Bend!

 Bend Oregon! Why Bend you ask? Well after having gone there I too ask myself that same question.  Bend has lots of beautiful scenery, hiking , biking and Breweries! All of those things are truly favorite past times of the Ball family...or maybe not! But one thing I do enjoy is quality time with the Balltrain himself and thus you have Bend Oregon.  Brandon was attending a CPA conference in the resort town of Sun River, just a short drive from Bend and I was invited to tag along, so of course I did! 

We drove, which was probably the worst most boring drive I have ever been on and I vowed to never make that drive again.  The first day we drove to Boise and ate at a yummy Thai restaurant with my aunt Ellen.  It was delicious and the company was great too.  It was so good, that since my return I have had cravings for some of that delicious food! 

Then next day we got in the car and geared up for our 10hr drive to the middle of Oregon. Away from all cities, oceans, airports and most civilization. ;)

 Each morning Brandon would head off to his CPA meetings and I would take it easy back at the hotel. It was blissful, sleeping in, hitting the tread, reading, watching mindless television and NOT having the nagging feeling that I should be doing something,  So relaxing! When B got back we would go out on our adventures.  We hiked to a couple of cool waterfalls....

 I was starving in this pic and the man did not feed me lunch but later that day treated  me to a fabulous dinner at ...

ANTHONY'S! Back in the KPMG days Brandon would travel to Washington and this was his favorite place to eat.  It's a fancy, delicious seafood place! It was worth the wait and the grouchy picture!

 One day we hit the the river and did a canoe float.  It was super fun! It was 6 miles of nature and very, very slow moving river allowing for some pretty sweet pics, such as Brandon's classic "hugh pose" which he thinks is his "I am wicked awesome and oh so cool" pose.

 

One day we took a tour of the local chocolate factory, GOODY'S. Think Sweets only on a much, much smaller scale.  That didn't keep us from walking downtown to the local, 50's soda shop style, Goody's to get ice cream, chocolate and various other treats each night. It was yummy! 

On one of the nights we hit a movie and all I will say is that Larry Miller was truly inspired because the Megaplex theaters are DIVINE! Seriously Utah movie theaters are amazing!

After 6 days we decided to head on home.  We geared up for the treacherous drive home only to miss a pretty major turn off that added about 2hours to our mind numbing drive.  It was awful!  We didn't even have cell service.  All I could think was I hope we don't run out of gas, break down or die out here! There is nothing but fields and road and fields! However, I was clearly worried over nothing because we made it home and I'm not going to lie, I have a had a moment or two since we've been home where I thought Bend sounded awfully nice!

 It was so nice to have some time away! We missed our kiddos but it was wonderful to have some us time.  Bend really is a beautiful place but I'm not in a hurry to go back.  However, I did love the Baller time!  Thanks for the getaway honey! Love you! Big shout out to the keepers of the little's too! We couldn't have done it without our fabulous fam!  Love you guys!