Soccer Boy and his family

This year, we began our first ever "big kid" activity. Brad played soccer in the community Soccer Tots program for kids ages 3-5 years. The program was every Thursday night from 5-6 pm for 6 weeks (from Sept. 15 to Oct. 20). The first 3 weeks were practice and teaching, and the last 3 were games. Brad loved it, and we loved watching him. He acted so grown up whenever we mentioned his soccer team. (I think he knew it was a "big kid" activity.) We are so glad the 6 weeks ended when it did. The weather started getting pretty cold and cheering was quite the freezing event.

The team picture - Emery Crawford, and Emily and Marissa Stong were all kids from our ward. Brad was one of the shortest on his team - so cute. (He is squinting from the sun!) 

Brad's team was the TIMBERS. His coach was wonderful! She was very excited to coach, so positive, knew all the kids names, and would run around with the kids to teach them. It was so awesome and Brad responded to her great! Also on his team, were a couple of other kids from our ward that he knew, so that was great for him (and nice for us to have people to visit with while we watched each week.) Brad also learned to love meeting new kids and making new friends. During the week he would talk about the kids on his team. It was so fun to see him growing up! I have no idea how many games they won or, for that matter, who won the games, but we loved watching all the kids chase the ball around with big smiles. It was like a swarm of bees on the chase. Emily was a great little sister, just hanging out on the blanket with Dad and Mom on the sidelines. We would usually bring dinner for her to eat during the game, which meant that everytime Brad had a "break" he would run over and get a couple bites of dinner.

For Brad's 1st game, we picked up a poweraid! He was thrilled!

Emily having a blast on the sidelines with her friend Ellia - so funny!

Brad's favorite position was the goalie, and he had a famous stance. We loved every time he got down, with bent knees and his hands ready for the ball. Also, each time he caught the ball as goalie, instead of thowing it back into the field to play, he would thow it out of bounds behind the goal (as if to say, now it is out of the way and it did not go in the goal). It would totally make us laugh.

Some mornings, Jon would take Brad out in the backyard and practice soccer. As you can see, Brad definitely got his goalie stance from Jon... like father, like son! At the end of their "practice" Brad would come into me and say, "Mom, we need a snack we have been working so hard." Then I would send him out with a juicebox for him and his Dad, and he ran over to Dad with a big smile on his face. I love it.

We love our boy and we are so proud of his diligence and hard work he put into his soccer league. He not only learned the rules of soccer, but learned a lot about team playing and being a good sport. We had a great time cheering for him. Good Job Buddy!

Here is a video of Brad during his 1st soccer game. He is the short one who looks at the camera when Dad talks to him. Hope you can pick him out!