A final football note, camping and serving faithfully

Football is over!

Chase and his some of his Lehi H.S. football buddies

All four boys ended the football season last week and we finally breathed a sigh of relief. Chase lost his final game on Senior Night last Thursday against Lone Peak. As sad as it was to bid farewell to his teammates on the Lehi H.S. football team, Chase was happy to be playing against his friends from United Rugby on the Lone Peak H.S. team, whom he will be joining soon for the upcoming 2013-14 rugby season.

Mica and Quinn both lost their final games but Kenyon's team pulled out a narrow win in their final game of the season. He had the opportunity to play quarterback and hopes that it is something that he can work towards for next season.

We are proud of the hard work and determination they showed throughout this football season and look forward to watching Mica, Kenyon and Quinn play again next season.

Camping
The weather was perfect, the setting was beautiful and just about everything seemed ideal for a great time with the Scouts in our local troop. Seti has been having monthly overnight camp-out's with his troop since we moved into the Lehi 41st Ward a few years back. It's hard, frustrating, time-consuming work but it does have its blessings and rewards.

Troop 1241 - Lehi 41st Ward

It has been great being involved in the Young Men program over the years, especially as our own boys began moving through the program. It has been tough trying to mentor, coach and teach these boys because there are unique challenges with every youth. But we have to maintain and believe that what we do is for the greater good and that we are doing it to help build men.

Seti has been involved with each of our sons in the Young Men program and is now with Kenyon in the Deacon's quorum for a little bit longer. Quinn (who went camping with Seti on Friday to earn his Webelos badge) will be a Deacon a year from next March. Are we old? Only on paper :-)

Enduring to the end
Teaching young people on Sunday's is no easy task. We teach our 14-18 year-old's in Sunday School and then Seti teaches the Deacon's Quorum during the third block of our meetings. These callings have been taxing but it has taught us humility and it has given us a deeper love for our sons, a greater appreciation for the youth of the Church and a greater, more urgent desire to serve.

This past Sunday we had a rare unruly class. The Come Follow Me program is divinely inspired. Even though we have so many youths in our classroom all wanting to be heard at the same time - it is the Spirit that has calmed them and given them strength to be good young men and young women in the gospel. It is hard but it is so worth it! Especially when you see them develop and share their own testimonies.

A baptism
Elder Matua sent us an email today to inform us that he and his companion had their first baptism last week. He's enjoying the work so much but was very sad that he didn't receive any letters from us or from his friends last week. So, we are going to write him a bunch of letters tonight for Family Home Evening and send them off in the morning.

You can read more about Elder Matua's week and see some of his recent photo's on his blog.

Congrats uncle Adam

Jen, uncle Adam and the boys

We have been so blessed to witness the success of members of our extended family. On Sunday we were present to witness the passing of the guard from the outgoing leadership in Adam's battalion to their new leader Major Adam J. Kolowich. The military has been a big part of our life because of the service of Jen's brothers Adam (here in Utah) and Nick (who resides in Texas).

We want to once again congratulate Adam on this remarkable accomplishment and wish him the absolute best as he takes on greater responsibilities with his battalion. He's a great example to our sons!

Eagle honors and more

A Returned Missionary Visit

Seti, Dillon and the boys

Last week we had the awesome opportunity to spend time with our nephew Dillon Filiaga who recently returned home from his mission to Kobe, Japan. He is slowly adjusting to 'post-mission life' and is considering attending either BYU or Utah State but is in the application process at this time. We have been so humbled by his faith and listening to him map out his future has been a real treat. Having him with us this week has filled a void for us in Elder Matua's absence. Dillon has been such a great example to our sons as well as all of Seti's nephews in the Matua clan. We wish Dillon all the best and we will continue to support him in his future endeavors.

Another Eagle Scout

Seti, Eddie and the boys

Dillon, Elder Baker Pritchard, Elder Ean Filiaga and Elder Kingston Matua have been joined in the fraternity of Eagle Scouts by their cousin Wilson Matua this evening. It was a tearful and special occasion for us to join our cousins in West Jordan to honor Wilson as he earned his Eagle Scout rank. In another week, Wilson will also join another very special fraternity when he pins his mission badge to his lapel and enters the Provo Missionary Training Center as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He will be the sixth missionary from the Matua family to serve a mission joining the aforementioned and their oldest cousin Iona Pritchard who started the mission legacy for their grandparents Lauina and Mautoatasi Matua.

So far, all of the Matua grandsons have, are currently or will be serving in the Pacific. Dillon in Japan, Baker and Kingston in Hawaii, Ean in Samoa and Wilson in Auckland, New Zealand. What an incredible blessing for all of us.

More football news

Chase and Mica scored victories last week as Lehi beat Westlake in the Sophomore, JV and Varsity levels. Kenyon had a bye this week but Quinn scored his first touchdown of the season and his team had their first victory after two disappointing losses in previous weeks. Our football adventures continue this week at home against powerhouse Pleasant Grove. Special thanks to our cheering section this week - grandma Karen, grandpa Matt and our die-hard cheerleader auntie Alisha.

20 Years and counting

We hit another great milestone in our marriage - 20 years of wonderful wedded bliss. We can't believe that we have survived all of the ups and downs, twists and turns but our Heavenly Father has given us the strength, lifted us up when we were down and blessed us with the fortitude to face 20 more years and eternity together. Thank you all for your love and support. We could not have done it without you all and thank you to our sons for putting up with our insanity over the years. Here's to 20 more!

Pranks, Procrastination and Piety

Some people NEVER grow up! Toilet-papering (or any other form of vandalism) your neighbors house, door-bell-ditching or the flaming bag of poop. Take your pick. It was funny, then annoying and now its just downright juvenile which means I'm old. I'll cut teenagers some slack because I was once a teenager and I got a lot of kicks out of the tricks and I don't want to rob my sons of making memories that don't include an overnight stay with law enforcement. But someone has been playing a REALLY bad joke on us.

Chase and Jen kept getting random private calls on their cell phones. The person on the other end, never spoke or responded to their repeated "hello's" or requests to stop the behavior. That is, until Jen finally threatened to bring in the police. Then as sudden as it started, the calls stopped completely. We're still tracking the calls so if you're reading this blog and you think you're ready to spend some extended time with law enforcement, please give it another shot so we can send you there faster!

How do you get your son to move a little faster? I mean, has anyone else had to BEG your kid to get a drivers license so that they can drive the car you bought them? The one that's been sitting outside gathering dust, bird poop and rust? Seems strange to me because when I was a 16-year-old, all I ever wanted was to get behind the wheel of a car. Until he can finally get that drivers test done (he's got until the end of today), the car will stay parked on the curb and he will continue to walk to school. I'm still not sure if that's enough motivation.

Our work with the young men in the Lehi 41st Ward is progressing towards several rank advancements including Mica's to Life Scout. We're very proud of the Scouts we've been working with. They have made a lot of sacrifices and they have been working hard. Jen and I are so excited for our Blue & Gold Banquet (Jen's in charge) and our first Court of Honor since moving to the Ward. We'll have pictures and more from both events.

We've been trying to get our boys up to speed on the new Duty to God program and that's been a struggle. Does anyone else feel like there's never enough time in the day to get things done? Between school, work, church and all of the sports we participate it, its hard to feel like we've accomplished anything during the week. Oh well, on to February. We're gonna give it our best shot.