Risin' & Shoutin' in the Big Easy

Wow, I can't even tell you how many times I've sat down to do this post and not finished. But now's the time, really. Even if it's 5 weeks after the event...oh boy.

But first off, thanks to all for your well wishes and prayers for Sam. He is recovered and doing well. It took about one good solid week and I truthfully don't think the flu would have been all that much worse than any other sickness, but combine the flu with a second virus (Coxsackie) and it was truly terrible for a few days. The pain in his mouth and throat was too much for him (and me) to bear sometimes and it was just sad. But the sores are pretty much healed and the swelling has gone down and he's got a spring in his step again. But thanks to you all for thinking of us!

And now on to the post (finally)...on September 12, we were lucky enough to have BYU come play in our town. So we had seen them play the weekend before in Dallas and got to watch them just 7 days later. Kind of cool since we hadn't been to a single game since we moved from Provo 6 years ago. We felt like we were their biggest fans. It was great! Festivities started off on Friday night with a fireside put on by the team which was really neat to attend. I had heard about them being done each time they have a game, so it was fun to finally get to go to one and see all these guys bear their testimonies, sing songs, wear white shirts and ties, and get the opportunity to shake their hands. They really are a pretty impressive group of guys!

Then, Saturday morning was a tailgate party in the parking lot at the chapel on St. Charles. I was pretty impressed with the work and planning that went into it. It was truly a shame we weren't able to do something about the pesky rain!
But when we got there, the rain was staying away for the time being and Tyler quickly found his little buddy Alex and was excited that they had the same shirt. Tyler looooves little Alex (as does Sam--but Sam is just much more bashful than Tyler!). Alex is adored at our house!

And then Cosmo came. And so did the rain.

But that didn't stop him from signing autographs and hanging out with everyone. Tyler was thrilled to see him (as you can see from the picture at the top). And Sam was terrified and calls him "Nomo" and says he's scared of Nomo. Can't say I was all that surprised.
So the rain kept pouring and pouring and pouring. Attempts were made to hide out under the tent and actually eat our food, but that wasn't all that successful because two boys thought playing in the rain was much more exciting.

And then they had a "jumping contest" with one of the missionaries that entertained them forEVER.

And Tyler was catching some sweet air, and Sam was trying his best.

And finally Sam had his moment and caught some "sweet air" as well. This will forever be one of my favorite pictures. Look at that form!

And then the boys did their best (successfully, I might add) to get as drenched as possible before heading over to the game.

But clearly, there were no complaints from these two...

And then we got to the game at the Dome, and got to cheer on our Cougars. We had seats right on the 50 yard line, 14 rows up from the field. Wow. I've never sat that close and probably never will again. We were on the Tulane side, but other than that, the seats couldn't be beat. Especially since Tulane has like 3 fans or something. It was amazing how empty the Superdome was. There were definitely more BYU fans than Tulane fans.

Sam was totally fascinated by the whole thing. He sat like this and didn't move for the entire first quarter. He is obsessed with football and it was like all that he'd seen on TV right before his very eyes!




And we all know the outcome, but here's the photographic evidence--we creamed 'em. It wasn't even close. It definitely didn't compare to the energy and the atmosphere of the OU game the weekend before, but we didn't mind...we'll take any opportunity to watch our Cougars play and love it! (and of course this was especially exciting because there was so much hype for their season after their opening win, and on this day they hadn't suffered their crushing loss to FSU, but we're not going to talk about that...) Go Cougars!