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

Tina

My cousin Tina is one of those "near and dear" to me in life.  We're only 9 months apart in age and grew up around each other alot, so really she feels more like a second sister, one that was closer in age to me than Jamie. 

This is Tina and me on my wedding day.



I have so many crazy childhood memories with her...

Birthday parties that involved dancing and singing to Spice Girls and pranking people who fell asleep...

Getting my first tooth fairy visit at her house...

Riding four-wheelers at my house all the time...it's all we ever wanted to do.  Cops and Robbers in the field with the boys and Jamie and sometimes the Case kids. 

Spending at least a week of every summer at her house, hanging out at her neighborhood pool with all her friends.  I was such a tag-along, the grade below all of them...

Trick-or-treating in her neighborhood...

Getting mad at each other over stupid stuff and banning each other from sleeping in our room.  She'd kick me out and tell me I'd have to go sleep somewhere else that night or vice versa if we were at my house... usually we got over it before night came though and didn't have to go find some other room to sleep in.  Once, when she got mad, Andrea (her older sister) took me in and bought me ice cream off the ice cream truck (we didn't tell Tina) and taught me the macarena until Tina got over being mad at me.

Hiding in Andrea's closet and spying on her when she was on the phone talking to boys (well, A boy...Jimmy) in high school...she'd always find us and make Steve kick us out...

Getting booted to pallets on the bonus room floor when all the family was there, so we made a slide by sliding off the table on a pool raft...in the middle of the night, waking everyone in the house up...

Getting grounded together...

Staying awake way past our bed time, giggling and talking til Uncle Steve would come down to check on us and we'd always hear him coming and roll over, pull the covers up and pretend to be asleep when he opened the door...

Deciding to be pen pals and play tic-tac-toe through the mail.  Every time it was our turn to write back, we'd get a turn...

Having such similar taste that one summer we ended up with the same bathing suit, after having the same kids bedspread we were shopping with our grandmother to redo our rooms and came around an aisle having both found a comforter that we loved to find that it was the same one, so we both had the same bedrooms in high school, then just a couple weeks ago I bought some bedding for our guest room and when Andrea and her kids stopped by to spend the night on the way home from DC, Alicia said "that's the same comforter that Tina just got!"...and we registered for the same dishes.  haha! 

We both always talked about living together after college (I got married and ruined that plan, sorry Tina!) and always said we'd have a red couch.  I did end up with a red couch :)

Spent a night in the bathroom once in sleeping bags and played cards, and I can't remember why, lol.

Anyway...that same Tina that I share all those memories, and a thousand more with, caught the bouquet at my wedding...

...and now she is getting married Friday night!

And I am so excited for her and honored to be a part of her special day!

Cousins!  Andrea and Tina with me and Jamie

Me and Tina at one of her showers

 We love Wes, her fiance.  He is great, perfect for her and fits perfectly into her family.  Ryan and I both love hanging out with the two of them. 

Us with Tina and Wes at their couples shower

I'm flying to Atlanta this afternoon so I can join in all of the wedding festivities over the next couple of days!  Mom is doing her bridesmaid's luncheon tomorrow, then there's the rehearsal dinner tomorrow night and then the big day on Friday! Can't wait!

I love you Tina!!!

Almost had those Deacs...

We had a fun weekend!  Mom and Dad and Joyce (my grandmother) came up for the Duke/Wake Forest game and to pick Sadie up...because they couldn't take it any longer without her, ha!

Because the game was at noon and Wake is an hour and a half away, Joyce hung out at the house with Sadie and watched the game on tv from the comfort of the couch while we sat through the game in the drizzling rain.

It was a great game which made for a heartbreaker of a loss.  We hung in there and put 48 points on the board, but ultimately they got us by 6 points.  6 points that may not have made it to the board had the refs called a very obvious block in the back...

Matt says he knew he had him too...

ahh, woulda coulda shoulda... It was still a great game - offense is looking awesome this year with two great QB's.  Next week against Alabama will be interesting though!  I try to stay positive and remind myself that when we played them in Tuscaloosa a few years back we led through the start of the 4th quarter...wishful thinking, I know.

Matt had another big play on Saturday.  And wouldn't you know that just as soon as the rain had just become steady enough for me to put the camera up, Mom says "oh look Matt's out there" and I debated whether or not I even had time to pull the camera back out and switch to the zoom lens.  Sure enough, as soon as I decided I didn't, I thought to myself, now that I decide not to, he'll make a play.  And he did, one that happened right smack in front of us.  ugh, so frustrating!  Thankfully, someone got a picture of it though because it ended up on goduke.com.  So don't know who to give credit to and hope it's ok that I'm using it, but here's his tackle from goduke.com.

But wait, it gets better...

Later, he assisted on a tackle, and this is what I got...

...the lady 's arm in front of me who started cheering right when I snapped the picture.  

Bad picture-takin' luck!

celebrating...

high five from Hatcher and about to get one from Egboh...

 and celebrating with Robo (who had an amazing interception that game)...

huddle

Then we came home and grilled out steaks and watched the Bama/Penn St. game!

It was one of those weeks where Duke and Florida played at the same time (and Georgia/South Carolina!...tv stations, you're screwing up my Saturdays!) AND Florida/South Florida  wasn't on tv so we couldn't record it to go back and watch later either. TJ played against another high school teammate this week...Demetrius Murray, who had a heck of a game apparently.  But, several people called and texted saying that TJ got a lot of playing time/tv time and had a good game.  I miss that kid!  Can't wait to make it to Florida to see him soon.  On a side note, he emailed me today at work responding to a forward I had sent him and said "thanks for emailing me sissy" and signed it "yo boy". :)  Sweet TJ...

GAMEDAY!!

We are so excited about the start of football season - my favorite time of year!  Fall weather, tailgates, great games, two brothers playing...we just love it!  And with way too many teams to cheer for (refer to right sidebar if you don't believe me!), Saturdays in this household are spent on pretty much nothing other than football.  Most Saturdays, we're either at the Duke game or traveling for a Florida game.  The weekends that get crazy are the ones where Duke and Florida play at the same time.  Then you'll find us sitting in the stands of one game with satellite radio in our ear listening to the other game (or the Georgia, Bama, West Virginia game).  We wake up to ESPN and it goes about all day. 

Today, Duke has Elon for their season opener at 7 PM.  With a high of 83, an evening game, and 4 different tailgates to attend, it'll be a beautiful game day at Duke!  GO BLUE DEVILS!

Florida takes on Miami of Ohio at noon and TJ will match up against his high school buddy, Jaytee Swanson. My parents are there this week to cheer TJ on while we cover Matt at Duke.  We're thankful it's on ESPN, so we can watch our #45 from a 550 mile distance. GO GATORS!

And Jamie's experiencing her first ever game day as a freshman in Sanford Stadium.  GO DAWGS! Sic 'em!

Happy Football Season everyone! 

Sisters x2!

Jamie Leigh's a PHI MU!!!!!!!

She's now my sister...AND my "sister". :)

Her bid card matches mine from six years ago!

One of my best friends, Laura, and I met during rush week - she went Zeta and I went Phi Mu.

Jamie and her friend Mallory from rush week ended up in Phi Mu together...

and they got ladybug name tags on bid day just like ours from six years ago...

 When Jamie first found out she had been accepted to UGA, she called me at work right away to announce her news and I was soooo excited!  When she started rush week, I didn't care what sorority she ended up in.  But now that she's a Phi Mu, I'm way more excited than I ever thought I would be about it.  Jamie and I are as close as any sisters are, so it makes it that much more fun that we share the same college campus, and now the same sorority house!  I think I'm so excited because I know how many fun things she has to look forward to over the next four years...

Things like...

meeting new friends during rush week...(check!)

Big Sis/Lil Sis - Alice Callahan...miss her!

Christmas Formals...

Themed Socials!  (Rock Stars and Groupies...)

P is for...

School Girls...

 followed by Graham's birthday on North Campus...

Georgia/Florida weekends of course...

The whole gang that stayed at Mia's beach house...

Meredith's birthday celebration on the beach...

and the BIG GAME...

Semi-formals...

...and the picture proofs that you'll save to your computer, "PROOF" stamp and all, because they're like $3 each to buy...

 DANCE MARATHON!!!!!! And raising lots of money for Phi Mu's philanthropy...For The Kids (FTK!!)

Living in the Phi Mu "castle" on Milledge with all your friends...

Room 6!!

and impromptu dance parties with our Room 5 neighbors...

She always knew Phi Mu was where it's at, even back when she was 12 and Melissa May was my ladybug...

Oh good times!  And good walk down memory lane...

  You have so much to look forward to my dear little Phi...