Soccer Camp

Some friends told us about a free soccer camp that a local Lutheran church puts on for the community.  It was every day for 5 days, and all the participants were given a really cool sports water bottle, shin guards, a t-shirt and a soccer ball.  I repeat - IT WAS FREE!!!  Wow!  Max, Harry and Bennett all participated in their respective age groups.  It was a long and exhausting week, but the boys really had fun.

We had many friends participating also.  It was fun for the kids to have friends there, but maybe more fun for me, or at least more easily endured, because I also had friends there.

Bennett and his friend Jonah from church.  

One night, right before soccer camp started, Bennett and I were reading a book together.  He suddenly became so excited because he saw his friend Jonah IN THE BOOK!!!

Maybe if Jonah was an African American he would look like this.

Harrison had a great time!  He loves soccer, and is getting better and better.

Bennett loved it at first.  He was thrilled to be given a water bottle, ball, shin guards and a shirt.  The excitement of it lasted for just a little while.  After that I had to beg, bribe and plead with him to participate. 

Because it was a Lutheran soccer camp all the kids had to attend a 15 minute "lambs" lesson.  It consisted of a short bible lesson, and some songs.  The first day, when Harrison realized what was happening, he made the most hilarious/angry face at me.  He stood up and loudly whispered at me, "You tricked me!  This is not a church day!"  In his mind soccer and church shouldn't mix, apparently. 

Can you see him right in the center?  He's actually smiling!

Bennett's friends, who are brother's, were not so into listening to the lamb's lesson either.  They are our Bishop's sons which just makes this extra funny.

By the second day Bennett was done with soccer.  He picked a lot of flowers instead.

And cute little Theo had a fun time too.

I helped my friends out one day, and had her girls over, so they joined in the fun.  The organizers of the camp were so nice and let the girls play for one day, and still get all the free stuff!  It was AWESOME!  I was really happy for the girls.  They loved it!

Amelia and Harrison

Bennett and Peryn

(I love their fake cheesy grins!)

Here is a better smile from Peryn.

The youngest, Greta is kind of a monkey, and I was happy that she was content sitting in the stroller and watching all the soccer going on.

Peryn and Bennett at the Lambs Lesson singing songs together.  

They were SO cute!

Amelia during a scrimmage.  She seriously stopped to smile for the camera.

Max is considered an older kid, and his group played in the afternoon.  I was literally at the field all day long!

It's hard to smile for the camera when the sun is so bright.

Max and Harrison

Brothers and friends.

On the last day I could not find Bennett's shirt anywhere!  He was pretty much done with the week, but I convinced him to at least participate in the stretches.

It took Lily to sit and keep him focused.

I got these two videos of Bennett doing his best during warm-ups on the last day.  

It is harder to bunny hop than you think.  Is it OK that I was laughing at my son's inability to hop like a bunny?  Is it OK that I was bribing him with cookies to participate in a free soccer camp?

After stretching he needed a chair and some water.  He was done for the day.  He was ready to pick more flowers, and play with his friends.

What a surprise...or not.  Bennett refusing to stand and participate.

And of course he has a flower in his hand.

His flower needed a drink.

One of the little boys started to pile soccer balls, one by one, on my friend Emily.  Two of the little boys are hers.  You can tell she is a mom of 5 kids.  She was really good at holding on to and managing all those balls.

On the last day there was barbecue lunch for FREE sponsored by the fire department.  Fire fighters came out and grilled for all the soccer players and their parents.  It was awesome!

Helping Hands

Every year on, or around September 11th is set aside as a national day of service.  I wonder how many citizen's of our country actually know this.  I don't hear much about it except at church.  Our church, which is established throughout the world, takes this National Day of Service very seriously.  Church leadership in Salt Lake City encourages all congregations to organize a service project that will benefit the communities we live in on this day.  The Service Projects are usually designed for all members in the families of a congregation to participate.  Through the years Jason and I have helped out with many of these projects.  Each one has blessed our lives and others.  

This year our Stake, which is a group of seven congregations like a Catholic Diocese, planned to collect food for local food banks.  We were asked to invite and involve our neighbors to also help gather food.  Jason and I took the bags around to our neighbors.  They all donated food.  One of our neighbors went to the grocery store and brought us about 15 bags of food.  It was very awesome, and seriously caused me to shed a few tears.  It was a thrill to gather food from our neighborhood, and then drive a van full of food to the church.  My favorite part was that my children were able to participate in this awesome project.  I was sad that Jason had to work, and didn't get to be a part of the project on the gathering day.

All Volunteers had to wear one of these.

Glenn and Max worked so very hard.

Our Stake gathered over 15,000 pounds of food!!!  It was awesome!  When the first food bank guy came to pick up he was happy and overwhelmed with how much food we had for him to pick up. 

This is just one of three locations filled with bags of food like this.  It was so awesome!

Many hands make for light work.
Do you see Max and Glenn?  They were two of the only youth there.  Max was the youngest helper.  I was very proud of them.

Harrison was bummed that I wouldn't let him do too much.  I told him that the best way for him to help was to sit on the curb.  He did NOT like that idea at all.  

Lily was helping too.  

Did I mention that it was hot?  Well it was.  After all the hard work we had to go get some Frenzi Frozen Yogurt.  YUM!

Double Date

Recently we went on a double date with this super cute couple.  We had a blast with them. 

Their names are Glenn and Maxwell.  These boys are some of our favorites.

They both had birthday's this Summer, and have been saving up their money.  They were excited to go to Cheesecake Factory for a yummy dessert, then to buy some new games for the Wii.

We took the Wii away for the Summer, and I realized that if they bought a new Wii game or two there would be a discussion/argument about the Wii making a comeback.  I have really enjoyed the Wii being gone, so I came up with a better plan.  I remembered that the mall where the Cheesecake Factory is located also has a Lego Store.  I explained this to the boys, and their eyes grew large.  It did not take much to persuade them.

Glenn had Key Lime Mango Cheesecake and Max had Cookies and Cream Cheesecake.  Maxwell's original choice was chocolate and coconut cream cheesecake.  I was bummed too, because I really wanted to try that!

LEGO STORE!!!  My boys thought this was heaven!

 After eating they were tired, very tired.  Max was excited to maybe buy one of the new dinosaur sets, but they saw the new line of LOTR Lego's as they walked into the store.

I think Jason had just as much fun looking around and dreaming as the boys did.

Max was so excited to see the dinosaur Lego's.

The boys paying for their loot.  The guy working the register was cracking me up.  He was so into all the Lego's, and my boys loved him!

As we were paying, the guy heard us say something about us being their for the boys' birthdays.  He said that they could Lego guy for free as a birthday gift.  That was very exciting, as all my boys LOVE those little guys.

They both ended up with Lord of the Rings Lego sets.  They have played with them every day since.  

My camera did auto focus on Max's face instead of his LOTR Lego guys that he was trying to show me.  Can you tell how happy he is?  

I cannot end this post without saying a HUGE thank you Lily for babysitting Harry and Bennett so we could take the boys on this special birthday date.  She was so cheerful about it, and that is why her little brothers love her so much.