Easter--I'm Grateful :)

On this Easter Sunday, I am grateful for a Savior who followed through with a Plan, to go through the pains suffered during the Atonement for each one of us, then was resurrected on the third day after his death so that we may have the opportunity to repent of our sins, live with our families for eternity after death, and be comforted and sustained in times of trial and hardship. I am grateful for a loving Father in Heaven who recognized that man has the freedom to choose, granted man this freedom here on earth, and because of that freedom to choose, the Father knew that we would make mistakes so He created a Plan of Salvation so that we may return to His presence after we leave this mortal life. His Son, Jesus Christ, willingly came to this earth to carry out His purpose in that plan and both made this possible because of their love for each one of us. May we always remember the reason for celebrating Easter and show our gratitude for this great event in history through the way we live our lives and how we treat those around us. Happy Easter!!!

U.S. Women's National Team vs. Mexico....in the Snow!

So it was beautiful this past weekend and BAM....freak snowstorm hits Utah dumping over an inch of snow on to Rio Tinto stadium. The WNT played Mexico in the pouring snow. Heather, Sara Vargas (our athletic trainer) and I drove down....Josh was supposed to go with us but he got hit with a flu bug :( We sat in the 2nd row from the field, right on the 18 yard line! The U.S won 1-0. After they scored, they celebrated by doing snow angels in the snow! Unfortunately, my camera turned off while I was cheering for the goal, but I didn't get a good shot of the snow angels..such a bummer because that is probably a one in a million shot. To top off the night, after the game, the players ran over to thank the fans and one of the players ran over with a jersey in her hand....I started cheering really loud and she threw the jersey right in my direction and I caught it!!!!!! I didn't get any autographs though. :( Maybe next time!!!! It was such a fun game and totally worth it! GO USA!!!!

Happy Birthday to Me!!!

Well, my birthday celebration actually started on Saturday when my brother, Kevin called me and told me that he and his family were coming to see me (hopefully pictures will be here soon)! They arrived around 2pm, we went to get lunch and took it to the park and spent some time there. Then we went back to my house for cake, ice cream and presents! It was fun hanging out with my nieces at the park and watching Mary Poppins in the car, and Little Mermaid before they left to go home. It meant a lot to me that they took a free day to drive two hours each way to spend a few hours with me! So today started out like any other old day. I went into work, Heather told me she had meetings all day so I helped Josh with the recruit we had on campus and some camp stuff, went to practice....you know, the usual. Well, Heather's meeting was with Paradise Cafe in Bountiful, which is about an hour and fifteen minutes away! She got me a giant cookie for my birthday! Then the girls sang happy birthday to me at practice and gave me a card. I went to class, and afterwards, Josh asked me to stop by, and he and Amy gave me a gift card to Firehouse..my favorite place in Logan! Then I went to get ice cream with the Erickson boys, had calls from my family, texts from friends and former students, facebook messages from friends and former students. It was a fun day. :)

Hunting..

....not for a man nor a date...but a summer job! I feel like I'm in college again...oh wait, I am! Yes, I am looking for a summer job as I do not get any kind of stipend from Utah State from May-August. So I am applying to Borders Books and Music, Smith's Grocery, Lee's Marketplace, Sam's Club, Logo Shop (which does all of USU's shirt screenings, etc), and Al's Sporting Good's. I just need something to pay the bills...should be interesting to see what I end up with, I just hope I end up with something!

YAY for GIRL SCOUT COOKIES!

My favorite time of year is when Girl Scout Cookies come in!!! I bought a total of 10 boxes this year! I have...three boxes left...and I've only had my cookies for two weeks! SO BAD!! But they are sooooo good!!!!! My two faves...well, see the pics! :)

Recruiting...

Holy Moly....a college coach can get as many as 10-20 emails a day from kids who want to play college soccer. Then there's a huge tournament like the one in Las Vegas this past weekend where college coaches from around the country spend a solid two-three days on a soccer field watching back to back games. This weekend, Heather took me recruiting with her in Vegas. The games started at 8am and the last game started at 7:40pm. There were time slots where I had 4-5 games to watch! We literally were on the field from 7:30am-9pm. What was cool about it all is that there are teams from all over the country, and even a few from Canada, there to play against in each other in a tournament where there is no champion, just a chance for teams to show their stuff and be indentified by college coaches. I was amazed by what goes on within the realms of recruiting. I enjoyed watching the games, evaluating players, meeting coaches from colleges around the country...and Heather even took me to In-n-Out, trader joes and the Cupcake Eatery! YUMMY!!!! I sorta want to go on more recruiting trips, but that won't happen until state cup here in Utah in May. :( It was a great experience and I enjoyed it!

Random....

Here are a couple pics....the first is of me and my roommates when we celebrated Becky's birthday at midnight (well...midnight in the timezone where she was born!)...then the other is of me with the Erickson boys and Leo with the MLS Cup Trophy!!!

In My Spare Time...

Just in case you are wondering, this winter I had the chance to coach goalkeepers for a club called Infinity here in Logan. One of my sessions was the U10 boys and girls....but really it was 16-21 U10 boys! A crazy group, but so much fun! They LOVED goalie wars! Thankfully I had some help from Kasey Erickson (yes the dad of the family I dogsit, babysit, and road trip with!) because there is no way I could handle 16-21 ten year old boys on my own! In a few weeks, we will start practicing outdoors...I need to figure out a new game because I won't have futsal goals anymore! I coached the U10-U18 goalkeepers on both the boys and girls side and had a blast. Not sure what is happening in the spring...my fate will be decided tonight at a board meeting! EEK!

THE CUP!!!!

How cool is this?! So remember how I went to the MLS Cup Finals between RSL and Galaxy in November..and RSL won the cup?! Well...I got to take my picture with Leo the Lion and the MLS Cup Trophy!!! The club I am working with did a banquet tied with the MLS Cup trophy tour, and they had a photographer there taking pictures (for free) and he emailed them out. I was actually in four pictures...myself, with two girls I train (one photo each), and the Erickson boys. However, those pictures are yet to be seen, so this one will have to do!