Fall Soccer, dance and grades!

Soccer season is coming to an end, I have spaced off putting it on the Blog. Clark and Ryan played recreation soccer this fall. They have had a great season. It amazes me how much they learn each year. Ryan still likes to be goalie, he let a few goals go through but he stopped more than he let go past. He also had a chance to kick a penalty, he kicked it and it hit the goal post and bounced back no goal, he was sad. Clark still is a forward. He is in a new level where he plays with 5th and 6th graders, he isn't one of the older ones this time, they are just a little more advanced than him, but he did keep up with them and he did have a couple of goals. At practice one day it was sunny and clear I thought so when I saw the rainbow I had to try to take a picture. I didn't think I was going to be able to see the rainbow but it turned out, and I think it is so cool.

Emma didn't want to play soccer this time she wanted to do dance, which is good because it is only once a week verses three days a week. The dance company is right next to the Kindergarten so on Wednesdays they come and pick up the kindergartners and take them across the parking lot to the studio, let them change into their dance attire and start at three o'clock. Which is great because all I have to do is pick her up at 4:30. She loves taking dance again. Here they teach the five year olds how to do ballet, tap, gymnastics and baton. She comes home ready to show me what she has learned.

The first 6 weeks of school ended, and the grades came out. Clark made the AB Honor Roll and Ryan made the all A Honor Roll. We are so proud of the boys and the hard work they put into their school work.

We also have a new addition to our family, we now have a piano, finally. The boys are taking piano lessons (they actually fight over who is going to practice first, I hope they stay that enthused). One of our good friends teaches piano and we actually started lessons before we got the piano. A couple in our ward was selling their piano and Lori (friend) let us know so we got it and I think we got a great deal . It needs to be tuned but it still plays. I am trying to teach myself (with some help from Lori) how to play the piano. I can play a couple of songs from the Hymns Made Easy book, but I am excited to learn more.

We hope that everything is going great for you! We miss and love you all!

The Drapers

Making Cookies

With fall coming it's time for leaves changing colors, mom getting a cold, cooler weather (if you call low 80's high 70's cooler) and Halloween cookies.

The kids were out of school for weather day on
Friday, so we got our chores done and finally made the cookies. Clark, Ryan and Emma love to help roll out the dough, and cut the shapes, oh and you can't forget about sneeking bites of dough. Mom lets them help with her close supervision so the cookies are edible, not dry and hard from too much rolling out (I like my sugar cookies). The cookies turned out great and Clark, Ryan and Emma had fun decorating them. Clark tried to help frost but decided he had too much frosting and just helped decorate them. We had a lot fun making and decorating, now they are excited to eat them.

Since we moved here to the south, we have been excited to see the cotton crops. We have been driving around the area to find a field to take pictures of. We finally found one so I will put the pictures on the Picassa. It is so cool to see that's how our clothing and all the other cotton fabric starts.

Auburn Game

I think i need to expound on the Auburn game we went to on September 22nd. We were told that there wouldn't be as many people to the game since Auburn was playing New Mexico State. So let me preface by saying that the staduim holds 85,000 and they normally have about 20,000 people hanging around in the parking lot and streets partying and listening to the game.

We were told that it wouldn't be a sell out and that we should expect so many people in the streets...however, the city streets are closed to traffic three hours before the game to avoid anyone getting hurt. So we decided to leave our house after the soccer games at 11:00 AM and tailgate with our friends. We wanted to get the full experience. We arrived in Auburn, AL at about 12:30 PM and the traffic was similar to what you might experience going to a BYU game...very heavy.

We found our way to where they had set up camp (at 6:00 AM) and parked where they had saved a spot. They had a generator and TV setup to watch football. To get to the parking spot we had to squeeze down a road lined with cars. Barely enough room for our car. (keep in mind that this was 12:30 PM for a 6:30 PM kickoff.

We partied, ate food and enjoyed watching some football and cheering against all those teams that Auburn didn't like. The boys really liked playing football, eating food and hanging out with all these cool football fanatics!!! at 5:00 PM we started walking to the game -- about one mile away. The walk was amidst more people than I have ever seen attending a game. Thousands and thousands of people. We rounded a corner and like a mountain peak rising over the horizon, the Jordan Hare Stadium rose above the other school buildings. It was huge! The capacity doesn't seem much more than BYU's, but the stadium was much bigger than BYU's.

We found our way through the crowds of people and went through security and entered at the 50 yard line...mid level. (did I mention the stadium was big??) We found our seats, which were on the 35 yard line and sat to watch the pre-game festivities. The pre-game show was awesome. They have a high-resolution TV screen that is bigger than a house that broadcasts all kinds of entertainment. Then after the band had played and right before the team entered the field they did a great pre-game tradition. They let loose the eagle. Every game they let a golden eagle loose that circles the stadium and then swoops down on a mouse that is on the field (held by the trainer). While the eagle circles, the entire stadium states and holds, "warrrrrrrrrrrr" when the eagle pounces, "EAGLE!" That is the battle cry. Yes, Tigers and Eagles don't make sense, but the scene is amazing.

It was a sellout and everyone was wearing orange and there were people everywhere. No, there weren't as many people on the street as other games, but there were still people all over watching or listening to the game. We left at the end of the 3rd quarter to beat the traffic because we were told it takes an hour to get away from the city.

We were glad we had the opportunity to go to the game...the experience was wild and we did have a lot of fun. Look at the pictures (to be posted this evening) and hopefully it will show you a little of what we experienced. Truly SEC football is serious stuff!!!

Fall in Alabama

Hello everyone!! We are doing well. Sorry we haven't updated lately, I have been busy.

The kids are enjoying school. Emma still wants to be with mom, I can't go to the school to eat lunch or to her class activities without her crying when it's time for me to leave. Clark and Ryan are enjoying their classes. Clark is adjusting well to the changing of classes (like Jr. High). He has to do a lot more projects this year than he has had in the past. Ryan was tested and accepted into the Ace program this year. He really is enjoying it, he is learning some fun ideas. Monday is parent teacher conferences so I will find out how they are actually doing, they tell me they are doing well, their weekly papers look good so I believe them. They are so busy between soccer, piano, scouts and dance for Emma they seem to be having a good time.

Last Saturday we were invited to go to the Auburn/New Mexico State game by a friend from Herff Jones. It was fun, we tailgated with them and then walked over to the stadium. I couldn't believe how big the stadium was, it was so cool. I think we all enjoyed ourselves.

I am going to get back to this, I have some pictures to go with what we have done this fall. But I have to learn how to do that. I will try to get back either later today or tomorrow.

Love ya' the Draper's