what is happening in Mayberry today.
 

Tyler Matthews: ESPN Elite 11 Video

Our grandson, Tyler Matthews, is featured on this ESPN video link, where he was invited to play at the Ohio State Elite 11 QB Competition last month. Please CLICK HERE if you would like to take a look!  (Tyler is the 2nd guy shown on the video.)

We are very proud of you, Tyler! 

Source:  Nike/ESPN Rise Program Book, pages 2 and 3

Update:  If you would like to see the photos of the July 5-9th, 2011 of Nike's "The Opening", please  "CLICK HERE".

At Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy, if you miss a day, you miss a lot!  All material on this post is copyrighted and not for use without my permission ...Please click here to go to my home page and see what is happening in Mayberry today.
 

Mom Cave Results:

Remember a couple of weeks ago, when I entered the "Mom Cave" Contest?  (Here is my entry "Queen of Small Spaces: Kathy's Mom Cave").   Susan, over at Between Naps on the Porch was the hostess.  Thank you again, Susan!  (The winners can be found by clicking here.)   Alas, I did not win the $250 gift certificate to Home Goods to give to Lisa for her loft.  Lisa said that I was a peach for trying though.  But really, I did win.  How could I do both, win and lose at the same time?  Well, I got many new visitors to my blog because I decided to enter.  I also visited many, many blogs to see what other lovely ladies were doing.  It was so much fun!

Entering into that contest got me going on submitting my Tablescapes and my Tea Cups/Tea Settings to other "Linky" parties. I found that Lindy, over at Cottage Hill, has a special page on her blog for as many Linky Parties as she could find. Thank you, Lindy for pulling that all together for us.  Entering everything has helped others to learn about my blog, and my daily readership has doubled.  Also, I am much more active now in the "sharing" part of Blogland than I was, and have made many great acquaintances, and at least one new friend for sure (hi, Gloria!).  I hope that many more of you will become my friends too!

I am so happy for SJ, Homemaker on a Dime, for winning first place in the "Mom Cave" contest.  I liked her blog and personality so much, that as soon as I visited her during the contest, I put her blog link on my sidebar so that I could easily see when SJ posted and made changes to her home.  She is a sweetie, you guys will love her.

There were three 3rd place prizes handed out, and I was so happy to see that two of those ladies had visited me and left such nice comments on my blog: Lezlee at  Prior and Terry at La Bella Vie.  I am happy for Donna's win over at at Funky Junk Interiors too. 

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome Jessa Irene as my newest follower on here.  Jessa Irene has the coolest blog, A Holiday Haven.  It is chock full of useful ideas to help us keep organized as we celebrate our favorite holidays.  Thank you, Jessa Irene for joining us here at Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy!

I do have some sad news; a loss for Blogland.  Barb, over at Bella Vista, has decided to close down her website.  Barb's blog is so beautiful, and she is such an encouraging person.  I thought that you might want the chance to go over and say goodbye to her.  Thank you, Barb, for all of your beautiful posts.  We are sorry to see you go, and you are in my prayers.

I hope that all of you  have a wonderful weekend.  We will be sitting around the radio (computer) tonight listening to Tyler's team play a huge football game in McPherson.  Go, Bullpups! 

Tomorrow our grandson Casey will be here staying overnight, with our friend Little Missy, aka: Tatum.  Stay tuned for some cute pictures of them!  We are going to do some art projects, and perhaps they will help me with a kids tablescape.  They'll be up for it ... 8 and 9 year-olds have a lot more energy than I do, for some reason.


Remember, get out there and celebrate the positive portions of everyday life!


~ Kathy

Tidbits, This and That:

One:

My friend Lisa Ricard Claro, over at Writing in the Buff, is hosting a contest!  Check out her great blog, and sign up to enter at the same time.

Two:

 Kristin and Grandma Jody in Guatemala
 They serve with  Cascade Medical Team.

My daughter, Kristin, continues to hold fundraisers to raise money for her mission trip to Guatemala.  She is having a Pampered Chef Party, where 15% of all the proceeds go toward her upcoming trip.  In addition to that, her friend Trisha, the salesperson, is donating all of her commission to help Kristin's cause.  If any of you would like to participate you can do so online. Here is a link to a Pampered Chef Catalog.  Please remember that Trisha Jensen is the salesperson, Kristin Ward is the hostess, and to check the box to have your items shipped directly to you.  Thank you so much!

For all you local folks, Kristin's dad, Rick, will be holding a fundraiser for her on December 11th in Gilchrist at The Pine Room.  A nice dinner will be served, there will be a raffle, and some other fun activities.  I'll post more about this when I know more of the details. 


Three:

If you have been wondering about how our grandson Tyler and his team The McPherson Bullpups have been doing, everything is going nothing short than FANTASTIC!  The Pups have only lost one game all season long.


Last weekend, Tyler Matthews was rated the #1 passing quarterback in the whole USA for high school juniors.  Tyler is rated at 150!  (I'm not sure how they figure out that score, or what it means, but he is at the top of the list.)  The best football colleges across the nation are actively recruiting our young man.  Of course, Grandpa Cary, me and the rest of the family living in the Pacific Northwest would love it if he somehow ended up playing for the Oregon Ducks.  It would be a very convenient two hour drive to go and watch that #1 team.


We are so proud of you, Tyler.  Keep up the excellent work!



Four:

Speaking of the Ducks, congratulations for being the best!

Five:

I am continuing to turn our travel photos into slide shows.  This morning I made the one of our visit to the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas this past January.   There is also a link to the post I wrote at the time underneath it.  For more slide shows, scroll down to the bottom of this page and/or go to this link: "Kathy Matthews' Slide Shows" .

~ Kathy