A Great Weekend

There are some weekends that fly by and I don't feel like we ever had time with each other. Then there are some weekends that this last weekend where the planets aligned for a few days. We had a fantastically fabulous weekend!! Between two different family visits and getting some much needed items checked off of our honey to do list, it was a great time. We love it when we have company especially our own parents. Here's why: it doesn't matter what the kids do, it is at our own house...they can't destroy anything that isn't already ours. And although we all like to visit our parents at their houses (hello no cooking and no housework for a few days and all sorts of fun stories and good laughs) it always seems to lead to a certain stress for Ryan and I because it isn't our own home. Although I love my kiddos not being the sit and play video games for hours or even watch tv for an hour, it does tend to create problems. So when we host at our house, it seems much more relaxed and I LOVE that!! I don't have any pics from most of the weekend since I was enjoying just being with our families. I do have pics from Chase's scrimmage.

This was a hard game for us to watch. Reminders of the big kid from last years scrimmage were clearly not forgotten as he took the field again. Weighing in at a hefty 270 pounds and was probably at least 5'10"...he was menacing to say the least. We will hear about him later in life and know he is going to go far as a football player. He seemed to be just born to do it. But he is ill matched with all of our boys. Last year he was up against our smallest boy who seemed to figure out that if you bear crawled, it worked. This year, he was up against Chase. Chase didn't exactly know how to handle this and neither did any of the other boys. It is hard to not let that affect you. The boys played well and coaches now know where our weaknesses are and where we need to go.

I mean could you line up across from this kiddo every time?




As always Chase played with all that he had.




Here he is being manhandled. He was no match.


Add on the heat of that afternoon, it was absolutely miserable. The boys handled it well.

There was this though....do you see the ball in the upper right corner of this picture?

This was headed for Chase. I panned my camera to the right to photograph the catch and run, only to watch my son get laid out by anothe player. And since this is my blog, I can talk about what it felt like to watch that moment, zoomed in to see my sons head fly to the side as he landed on his back. There are no words to explain that noise and the feeling of losing my breath. I know it is football and I know we are allowing him to play this incrediablly dangerous sport but it doesn't mean I don't feel pain for my boy when he gets hit. It was so hard to see that happen and know I couldn't run out there and scoop him up. Coaches ran from everywhere and here I was on the sideline, frozen with my camera still up to my face because I didn't want every one, especially him, to see my crying. It was tough to see this:


and better to see this


and after some help from Ryan to help pull himself back together and calm down a little (because he was very scared and upset at the way he felt, Chase that is), Chase was ready to get back in


It was a rough scrimmage to watch and photograph, even without that hit. I know Chase loves this game and wouldn't put himself in this situation if he didn't like it. I just hope he continues to play well with little injuries.

I hope you all have a great Monday! We have a busy week of visiting a farm and having a playdate later this week!! Fun stuff!!