Tuscaloosa Trip

Well, as usual, we've been busy! So busy that I can't even hardly get my pictures loaded onto the computer, much less into a blog post. So I apologize for the lack of updates. But blog posts are not as fun without pictures, so when I'm not caught up on pictures, then I just don't blog.  A quick recap: lots of traveling, lots of football, lots of house projects, lots of big decisions (more on that later) and lots of work!  That pretty much sums it up!

A quick recap of our football weekends lately...

We went to Tuscaloosa for the Florida/Bama game a few weeks back and stayed with Ryan's sister Rachel and her family and had a lot of fun with them. I hate to brag, but I'm pretty sure our nephew and nieces are the cutest kids in existence. I mean, just look at them...

ADORABLE!

And seeing Ryan with those sweet little girls just melts my heart. It has me convinced that he's going to be a really good dad one day (not that I ever doubted that). And I thought it was so cute - but surprising - when Jeff (bro-in-law) asked if we want a girl first or a boy first whenever we have kids (Jeff always asks us random life questions like this lol) and without hesitation, Ryan said "a girl". [I had no idea that he even had a preference]. Needless to say, I think those cute little nieces have won over his heart. :)

They just love him!  Samuel loves Ryan too, but in more of a play with me outside, rough and tumble, guy-to-guy kind of way. The girls though, they just love on him and snuggle up with him.  Ellie Kate in the picture above (top right) kept fighting falling asleep but finally just conked out laying on him.

We had lunch with Samuel at school and played lots of legos throughout the weekend!  

The girls had a dance party after they got all dressed up in their gameday attire.  So cute - check out all of Abigail's moves and facial expressions lol!

 

But then when she realizes she's the center of attention, her classic "shy face" comes out...

Precious!!!

When game time finally rolled around, we headed over to campus and had dinner at the Alpha Chi house (Rachel's sorority) beside the stadium.  I love that tradition and wish UGA did the same thing!  Sorority row at Alabama lines the stadium and on game day, each house hosts a catered meal for all the current girls and their families and guests as well as all of the alumni and their family and guests.  So it's a good way to bump into all kinds of people you went to school with that you might not normally keep in touch with and gives you an excuse to reconnect with all kinds of people.  They just all bump into each other on game days and keep in so much better touch that way.  We saw a lot of the Woods' family friends at the sorority house - I didn't realize they/we had so many Alabama Alpha Chi ties, but being the outsider, I actually knew a lot of people at the house.  Ryan's pastor's wife was one and they were there, a friend of Ryan's and my family from high school is a current one so we saw her there, Jeff's sister was one, so his parents were there, Rachel and Ryan's cousin is a freshman Alpha Chi, so she and Ryan's aunt and uncle were there.  It was so much fun! 

After eating at the house, we went our separate ways.  Us Florida folks over to catch the team getting off the bus and the Bama ones continued visiting at the house.  I was so excited to see TJ - for the first time since he came to Durham for Matt's birthday in July - but goodness gracious, I had to shove like 5 girls off of him to just hug his neck.  As soon as he got off the bus, he spotted us and headed our way.  When he got over to us, this girl standing in front of us thought he was coming for her, so she grabbed him as soon as he was in reaching distance and gave him a big hug...and then I think she realized "oh wait...mom and sister...that's probably who he was reaching out for" haha.  Then another girl was like "TJ, can I have a kiss?" and when he was reaching over the first girl to hug mom, she just jumps in there and plants one on his cheek.  {Really people?  I'm amazed at how girls are these days....right in front of the kids parents...WHILE he's in the middle of hugging his mother, she asks for a kiss?} As soon as TJ walked away, he texted me and said "who were those girls y'all let in front of you?" LOL.  I know he's cute, but the protective big sister in me came to the surface and I just wanted to be like "back off!"

Another awesome thing about the sorority house is that it is RIGHT. BESIDE. the stadium and Alpha Chi happens to be right by the player family gate for the opposing team too.  So when we were in line, a security lady told me I couldn't bring my zoom lens in.  To say I was annoyed was an understatement - I mean people were taking shuttles to campus from their cars parked miles away...what would I do with the thing if we were parked really far away?  Anyways...beside the point... so I ran over to the Alpha Chi house where Ryan's family was still hanging out and was going to leave it there, but ended up just shoving it down in the bottom of Martha's bag underneath her sweater to sneak it in.  Rebellious I know - but no other stadium has had a problem with it and I really wanted my pictures.  Anyways, I ran it to her and got back in line before we had even reached the ticket table. 

The BAD thing about Alabama though is that they stick their opposing team's family in their newest nosebleed addition of the stadium where you can't even make out the numbers on the players jerseys.  I'm not even kidding either - literally could not tell what their numbers were.  So even with the zoom lens zoomed in all the way, and when the team was at the closest end of the football field, this was as good as the pictures got. 

TJ's #45 in at full back on the right with Trey Burton in at QB.

Clearing the way for Trey...

I can't remember since this was a few weeks ago, but I don't think the ref called it a TD. :(

Gotta include a pic of TJ lined up behind John (Brantley) too.  Now if they'd just put Sam (Robey) in at Center instead of Pouncey, then all three roommates would be lined up behind each other.  Sam at Center, John at QB, TJ at FB. 

Every time I see this picture (taken by Tim Casey), I think it would be such a cool shot if they were all three in at the same time.  It would be the roomie line-up.

Since our trip to Tuscaloosa, we've also been to GA/FL two weekends ago, which was a crazy trip.  We went from Durham to Ponte Vedra, FL to see TJ at the hotel on Friday night, then we went to Jacksonville for the night, then we went to Gainesville after the game to spend Sunday morning with him and get to see his, John's, and Sam's house that we haven't seen in the last year they've lived there, and then BACK to Durham.  All in 48 hours.  Then this past Saturday was a fun Duke win against UVA followed by a shrimp boil with the Banks...and no driving!!  All of which I "plan" to blog about, but am behind on pictures with, so we'll see if it really happens or not :)

And as someone signed their email to me today...

"Happy Hump Day" everyone!

Army Game

Well, we're in T-town!!  We flew into Atlanta last night, where Martha and Dexter picked us up and we all drove to Rachel and Jeff's beautiful home in Tuscaloosa, AL.  It's crazy that they have lived here for nearly three (I think?) years and this is the first time we've seen their home in AL.

After waking up to three of the most precious kids you have ever seen in your life, it makes me wish they lived 5 minutes away like they did in Athens when I was in college at UGA so this Aunt Erin could see them all the time.  Samuel and Ellie Kate were so cute this morning when I came downstairs.  They were so excited to see us and wanted to go jump on Ryan in bed to wake him up.  When they found him already awake, they were so excited and ran and pounced on him.

Now, Samuel's at school and the girls are at Mother's morning out, so we're going to go explore this town!  Rachel has a whole itinerary set for us, complete with seeing the campus, seeing the cute shops around here, Bryant museum, and Ryan and I are going to go eat lunch with Samuel at school.

It's so fun for me to see this town that they live in and the town that Ryan grew up coming to so much throughout his childhood for games and to visit his sister when she was in college at U of A. 

Anyways, while I'm on this whole catching up kick, let's just go ahead and get on

to this past weekend too before it gets overlooked...

One of my very best friends from home came up to visit - this was like her 7th trip to Durham since I've lived here, so if coming all the way to Durham to see me is any indication of how much my friends love me, then Britney loves me the most! :) Another unnamed friend did not end up making it this weekend. Something about a 5k that she planned way back when or something and the Britney trip was a last minute one that came together....clearly, she doesn't love me. 5 notches down the friend list she goes. I won't name any names though...Laura might get upset with me! ;)  I'm kidding..Laura has made the 5 hour drive more than once by herself to visit. 

But she did miss out on some good Cheesecake Factory cheesecake that we had to celebrate Britney's birthday with... mmm!

My parents also ended up coming up at the last minute so two weekends in a row we had a full house, which we love!

First time I've ever caught the three amigos walking together in the Devil's Walk before...and Mom getting a hug from Banks.

My parents at the Devil's walk...  ha, check out Mom's "Duke #10" bag.  She flips it around when she goes to Florida games and the other side says "Florida #45" in orange with TJ's button on it. 

Is she a soccer mom football mom or what?  :) 



BBB-ritney! Everything is more fun with Britney...I'm still trying to talk her into MOVING to Durham!  There's lots of medical opportunities here for a Nurse Practitioner I'm sure!  (that's my argument anyways)

We played Army for our homecoming game, so it was also Military Appreciation Day.  There was a flyover and parachuters brought in the NC flag and the game ball.

Ryan and Dad waiting for the team to come out of the tunnel.

Here they come...and there's our number #10!

Here comes the team, led by our Matt Pridemore carrying the American Flag!  I was so excited about this because Matt is one of the most patriotic people I know and he was chosen by Coach Cutcliffe to carry the American flag on Homecoming/Military Appreciation Day against Army! 

Here he comes!

At the end of the game, our team went over to stand with Army during the playing of their fight song. 

It was a really cool game atmosphere and a really fun weekend with Britney.  

Now I'm off to explore this town!

Duke / Alabama

Now on to Alabama!  (In the blog post sense and in the pack-my-bags-and-fly-to-Alabama sense!) :)

Duke/Bama was a weekend with Rachel and Jeff and Martha and Dexter, if I can even call it that.  It was a weekend for Ryan and more like a fun 12 hours for me, since I spent the first half of the weekend at home for Tina's wedding, but the time we did have all together was fun!

And Crazy...

And Exhausting...

And the game ended with a big fat ugly "L"...

But it was still lots of fun.

Let's back up a bit so I can explain why it was so exhausting...

So first, I flew into Atlanta on Wednesday night, got to my grandmother's house around 9:30 PM, met up with a good friend around 10 PM...one of my college roommates who lives in the same suburb of Atlanta as my grandmother/cousins that I hadn't seen in way too long and had lots to catch up on...and turned out the light at 3:30 AM.  Night 1 of less than 5 hours of sleep...

Then, I had to get up at 7 AM on Thursday to run some errands and get to the Bridesmaid's luncheon.  Then ran errands with Tina all afternoon...picked up her dress from getting altered, booked their massage for their honeymoon while she tanned, etc...ran with Tina and Wes to Belk on the way to the rehearsal to have the sensor removed from her dress (emergency crisis!)...then rehearsal/rehearsal dinner (Jamie arrived from Athens, woohoo!), got back to Joyce's around midnight only to stay up until the wee hours of the morning hearing all about lil sis's college life only to have to get up again at 7 AM.  Night 2 of less than 5 hours of sleep.

Up early Friday morning, wedding day.  Wedding/Reception, get to Joyce's after midnight.  Shower, pack up, go to sleep at 1:30 AM.  Get up at 5:30 AM to head to airport.  Night 3 of less than 5 hours of sleep. And bless my poor grandmother's heart who also got up at 5:30 AM to drive me to the airport!

Land at RDU at 10 AM, get picked up, stop by the house briefly (have I mentioned we bought a house on here yet?  oops, sorry!  We bought a house! :) ), then head straight to campus for 90 degree game day...EXHAUSTED!


We did a little tailgating and watched the Georgia game, then headed toward the stadium to catch the Devil's Walk.  Ryan and Jeff (bro-in-laws) are talking football in their opposing team colors. :)

Devil's Walk!

Wes, Matt, and Banks' eyes peeking over Hatcher's shoulder

Bama fans had to check out Cameron Indoor.  We went in with Rachel and Jeff and there were a ton of Bama fans in there...they even started the Roll Tide chant...like 3 times. 



Alumni players on the alumni deck!  Fun to see some of the guys we don't see too often.

Where's Jeff??  I'll give you a hint.  He's the one in the red shirt. 

Still can't find him?  He's the one waving...

Game time!  Here comes the team....

Pridemore trying to pull off a mohawk lol.  Can you see it?

Love this pic.  Egboh taking down Mark Ingram! Go Egboh!!

I'm not sure if I mentioned that this was the first time that Rachel and Jeff have visited Durham since we've been married.  Unfortunately, because it takes 10 hours in the car to get here and we didn't have enough tickets (or so we thought...ended up with extras at the last minute though), they didn't bring the kids with them. 

So this weekend, we're returning the visit!  We're headed to Tuscaloosa for the Florida/Alabama game and killing lots of birds with one stone!  This will be our first trip to Tuscaloosa visiting Rachel and Jeff since they have lived there and we'll get to see the kids this time (yay!), we'll get to see Ryan's aunt and uncle and grandmother in Birmingham, hopefully get to see his cousins that are in school at Bama, and of course, get to finally see TJ and a Florida game...and a good SEC match-up at that!  

Bama comes to town

Guest blogger again here.  Erin is out of town for her cousin’s wedding as she previously posted so I thought it was a great opportunity to hijack her blog again.  The last time I posted was almost a year ago so obviously I didn’t get the “blog bug” like a lot of people have.  I was a bit philosophical in the last post so I think I will take a different approach this time with something a little lighter that we are excited about for this weekend!

Things have been pretty busy around here getting ready for this weekend.  We have a pretty big weekend planned and have been looking forward to it for years.  Yes, that’s right, I said YEARS!  Ever since Duke and Alabama announced they would be playing a series back in 2004 or 2005 we have been really excited about them coming to Durham to play.  The first game in the series was played on October 7, 2006 when the stadium was a mere 92,000 (now it’s over 100,000 with the new expansion).  I was lucky enough to play in that game which was a big deal since I have grown up going to Alabama football games my whole life.  

My dad played there from ‘69-‘72 when Bear Bryant was the coach.  Since they just finished the expansions to the stadium and to celebrate the National Championship Alabama had all of the former football players come down on the field before the first game which was pretty cool. 

The Alabama connection doesn’t stop there, however.  My sister, Rachel, went to Alabama for college and met her husband, Jeff, while they were in school.  The funny connection between Rachel and Jeff is that both of their/our dads played together at Alabama!  Rachel and Jeff are currently on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ at Alabama and love living in Tuscaloosa.  Another Alabama football connection is that my cousin, Charles (Dad’s side), played there a couple of years ago.  We actually played against each other when Duke played Alabama in 2006.  My other cousins, William and Julia, also currently go to school at Bama.  So, as you can see there are plenty of Alabama connections in this family truly making it a divided household!

Since Duke traveled to Tuscaloosa in 2006, a return game was scheduled for 2010 in Durham.  My parents, sister, and brother-in-law are all coming up for the game this weekend.  We have a tailgate planned and will be having a good time before the game with all of the pre-game festivities.  We’re hoping for a great game regardless of the fact that Duke is 24 point underdogs!  The game starts at 3:30 and will be televised by ABC.

Some pictures from the 2006 game in Tuscaloosa:

The whole crew before the game (from left):
Dad, Mom, Aunt Lisa, Grandparents, William, Samuel, Jeff, Rachel, Jeff's Parents

Coin Toss before the game

Me and my cousin Charles 

The crew coming up for Duke/Bama part 2!

-Ryan