Fall Sports

Sports kept us busy this Fall.  There was football for Cameron (of course), swimming for Hannah, and baseball and cross country for Christian.

Cameron played on the Varsity team and was the first string (maybe the only string) long snapper.  He also got a little playing time as a tight end.  The season had its ups and downs but mostly downs.  It started with the 7 on 7 games during the summer.  Cameron attended every practice and worked his butt off only to stand on the sidelines of those games.  As the school year began, Cameron continued to attend every practice, work his butt off while keeping his grades up (most players did not) and he continued to spend most of his time on the sideline.  There were times when he would come home quite discouraged.  The coaches would tell the kids they could not play if they were not passing, but they still did.  The coaches also said that the reward for working hard was playing time, but that did not prove to be true in Cameron's case.  But despite all this, Cameron did not want to quit and remained loyal to the team.

I made the mistake of watching a bit of practice on a couple occasions, and I was appalled at how the coaches talked to the players and the language they used.  So, it was not surprising when at the game against our neighboring school, a fight broke out that included not only players, but coaches and parents as well.  One of the Marcos's players hit one of his own coaches!  The fans were told to leave, and we figured they would call the game and the players would be right behind us. But it was a long time before Cameron got home.  When he got home, he told us they finished the game and they won.  They received a police escort to the bus and back to the school.  Yep, this is the school we are sending our kids to.  Not only were we not informed that the game would continue, but we never heard a word from the coach and nothing much was said to the players.  We did hear from the principal though.  She received an email from Chuck that warranted a phone call, not just a reply to the email.  Fortunately, we never again saw the player or his mom that were the most involved.  Unfortunately, the coaching staff remained and nothing seemed to change.  

I do admire Cameron's dedication and drive when it comes to football.  And I love that he has a passion. The biggest high of the season came when he was nominated for the All-Region 1st Team!  The players are selected by the other coaches in the region.  So, he might not get recognized by his coaches but other coaches are noticing him. 

Hannah started out the Fall season wanting to play volleyball.  She went to 2 days of try outs and had a horrible experience.  I will never really know what happened, but in addition to not being very good, she said the coach was mean and things seemed really disorganized.  I convinced her to join the swim team (there were no tryouts because the team is so small) and she ended up loving it!  I loved it too.  She did not have to sit thru study hall, the bus was always back at school when it was scheduled to be, and she was always home for dinner.  In addition, the coaches were respectful to the kids and the kids got along with the swimmers from other teams, they encouraged each other and re-connected with friends they went to grade and elementary school with.  Basically, it was the complete opposite of football.  

Hannah was awarded the most improved swimmer award.  She also lettered, which is unusual for a first-year swimmer.  She showed so much dedication and drive.  At the awards banquet, her coach said that Hannah would work to the point of pain and that most kids did not really get there until their junior year (if ever). We are so proud of her!  

Christian decided to run cross country for his school.  Everyone made the team which might the sport more appealing to him.  It was a short, intense season.  They raced every Tuesday and Thursday for about 3 weeks and practiced the other days.  All that running was hard on Christian and he complained a lot about heel pain.  I hope it was a combination of too much running and being in pivotal growth years and that he won't continue to have pain.  His fastest time was 12:45.8 with the courses being 1.5miles. But most importantly, he never let Sam beat him and that was always the goal.   He was so dedicated and worked so hard, even running thru pain.  We are so proud of him!

Christian also played Fall Ball.  He was placed on a team with a coach we had some reservations about.  But he turned out to be a great guy and a great coach.  (It might not have hurt that Chuck and I volunteered as umpire coordinators and that Christian has become friends with the coach's son).  Christian had an amazing season and after last Spring, he really needed to have some good things happen.  Christian mostly played catcher and was very successful behind the plate.  He was also successful when he was asked to pitch.  He hit almost every time he was at the plate and if not, he did not go down without swinging.  Cameron did a little umpiring, but football kept him a little too busy to do much.

Trek 2021

Every 4 years, the stakes (at least in this part of the country) in the church organize a pioneer trek.  It is designed to give the kids, ages 14+, a little taste (very little taste) of what the pioneers went thru as they traveled across the plains.  It takes a lot of people to pull this off.  Last year just before Covid hit, Chuck and I were asked to be a Ma and a Pa.  I really did not want to go.  I have so much respect and admiration for the pioneers, but I hate pioneer stories and songs.  I do not find them to be faith promoting or inspiring.  I find them to be depressing and it makes me question why the Lord made it so hard for the early Saints.  And I do not like to camp.  Before I had a chance to say no, the trek was cancelled.  Whew, dodged a bullet there.  The Trek was rescheduled for this year but Chuck and I were not asked to go.  Hannah was planning to go.  Cameron was not.  He felt obligated to stay home and play football even though it was Fall break and there should not have been a football game AND even though going on trek is a once in a childhood opportunity. 

Then two weeks before Trek, we received a call asking us to be a Ma and Pa on the Trek.  They were desperate.  Apparently, the organizers, the Turners, started with a list of 25 couples to ask.  After having to delay for a year, of the 7 couples, some were no longer able to go, so the Turners worked on another list of 25 names.  All of them said no.  They started calling bishops to ask for suggestions and our bishop gave them our names.  We were the 19th couple they called.  Chuck already had the week off and my parents were planning on being in town to help with Emily's girls so they could keep an eye on Cameron and Christian.  Even though I still had no desire to go, I felt like everything had fallen in place, making it impossible for us to say no.  Plus, I knew Chuck has always wanted to go.  I knew I needed to take one for the team.

We met at the church on Thursday morning and met our kids.  We had 8 kids (Emily, Ana, Dehlia, London, JD, Mason, Alex, Hayden) a big brother and big sister who were adults (Jeff and Sarah).  We really lucked out with our family.  We had great kids including our big brother and sister.  We drove to Forest Lakes where we assembled and packed our handcarts.  Everyone put their personal items in a 5-gallon paint bucket (which I learned we would also use as a chair) and bedding was put in a large trash bag.  We had a picnic lunch (provided by the caterer as all food was) before we hit the "trail" which was a forest access road.  It was very easy going.  We walked between 8 and 9 miles in perfect weather for the day.  We had several stops on the way where we were able to use porta-a-potties and hear pioneer stories.  At one point, we were chased off by a "mob".  When we got to camp, our tents had been dropped off by the wranglers and dinner was prepared for us.  We set up camp and had dinner and dessert as a family with a devotional before bed. 

The girls slept in a tent, the boys in another, Chuck and Jeff (big brother) slept under the stars, and I slept in my own tent.  Okay, I didn't really sleep, but attempted to sleep.  In the morning we had breakfast and hit the trail.  We probably didn't do more than about 6 miles.  We had the women's pull where only the girls were allowed to pull the cart and it probably was not more than about one quarter of a mile, but it was steeper than what we had been doing.  I think the idea is to help the girls to understand that sometimes the pioneer women did not have the help of their husbands (because they had died) and to help them understand that they can do hard things.  The problem I have with the women's pull is that it feels like the underlying belief is that women are weak.  I disagree with that.  Yes, comparatively speaking, men are physically stronger than women.  But women are not weak.  There were times during the trek that we had all our girls in the yoke and Hannah spent most of her time in the yoke.  Anyway... we got to camp in the early afternoon and the kids were allowed to wander around and participate in different pioneer activities and games like making butter and candles.  That evening after dinner the kids had a devotional with the stake president followed by a dance, where they  actually danced.  

Then it was another sleepless night for me.  The wind was blowing pretty hard, making lots of noise, but I would not have slept regardless.  In the morning we had an hour of quiet time where the kids were supposed to go off by themselves and journal, read, pray, etc.  I thought there was no way they would do this, but they actually did.  After that was a testimony meeting for the kids.  Then we packed up and hit the trail for our final day.  It was a very short hike out, maybe 2 miles.  After we go to our final destination, we took the carts apart, got our things to the car and had lunch.  We drove home and said good bye to our families.

The following Sunday we had a fireside where we listened to some speakers and watched the slide show (there were cameras, camera men and go pros all over the place). Overall, Trek was a great experience.  I was very impressed with the way it was organized and I am so glad we went.

Introducing Sylvan Thomas Casanova

 

Fall Break - Part 1

Hannah had been asking for some time to go to the beach so I decided we should do a short trip to the beach and Knott's Berry Farm for Fall Break.  I am not the biggest fan of the beaches I have been to in San Diego, so I asked around of a better place to go and it was suggested we go to San Clemente. I booked a Air BnB that was located a short distance from the beach.  

We drove to CA on Saturday and spent a little bit of time at the beach around Sunset.  

On Sunday we spent the majority of the day on the beach.  The weather was perfect but the water was cold.  It did not phase the kids much, but I did not get in and Chuck only got in for a bit.  The kids took turns boogie boarding.  Hannah and Christian did great, Cameron could not really get the hang of it.  We took a lunch break and when we went back to the beach the water was closed due to a shark sighting.  The kids hesitated a bit but eventually got in when they saw other people in. However, they got called back by the lifeguards.  After about 4 hours had passed since the shark sighting, the water was opened.  Hannah and Christian complained about being chaffed between the legs and Hannah stepped on something that stung her foot.  But other than that, it was a good beach day.  We did some shopping that evening at a surf shop outlet.  Hannah was in heaven and the boys were very patient.  

On Monday we drove to Anaheim and went to Knott's Berry Farm.  There were few people there and not much waiting in line which makes for a good day.  Two of the biggest roller coasters were not operational, which was fine with me.  Christian said he was glad one of them was closed because he did not want to go on it but he did not want to be a wimp.  We were quickly making our way thru all the rides when, while in line for the rapids ride, it started to rain.  We were able to ride that one because it was not a roller coaster, but all the roller coasters were shut down.  This was about 3pm and the park closed at 5pm.  The only roller coaster left that Chuck and the kids had not ridden was the wooden one.  (I don't do wooden roller coasters.) We did not know how long it would rain and we did not want to leave, so we ate a funnel cake and looked in the shops.  (The shopping was pretty pathetic.)  We kept the faith and about 1/2 hour before the park was to close, the roller coaster opened and Chuck and the kids were able to ride it twice.  

On Tuesday morning, Hannah and I headed to the beach first thing in the morning so she could boogie board.  We went back to the house and packed up.  The boys headed to the beach while Hannah and I checked out some of the shops as we walked to the beach.  We finally found a tourist shop where we could buy some souvenirs.  The boys were just about done on the beach when we got there, so they got changed and we grabbed some lunch before heading home.  

San Clemente was an interesting city.  The beach was really nice and not crowded at all.  The streets were small and windy with cars everywhere.  The houses were mostly multiple family residences, many I am sure were rentals.  They were literally on top of one another with no yards.  And the people were not very friendly at all.  When we went out, the employees performed their job duties but did not go out of their way to make us feel welcome.  It was really quite odd.  But still we had a great trip!