Not all boys play sports

When people find out we have all boys, they very often assume that our house is like an ESPN zone full of sports on TV, practices and games. But in reality we are quite the opposite. Growing up, my dad and brother loved sports and very often the TV was tuned into one game or another. I always said that when I got married my husband was not going to watch sports on TV and I got what I wanted. Dave is not into sports, he doesn't follow any teams and we don't watch games on television. He played a few sports in high school, but it was never really a big interest of his and there were other things he liked better. My boys don't play sports and we have never taken them to a sporting event. It's just not something we're very into. I've had conversations with people before who have told me that if I want a well-rounded son I need to get them into a sport. I have had people before tell me that if I don't get my sons in a sport when they are young, they will have no chance of being on a team when they are older. I know lots of boys who play sports, who are athletic and love going to practices and games, who are competitive and enjoy being on a team. I think that's great and good for them. But not all boys play sports. A while back Dave and I asked Trevor if he wanted to try to play soccer or baseball. His answer was, "I'm more of an indoor kid. I really don't like playing sports." And that was fine with me. If he doesn't want to play a sport, then I'm not going to make him. Trevor has expressed an interest in golf recently, after watching it at my dad's house. I'd like to take him golfing and see how he does, how he likes it. And if he does like it, then maybe when he's a little older we can get him into some lessons or take him more often. But I'm in no rush to get him going now. Colin likes to draw. He will draw for hours at a time. Recently he's also been making his own  books, little stories he writes and illustrates. Colin also loves to swim and he's by far the best swimmer in the family. I love that we have a pool and he can swim as much as he wants. Someday it would be nice if he can be on a team, but I'm not going to worry about it now. Logan is more naturally athletic than his brothers. He runs better and likes to be outside more. Maybe when he gets into school and starts taking PE he'll come home excited about a sport, maybe he'll show an interest and want to be on a team. But for now I don't worry about it because, honestly, I don't think it's that big of a deal. Every family does things a little bit different but that doesn't make one better than the other. My kids have different interests, different personalities, but that doesn't mean they are worse off or better off than another kid. We're just doing the best we can with the things we've been given.    

Summer vacation, take 2

I had big plans for this summer. My house was going to stay clean, I was going to workout every day, the kids were going to do chores, and read and work on writing and math, I was going to do preschool with Logan, we were going to cook and play games and spend the days doing art, swimming, going to the library, the park and other fun outings. I made a schedule and I was going to stick to it. I'm good at making schedules, but I'm horrible at following them. Horrible. I want to be structured and organized and run my home like a classroom, but I just can't do it. I get lazy and I let the computer lure me in every single day where I spend precious hours looking at Facebook and reading blogs, looking up things on Pinterest, e-mailing my friends, watching shows and wasting time. I waste a lot of time on the computer. Some of the stuff I do is good, but most of it is a big, fat waste of time. So, I decided that since it's July and a new month I am going to try again with my big summer plans and try my hardest to follow that darn schedule. But just so you know, June wasn't a total waste of time. We did have some fun. Here are some pictures to prove it:

swimming with family on Memorial Day

Playing with cousins

The Smalley family visited us from Boston. Logan and his new best friend Jeffrey.

The kids being goofy. We had a great time swimming, eating and playing
with my friend Pam and her family.

Pam and me! She is one of my favorite friends from high school.

A tried to the Leid Discovery Museum. Yippee for free tickets
from the library!!

Logan loved playing in the grocery store

Hanging out with the Hutchings on 4th of July

Independence Day

 

Very often, around this time of year, I think back to when I was 16 and at girls camp during the week of the 4^th of July. We went to camp at Deer Haven in Cedar City and some of my best and favorite memories come from that campground. This particular year of camp, I was in the group of girls who helped plan the activities for camp that year. Because we were there on the 4^th of July we wanted to do something special to celebrate the birth of our country and our freedoms. The idea was presented that we have a Burning of the Flag ceremony for the flag we flew at camp year after year. It was getting old and worn and it needed to be replaced. As we planned and prepared for this retiring of the flag ceremony, I felt a new love for my country and especially for the Founding Fathers. The other girls and I decided that for the ceremony we would dress up in costumes that represented a different country. We wanted to remind everyone that this great country was settled by members of many different nationalities. I will never forget the amazing peace that was present at that ceremony that night. AS the sun was setting, we pledged to the flag on last time, words about the flag were spoken and patriotic songs were sung. We lowered the flag and prepared it to be burned. As we placed that flag into the fire I remember the tears coming as I felt a sweet Spirit and knew that it was no accident that our Founding Fathers created the government the way they did.

            Yesterday, as I prepared a lesson to teach my boys a little about why we celebrate the 4^th of July, I came across this quote by Wilford Woodruff in an article: “those men who laid the foundation of this American government and signed the Declaration of Independence were the best spirits the God of heaven could find on the face of the earth. They were choice spirits…[and] were inspired of the Lord.” When I was in college I studied the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution in my American Lit class along with other works by Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin. When I read those things in college I could not remember ever reading them in their entirety before. It’s sad to me that the most important documents ever written in the history of our country are not studied more. Abraham Lincoln said, “Let [the Constitution] be taught in schools, in seminaries, and in colleges; let it be written in primers, spelling-books, and in almanacs; let it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative halls, and enforced in courts of justice. And, in short, let it becomes the political religion of the nation.” I think that sometimes it’s good to go back to the beginning of things, to remember what it was that made it so we could be where we are today. Maybe if everyone read the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution a little more often things would be just a little bit better.

(you can read the article I read here: http://www.lds.org/ensign/1987/09/the-constitution-a-glorious-standard?lang=eng&query=constitution)