Alabama/ Arkansas Review

Check out my guest blog over at Alabama Bloggers. I wrote a review of the Alabama/ Arkansas game this week. Hope you enjoy!

Arkansas game with my sweet niece Ava!

As the rain fell we geared up for what looked to be a long wet ball game. We didn't care! Ava was so excited to go to an Alabama game she wasn't worried about the weather one bit! She looked so cute in her pink Alabama jersey, pink bow, and pink converse tennis shoes! We suited up in our borrowed rain gear and headed to Bryant-Denny stadium. It was a long wet walk for me but Ava enjoyed every minute of it. She talked about the game she went to last year and her brothers being Auburn fans. She jumped in every single puddle we passed (which was a lot). She was so happy that I almost forgot about the rain! We made our way in the stadium up to our upper deck seats we could hear the crowd getting pumped up from the pregame videos. She would just look at me and smile every time the crowd cheered! We finally made it to our seats and we could see everything.

Ava and I in our rain gear about to head to the stadium!

The view from our seats!

We watched the cheerleaders and Big Al. Then it was time for the band. We saw the "Big BAMA Spell Out" and I tried to teach Ava as we went. She caught on pretty fast. I sang the fight song and she just waved her shaker along with the crowd (one day she'll know the words too). The National Anthem played and I looked down to see Ava's hand over her heart just like I had mine. I picked her up so she could see the team approaching the tunnel, then running on the field. She cheered and smiled and waved her shaker like she'd been doing it for years. It brought tears to my eyes to get to share this with her. We cheered and cheered. I taught her how you make a lot of noise when Bama's on defense so the other team can't hear. I told her that was part of her job as a fan in the stadium. She happily obliged. She screamed as loud as she could.

Then boredom set in. Neither team was scoring and I have to admit the first quarter was kind of boring! We went to the restroom and as we were about to climb the stairs back to our seats Bama scored. She was so excited she cheered and smiled. It made my day to see her so excited! Next possession Bama scored again. Once again I saw that excitement return to her face (and mine)! We watched the half time show from our seats so she could see the formations. Then we headed down to sit by my dad. His seats are really good. Alabama scored two times right in front of us. They scored one more time early in the fourth quarter to make the score 35-7. Dad and Ava decided to beat the crowd and head on back to the house. I stuck around to hear Rammer Jammer.

Ava on Dad's shoulders and Bullet (my cousin) with his son Matthew. Matthew and Ava are the same age and are both Bama fans in homes of orange and blue !

It was an awesome game. I'm so excited that I got to share it with my niece. She really reminded me how to enjoy life by just jumping in the puddles!

Roll Tide Roll!!!

Game Day

We are heading down to T-Town to watch the tide in their SEC opener! We will be taking on the Arkansas Razorbacks.

VS

The tailgate is pork themed. I'm making hogs {pigs} in a blanket!!! Arkansas has one of the top ranked offenses in the country and Bama has one of the top ranked defenses. It should make for a very good game! Please let the rain hold off! I'm taking my 5 year old niece to sit with me! She is the only Alabama fan in her family of 6! Her mom is a die hard Auburn fan but we've managed to convince Ava that Bama is the right choice. We took her to a game last year and once she got over the shock of all the people she loved it. It didn't take her long to start screaming Roll Tide!

Christmas Card Photo Shoot

Attempt #1= Failed miserably. Between Patrick, my mother and the fat girl that kept showing up in the photos I'm not sure we'll ever get a good shot!

This is just about the best one!

Is it just me or are the leaves starting to look a little more yellow theese days?

I did get some of the Fall decorations up this week though! I love this wreath that my mom made for me last year

TV Time

I watch way to much TV. I am slightly embarrassed by it. My husband works nights so I don't feel so bad about it. This week starts the Season Premieres. Tonight is Greys Anatomy.

Here is a quick rundown of my TV schedule each week!



Sunday

• Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
• Desperate Housewives

Monday

• One Tree Hill
• The Rachel Zoe Project

Tuesday

• 90210
• Melrose Place
• 18 Kids & Counting
• Flipping Out
• Shark Tank

Wednesday

• Glee
• Toddlers & Tiaras

Thursday

• Survivor
• Greys Anatomy
• The Real Housewives (currently Atlanta)
• Project Runway

Friday

• Ugly Betty

Saturday

• Football
• Football
• Football

Other Shows that are not currently on that I watch

• American Idol
• The Secret Life of the American Teenager
• The Bachelor/ Bachelorette

Folks that is a lot of TV! I really need to get some hobbies!

Happy Fall!

Yesterday was the official first day of Fall. I have been so looking forward to Fall for a while now! Even though it is still 80 degrees here and the leaves are still very green I am excited! Fall has arrived inside our home anyway! I put out the few Fall decorations I got last year! I'll post photos later! I can't wait for the leaves to change. Hopefully with all the rain we've had (nearly 3 weeks of it) the leaves will be beautiful this year!

Daycation: Atlanta

Since Patrick is on vacation all week we decided we didn't want to go on a long vacation so we decided to take a day trip to Atlanta. Well of course the day we decide to go has to be day of the worst flood metro Atlanta has seen in close to 100 years.

We dropped Ally off at my parents house, we called the aquarium to make sure they were open (since many of the schools and such in the area had closed due to the weather). They said they were open and that all the roads from Birmingham were open the traffic was just very slow. So we thought we'd just go ahead and give it a try! We got there no problem. It rained a lot but we made it! We parked and got in without getting rained on and thought nothing more of the weather.

This is by far my best shot of the day I think! This is exactly what the jellyfish look like in the tank!We loved the American Alligators!The Elephant fish!The Asian Small-Clawed Otter! Japanese Spider Crab with an Anemone growing on its shell!This is the Ocean Voyager Tank. It is more that six million gallons of saltwater. It holds stingrays, mant rays, hammer-head, sand and whale sharks, giant grouper. It was really big!They have 4 of the giant whale sharks. To date these sharks are the largest package shipped by UPS!Giant Grouper

The Aquarium was very neat. We were a little disappointed but I think we had very high expectations. When you state things like the "largest aquarium in the world", and "largest coral reefs in the world" we were thinking way big. Well it wasn't as big as we thought. We should have done a little more research. We went through the entire aquarium in about 2 hours. We were were leaving it was pouring down rain. You couldn't see anything. Since we didn't have an umbrella we decided to buy one (it didn't look like it was going to let up anytime soon and we didn't want to waste the time waiting on it to stop!) We also bought the souvenir photo they take of you when you enter the aquarium. Between the photo and the umbrella we spent like $50 on crap! We are the best tourists ever!

* Maybe I was a bit harsh on my criticism. It was really neat. Just not as large as we thought it was going to be!

Since it didn't take us as long as we'd thought it would to go through the aquarium we decided that we'd go to the World of Coke museum. Patrick had been when he was in school and I'd never been so we went. It was neat! You get to taste all the Coke products of the world. Some were good... some were not! I really enjoyed it!

This sign pretty much sums up the trip! Luckily we got out of there when we did... they ended up closing a part of I-20 because of flooding!

Finally we ended they day with dinner at Carrabbas!

Tuesday we enjoyed our left overs from Carrabba's with our glass bottled cokes! Nothing beats a glass bottled coke!
* I'm trying to get all the photos on here but it's being weird. As soon as I get all the kinks worked out I'll post them so check back tomorrow!

3-0!! Roll Tide Roll!

Well the Crimson Tide Rolled over the North Texas Mean Green (is that seriously a mascot?) 53-7. Our starting quarterback didn't play the entire second half. It was a good game. The most points scored by an Alabama team since 1991. Looks like we are where we need to be for our SEC opener next week against Arkansas.

Patrick started his vacation today and I have to say it has been so nice having him here and awake. He usually sleeps all day on Saturday. We grilled out and watched football all day long. First was Alabama, then we watched Florida beat Tennessee, now it's Georgia at Arkansas (we've gotta see what we're up against next week! We'll watch the Auburn game as soon as they get started (they are in a lighting delay)!

My husband the Exterminator! We had a small wasp attack while trying to grill!

What do you kill wasps with if you have no wasp spray?

Well, Greased Lighting of course!

Ally woke up from her nap to see what was going on!

She decided to stay and help her daddy grill hamburgers!

Wanting to know when hers will be done!

Isn't she just the cutest little helper!

Looking forward to the weekend.

Patrick starts his vacation on Saturday. We plan on filling the day with football. We will start with Morris Blue Devils watching Patrick's nephew play. Then we'll come home and watch Alabama vs North Texas. Then we'll watch the other SEC teams waiting for Auburn who will play West Virginia University. It should be a pretty good game! I am so excited that Patrick will be off for 10 days. We have lots to do around the house.

Hey Panthers...

Well we beat FIU...it wasn't pretty but it was a win none the less! Our team didn't look as good as I thought they ought to...but hey what do I know! It was a nice day for football. Everyone kept saying how hot it was and I thought it felt quite nice (well for Alabama anyway!) We had a great tailgate. The food was delish! Here are a few photos from the day.

Celebrating after a touchdown!Me and DadSaban talking to the reporters going into halftime!

Ally in her gameday shirt!

* Also I recently wrote a blog about tailgating and my college days during football season (that can be found here). As I was laying in bed this morning thinking about what I was going to wear to church I remembered that the first game my freshmen year was actually played in Birmingham at Legion Field. So the Oklahoma game was actually my second game as a student but the first in Tuscaloosa!

It's Gameday again! Roll Tide!

Ally and I are getting our things together to head down to T-Town in a couple or hours. The theme this week is your All-American Tailgate. We're having hamburgers, hot dogs, ribs, pasta salad and potato salad. I've just made a rajun cajun dip (from a packet) that I hope turns our good...(right now all I can taste is the mayo). We open the season at Bryant-Denny Stadium with a team out of the Sun-Belt Conference, The Florida International Panthers. Hopefully it will be a good Bama win with lots of scoring for our team and very little scoring for theirs. Hopefully no one gets hurt ( I hope I didn't jinx us by saying that!)

VS

Roll Tide Roll

Guess who got a haircut...

Today I took Ally to get her haircut. It was awful. I knew that it was going to be. Her hair had gotten so long and matted up that I had to just have her shaved. She was looking so cute before it got matted. I wish I could keep it at that length all the time.

Before...

After...sorry it's a little dark

This is the length I wish it was always. It is so curly and cute.

I know this is not that exciting but this is the extent of the excitement in my life right now. Check back Monday when I give a report of the first Tuscaloosa tailgate of the season!

September 11...

You can't say that date and not think about 2001. I remember very vividly sitting in Mrs. Paschal's class and Dr. Vacca announcing over the intercom that there had been an apparent terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York City. I was sixteen years old and very quickly I learned how serious this matter was. We watched it all day long. I was so glued to the tv. I watched the news for the first time. It seemed so unreal that this was happening in our country. I remember the feeling of patriotism that followed the attacks. I loved seeing the flags flying and you felt a sense of pride when the National Anthem was sung. It's sad that it took an attack to bring people together...and look how quickly that sense of pride died. I remember last year I was taking my niece to pre-school thinking that this is something that she will be taught in history class. Wondering how it will be presented...will the books relay the sense of pride that the nation felt or will it simply be another day in history? Here are just a few reminders of that day.

Long Weekend

Well the holiday weekend has come to a close. It was a good one to say the least. Lots of rain here... I mean more rain than I have seen in a very long time.

Patrick and I had to go to a wedding Saturday that was supposed to be outdoors. That was a washout. Luckily they had a rain plan and the bride was very easy going. I ended up wearing a purple dress... I felt like I was betraying my team wearing purple on gameday but once it was over I quickly went home and put on my gameday shirt. It was a great day to sit inside and watch football. I went to some friends house to watch the game. Patrick had to go to work. I always feel bad when he has to go to work and I get to do fun stuff.

I was very pleased with our team. If only for the fact that we came on strong in the 4th quarter (which is not typical for us). I have confidence in the new QB Greg McElroy. He knows he isn't the best but he wants very badly to be the best. He seems to really take in everything around him and build on it. I really like him. I can't mention the game and not talk about Brandon Deaderick, who was shot on Monday night in an attempted robbery and played Saturday. Talk about dedication! I can't wait to head to Tuscaloosa Saturday for the home opener. Roll Tide!

Sunday I went to church and to Wal-Mart. They are renovating Wal-Mart and it is a nightmare. I hurried to get the things I needed and got out of there! The afternoon was filled with football, naps, and then the race. Monday we went to Patrick's niece's 4th birthday party at the splash pad. Which is very entertaining if you have children...we don't so it's a tad bit boring. All the kids had a great time though. Then we went to Patrick's parents his mom had cooked enough food for an army. I am still miserable today after all the food I ate yesterday. It is always so good when so cooks so I always eat way to much.

Did everyone have a great holiday? I hope you all get plenty of rest and relaxation!

Roll Tide Roll!

1-0 that's the way you want to start the season. Can't complain! 498 total yards I think we're going to do just fine this season! More to come later...
Alabama 34- Virgina Tech 24

Help... I have nothing to wear!

As most of you know Saturday is the official start to Alabama football. My sister got me a ticket to the big game in Atlanta but I had to regretfully decline. It was a long thought process...I weighed the pros and cons over and over. You see one of my sweet husband's dear friends has scheduled his wedding on this scared day. and Since Patrick is in the wedding I just didn't feel right not going. So my sister had to sell my ticket. Now I am very concerned that I have nothing to wear. I don't have any crimson clothes that would be appropriate for a wedding. I can't go and not wear my teams colors. I have been shopping online but I'm afraid when I go to the stores I'm not going to be able to find anything.

I really like this one from Old Navy. I might try to go and find it tonight.

If anyone has any suggestions on where to find cute and cheap red dresses feel free to help me out!