It's Official...Call Me Soccer Mom

It was a big day today. Raef and Zach had their first soccer game. On the way to the fields, I was asking the boys if they were excited to play and have fun. They told me they were. Then Raef asked me if I had a sign so that I could cheer them on. I don't think he had any real perspective on how big the audience would be for his game. I told him that I didn't have a sign. I apologized, but promised that I would cheer for him real loud. Then he told me how I was supposed to cheer.

"Mom, when we are on defense, then you say...DEFENSE, DEFENSE, DEFENSE. And when we are on offense, you say OFFENSE, OFFENSE, OFFENSE. Okay Mom?"

I thanked him for the cheering tips and promised that I would do my best.

So, after hiking down to the wrong fields carrying a cooler full of drinks, a chair and a stroller, we climbed back up the hill. After getting better instructions from a kindly lady, she pointed up the hill about a 1/2 mile to where their game really was. She might as well have pointed to the top of Mt. Everest. It was over 100 degrees, I was completely wiped out from carrying the cooler, and Raef had mutinied on pushing the stroller anymore. So, I had to abandon the cooler and chair and quickly push the stroller and lead the kids to their first game. You have to understand that this soccer league is huge. There must have been 20 games going simultaneously. It was amazing. I had left my house 45 minutes early so they would be their in plenty of time, and I limped across the finish line with only minutes to spare.

And I still had to go back down the darn hill to get the cooler. Just so you know, I had a heavy cooler because it was our turn to supply drinks for everyone after the game. Rinar couldn't make it because I volunteered him to play the piano for a baptism in our ward. He was going to come to the first part of the game, but all the roads were plugged up due to repaving.

I was on my own.

Week 1: RED BULLS vs. RAMS

The name of the kids' team is the Red Bulls. Isn't that the perfect name for a team with green and blue uniforms? It makes perfect sense to me. I mean, I totally get it.

My boys had no clue what they were doing, but they started to get the hang of it. Raef scored the only goal. Well, sort of. They had the ball after the other team had scored and they started playing before the referee had blown her whistle. None of the kids knew you were supposed to actually listen to the whistle or the referee, so they kept playing and Raef kicked it all the way to their goal and put it in the back of the net. I am counting it! We won't talk about the score after that, okay?Don't worry. Zach had his moment of glory also...well, kind of...

He had kind of a difficult time processing the idea that you switch goals after halftime. We told him he now had to put the ball in the other goal, but it didn't really sink in. When he got in the game he made a beautiful break-a-way, solo run all the way to the goal...for the other team. He didn't actually kick it in but I think you could credit him with an assist for sure.

(as a side note to all of you, I did the same thing in a basketball game...when I was in high school...on the varsity team...I was really proud of myself but when I looked around, something just wasn't right)

There is one thing that you cannot deny about my boys. They definitely have the best endurance. At the end of the game, they were still running. The coach kept substituting everyone else in and out, but Raef and Zach looked pretty good.

This is one proud Soccer Mom!

Are You Hungry?

Here is Eli eating a lemon. His very first one. What do you think he will do?

Yeah, I was pretty disappointed too. It hasn't bothered any of my kids.