Basketball and Flag Football

 Owen played basketball for winter 2021-22 and flag football in the spring.  He was on the same football team with the same coach and many of the same teammates as the fall season, which he enjoyed playing with, so it was a fun season.  His team only lost 2 of the regular season games (none in which Owen played... his team lost the 2 Sunday games).  We thought they would do really well in the tournament, but they ended up losing the first round.  Owen mostly was the center, who snapped the ball, but he did finally score a couple of extra points in a couple of the games.  One of those games, his extra point was the point that won the game (7-6).    

Now, his basketball team... well it was a rough season.  They didn't win any games.  However, Owen played hard and had fun, so that's what matters.  It was disappointing that they didn't get to play 2 games of the season.  Due to Covid, they were "postponed", except they never got re-scheduled, so didn't get to make them up.  They didn't have that many to start with, so he didn't play very many games.  The other bummer was being forced to wear a mask while playing in most of the games!  A couple of the referees would let it slide, but some of them called penalties if they didn't keep their mask over their nose and mouth.  I felt sorry for them trying to run around and breathe in the masks out there.  Owen did better on defense than offense in basketball, but he did score a couple of baskets.     

Varsity Basketball

Nathan finished up his season in February.  They had 8 or so games in the last 2 weeks of the season.  They only lost 1 game of the league play.  They had two close games to the cross-town rivals, but then beat both of those teams by 20 points or so the second time they played.  They were the league champions, moving on to the CIF Tournament.  They won the first game but lost in the second round.  Their team had a good season.  Nathan never got much playing time, but he was glad to be on the team.   He played a few minutes in the Senior Night game.  We were really grateful just to be able to participate in Senior Night.  We had an interesting experience with that.  On Thursday January 27th, we got a message saying the last home game (and Senior Night) was moved to Sunday February 6th.  I sent a message right away to the athletic director, asking if it was possible to move the game because Nathan wouldn't be able to play due to religious reasons.  The reply was, "No, we had no other choice.  We can't move it." We were really bummed. Nathan already knew he wouldn't go to the Sunday game.  We went to his "last" home game that night.  I held back tears as the game ended.  Alex and I stayed until Nathan came out of the locker room.  By that time, the gym was completely empty, except for Nathan's coach.  We snapped a couple pictures and talked to his coach, who was also disappointed with the Sunday game.  He knew that Nathan and also his assistant coach, who is a pastor, wouldn't be able to be at the game.  His coach said he'd try to get the game moved, but didn't know if they could.  I was sad that Nathan probably wouldn't get his moment of recognition, but then I thought this might be his "moment" to stand up for what he believes and not waver.  He was literally standing alone in the gym that night, as a shining example to his coach and team.  Nathan had more faith than me and said we could pray.  We did that, and I also fasted the next day.  I sent another message that next morning to the athletic director, pleading again to look for other options.  I got a reply, "We're working on it."  Hope!  A few hours later, they notified me they were able to move the game to Saturday night (the 5th).  That required moving an entire wrestling tournament earlier and coordinating with the other team.  Nathan's coach had gone to work the night before, fighting for Nathan, questioning the athletic director about whether they were really going to exclude 2 people for religious reasons.  

I felt like it was a test for Nathan to see if he would be willing to sacrifice and stick to his beliefs even when it was something he really wanted.  It would have been easy to make an exception or say "this one time", but he stuck to his beliefs.  I'm really proud of him for that.  He's been consistent about not playing games or practicing on Sundays the whole season, so his coach and team already knew Nathan wasn't going to be able to participate.  We were glad they were able to move the game and got to participate in Senior Night after all.  Alex and I got to walk out with Nathan before the game.  They announced his 4.4 GPA and plans to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  This was the first and only game that our whole family was able to be there to watch as well, so that was extra special.

It's hard to believe he's done with basketball... he may not have got much playing time this season, but he learned a lot of valuable lessons by being part of a team:  discipline, hard work, teamwork, showing up, leadership, supporting roles, and opportunities to show his character.  I hope he'll also remember that I was there to support him at nearly every game (out of about 30 games this season, I only missed 2 games).  We've been to A LOT of basketball games (and that was just this year)!  It's been fun to watch him throughout his sports seasons.  He's grown and developed so much - I'm glad he found something that he really loves doing.     

 

Sunbeams

I taught Sunbeams a few times in January.  The very first Sunday I prepared to teach my new class, which has about 7 kids in it.  None of them were there, but I taught my Plan of Salvation lesson to the next class up, since they needed some help that day.  The 2nd Sunday, I wasn't planning on teaching - January was supposed to be my co-teacher's month to teach.  However, I didn't get the message that she wouldn't be able to be there (that was the day I was doing Nathan's party all day).  I had my Plan of Salvation lesson from the first week, which my new class hadn't heard, but then we only had 2 kids there.  The class above me only had 1 kid, so I asked if we could join them (since I hadn't prepared the current week's lesson and the numbers were small).  The 3rd week, I did prepare a lesson, but the class above me only had 1 again, so I asked if they wanted to join my class.  That 3rd lesson was about Adam and Eve and choices.  I didn't take any photos to document that lesson, but they got to hold up a smiley face for good choices and a frowny face for bad choices.  We also did a matching game, where they matched pictures of opposite things - like hot and cold or up and down.  

By the 4th week, I had officially coordinated with the class above me to combine our classes, since the number of kids and/or teachers has been small, and I wanted to take the guesswork out of who was going to prepare the lesson.  I didn't teach the 4th week but did the 5th week lesson on the city of Enoch.  We talked about how they showed love and unity for each other, and then we played a chutes and ladders game.  When they landed on the hearts, they had to share a way that they could show love for others.  They got heart suckers as treats at the end.  I don't bring treats often, but I thought it went well with the lesson.  There was one of my Sunbeams who was there for the first time.  It's a pretty hard transition from the nursery, where they get to play the whole time, to Sunbeams (where they have to sit through a lesson).  Anyway, she had a hard time most of the lesson... until she got a sucker.  Then it was the best day ever!  Her mom asked her about Sunbeams, and she said, "It was the BEST!" Good thing I brought the candy that day... 

One funny thing about one of the other kids.  I don't think she gets treats often at home.  She ate part of her sucker, but then gave it back to me at the end of the class.  I asked if she didn't want it, and she said, "Well, my mom wouldn't want me to have it."  Ha ha.  I thought, "Okay, yes we'll hide the evidence then..."  😀 

The kids say or do the funniest things sometimes.  I think I should start writing a book about being a Sunbeam teacher.  

 

January blessings and such

We had a special day in January.  Weston got the priesthood, being ordained to the office of deacon.  Owen became a teacher and Jared became a priest.  Nathan and Jared participated with Alex in ordaining Weston to the priesthood.  It was a spirit-filled time.  We also enjoyed watching Weston pass the sacrament for the first time the next week.  Owen prepared the sacrament, and Nathan and Jared blessed the sacrament.  We also got to go with Weston to the temple for the first time to do some work there.  Savannah isn't old enough yet, so we were missing her, but we got to be there with all the boys (along with the youth group).  It was an early session, at 7:00am, so there was a beautiful sunrise when we got there.   

Savannah got to do an overnighter when we went to the temple, since the rest of us had to wake up so early.  She was really excited about that - she made a whole list of things to take on the white board.  She got the list-making from me... she likes to plan and be organized and prepared.  

Savannah had her 100 days celebration at school.  She wishes she had 100 puppies, would donate $100 to charity, wants to eat 100 cupcakes, and can do 100 math problems!  I think it describes her pretty well - animal loving, charitable, sweet tooth, and smart.   

Nathan put together a slide presentation for a solution to putting the broken Lego sets back together - he named his "company" Nater Solutions!  I bet he has many presentations in the future.   

13th party

I didn't have any time to relax after Nathan's party because it was right on to Owen's party the following Saturday.  Owen's birthday was in December, but we didn't have any free days for a party, so we planned one for January.  I did a similar style party to Nathan's, with 13 different activities, but they were more minute-to-win-it style games.  Most of them took longer than a minute to complete, especially with teams, but they weren't as long as Nathan's party activities and they didn't correlate with anything from Owen's life.  We didn't quite get to all Owen's games either - we completed 10 of the 13 challenges.  Here's what we did:

- Tissue boxes strapped around waist - shake ping pong balls out

- Color sort - fastest to sort out colored circles

- Getting balloons in a bucket without using hands

- Block tower building - rolling dice for building instructions

- 21 cup stack - over and over until you get to the first cup

- Pyramid cup stack - build and take down the fastest

- Rubberband shoot the pyramid cup stack

- Bounce balls into a bucket, eliminating one ball each round and eliminating people each round that don't make it 

- Candy grab with 2 card decks

- Skittles and straws - suck skittles from 1 plate to another

There were prizes for each game, along with cake, chips, and soda. Only 7 of 16 friends were able to make it, but we had a fun group.    

18th birthday

We have another adult in the house!  About a week before Nathan's birthday, I decided that we had to do a party.  I asked Nathan what he wanted to do, but he didn't know, so I decided to plan it.  It was like a surprise party, except he knew when it was and who was coming.  He just had no idea that we were going to do.  I decided to go back through his childhood and do activities that related to things he liked or past parties.  I planned to do one activity for each year of his life.  It turned out to be a ton of work, but pretty fun.  We had dinner first and then watched a video slideshow of highlights of Nathan.  Then we did most of the years (we didn't quite do all of them): 

2004 - Diaper changing relay with bears that had Nathan's baby face on it.

2005 - Australia video and hopping with a balloon relay

2006 - talking - ice breaker questions

2007- trains - made paper trains

2008 - Apples - rolling race

2009 - Superheroes - Captain America shield throw

2010 - Good memory - memory game with Nathan pictures

2011 - Singing - watched past videos of him singing and then everyone got to sing an action primary song with a partner

2012 - Sports - Slideshow sports video and paper football game

2013 - Basketball - Hoop shoot game we have in the garage

2014 - Legos - Building a car competition

2015 - Soccer - balloon relay

2016 and 2018 - backpacking / Survivor - Scavenger Hunt and Decoded message

2017 - England - saying British phrases with an accent

2019 - Driving - Pushing the Lego cars with a broomstick

2020 - Sculpture - Playdoh

2021 - Missionary Work - Church Jeopardy

We didn't end up doing the last 2 years and accidentally skipped the memory game.  They were just ready to hang out for a while after doing 14 of the activities.  The activity that took me the most time to prepare was the scavenger hunt.  I made 4 different hunts (for 4 teams) throughout our house.  They found the clues (backpacking items) and then each of the clues had a word to be decoded and unscrambled.  Then the words had to be unscrambled to make a phrase - sort of a Survivor style challenge (Survivor was his 13th birthday party).  The phrase was "Celebrate the last night of childhood with a journey through the ages."  

The party seemed to be a success - the only downer was that only 5 of the 12 guests were able to make it to the party.  Two of his friends couldn't come at the last minute, because they had just found out their Mom had Covid.  Otherwise, everyone seemed to have a good time!    

 

New Year 2022

 We started off the new year with watching OSU beat Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl.  Alex took some of the kids in the afternoon to find the snow up in the mountains.  (I needed to work on a Sunbeam lesson.)  We finished up a puzzle we started after Christmas.  We had a nice start to 2022.