Mormon Helping Hands

"When ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God." Mosiah 2:17

We had our Mormon Helping Hands service project a couple weeks ago. My boys always love those, but they all agreed that this year was the best.

Instead of the usual pulling weeds, they got to paint. Actually there were two big projects going on, and it was nice to have a cool indoor option when it got hot outside. They painted all the bulletin boards in 2 classrooms at Centennial Park.

  

The outdoor project was repairing and painting the wood baseboards at the hockey rink/basketball courts at Centennial. This is where Dave and the boys play hockey on Saturdays.

Dave was in charge of organizing these projects. He was happy we were able to do something that really made a difference. It's nice to get rid of weeds, but they just grow right back. These are improvements that will last.

We had a good turn-out. I think I counted 45 volunteers at one point. Dave said that if there were many more people he would have run out of supplies and things for people to do.

These are our friends that play hockey with us - the dad and the younger brother of Spencer's friend from school. We had to replace some of the worn out beams. The city donated all the supplies and was amazed at how much we accomplished in just a few hours.

 Then we painted all the wood with a sealant.

My boys loved using power tools! This was a perfect place to learn because it didn't have to be perfect.

Tyler came prepared to pull weeds, so he did that on his own towards the end.

Some of the men worked on installing carpet along the bottom half of the classroom walls. The lady in charge of Centennial was SO excited when she saw it. She said she's been wanting to do it the whole time she's been there, and was thrilled to see it actually get done.

The girls went around and carefully finished all the edges.

Brennan mostly wandered around happily playing the whole time, but I actually caught him painting at the very end. Levi and Chloe hung out in the stroller, which made life easier for me.

These are some hard working boys! They painted the whole time, inside and outside. I was exhausted by the end, and all I did was take pictures, hand out snacks and push the stroller around.

Now they can enjoy the new and improved rink every Saturday when they play hockey.

The end of another great hockey season

Wednesday was the last hockey game. It was Spencer's 8th season and Tyler's 2nd. I missed a few games towards the end, what with having a baby and living in the hospital for a couple weeks and all; but my mom watched Chloe so I could go to the play-off game. They lost 3-1 to their cousins (Alec, Jacob and Peter), so that was a bummer, but I'm so proud of them. Spencer scored the most goals of the whole division this season - 28!! The next highest going into the play-offs were 20, then 15, then several 10's. Tyler got a lot more comfortable on his skates, became more aggressive and stopped a bunch of pucks. Now we get a couple weeks off before it starts up again. I want Dallin to play, because I can't think of anyone tougher than him (except maybe Levi!), but so far he's not interested.

Hockey

Just like school, hockey is winding down for the year. It's been fun to watch Spencer really improve over the past 2 years. In the beginning he was more of an observer (we were happy if he ever touched the puck), and now he's one of the top players. He said that as his skills have improved, he cares more about his own performance than whether or not his team is winning. Which is good, because they're in 4th place out of 4 teams again this season. One thing I'm especially impressed with is that he passes to everyone, even the newest players. He says he remembers how that felt.

Facing off with his friend Ryan. Too bad they're on different teams this season.

He's especially good at maneuvering the puck past a crowd. Unfortunately he's had a few penalties this season for hooking.

It's just fun to watch him, and he has become so much more responsible. He gets all of his gear ready on his own (there's a lot of gear), and pushes us all out the door to get there on time. It's been really good for him.

Boomers!

On our last day we went to Boomers in Santa Maria. Since Brennan and Levi were too young, we left them home with a friend.

Our favorite thing there was definitely the go carts. The boys were all too short to drive, so they took turns riding with us. It was my first time, and I loved it!

We got there right when it opened. There was no one else there, so we had the place to ourself for awhile.

We should have done the little kid go carts first, because after the real ones, these were pretty pathetic and slow.

We played 18 holes of miniature golf. Everyone was starving by this point, so we left to eat lunch at Red Lobster. They LOVE that place. And restaurants are so much easier with just 3 kids.

Next they did bumber boats. They had lots of fun squirting each other.

Luckily no one got too wet, because it was a little breezy and chilly.

Then they played arcades for awhile.

They wanted to buy something for Brennan and Levi with their tickets, but of course everything cost way more than they had. Then a couple of nice girls gave us all their tickets - over 2,000! They said they just had fun playing the games and didn't want to buy anything. So we got slinkies and lollipops, and there was still enough for everyone to get cotton candy.

Next they all climbed the rock wall.

We rode the go carts one last time before heading home. We managed to get back in time for Spencer's hockey game; I didn't know if he'd be too tired or full of cotton candy to play, but he scored 3 goals (referred to as a "hat trick") and helped his team win 7-0. What a perfect ending to our vacation.

Capitals Vs. Sharks

Last night was the big game. Dave got off work early, and as soon as Spencer got home from school they packed their sandwiches and headed up to San Jose. Sorry the pictures are so grainy - they took my old camera, and I guess there wasn't enough light.

They were both SO excited about going. Spencer said he tried not to think about it at school because it would make him too anxious. It rained the whole way there, but they got there in plenty of time.

They got some boo's for their jerseys, and it got worse as the game went on. But they weren't the only Caps fans there. They saw a few other jerseys in the crowd. The Sharks won 3-2. The game ended at 10:00 and they were home by 12:30.

Someone gave Spencer this fun shark balloon hat during the game. He was so excited this morning, telling us all about the game. He said it was even better than he imagined, and they had a blast. Dave slept in.

I love the teeth.

Hockey!

Hockey is done for now. I was happy to get my new camera in time to take pictures of the last couple of games.

Spencer's coach likes all the players to take turns being goalie. Spencer dreaded his turn all season, but the time finally came a couple weeks ago. They won, so that was good. He blocked some shots and did a good job, but thankfully the puck spent more time on the other side of the rink.



Dave usually meets us there after work, and Levi's so happy to see him.

Last week was the championship. We went into the night in 4th place (out of 4 teams), won the first game and lost the 2nd. So we came in 2nd place overall. Spencer had a good season. He really liked his coach, who gave him just the right amount of direction from the sideline.

He does really well on face-offs.

#4 is his cousin Jacob - this was his first season. Alec and Braden played too. We were really hoping they'd all be on the same team this season, but my friend pointed out that her kids always play just a little harder when it's against their cousins.

His team, the Stars

His coach, Corey

His new friend, Ryan. His dad played hockey when he was younger, and they all (including Dave) love to play 2-on-2 (kids vs. dads) Saturday mornings. Now we have a couple weeks off before the next season starts.