Oh, Fall! What a busy, beautiful season. One highlight was watching the kids play their sports. Emma and I hustled all over the valley with her stroller in tow to support the older four in all their activities. John also was able to join us as his work schedule allowed. I loved Oregon’s beautiful weather and I loved cheering those sweet kids on from the sidelines!
Johnny
This year, Johnny played football with his middle school team. I was so proud him and how hard he worked! Every day he’d walk to the car after practice completely exhausted, but with the best attitude. I think participating really helped him make some good friends in middle school right out the gate. He also got to play with his best friend, Max. I always loved hearing his funny stories from the sidelines between plays. I can’t believe how much Johnny grew up over the football season, he is growing up to become quite the young man!
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| Johnny on the school instagram account with friends. |
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| Johnny and Max Cummings |
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| At the 8th grade football game against their rivals. Johnny said some girl drew on his face. The boy/girl interactions of middle school crack me up. |
William and Matthew
This year Matthew and William played soccer in the Timbers league. They were on teams with their school friends and it made games and practices a lot more fun! They are both very talented soccer players and it is really entertaining watching them play so competitively. Also this season, William got to play through the solar eclipse. They paused the game for a couple minutes so all the kids could watch it. (On a side note, Johnny went on a camp out to get better visualization of it…only to have the sky overcast where they were camping! So William felt pretty lucky!)
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| William (finally) got to play on the same team as his best friend, Luke Cummings! |
The boys also participated in their school jog-a-thon. Johnny opted to be late to school so he could come watch his brothers and his friends that are still at the elementary school. It is such a fun event and I love watching the kids run their little hearts out. I feel such a sense of community when we participate in this even every year. Both boys ran the most laps for their prospective grades!
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| Talon, Deklan,William, Boone, Logan, Sam |
Cate
Cate entered the world of high school sports this year as she participated in cross country. She is a phenomenal runner and incredible grit! We joked that I would be traveling sometimes a couple hours to watch two minutes of a twenty minute race, but I loved watching her run! Her fastest time for a 5k this year was 21:18. She was voted Rookie of the Year by her teammates and was the only freshman on varsity, clocking in as the second fastest runner for the girls!
Cate also participated in her school’s powder puff league which was so much fun for her to participate and for me to watch!
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| This is one of my favorite pictures of Cate running! It was pouring rain and you see her strength and determination so well here. |
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| Roan and Cate after powder puff! |
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| Cate and Aurora on the bus after a Portland Meet |
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| We had quite a laugh comparing the amount of fabric in Johnny’s jersey compared to Cate’s. |
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| This has nothing to do with sports, but Cate was elected as freshman class secretary! |
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| Emma and John soaking the rain watching Cate compete. Emma couldn’t have been happier. |
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