Friday night we went to M&M World and the Coca-Cola store, we ate at In-n-Out and made in back in time for our team meeting and a whole lot of craziness in the halls of the hotel. Good thing the whole hotel was booked out to soccer players because balls and girls were flying down every hall! 
Saturday morning, before games began, we took a quick trip over to the Forum Shops and the Cheesecake Factory at Caeasar's Palace. The girls on this team love being together and the parents enjoy it just as much. We really are lucky! For this trip three guest players joined our team to help with the Sunday games when McKenna and Taylor would not be playing. These cute new girls quickly fit right into the mix of the team and so did their moms. 
Their first game wasn't until 2:00 that afternoon. It felt we were waiting all morning to begin play...as game time got closer and closer I even had little butterflies in my stomach from the anticipation of the teams our girls would face in this tournament.The soccer fields in Vegas were beautiful. They were all on outdoor turf, so the fields were perfectly level with no divits or sprinkler heads or really any imperfections at all. The skies were the perfect color of blue and the moutains tops covered in snow were the a beautiful backdrop to their first game. McKenna started as goalie, but didn't touch the ball once...which was a relief.
After the first half the game was tied 0-0 even though we had played on their end of the field the whole time and probably had more than 20 shots on goal...the ball hit every angle of the post, but never went in. It was so frustrating - even the line ref on our side couldn't help wincing or slapping his leg every time the ball would hit the post and shoot back out onto the field. Second half started and Ray decided to keep McKenna in as goalie, but within a few minutes changed his mind and quickly moved her to forward. Her first touch on the ball ended in a goal...it was awesome as she almost plowed over the goalie! Then a few minutes later she scored again! She was on fire! They won 7-0. The girls were pumped and ready for their next game at 6:00.
Before the second game, Emily, Tay, Kenna and I drove around looking for some under armor for Kenna. It was 5o degrees in Vegas with lots of cold wind - we were frozen and knew the night game would be tons colder, especially for the girls. We found what we needed at a local sports store and headed back to the fields.
The second game was pretty much the same scenario. It was almost as if our girls were playing keep away from the other team - both teams that day rarely even got posession of the ball and had a tough time ever taking the ball from our girls. Every girl on our team pleayed like a rockstar that day! They played like professional soccer players with every pass perfectly to their intended player. It was so much fun to watch.
After another victory of 3-0 we all headed to Olive Garden for a team dinner celebration. Good thing we had an awesome waiter who let the girls laugh way too loud and be way too crazy! 
Around 10:30 Emily, Taylor, Kenna and I headed out to St. George for the night. We took off again early Sunday morning and made in home in time for me to conduct in Relief Society. Driving home this morning, the team played two games...through texting we kept in touch with how the girls were playing in Vegas. They won both games 4-0 and then headed to the medal ceremony as First Place Champions!On our drive home we talked again about choices and keeping commandments and how hard it can be when you have to stand alone (luckily Taylor and McKenna had each other and even Emily and I had each other). As we talked, both girls said they had no regrets about choosing not to play on Sunday, but both were just a little sad to not be part of the medal ceremony.
These amazing girls chose the better part and the Lord will bless them...I feel He already has!
