Landon Went to Homecoming

I still can't believe Landon is doing big boy things.  In my mind he's still ten years old.  He asked a cute girl to homecoming and was no help whatsoever when it was time to make a poster.  Randy is the artist in the family and he was working so I made the poster in record time before I had to drive some kid to some activity.  It wasn't perfect but it was good enough--the story of my life.

Landon has his drivers license but isn't allowed to drive other people yet so I got to be the chauffeur for this group.  Landon's date was so friendly and helped carry the conversation which I thought was super impressive.  After pictures and dinner, I dropped them off at the dance and then everyone went their separate ways to separate parties.  I think it's weird but apparently this is normal.  Whatever.  I'm just glad they went. 

This pose is from the Spiderman movie or something.  

Landon is THE MAN

Landon made the Varisty lacrosse team as a freshman!  This is a HUGE deal! It doesn't happen every year so we were thrilled when we found out.  Landon has been putting in work for years to achieve this goal.  He practices every day and has even had me drive him to the junior high late on Friday/Saturday nights so he can "hit the wall" (lax lingo for throwing the ball at a brick wall and catching it on the rebound).  His teammates all love him and are so proud of their Freshman Phenom which is what the announcer calls him every time he scores a goal.  

Here's a true story/mom fail:  I was driving Landon to his first game and I was surprised he seems to calm and not nervous.  I asked him to tell me what guy he'd be going in for and he said no one.  I got a little annoyed and told him "I know how this works.  Some other player runs out on the field at the start of the game and when he gets tired and comes off the field then you get to run on.  Who is that player so I can watch for him to run off?"  Landon got annoyed and a little mad as he responded, "Mom, there is no other guy!  I'm starting!  I'm the guy who goes on the field first!"

My jaw was on the floor.  I said, "You made varsity and you're STARTING?!?!"  I had no idea.   All this time I'd been celebrating he made varsity and would probably be a bench warmer.  I'm the worst sporty mom there ever was. Landon started in his first game and scored a HAT TRICK!  That's 3 goals which is no small feat.  I literally jumped for joy and my friend next to me said, "I'm crying for you Mel! I have tears!"  It was a great night to be Landon's biggest fan.

Trying on his new pickle suit

Celebrating our newest varsity player with dinner from Habit Burger

Landon's seminary teachers (and some of my favorite friends) came to cheer him on

Fist bumps after his first varsity game

Landon with his BFF Cooper who is the Freshman goalie.  These two are so happy to have each other and the boys are so good to them because they really are sweet little Freshman babies.

Spring break trip to Texas where the hazing was minimal

It's always easy to spot a Ball Brother in a lineup.  They are not tall!

Landon in the white, walking off the field after a win that he contributed to.   The team was losing when Landon got a tough goal that changed the momentum of the game.  We quickly scored a couple goals in succession, and another goal by Landon, to put us in the lead and lock in the win. 

Landon sets goals and knows that hard work pays off.  He wrote in marker on his mirror to make the varsity team.  He also wrote a favorite scripture next to it "I can do all things through Christ".  This boy knows how to get things done and Who to trust to get him there.

All the Fall Things

All the fall things happened pretty uneventfully.  Henry played soccer with his best friend Jack and Randy helped coach.  Parker finished his cross country season with only one rainy race.  Landon went to homecoming and has become a sometimes-grumpy teenager.  Landon started shaving and insisted on specific instruction from Randy.  The other boys just figured it out on their own after I told them the basics.  Landon also finished his drivers ed course.  Now he just needs to learn how to drive without killing anymore deer.  Yes, you read that right.  He hit a deer in Randy's new Audi.  You might be wondering how many Audi's the Ball family will continue to wreck before getting a different car.  I wonder the same thing!  You might also be wondering how much we pay for car insurance for four cars and five drivers.  It's a lot and makes me question why I had five kids.  I'm not kidding.  And in case you didn't know, deer actually make noise.  I wouldn't call it talking but it turns out in the split second when you hit a deer with your car, it makes a crying sound that will haunt you for the rest of your life before the impact takes its life.  

Henry and Jack with all their donuts and end-of-season treats.  

When bribed with donuts, this team scores goal after goal.  Otherwise, they really don't care and it's hilarious to watch.

Henry's tongue!!

Ethan came home for a weekend and cheered Henry on, then carried him off the field on his shoulders as they headed to Panda Express--Henry's favorite place to eat. Brothers are the best!

Parker's first meet

finishing strong

I've been watching cross country finals for years!  So glad it wasn't in the rain this time.

Landon confidently asked this cute girl to homecoming during one of the football games.  He was hoping his freshman friends would follow his lead but they were too chicken.  Things got pretty stressful the week before the dance when there wasn't much of a plan but it all worked out.

New suit courtesy of Amazon

Landon doing big boy things is still weird to me

Pictures and dinner at the Plateau Club.  All the kids ordered salads for dinner since it was the cheapest thing on the menu :)

Clean shaven...luckily he has super blond facial hair so shaving every couple weeks is probably enough

Cute little Henry playing the piano.  I finally got him a teacher because the battle was not something I could handle with him.  He loves it and is actually really good.  Also, I love that he stands at the keyboard.  

Happy Fall Y'all!

Colorado Springs

This is me catching up on summer happenings.  One big event that will be forever seared into my brain was my first trip to Colorado.  Landon and Parker were both scheduled to play in a huge tournament there and since I have never been, I was the unlucky parent to go on this trip.  It was bad news from the start.  

Flights were insanely expensive.  Like we could've flown to Europe for the same price.  I tried to save money where I could and found us flights that arrived later than I would've preferred at 11:30pm.  Not great but to us it would feel like 10:30 so I figured it wouldn't be terrible.  I was so wrong!  Our flight left late and then landed late after circling around Denver twice.  Pretty sure we had a new pilot in training.  He was the worst.  And by the time we landed and got all our luggage at a baggage claim over a mile away, I was in a terrible mood.  Then we had to get a rental car.  And the line to pick it up was so slow and all the while the clock was ticking away and my boys were still awake and about to get no sleep before their games the next day.  We finally got our rental and drove 90 minutes to our hotel in Colorado Springs.  We arrived at 3am.  I think the last time I stayed up that late was my freshman year in college.  My contacts were glued to my eyeballs and I was just so thankful we made it to the hotel without any mishaps.  Luckily Landon and Parker slept in the car because Landon had to get up at 6:30am for his game.  Poor guy.  I literally prayed that both of us would be able to function on no sleep and it was a serious miracle because we did! 

The tournament was not great.  Are you noticing a theme with this trip?  There were teams from all across the country and the venue was enormous!  It was at the Air Force Academy and there were thirty fields.  It was massive!  Naturally the boys teams never played anywhere near each other so I walked back and forth in the hundred degree weather, trying to find them.  Yes, you heard that right.  There was a crazy heat advisory.  Gatorade was sold out at the grocery store, it was that bad.  We saw several players get loaded up into ambulances for heat exhaustion.  It was miserable.  But we persevered and lost a lot of games.  

 

That evening we managed to do a little sight seeing and we were pleasantly surprised with the red rock beauty of the Garden of the Gods.  We ate a delicious BBQ joint that someone recommended and the boys and I filled ourselves on brisket.  We slept great that night and were like a well-oiled machine as we packed up our stuff, got plenty of ice and water, and checked out of the hotel in record time to get to early games.  By the time Parker finished his last game I was so done with the sun and lacrosse.  I applied countless coats of sunblock and somehow managed to escape without a sunburn.

So much brisket!

hot and tired and ready for a shower at the hotel that we spent a total of like ten hours at

After all the games (and mostly losses) we raced off the fields to get to church so we could see missionary Megan.  I gave her the biggest hug! She isn't a hugger but she hugged me back so I knew she was happy to see us.  She is just so awesome and her companion was great fun too.  After church and pictures, we said our goodbyes and found a yummy place for lunch before checking out the Denver Temple.  Hooray for temples!  Then it was back to the airport and the end of the longest three days of my life.  I'm happily letting Randy take over all future lacrosse travel from here on out.

Landon and San Diego

*I'm posting all out of order.  The previous post explains how awesome (for Landon and Parker) that they made the elite travel team, Seattle Starz.   I also explain how not-awesome this is for my wallet.  But the boys love it and they get to see parts of the country they would never see otherwise (because why would I ever leave the most beautiful place on earth?).

Randy and Landon flew to San Diego for Landon's first summer tournament.  Landon got lots of playing time and their team won the championship.   Hooray!!

I love taking the boys to all the temples at their tournaments.  I can't wait for them to go inside one day!