Sported out

I have spent hours and hours lately at sporting event for the kids. Poor Casey and Jill have had to traipse around and entertain themselves on the blue blanket far too much lately. Luckily, Casey started soccer Saturday, so some of those hours include his own games. I was worried about how he would like soccer, but the smile says it all. He absolutely loves when it is his turn. I guess he feels some sort of redemption for all of the times he has had to sit and watch. Maggie is loving soccer and can't wait to be in the game. I love watching the pigtails bounce.

Yesterday, 4.5 hours were spent at the high school for Sam's baseball tournament. Surprisingly, they won their first game and made it to the championship game to take second. His team was super excited. After playing catcher all day, Sam had a sunburned nose and sore quads. We both sighed a HUGE sigh of relief that baseball is over and now he only has cross country and football. Well, that is until basketball tryouts on Thursday. Yes, that is definitely a Missourism. Sports rules the land here. But, I will save that for another post.
I was proud of all the kids this weekend - both the participators and non-participators. We made it through two football games on Thursday, the last regular season baseball game on Friday, three soccer games on Saturday, the baseball tournament on Monday, and soccer again Monday night. After eating dinner at 8:00 last night, we all fell into bed sleeping and dreaming of anything but sports.

Is football fun?

Sam and Zach had football game #2 last night. A few differences between AZ and MO football have already been noted. In Missouri:

1. It is normal to play football in mud and rain.
2. Divisions are decided by school grade instead of by weight. That puts 90 pound Sam playing against 140 pound boys/men.
3. It looks like it may be impossible to get the football pants white again. I came home and soaked the pants overnight and washed them this morning. They came out as seen in the above photo.

Zach plays on a fun team that is very efficient and wins easily. The bigger boys in Zach's division are still slow so Zach can outrun them. However, Sam's team is 1-1. Last night tested Sam's will and desire to play. It was cold and rainy and he got pounded and completely crunched and played most of the game limping. The big boys are fast and strong and I was just hoping for no broken bones. (Thanks for the images, Sue) Football is tough and I used to like watching the boys play, but as Sam gets older, I'm not so sure. Luckily, we have no games next week so the aching bodies and the mom's nerves will have a chance to heal.

Wish I could savor it

Thanks so much to Thelissa and Eliza (and Denny) for the fabulous weekend visit. It was so great to see some of our favorite people. Maggie was completely surprised when Eliza came around the corner at the airport. We ate, talked, I got YW advice from Thelissa (oh, I got called to be in YW), got rained out in Branson, showed the West Plains goods, celebrated Casey's birthday, and treacherously made our way through a severe rain storm back to the airport Monday night. There was something missing when we all woke up on Tuesday. Jill couldn't quite understand that "her" friends were gone. Thanks, thanks, thanks for hanging and coming to see us.
Of course, with my unhired personal photographer around, I took only limited photos.

Missourism #2

West Plains High School played football against a high school in Springfield last Friday. What's so funny?
It was the Zizzers vs. Kickapoo High
Only in small town USA.

Raining and pouring

It has been raining all day. After school, Maggie and Zach decided it was too tempting and soon took advantage of the fun. The rain is different here in MO; it's kind of like a sustained monsoon without the wind. Casey was sick so we opened the windows and doors and listened to the pouring rain. A perfect reading day if not for a very active little Jilly.

In Casey's words

Nauvoo and Nana

We had been counting down the days for Nana to come visit and it finally came last Saturday. After picking up Nana at the St. Louis airport, we drove another two hours to make our way toward Nauvoo. All of us were excited to see Nana and also to see historic Nauvoo. Ron served his mission in Illinois and spent some time in the the Nauvoo ward and I was excited to visit for the first time. Sunday morning we went to church. I loved the experience of hearing the missionaries tell of their time spent serving in Nauvoo.

We stopped by the temple and took a couple of pictures. (Hyrum and Joseph on their horses leaving for Carthage, looking back over their city.)

The Nauvoo Temple is beautiful. We counted nearly 100 stars on the exterior and thought we had done pretty good. But, we googled how many stars are on the temple and there are 399 stars. It is amazing to think of the sacrifice that was made to build the original temple structure. After seeing the temple, we made our way to Carthage and toured the jail where Joseph and Hyrum were killed. I expected to feel immense sadness, but was surprised that I felt hope and gratitude to a prophet and a brother who loved the Lord to do the service that was asked of them.
Back in Nauvoo, we saw a few of the restored buildings like Seventies Hall, the blacksmith shop, the Sarah Granger Kimball's home, the shoe shop, and then called it a day. All the kids were jealous because Casey got to keep the horseshoe from the blacksmith shop because his birthday was the closest.

One of my favorite tributes in Nauvoo is the Trail of Hope. Markers inscribed with journal entries lead the way to the point where the Saints left Nauvoo for the west. As you look back, the most prominent structure is the temple. I can't imagine the feelings of loss and sadness that I would have felt. I really don't think I could have done it.

On Monday, we toured more homes, the printing press, the gunsmith, and the brickyard. The kids loved the pioneer pastimes and experiencing some of the games and fun the pioneer kids had.

We all loved learning more about life in Nauvoo and our gratitude and awe increased for those who came became before. I am so glad that we were able to visit.

Missouriism

There are so many different things that Ron and I crack up about living here in Missouri. I decided I needed to start recording them so I don't forget. So the Missouriism for today is:

You don't prepay for breakfast/lunch at the school. Your kids go eat whenever they want and then the school bills you at the end of the month by sending the bill home with your kid. Come on, really?
And about breakfast while we are on the subject. Did RMRE have a breakfast option? I don't think so. Everyone here eats breakfast at school. (Gross) It is social/get into trouble/throw away 90% of the food on your tray hour. Believe me, I witnessed it first hand - and, of course, my kids are begging. Waaahhh.

Hours

Teddy is no longer allowed outside while Ron is mowing.
It took hours to turn that green dog back to white.