World Cup 2026

This year the FIFA World Cup was held in the United States, Canada and Mexico and Houston was fortunate enough to host some of the games. Houston has held a FIFA Fan Festival downtown on match days since mid June where they host watch parties, have live entertainment, and a variety of food vendors. Before the World Cup started, Camden had expressed that he wanted to go to the Fan Fest and watch a match. Tonight's match was USA vs Belgium in the round of 16, so we thought it would be the perfect night to go. 

Once we arrived, we walked around taking in all the sights. 

 

We then headed to the covered area and found a spot to sit and relax prior to the game starting. There was a DJ playing music while people ate and waited for the game to begin.

Once the game started, Belgium scored quickly. But around the 31st minute, USA scored and the crowd, including Camden, went wild!

Camden was videoing the crowd

 

The excitement didn't last too long, because just a few minutes later, Belgium scored again.

During halftime, more music was played, and inflatable soccer balls were flying all around the crowd.

Unfortunately, things did not improve, and the USA was defeated by Belgium 4-1.

The game may not have ended like we had hoped, but Camden and I had a great time watching the USA play in their final World Cup 2026 game.

FCA Camp

Friday morning, Shane and I took Casen to Texas A&M for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) Camp. Prior to attending, campers got to choose which sport they wanted to spend their time practicing while at the camp and Casen chose football.

Relaxing before meeting with is group

He got a taste of the college life, staying in the dorm with a roommate, eating in the cafe, and walking around campus. 

While he was there, we stalked FCA's Instagram page in hopes of catching a glimpse of our boy. We did see him in several posts.

He enjoyed his time at camp meeting other athletes from around the state and being able to practice in the indoor facility that the Texas A&M football players use. 

Casen's friend, Easton, also 
attended the camp.

Casen returned home on Monday, in time to finish up his high school prep baseball games. His team finished as the #3 seed and played their first playoff game yesterday. He had a great game, pitching well and hitting both a double and a triple to drive in several runs. 

Winning the game yesterday, sent them to the semi-final game today, which, unfortunately they ended up losing to the #1 seed, Klein Oak.

He had a fun season playing with all of his buddies. Even though his prep team is done, his baseball season is not over yet. In a few weeks we will head to Baton Rouge for the Marucci World Series.

Quality Time

The past few days I have spend quality time with the boys while serving the community. 

Yesterday, Casen and I volunteered at the Park Manor Nursing home, playing dodgeball with the residents and serving them donuts afterwards. 

Casen and his friends

Today, Camden and I volunteered with Sleep in Heavenly Peace, delivering beds to six kids around our community that, prior to today, did not have a bed to call their own We put the beds together in their homes and set up their new bedding. It was a great experience and we enjoyed serving with friends!

Camden and Trennan

Camp Eagle 2026

I dropped the boys off at church Friday morning for them to head to Camp Eagle in central Texas. This is the same camp they went to last year. 

Camden and his friends

Fortunately, our adult volunteers from church took pictures throughout their time there so we could see all the fun our kids were having.

 

Casen

Camden

Camden and Casen ended up in the same
activity group, so were together a lot of the time.

The whole group!

The boys came home tired, but had a great time!

Casen's 14th Birthday

Today was Casen's 14th birthday and we had a fun day celebrating!

He was able to sleep in before having to get up to start his day. After eating his breakfast, he asked to open his gifts before we headed out for the day.

His pose . . . LOL!!

 

After Casen opened his gifts, the boys and I headed downtown to the Astros game. Due to his knee, Shane did not go with us.

 

After the game, we headed to POST Houston to go to a car show that Camden wanted to go to. Unfortunately, a lot of the cars had already left, but we were able to see a few cool cars.

After the car show, we headed home, with a pit stop at Dutch Bros. for Casen to get a birthday drink.

We then ended our day with cake!

It was a fun day making memories with the boys!