Elder Benson Came Back

In August we got the great news - Elder Benson was coming back to our area to serve his final month of his mission! We were thrilled to have him back!

Apparently, in one of their final interviews, when his mission president asked him if there was anything he could do for him, Elder Benson asked if he could serve out the rest of his mission in the Winters Run Ward and his mission president said yes! I know that is unusual so what a blessing for all of us in our ward. We made sure to have him over for dinner as much as we could in our final time with him.

And of course Noah got right down to business!

The sword proved ineffective so here comes the bow and arrows!

That didn't work so well either.

A drawing from Elder Benson.

The time when Noah made chocolate chip cookies and he made a special microscopic one just for Elder Benson. We all got a good laugh out of this one!

One final epic battle between the two of them. Looks like the outcome is always in Elder Benson's favor!

Saying goodbye is always so hard!

Elder Benson is one of our all-time favorite elders and we will miss him so much!

Soccer and Football

The first week of school brought the start of Savannah's high school soccer games. We knew there would be a few teams her JV team would be able to beat and we came up against the first one right away - Aberdeen. Edgewood came up with the win, 4-0, and Savannah had one of the goals.
My #32 back on the field!

Edgewood vs Hammond: we lost 3-0. This was a very tough game for Savannah, both on the field and off. My biggest memories of this game will always be how Savannah got nailed in the throat with the ball and how I comforted her after the game as the tears of frustration and sadness started to fall.

Some Friday Night Lights action with Noah's football team.

Unfortunately I don't know how to work my camera that well at night so this was the only decent picture I got of him in the game.

At the end of the game it was tied and they went to overtime where unfortunately our little guys didn't get the extra point and ended up losing 14-13.

Xander's game on Saturday against Hereford. We just couldn't get our scoring game going and went home with a loss, 6-0. My #14 is always battling out there!

Xander wrapping up the quarterback...

and taking him down! All you can really see of Xander is his leg, ha ha!

Another highlight of the game was his fumble recovery.

First Day of School

What a blessing it was to have school start after Labor Day this year; we felt like we had an extra long summer because of it! But finally it was time for school to start. Savannah is a sophomore this year...

she was not too thrilled that I'm still taking pictures of her walking to the bus stop.

Xander is in 7th...

which he's super excited about!

And it's Noah's last year of elementary school - my big 5th grader!

Hangin' with his buddy Nathan at the bus stop.

And there he goes!

David had gone out of town earlier that morning so I was on my own this year with First Day of School celebrations. I decided to indulge in some sushi!

The very next day Savannah started her second year of seminary. The early mornings begin again.