Our Springville Soccer Stars

This fall, with our move and the uncertainty of how long we'll be in Springville, we decided not to do club soccer.  I was a little bummed to have to put Bryan back in rec soccer, but it turned out to be a great thing!  He ended up on the "Ninja Warriors" and had an awesome coach that knew so much about soccer and held great practices.  I feel like he got as good of coaching as he could have on a club team, and while the competition wasn't as hard, the season was a great confidence booster for Bryan. :)  He was the star player of the team!  He averaged three or four goals a game!

Matthew got to play on the same team as his buddy, Michael, and he was one of the star players as well!  He's just a beast on the soccer field!  Not much can get in his way!

And our sweet Ariana got to play on her very first team and did so well!  She was on the "Green Dragons" and got better and better as the season went on.  I was proud of her because she always ran fast and stayed with the ball, never losing focus.  She was on a co-ed team and couldn't always keep up with the boys on opposing teams, but she never gave up and had a lot of fun!  Isn't she the cutest little player?

 Doing stretches at her first practice.  Her coach was so good with the kids!

 "Which way is our goal??"

 Go, Ari, go!

Here she is after scoring her first goal!!

 That same day, Bryan scored six!!  What a soccer stud!!

And Matthew scored four!!  Eleven goals between the three of them!  It made for a good day!

I loved the parks that they got to play at.  They were so pretty right up next to the mountains with big trees - something we missed in Lehi. :)   Here the kids were playing around one day in between practices.  I couldn't resist taking pics.

Our future soccer stud...

High five!

Here's Bryan at his last game.  I was sad to see the season end.   I just love watching this kid play!

He always has his tongue out when he runs. :)

Last pep-talk from his coach.  Afterwards, he called Bryan their MVP and said he could see him playing all the way in high school and college!

Go Ninja Warriors!

Here's Matt at his last game.

 It was so fun to see him and Michael playing together.  And I enjoyed getting to sit with Jana at the games...

Way to go, Matty!

 Go Tornadoes!

Best buds. :)

 Ari's last game was on a cold, rainy game, but she still played hard!

 Yay, Green Dragons!

 Getting her very first sports medal!

 We're all so proud of her! :)

Now that the rec season's over, we've started having the boys practice foot skills with the Utah Storm Academy.  They'll be able to do that through December, and possibly February, if we're here that long... I'm hoping that with the extra coaching both Bryan and Matt will be ready to play club soccer in the spring!  

While the boys are away...

This is the kind of thing that happens when big brothers aren't around!   Since Ari only goes half days, I have some good alone time with Owen in the mornings, and then time with him and Ari for a few hours before the big boys get home in the afternoon.All sorts of fun happens while they're away at school. :)  (Owen doesn't always wear dresses - he also dresses up as a "super" with his cape and mask!)

We've enjoyed going to the little park by the clubhouse.  I spent so much time there with Bryan and Matt when they were little, it's fun to see Ari and Owen growing up there, too. :)  Here we had a little picnic lunch one warm afternoon.

Ari loves school so much, she likes playing it with her stuffed animals!  This is the perfect kind of thing to do while Owen's napping, because there's not a single boy around to mess up her things!

Sometimes, in the mornings when Ari is gone, Owen and I go walking in a nice neighborhood at the mouth of the canyon.  It's gorgeous and speaks peace to my soul. :)  I'd love to live there if we were ever to stay in southern Utah County.  

I like having the mornings alone with my little buddy.  He's a great shopping partner (most of the time), and loves when we take a break from errands and things to play at the park.  Any park!  Here we are in Provo...  He'd spend all his time at the playground if he could - little monkey!

At home, he's discovered how fun it is to build towers and knock them down!

Knocking them down is definitely the most fun part!

Sometimes, we're able to get together with cousins, like this time when we met up at the Natural Curiosity Museum.  We were watching Celine, so she joined us with Heather and her girls.  The older boys were definitely bummed that they'd missed out!

 I love his little face peeking out here. :)

Something else we've been able to do is dance!  Annalece referred us to a fabulous creative dance teacher in Spanish Fork and it's been so fun!  Ari is a beautiful little dancer - the teacher says she's got a knack for it that can't be taught - and learning to dance creatively instead of just mimicking the instructor has been so good for her.

There's Miss Debbie in the background...  They do a lot of thematic things and work on moving your body according to different shapes or ideas.  Ari loves it!

So even with the boys gone, I feel like my days are very full.  I'm so grateful I get to be home with the kids to take care of the house and share so many sweet moments with my littles!