Sweet Home Alabama: Soccer has come to an end...

...well mostly. This season has literally flown by and Clark, Ryan and Emma all had their last game Saturday. Andrew had a bye so we actually finished last week. It is sure nice to be done with coaching, I had a good time but I am worn out. A bunch of four and five year olds have a lot more energy then I do. Andrew was sad that he didn't have a game when we reached the fields, but when his friend Joseph showed up he forgot all about it, and had fun playing with him.

Here are a few pictures from Andrew last couple of games. I had gotten a really bad head cold/sinus infection and wasn't able to coach a couple of Andrews games (I was so hoarse that even with my full voice they didn't ~~listen~~ hear me. So with this opportunity I was to take some fun action pictures of Andrew. I love how excited he is and I can't forget about his tongue coming out of the corner of his mouth. This particular game he got to the ball a lot more and was able to get it to their side of the field. Sadly no goals but a lot of fun. He hadn't scored so far in the season up till the second to last game and then he scored twice in that game and twice in the last game. The look on his face after he scored was the best, so excited!

Check out that tongue.

Goal kick

Giving Dad a thumbs up!

After the last game we had a little party where we had cupcakes, chips, juice and trophy's. As you can tell he enjoyed the frosting off the cupcake.

Talk about excited to get his trophy.

By the last game we had already glued one sole back on his shoes, and just before he was to play (his last game) the other sole was barely hanging on. We were able to find some duct tape (since we were already at the field) to tape it while he played (it hadn't come all the way off yet) but by the end of the game it had come off completely. We didn't even try to attempt to fix it since the shoes had already made it through two kids playing soccer.

I thought I would post the fun Halloween cupcakes I had made for Andrews party. The ones with the white frosting are candy corn cupcakes here and the mummy ones here. I did change the mummy ones and used a chocolate boxed cake mix and store bought frosting, I know homemade is so much better (I ended up busier than I thought). I thought they looked so fun I wanted to try it. The candy corn ones, I also used store bought frosting and I already had candy corn colored sprinkles (remember I was out of time by this time to really decorate) so that worked out great. They were a big hit with the kids and their parents.

I wanted to take some pictures of Clark's, Ryan's and Emma's last games, but there was one problem we sat out in the rain and watched them. During a short lull in the rain I was able to get a shot in of Clark trying to get down the field.

I took this one from across the field (I was under the pavilion while Emma had her party. It's not the greatest but it has both the boys in it. And the family in the bottom right hand corner is in our ward, bonus.

Emma's after game party. With it being the last game Emma had her party after they played. They had a yummy looking cookie cake, rice krispy treats and some juice. They also received a medal for having an awesome year.

She looks thrilled.

My camera card ended up being full so they were holding on waiting for me so I could get her picture. Boy was it a crazy rainy morning!

We also found out that Emma made the Girls U11 All-Star team, so no, we are not done with soccer just yet. I am still a little unsettled about both Clark and Ryan not making their age groups but this will probably work better. They both can concentrate on school, Ryan on marching band and Clark had mentioned they will be able to start working as a team (school soccer team)a little bit more at school. So I think a nice break is just what we needed.

We also had a Stake Youth Hayride, Bonfire and Dance later that evening in Highland Home. It was touch and go for the activity all day, with the rain and all, but in the end the rain had cleared out (ten percent chance) so it was a go. The drive to the Highland Home branch is about an hour away so we all met and carpooled together. I really enjoyed the drive, I hadn't been that way yet so it was all new to me. I love driving through the small towns here, they have so much character to them.

The sunset was so gorgeous I just had to snap a picture and post it.

The bonfire. The picture doesn't do it justice it was HUGE and nice and warm. With the rain it brought some cooler air.

When we first got there they started off with a Duty To God/Personal Progress workshop. After that was done there was food, fun, dancing and a hayride. This year they resorted to horse type trailers. My guess is they were having too many problems with kids jumping out while it was going to scare those coming behind, or maybe that is what was offered since they were going on the highway instead of in a field. Maybe, it could be both reasons, but the kids still had fun. I am just guessing.