Undefeated in El Paso....light that A!

Just got back from El Paso...it was an exhausting weekend but a lot of fun. The team went undefeated in our two games, beat a team from the Big 12 conference which is huge for the program. We ate a lot of food (we ate dinner at my favorite restaurant!), played soccer, and even took a trip to the zoo (our head coach was a zoo keeper for a summer at the Buffalo Zoo, so she had some cool facts to share about different animals)! El Paso is an interesting place....on the border of New Mexico and Mexico. Having a blast and loving this! Go Aggies!

Monster Truck Jam 2009

Last night I went to the Monster Truck Rally in Salt Lake! It was AMAZING!

THE BLUE "A" ON OLD MAIN STANDS FOR....

an AGGIE WIN! That's right! We had our first game against Northern Arizona University and we won 2-0! Whenever a sports team wins, the A on Old Main is lighted in the color blue!

Thanks to the Burge family for driving up from Salt Lake for the game and taking pics!

Bear Lake

Last Sunday, the team went to Bear Lake for a break and some team building. We went on a hike on the way there and stopped at the Bear Lake "look out" spot where you have a great view of the lake! I'm loving this, but very, very tired! Our first game is Friday at home vs. NAU!!!!




The USU Women's Soccer Coaching Staff! Josh Walters, Heather Cairns, Me, and Hillary JOhnson (our amazing athletic trainer!)



Looking over Bear lake

Hillary and I looking through holes of this HUGE tree trunk

Top of the hike

The Team!

TEAM BUILDING

Motley's Balancing Act!

Our head coach, Heather, at USU, has the coolest dog ever!!!! Her name is Motley and she does all these tricks, and is just a ton of fun to play with...but she really distracts me when she is at the office..but it's a good distraction! Motley does this cool trick where she balances food on her nose and then tries to catch it, and she actually caught the food today! See the video!

Hiking....

Yep...I guess I like to hike now. :) My friend, Christa, who lives in California, connected me with her friend, Patrick who lives in Logan. Patrick and I went on a hike to the wind caves up Logan Canyon! It was a blast!

Cool View....

There's a little tiny place that overlooks the Cache Valley about two blocks from my house. I walked over there tonight at sunset to take some pics! I love the view...thbe picture don't do it justice.

Reflecting...

Not many people know that the last year has probably been one of the hardest of my life...I've been tried and tested a lot, much coming from the result of the choices of others and partly because of my choices as well; my integrity and moral character have been attacked and challenged. I've had the choice to take the higher road or to join right in and return the hits being tossed my way...it hasn't been easy, I've had to learn a few hard lessons, but overall, taking the higher road is the most rewarding road to take even when the rewards are not even noticeable. There have been times when I wondered how the heck I'd ever get through it all or if it would ever end. It just seemed like everytime I turned around something else was falling apart or more was being added to the situations. This past week, since I really haven't had a ton to do after soccer is over, I've had a lot of time to recognize that Heavenly Father is very aware of me. He has placed people in my life to help me through times such as these....my family and a few friends who have been with me every step of the way. A door has been opened for me that has gotten me out of the situations I was in down in Salt Lake, and this opportunity is also something that I have wanted to do for a very long time...I am living my dream this year! I'm grateful to know that I have a Heavenly Father who is aware of me, a family who supports me, friends who are willing to listen no matter how old the complaint or drama. I'm grateful to be working at USU and I am excited to finish my Master's degree. I am working with a great coaching staff...I think my experience at any other school would be very different. This week I've recognized several blessings in my life and just felt I needed to share. I'm still dealing with things and working through things, but know that as I trust in a loving Heavenly Father, and do what I can to be a better person, all the pieces will fall as they should.

Survived the First Week!

Um....well, it's pretty easy to survive the first week after getting close $400 of free Nike stuff (Nike is our sponsor), that's not including my cleats, goalkeeper gloves and running shoes! Anyway, yes, that is a perk of coaching in college...and thank goodness Nike makes sportsbras! Now I can throw all my old ones away! Woo hoo! However, my warm up pants look like I'm a part of the cast from "I Dream of Genie" but if I go a size down, they will be too short....so I'd rather go baggy than short...and they are FREE!!!!! So this week....it's been long, busy, but really fun. It's interesting being part of new coaching staff, but what I really like about Heather and Josh is that they 1. care about the girls, 2. work well together, 3. they don't treat me like a glorified cone mover, 4. they both care about life outside of soccer...the list goes on and on. I am still trying to figure out where I fit into all this, and the coaches have made it clear "you are not here to be a fly on the wall"...they want me involved as much as possible...but I am learning a new system of play, a new style of coaching, new girls, higher level of competition and play, etc...but soccer is soccer...and it's something I love and I am loving this! Being in charge of pre-season meals is no easy feat either....lots of organizing (which much of it was already done by Josh before I got here), and lots of paperwork....which I haven't even started. I'm also over equipment...which I haven't even started...and I'm over contacting the visiting team, which I still have another week til i have to worry about it, and I finally was able to email all the soccer alumni today to introduce myself and give them an update on the team.

Today was exciting because this morning, we played 11v11 for the last 20 minutes of practice. I played an outside back and outside midfielder...and actually held my own...despite the fact that I couldn't feel my feet because it was 50 degrees outside and pouring rain! This afternoon we had a short-sided games round robin type of deal, and I ended up playing in goal. I actually did pretty well for not playing outdoor for a year and not playing goal in indoor for 6 months! A lot of the girls didn't know I was a goalkeeper in college...but they do now!!!! It was really fun...but I am starting to feel it! My body just doesn't recover like it used to! :P We have tomorrow off, which will be nice, then it's back to work on Monday!

First Day!

My first day was great! Here's a little rundown.
9am--Showed up to my humble little office still full of stuff that needs to be cleared out. I was there til about 3:45pm. I followed Josh Walters, the assistant coach, around to various destinations, got my parking permit, keys, school ID, met several of the "need to know" people in the athletic department office, met more coaches from other sports. Went to lunch then we also made sure that the field was being lined properly, went to pick up equipment and uniforms, started sorting equipment to distribute to players tomorrow or Wednesday. A couple more of my duties aside from the alumni newsletter, blog and coordinating with the visiting teams include organizing pre-season meals and I'll be in charge of equipment. The head coach will be back tomorrow and will notify me of my other duties.


View from my office...camera is on zoom.


The name plate on my door!

Officially an Aggie!

I started today with a soccer camp at Utah State. I ran the goalkeeper camp for 12-18 year olds. It was a lot of fun. I start Monday in the office and I'm excited for the season to officially start Tuesday when the team checks in! In this picture I don't look so excited...it was after camp and I was exhausted!