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!

Surprise!

If you know me, you know that I LOVE surprises.  And I'm always scheming up a good one.  So, a few weeks ago when I was able to get ahold of some Toby Keith concert tickets that happened to fall on the first weekend Matt was back in Durham after spending the first half of the summer at home AND his birthday weekend, I started scheming... :)

TJ has been talking about wanting to make it up to Durham for a long time since he hasn't been up here in over two and a half years - he hasn't seen where Ryan and I have lived since we've been married or visited since Matt first started school here.  So, when we were all home a few weeks ago, I mentioned to TJ that if I could get Toby Keith tickets, he should fly up for the weekend and go to the concert with us and we could surprise Matt.  Mom and Dad were standing right there and said they'd "sponsor" the trip with some skymiles, so we booked his flight and managed to keep Matt in the dark for the next couple of weeks.

Matt came back to Durham last Monday and brought Jamie with him to stay for the week.  She had a flight back to ATL on Friday, so I planned to drop her off at the airport and pick TJ up in one trip and there I had my alibi.  :)  Matt and Jamie got to hang out while I was at work every day, then we'd all meet for lunch and Jamie and I got to hang out in the evenings, even got pedicures one night (Mom's treat - thanks Mom!), my first since right before our wedding - so good to have some sister time with her!

So, Friday rolled around and it seemed like the week had gone by too quickly and Jamie didn't want to miss out on all of the fun with TJ coming, so she decided to just stay until Saturday night instead. We didn't tell Matt though. :)  I played things cool and even asked Matt if he wanted to ride with us to the airport to drop Jamie off with us, but quickly threw in that I had to run be fitted for a bridesmaid's dress on the way (not really though, just to make him not want to come), so he quickly opted out.  So, Jamie and I headed to the airport.  Ironically, Ryan was headed to Alabama for his grandfather's funeral and his flight was 30 minutes after TJ landed, so he joked about maybe seeing TJ in passing at the airport since he wasn't going to be around for the weekend anymore. As it turned out though, Ryan's flight left from the same gate that TJ's flight came into and Ryan boarded the same plane that TJ had just gotten off of!  So, when we got to the airport, we had to circle a few times waiting on TJ because he got to catch up with Ryan for a few. 

Now, for the surprise - here's how we pulled it off... :)

Matt wanted Kurama's, a Japanese steak-house for dinner, so he and a few friends were there and he was expecting me to join them for dinner since I had just "dropped Jamie off".  On the way, TJ called Matt and Matt told TJ he was just getting ready to head to dinner with some friends for his birthday and asked what TJ was up to.  TJ told him he and Sam (his roommate) were just getting ready to head downtown (Gainesville, Florida) to go find somewhere to eat for dinner too, ha!  We had a few extra minutes to stop and grab a card and of all things, Jamie found one that sang a Toby Keith song when you opened it, so Jamie made imitation concert tickets to stick inside the card with each person's name that was going.  Then the last one had TJ's name on it.  So I was going to walk up to the table alone, as expected, and give Matt the card....

Here's Matt's cheesin' it face after opening the card and seeing the concert tickets, which he thought was the big surprise, not knowing that there was more...

I told him to take a closer look at the them...

(beware of the poor quality...still a really fun video though!)

Be sure and press pause on the ipod on the left sidebar first though!

The next morning, all the guys got up and left at 5:30 AM for a bass fishing tournament, so Jamie and I just hung out by the pool until the guys got back around lunchtime.  We then made some last-minute plans to meet up with Andrea, Jimmy, Alicia and AJ for dinner on the way to dropping Jamie off at the airport, probably our last chance to see them before they move to DC :(  It's been so fun having them only a little over an hour away the entire time we've lived here, but that means we'll definitely be taking more DC trips in the near future!  Amazingly, between Jimmy being deployed (Air Force) so much and TJ never being in NC, and having such short Christmas breaks due to bowl games, we realized that Jimmy and TJ hadn't even seen each other in six years!  Jimmy hadn't seen TJ since he was a little ole' eighth grader! 

In our concert attire, we headed out to meet Andrea, Jimmy, & Co., drop Jamie off at the airport (SAD!), then head to the Toby Keith/Trace Adkins concert. Where's your shirt, Matt?

yet again, family divided!

Had to get a pic of the rare reunion!

Take 2...

We pretended we were headed to the concert, no stopping at the airport on the way...we were in denial that she was leaving really.

COME BACK.  I MISS YOU!

But alas, we had to drop James at the airport before going to the concert.  Lo and behold, she flew out the same gate as Ryan AND TJ.  Poor Jamie, headed back home to be an only child again with all of her sibs five hours away in different directions.  She'd had Matt there for the first half of the summer which was so fun for both of them while he was living at home during his internship in Atlanta for our Lt. Governor, Casey Cagle, a good family friend of ours. Bet she misses him already!

Why did I get so many "goodbye" pictures and not more concert pictures? 

I don't know, but here we are at the airport again (third trip in a weekend!), seeing TJ off on Sunday evening.  Ryan got in late Saturday night from Alabama right after we got back from the concert, so we got up and went to church on Sunday morning, then had lunch at Tyler's, one of our favorite after-church lunch spots.  It's a Durham place, so we had to take TJ there.  Besides, it's his name-sake (TJ=Tyler James). :)

HAPPY 23rd BIRTHDAY MATTY! :)

I said it's great...to be...a Georgia...Gaaaator!

I guess that's what I could be labeled...a Georgia Gator. 

Well, my poor Dawgs took a beating and it was hard to watch, but I was hoping for the Gators to take the win.  Blood runs thicker than an alma mater, right?  Most definitely!  (love you Teej!)  And TJ's coach did not hesitate to tell me that when I visited the team hotel on Friday night wearing a Georgia t-shirt, which I only did to pick on TJ...and so I could get this picture of the little sibling rivalry we've got going on...

P.S.  When did my little brother get so big??

Tim Tebow thought my little prank was funny and insisted on getting a picture with me and my Georgia shirt too, but I've somehow misplaced that picture... ;)

So, Ryan and I got to Jacksonville Friday night before my parents and (family friends) Lisa and Benny, so we got to hang out at the team hotel with TJ and Sam (his roommate & bff...or whatever guys call their bff's) for awhile, which is always fun - those two are entertaining together.


Saw Omar, a Buford teammate of TJ's who also plays at UF - he came up to hug me, but then saw my shirt and said he just couldn't hug me with that thing on.  :) 

Made it to our hotel pretty late to find that Jacksonville on GA/FL weekend is I-N-S-A-N-E!!!  We stayed at a hotel walking distance from the stadium so we wouldn't have to deal with parking on game day, but in doing so, our hotel happened to be right beside The Landing...on Halloween weekend...with about 50,000 college students (= lots of drunk people in costumes at all hours of the day...and night).  We had to wear wristbands and show them to security guards just to get on the elevator at our hotel, and we slept soundly at night to the calming noises of our sound machine, which we had set to the "drunken 3AM party in the hotel hallway" setting.

Aside from the chaotic hotel experience though, we had a fun weekend!  My whole family was there except for Matt (who had to be in Virginia to whoop up on some Cavaliers that day) along with family friends Benny & Lisa and my uncle Steve and cousin Eric...all of whom have been die hard UGA fans all their lives, but rocked the orange and blue all weekend for TJ (except for my cousin Eric...he couldn't bring himself to do it).





As we were walking around the stadium waiting for the Gator Walk, I heard the Red Coat Band play the Georgia fight song from a distance.  That was the first time I realized that it was going to be harder than I thought to pull against my bulldogs.  Although I logically wanted Florida to win for TJ's sake, hearing the fight song, and then later the calling of the dawgs and the chants during the game made me want to stand up in the middle of the sea of orange and blue that I was sitting in and join right in with the Bulldog nation!  I have to say, it's been so fun to be at Florida games this season and be a part of TJ's experience there, but I do miss Georgia football game days in Athens!



And here comes the team! Left picture is TJ following Coach White (his position coach) in the Gator Walk, middle is Omar Hunter (Buford high school teammate of TJ's), right is...superman himself...that's right, Tim Tebow.



I have to admit...Jennica and I did call the Dawgs on the first kickoff...just for fun.  oops. And if you look closely in the middle picture, we both did rock our Georgia "G"'s despite being decked out in Florida colors - hers on her face, mine on my earrings.  :)



And here come the teams...

Opening Kickoff for Georgia/Florida 2009 in Jacksonville, FL...

Unfortunately, I didn't get a ton of great in-game pictures and wasn't able to zoom in very well, but here's one of TJ making a block on special teams.  He's #45 near the left sideline.



TJ's fan club :)

Final score: 41-17 Florida.  Note the difference between the left half of the stands and the right half.  Sad day for the Dawgs...on a happier note, I think this game secured Florida's spot in the SEC Championship.

Meanwhile, Matt and the Blue Devils beat Virginia 25-17 for Duke's 3rd straight ACC win!

After the fun weekend in Jacksonville with family and friends, Ryan and I headed north on I-95 on Sunday morning via a detour in Savannah, GA for lunch and a couple hours of enjoying the charming southern town...and it's good southern food! Oh, how I miss the south!

The Southern Charm of Savannah, GA...



And of course we had to get some pralines from River Street Sweets...



But I think lunch is what sent us straight to heaven, because we ate here....


Yes, that would be Lady & Sons, Paula Deen's restaurant. And check out that flag - she's a Georgia fan!

Here's what we ate...



Amazing is all I can say.



Thanks for stoppin' by y'all.  Come on back now, ya hear!