Home Sweet Home

We are HOMEEEEEE! Finally : ) It's so good to be back.

Wanted to share some pictures from our sight-seeing adventures on our way home:

Montezuma's Castle



Jerome





Sedona





Grand Canyon

Watching him sit on the edge was making me sick to my stomach. It's ridiculous. I assumed there would be railings all around the Canyon...surprise! There's not. We definitely won't be going back when we have small children...I couldn't even control Chase!


We saw two of these while on the trail at the Grand Canyon. Chase almost had a heart attack!

Our last stop was in Memphis. We stayed with my cousin Hannah and her family and got to meet sweet Bailey Mae. It was so nice to spend time with them!


Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of Sean and Hannah with Bailey. I'll have to next time. She's a cutie!

And for those of you who don't know yet...we are getting a puppy!!! She's a Weimaraner and we went on Saturday to pick her out. We didn't want to leave without her but we can't take her home until the 6th of November. We are counting down the days. We are going to call her Molly and she's precious!

Until next time,

Caitlin

Life in Arizona

A new friend, Diana, took me hiking last week up Camelback Mountain. It was intense! Parts of the trail were very steep and you had to hold onto a metal pole to pull yourself up. I didn't make it all the way up, but the views were breathtaking! Hopefully I'll get another shot at it when I'm in better shape!






Surprisingly, there have been several days of rain in Phoenix since we've been here. It's been nice as it cools it down (it's still quite hot here) and the rain produces the most beautiful and vibrant rainbows here. I think within a couple days, we must have seen about 5!




Everything's been going at a fast pace here! I can't believe our time in Arizona is coming to a close. Chase's last day is Thursday, and then we will begin our longgg trip home with some sight-seeing along the way (or maybe a little out-of-the-way-haha). We are definitely going to Sedona, and the Grand Canyon. Also, we are going to get to stop in Memphis and stay with my cousin Hannah, her husband, Sean, and their new baby, Bailey!

This past weekend, I got to go with the young married's group at Katie and Jason's church on a retreat to Greer, Arizona. Unfortunately, Chase had to stay since he had to go to work :) I don't feel too badly about it because Chase got to go see Jerry Seinfeld with Diana's husband, Jeff, while we were gone. I am so grateful to everyone in the group for making both Chase and I feel so welcome. We definitely feel like we've made lots of new friends! And I got to play lots of nerts! It's also been soo nice to spend so much time with Katie, Jason, and Grayson! We have missed them tons!













While we were in Greer, we took several nature walks/hikes. It was really nice to be in the mountains, but it was cold! It felt more like home. See the deer in the last picture? We saw at least 4 herds on our walks!

We look forward to seeing our family, friends, and church families at Buford and Chestnut Drive when we get back. We have missed you all very much!!! See you soon!

Love,

Caitlin

Tumbleweeds

The Lake County Captains won the Midwest League Championship! I can't even begin to explain how exciting it was for the team to play so well and pull it through in the final game! Chase has never won a championship at any level so for his team to win one in his first year as a professional player is a huge deal and the perfect ending to a wonderful season of opportunity. Everyone was on the edge of their seat until the final out and as soon as it came, the celebration erupted. I am so proud of Chase and he is sooo excited to finally get a championship ring! It's still hard to believe that it really happened!






A celebratory milkshake moustache at Steak 'n' Shake after the game : )

This article is about the championship game and has a video of an interview with the head coach:
http://www.news-herald.com/articles/2010/09/21/sports/nh3063693.txt

This article is about the game/season and has some really nice things to say about Chase. It also has a video of the last out and celebration:
http://www.news-herald.com/articles/2010/09/21/sports/nh3063213.txt

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Well, the morning after their amazing win, we packed up the car and were on the road by 5:30. With all the excitement, it was hard to settle down to fall asleep so we both were going on 4 hours of sleep. Since the team went all the way into the playoffs, Chase was very late for the Arizona league. He was supposed to start on the 15th but the team didn't even finish playing until the 20th. And it is a few days' worth of traveling from Ohio. Accordingly, they have asked Chase to stay until the 14th of October since he has missed so much.

Our first day of travel, we drove 14 hours and stopped in Searcy for the night. It was really nice to get to see our good friends and family! I wish we wouldn't have been in such a hurry. It would have been nice to spend some time on campus, go to chapel, and stop in and see some of my professors. Maybe we will be able to fit that in on our way back to Georgia.

The next day, we were up by 6:30 and after an oil change, on the road again. We drove ANOTHER 14 hours to Albuquerque, New Mexico. Chase actually saw a tumbleweed blow across the interstate while we were in Texas...haha. By the end of this day, we were both a little stressed and a lot tired. I'm surprised at how well we did not to be pulling our hair out (or each other's). Albuquerque was beautiful. I wish we could have spent some more time there.

Our third and final day of travel was only 8 hours and seemed like nothing compared to the others. The scenery was absolutely breathtaking and I think that made the time pass even faster. Here are some pictures from our drive out west. However, they don't truly do justice to what we saw. Chase gets credit for some of these. I made him take pictures while it was my turn to drive : )







I can't wait to actually do some sight-seeing! We went straight to the Indians/Reds complex in Goodyear so Chase could "check-in", put his stuff in his locker, figure out the schedule, etc. Then we checked into our hotel and took a nice nap!

Today is Chase's first day with the Instructional League. I'm looking forward to hearing all about his day when he gets done. Tonight, we are getting to go to a Diamondbacks game with the Oberts and their church! It will be so nice to see them and I always enjoy getting to watch baseball games WITH Chase; which doesn't happen very often : )

Thanks for reading! Until next time,

Cait

Aye, Aye, Captain!

For those of you who don't know, lots of exciting things have been happening in our little world the past few weeks!

First of all, Chase's sister and my sister-in-law, Niki, became engaged to her boyfriend, Chandler! I flew home on August 26th so that I could attend their surprise (to Niki) engagement party in Nashville. Chase and I are very excited for the two of them. We can't wait for the wedding--Niki will make a beautiful bride and Chandler, a handsome groom! I stayed for the following week in Georgia, splitting my time with the Burnette's and Quinn's. It was so refreshing and rejuvenating to be around family. I only hate that Chase couldn't enjoy it with me. I was also happy I could squeeze in some time with my best friend Traci :) And I finally got to see Toy Story 3 with Addie--I had been dying to and it was sooo good. I would definitely recommend it!

While I was in Georgia, things didn't slow down back in Ohio. Chase called me to tell me he was being moved up to the Indians Low A team--the Lake County Captains in Eastlake, Ohio. He got this news after an out-of-town Scrappers game on the 29th of August and had to report the next day to Eastlake. The Scrappers got in really late that night, and he had to get up and pack and be in Eastlake by one the next afternoon. Needless to say, the suddenness of the move was unexpected by our host family, and it was sad to have to leave earlier than anticipated. Jeanne and David have already come to one of the games here in Eastlake and are planning to come back on Thursday. Chase grabbed what he needed for the week and left the rest for me to get when I got back up here.

Fortunately, my family had already been planning to visit us over Labor Day Weekend and I was able to make the trip back up with them. I'm so glad they got to meet Jeanne and David and were able to experience a small part of what we have this summer. It also worked out well because they were able to drive my car back to Georgia. They were very sweet to do that for us-it was a HUGE help since Chase and I won't be able to come home now before heading to Arizona because the Captains have made it to the playoffs.


The Captain's stadium and field are very nice! Sunday, Chase hit his first home run as a Captain. Eastlake is only about an hour away from where we were in Newton Falls, and is pretty close to Cleveland, so there are lots of things to do around here. Yesterday's game was at one, so we were actually able to go on a normal date last night; dinner and a movie!






The first playoff game is tomorrow against the West Michigan Whitecaps in Grand Rapids, MI--the team that Jeff Rowland and Tony Plagman play for (they both played with Chase at Georgia Tech). Then, both teams will travel back to Eastlake to play here on Thursday night.

We are very excited and thankful to God, our true Captain, for these new opportunities. Please keep us in your prayers, especially as we will soon be making the long trip to Arizona!

Thanks for reading! Love to everyone,

Cait

Jump on the Bang Wagon

I know, I know. Corny. I'm turning more and more into my Dad everyday : )

I got my hair cut! I needed a change and decided to get more layers and bangs. I like it, but I'm still not used to the bangs. They drive me crazy sometimes. Hopefully, it won't take much longer for them to stop bugging me.


Well, the past week and a half has been pretty much of a blur. Chase was gone from the 9th to the 16th to Staten Island, NY and Lowell, MA. For those of you who don't know, last year I created the Matrix Board and Website graphics for Buford High School for the football teams, cheerleaders, band, and coaches. I was so happy to get to do it again this year! It's something that I enjoy doing and it's always nice to have some extra money in the bank. So while Chase was gone, I was busy at work on the computer: about 50 hours worth of work crammed into about 5 days. But, the timing couldn't have been better. I was able to get everything done while Chase was gone and was happy to have something to keep me busy.

After Chase got back from his trip, he had two whole days off for the New York-Penn League All-Star Break. The first day, Monday, he didn't get in until about 5 am, so the majority of the day was spent sleeping and laying around watching 24--one of our favorite shows. Tuesday, we spent part of the day in Cleveland. I took Chase to a charming book store that I had been to with Jeanne called Mac's Backs. We also checked out some other shops nearby-a toy shop entitled 'Big Fun' with everything a collector of old toys, a magician, or a practical joker could ever want, and an antique store. After that, we drove around and looked at the pretty homes and went up to Lake Erie and took a little walk along it. For dinner, Connie and Niki had seen a restaurant in Cleveland on a show and told us about it-it's called Melt Bar and Grilled and they pretty much serve variations on grilled cheese. Chase got the 'Wake and Bacon' and I got the 'Parma, Italy'. His was a glorified fried egg sandwich and mine was like chicken parm on a sandwich. It was delicious but the portions are HUGE! Chase only ate half of his sandwich while I could barely open my mouth wide enough to get it in! It seems really popular as we had to wait an hour to be seated and an hour to get our food after that on a Tuesday! But it was worth it.




Jeanne and David got a boxer puppy on the 9th and she is adorable! Her name is Gabby. She loves to chew...everything. Needless to say, this is not helping Chase's desire to get a dog. He wants one soooo badly. So far, I've managed to stay strong, but I might be calling for back-up soon.



Also, my cousin, Hannah, and her husband, Sean, just had their first baby on the 16th: a baby girl, Bailey Mae O'Brien. Chase and I are so excited for them and can't wait to meet the new addition to our family!

Yesterday, Chase received a packet informing him that he has been invited to the Indian's Instructional League beginning on September 15th at their Spring Training complex in Goodyear, AZ. This is really an honor for Chase to be invited to because they choose people that they see potential in and really want to see play. I'm so proud of him! The group Chase is with finishes up on October 5th. So, he will be there for about 3 weeks. The letter says that if I go with him, we will be responsible for our own living situation, so we are still trying to figure out if I will get to go with him or not. I would love to, but we will have to see. He's going to ask some more questions before we decide.

Now that we know that, there are approximately 10 days from when this season ends to when he has to be in Goodyear. That includes a day to travel back to Georgia and possibly 2-3 days to travel to Arizona if we drive. If he is going by himself, he will most likely fly. We are hoping to get in a day or two of sight-seeing before we head back to Georgia. Both of us really want to see Niagara Falls which I think is about a 4 hour drive from us. But we will see. Although all of this unknown is hard for me, I'm handling it quite a bit better than I anticipated. I think Chase is rubbing off on me.

Love to everyone! Until next time,

Cait