BYU Spring Scrimmage

This year we decided to attend the BYU Spring Scrimmage game as a family. It was free to the public and a very impressive sight!

Go Cougars Go!

It all started out awesome. Adam was in high spirits. Rebekah was trying to figure out why she had to wear a hood.

James was very intense about the game.

But deigned to give me a quick blinky smile. 

Rebekah thought the cougar tail she got to eat was amazing! She is so smart to appreciate such things.

Some pretty intense game watching/donut eating going on here. 

Yes, it was all going wonderfully. And then we remembered why we don't go out in public with David. Oh, David. At the beginning of the game, no one was sitting behind us and the ascending benches were just too tempting. David gave me a sidelong glance and raced up the bleachers before I could catch him.  

Since there was no one to speak of on the bleachers and Eric had gone for refreshments, I decided to let him stretch his legs for a little bit. Luckily, he decided to up and down instead of across and away.

When the stadium started to fill up and Eric got back with the food, we called David down from the stands. He seemed very content to sit with his daddy.

For a least a few minutes anyway.

And then he started to ponder his situation.

Surely, said he, the grass MUST be greener on the other side of that bench. 

And away he ran down through the crowd in front of us before we could catch him. Eric bolted from his seat and caught him before he could make it any farther than this. You can see them way down there, right?

That, unfortunately, was the last picture I got to take of our time at the scrimmage game. The rest will have to be pure commentary. After standing with David for a little while, Eric brought him back up to sit with us. David only lasted mere minutes this time before he bolted to our right, squeezed past  a whole row of fans, and found the freedom of the stairs. I was the runner for this trip and by the time I caught up with him he was all the way down at the bottom of the stands grinning at me. We walked around (I walked, he ran) for a while before once again returning to our family in the stands. After only a few minutes, the unthinkable happened: Caleb had to use the restroom. As Eric and he left to make the hike down the stairs, panic set in. I was all alone with four children, one of which couldn't walk, and one of which was an escapee. David did not disappoint. Within just a few minutes of Eric's departing, David once again made a dash for the stairs. Grabbing Rebekah and the diaper bag I hollered at Adam and James to follow me. Adam was quick to respond but James was having a hard time with the stairs which were steeper than those he was used to. I paused to give him encouragement and just caught sight of David as he made it to the end of our level and started on the next. Turning back to my pursuit I continued to call for Adam and James. This earned me several disappointed looks from the parents in my area who thought I was being rather impatient with my two sons. Oh how quick we all are to judge :) Reaching the bottom of the second-to-last level I watched David disappear through a small gap in some bars surrounding the lowest level of bleachers. Knowing I would never fit through the tiny space I took another route, hoping to head him off. As I came around the corner I heard over the loudspeakers: "We have a runner on the field." Hoping that the runner on the field was anyone but my son, but knowing that it could only be him, I approached the gate to the field and found that it had been pushed open a bit. As I stood there in shock, a man in a bright orange jacket came towards me from the field carrying my two-year-old son.  Red in the face, I murmured a thank you and a small apology and took him from the arms of his bemused but kind rescuer. As we waited under the stadium for Eric to return with Caleb I lectured David on the importance of staying with his family and, to his credit, he remained by my side until we were reunited with our missing family members. It's too bad it was such a short lived lesson though. By the time we exited the stadium he was once again on the run. Oh, David.......