Fall Sports

 Sorry about the picture, Kev, but it's the only one I got without another runner in my way.  Kevin ran cross-country with the high school this year, and he did great.  His team won the 3A state championship today.  Kevin didn't run today, because the JV team didn't compete in the state meet, but he ran in the region championships last week and got his PR of 19:10.  Not too bad for a 9th grader.  Especially since he has been playing club soccer at the same time, and he decided at the beginning of the season that when there was a conflict he would give soccer the priority.  He missed quite a few x-country practices and a couple of meets so he could fulfill his soccer obligations.  Next year if he does both, those priorities will most likely switch.  He has been good to not complain about his busy schedule and to keep his grades up this term, so maybe he can do it all. We'll see.  Now that x-country and outdoor soccer are over it's almost time for school basketball and indoor soccer to begin.  It never ends with this kid.

Matt has been busy with soccer, too.  He has had a good season, but unlike the rest of our kids, the intensity of club soccer has become a little too much for Matt.  He has started to be sad when it's a soccer day.  Now that the fall season is over, he's going to take a break.  Soccer is so all-encompassing (2-3 hours a day, 3-4 days a week, year round) that if a child isn't enjoying it, there's really no point.  We're going to try tennis lessons for a while, and let him see if he likes that. He took some from the city this summer and thought they were fun, and the best part -they'll only be once a week :) If he wants to play a session of indoor soccer with his team he can, but he's not going to do all three sessions straight through the winter like last year.  Personally, it wouldn't hurt my feelings if he were done with soccer for good.  It has been really fun and good for my older children, but it takes so much time, and Matthew, at least right now, just doesn't have the same love for it.  Time will tell.

Back on Matt's birthday, before the season started, -Strikers Cup Champions

Catching Up -Running Around

At the first of May we ran down to PG for a triple birthday celebration for Kevin, Megan, and Garrett.  We enjoyed chatting, playing and synchronized candle blowing with cousins that we don't see often enough.  Ule came with us and had fun playing games with the cousins.

We have done a lot of running to and in soccer games.  Here are some more soccer pictures.  We've had some pretty exciting games this season.  These pictures aren't necessarily from the most exciting games -sometimes I forget to take pictures when the games get stressful, but here you go:

One more track meet for Kevin -Same result despite strong winds: Third in mile with same time (5:55) and his 4x400 relay team came in first.

 And one more running event to wrap things up -the 3rd annual Shadow Valley 5K. This is the first year it hasn't been pouring rain.  We weren't quite sure what to do. 

 Camille and Matt finished strong at 34 minutes some odd seconds.

We own this place

 I didn't get a picture of Kevin finishing, but he took 13th place overall and 1st in his age division with a time of 20:55.  And, maybe the biggest victory was that he beat his teammate from track who kept beating him and coming in second in the mile.  (His good friend Zach who always wins the mile was signed up to run this race but ended up being out of town -probably a good thing)

 If you look closely at Matt's knees you can see where he skinned them when he wiped out about half-way through.  He kept on going, though, and did an awesome job.  Thanks to Camille for running with him.  Next up for her -The Ogden Half-marathon coming up this Saturday!  Good luck!

Soccer, Of Course

I haven't posted any soccer pictures for a while, because I get kind of tired of posting about the same old thing, but, face it, that's a big part of our life pretty much year round.  Right now we are in the transition from the indoor to outdoor season.  Only one more indoor game next week, then on to outdoor for Matt.  He has learned a lot this year.  He had become much more aggressive during the indoor season.

Kevin has been playing on the 7-8th grade Jr. High team for the last couple of months as well as practicing with his club team.  Luckily there are only two other Jr. Highs in our school district so that makes for a very short season. :)  4 games and a championship.  They had their championship game last night which they won -good job Rams! -just in time for the club season to begin on Saturday. 

Playing keeper for the first time since he was 10

Love these boys!

Scott is playing on Ogden High's team and I don't have any pictures yet because I haven't wanted to freeze my fingers off, but his season goes through May, so I'm sure I'll get plenty. His team is doing well in the preseason, when they haven't been snowed out.  Also, there has been some missionary work going on with a couple of the players.  They haven't had a game this week and Scott and two of his LDS teammates have been attending the missionary discussions with one of his good friends on the team who is preparing for baptism.  Another teammate who is interested has been attending, as well as a teammate who was baptized last year and needs a little boost.  More to come on this.

Summer Sports

This week Kevin's team played in a soccer tournament in Cache Valley. It was fun to get a taste of what's to come this fall and it looks like they're going to have a pretty good team. They lost a few players and replaced them with new ones for the upcoming season, but they all seem to be playing together well. They placed 2nd in the tournament losing only to this team (from Logan) who were BIG and strong and shaved at half-time :) And if you ask us they were dirty players, but no one's asking us, especially not the refs. It got so bad our coach was ejected in the final, but our team played really well and hard. Kevin had the job of defending one of their best forwards and he stuck to him like glue. I think we have an exciting season ahead of us.

Matt is playing comp soccer for the first time this fall so he's been practicing all summer, too. It'll be fun to watch him when his games start.
For the first time in years Scott isn't playing soccer this summer because he's playing football. We're holding our breath hoping that he won't get hurt. So far only sore muscles, bruises and scrapes, but his friend, Brandon (another 1st timer) is out for a while with a hurt arm. I guess defense is in our family's blood because he has gradually moved into the linebacker position. They had their first scrimmage this week and he got 4 tackles, and played all but 3 plays in the JV game, and played in a few plays in the varsity game, so he felt good. He thinks his soccer defending experience helps him read the offense. I'm a little nervous to go to his first game and watch them all trying to kill each other, but I guess I'm a football mom now, too. If he can do it, I can do it!

More Soccer!

Yes, it's another soccer post -this time it's Scott's turn. As you can see, it was a beautiful evening for soccer (finally) and it was a great game. OHS (JV team) ended up winning 6-0. When it was near the end and the score was 4-0 our coach let a couple of defenders switch places with the offense just for fun, so Scott got to play forward for 10 or 15 minutes. Believe it or not, he ended up scoring their last two goals. He never gets to score since he plays defense, so he thought that was pretty cool.

Did you know soccer is non-contact sport?

Not sure what he's doing here.

Scott gives as good as he gets on the contact end of things. He usually ends up with at least one foul per game.

I had to include this picture because this ball ended up going in the net for Scott's first goal.

Matt's Soccer

Our schedule has been a little crazy with soccer this spring, but I love watching the games and Matt's are no exception. Each season he seems to play a little more aggressively and get a little better. His whole team has really improved this year. Yesterday they played one of the best teams in the division and it was a very exciting game. They ended up losing 5-4 (unless you count the goal they scored after the final whistle was blown and they other team left the field) but it was a great game. Matt has scored a goal in each of his first two games. Camille took all these pictures because I was too busy watching and cheering and was being a slacker photographer.

Soccer Starts

This week was the beginning of the high school boys soccer season, and even though the weather felt more like winter and Scott's arm is still in a cast, he was excited to get started. We had to buy a bunch of foam weather stripping for him to have his cast wrapped in and then it was taped up, but he was cleared by the refs in both games this week. His cast comes off tomorrow, so that will be a relief. It didn't seem to slow him down, but the funniest thing I saw was after half-time right before the game started when he had to have a teammate tie his shoe. He can't get his fingers around a shoelace because of his cast. This week the JV team lost one game and won one game.

What foul? I didn't touch him!

Arm Update

So Scott finally got a cast last Monday. His arm is much more comfortable now. We both got a little queasy, though, looking at his arm with the pins sticking out and the incision. They had me hold his arm up while the doc took the stitches out, and I think there's a reason I'm not a nurse. This cast will only stay on for two weeks before they have to take it off to pull the pins out. They told Scott to be sure to take pain medicine before he comes for that, so it sounds like it will be fun. I really hope I don't have to participate in that. He'll probably get a smaller cast for a couple more weeks after that, then he'll be done!

The big question is still soccer. He tried to go to conditioning again on Tuesday, but after running hard for a mile, his hand was completely swollen and his whole arm was throbbing. I guess the cast is too tight to allow for the natural swelling that occurs with exercise. His arm was sore for the rest of the night, so he'll have to wait to do much hard exercise. Tryouts are the day he gets his cast off and the pins taken out. His appointment is in the morning and tryouts are in the afternoon, so we'll have to see how he feels and how much he can do with a small cast. He's hoping the coach will be understanding since he was on the team last year. He just has to be really careful and not fall on it for a while. We'll see!

MLS Champions

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=8772312

And ReAL Salt Lake wins the MLS Cup! Unbelievable!

Soccer Banquet

Camille's soccer season has been over for a while now, but the end of year banquet was last night. All the seniors were honored and awards were given -a nice end to the season. Camille earned Academic All-State honors and her team voted her Best Defensive Player. Her coach had nice things to say about her. He said that she was the backbone and heart of the team. He also said that although she wasn't the most athletic, fastest, strongest, etc., she worked the hardest, and was probably the smartest and made the fewest mistakes of any sweeper he had coached. She did have a great season. It's a hard position to play, because you have to watch the whole field and direct the entire defense, as well as get into position yourself. Towards the end of last year she said it seemed to click with her, and she began to develop a feel for where she needed everyone to be, and this year she gained a lot more confidence.

It was a nice evening

Kevin's Game

Finally, I got some pictures of one of Kevin's games, and on the most beautiful day of the year, too! 70 degrees, not a cloud in the October blue sky, and trees (and bushes) in brilliant colors all around town and covering the foothills. I think my kids are tired of me exclaiming about the beauty. Scott says that the colors of the fall leaves just means they're dying, and it's true, but I still think they're a gift.

We have been really proud of Kevin this year. His old team disbanded at the end of last year, so he's on a new team formed from parts of other teams. He has a new coach and he started the year as a benchwarmer, playing very little. He has kept a good attitude, though, and has kept working hard, and he's worked his way up to being a starter. It's been fun to watch him gain confidence and become more and more aggressive on the field.