For the last several years, our boys have attended BYU soccer camp. This summer, though, things looked a little different.
Bennett had become pretty confident that he was ready to step away from soccer and wanted to give tennis a real try. He decided he wanted to attend BYU tennis camp, but there was one problem—he couldn’t find a roommate. And he had absolutely no interest in showing up and being assigned a random one. So the tennis camp idea was looking a little uncertain.
Hunter wasn’t ready to give up soccer. But his soccer teammates had all graduated, and he didn’t really have anyone his age who was planning to attend camp. So Hunter said he would be willing to go to tennis camp and be roommates with Bennett.
Unlike Hallie, who came home from camp with a camera roll full of evidence that she had actually been there, the boys returned with approximately three pictures. Three – between the two of them. Apparently, they were far too busy having fun to document any of it.
They made friends. They played tennis. They had adventures.
So I’m left imagining what these new friends look like, what exactly these “adventures” were, and what happened during all those hours that they were away.
Proof of the three pictures:
And one screenshot during a facetime.
Luckily, I attended the tournament on the final day of camp so I took all the pictures my little heart desired.
The competitive side of camp turned out to be a highlight for both boys. There were just over 100 tennis campers, which is small compared to the size of the soccer camp. They were placed in tournament groups based on their levels and Bennett won his group and Hunter was runner-up for his group.
There was also some sort of timed challenge involving running up a hill – or maybe a set of stairs? – and Hunter came out on top, fastest time of the week (daddy long legs). His win earned some points for their team, which ended up being important as the week progressed.
On the final day, Hunter was one of the last four in “around the world” which scored him a retro hat and gave his team more points.
All those individual wins and points added up. By the end of the week, their team had won the entire camp competition, and their grand prize was a camp T-shirt, which apparently made the victory official. So even though Hunter may not be ready to trade soccer for tennis anytime soon, he and Bennett made the most of their week on the court. And perhaps even more importantly, they got a whole week of brother bonding time that they wouldn’t have had otherwise.
And while the boys were busy winning, we were keeping ourselves entertained. Provo Rec Center with friends for the day before Steve flew home. Cannon and Briggs then spent the next couple days with their cousins, which included a day at Lagoon, while Hallie and I were just a few streets away with different cousins. (My brother and Steve’s sister happen to live in the same neighborhood).
An inexpensive Korean facial was just as amazing as it was hyped up to be.
We made a visit to the Syracuse, Utah temple.
And then, in one of those moments that feels too coincidental to be coincidence, we randomly ran into friends at a store—nowhere near their home and completely unexpectedly. Of all the places and all the times, somehow we ended up in the same store at the same moment. We were definitely meant to see them!
