Our friends from UA, Danny and Maryam, got married on Saturday. Their reception was really fun. Danny's a second lieutenant in the Air Force, so they played the Air Force fight song and his groom's cake had the Air Force emblem. Some high school kids from Briarwood dressed in white and lime green tuxedos and performed "Midnight Train to Bama" for the bride and groom since Danny has been stationed out of town for the past two years. It was great. Yes, that's the groom in a Bama jersey he put on at the reception. Ben was in the wedding, so he and J-Go came up from Jacksonville for the weekend. It was so good to see them both. Robert and I really miss them now that they've moved, but we're looking forward to seeing them again in about three weeks for the Bama/Florida State game.
On Friday night Robert and I went to the Clay-Chalkville/Hewitt Trussville high school football game at Hewitt. This was my brother David's last Paws vs. Claws Bowl as a senior and my brother Ryan's first as a freshman. The game was at Hewitt, and we met my parents over there and enjoyed some free burgers and hot dogs courtesy of the local Baptist church. Once we went in the stadium we sat with my Uncle Ray and Aunt Martha, not relatives but longtime friends of the family. It actually brought back some memories because two years ago when I brought Robert home for the first time just a few months after we started dating we came to this game and sat in almost the exact same seats with Uncle Ray and Aunt Martha. Leave it to then 12-year-old Ryan to say something funny and awkward that we'll never forget. He proclaimed to Robert halfway through the game, "If you marry my sister you can't take her to North Carolina." (Yes, he got the state wrong but his intentions were sweet!) That's one of our favorite memories. We were trying to get a funy pic of Dad as Robert pretended to push him off the stadium, but he didn't turn around with the surprise face we were hoping to get a shot of. David is big stuff on campus. He's one of the students leaders who get the other students fired up at the game. They paint up each week and spell out "Blue Thunder" on their chests. David leads the pep rallies before the game and sometimes does the push ups on a piece of plywood the boys hold up in the crowd every time Clay-Chalkville scores. I tried to sneak down and get a pic of him all painted up, but the crowd was so big all I could get was this shot. He caught sight of me and shot me a look like, "I can't believe you're em brassing me like this (but deep down I'm flattered that you want to take a picture of my muscles!) Not only is David big man on campus but apparently he's also quite the business entrepreneur. When David found out the school's t-shirt for this game wasn't that great, he and his friend decided to design and sell their own. They game up with a cool design, found a printer, and got a ton of signatures of kids at school who wanted to buy the shirts. He then asked mom and dad, who had no idea he was doing this, if he could put $1000 on their credit card to purchase the shirts. My parents asked for some proof he could actually sell that many and recoup the costs and he showed them a list of a ton of signatures of kids who had committed to buy the shirts. So they agreed and David got the shirts, sold them off school property, paid mom and dad back the next day, and he and his friend EACH pocketed $700 in profit! Can we say business degree? Ryan posed so I could get a picture of the shirts. I love this pic with Ryan. I can't believe how big my little brother is! He wasn't too cool to hug his big sister in front of all his friends. Thanks, Midgie!
We had a great Labor Day with my family and especially enjoyed seeing some cousins and their spouses and children on the Summerville side that we hadn't gotten together with in a while. My Aunt Cathy came over along with her son, Eric (his wife Amandelyn and their baby girl Harmony) and her daughter Christina (and her boys Solomon and baby Elijah. Her husband Jonathan was at a Cubs game in Chicago.)
We enjoyed a bbq boston butt that David had to sell for a baseball team fundraiser (and "sold" to his family!) and just enjoyed playing with the kids and catching up. Kyle and I were really close to Eric and Christina when we were younger, and we just have great memories of all playing together at my grandmother's as kids. It was so good to all get together again.
Solomon loved wrestling with Kyle on the floor. He was so funny!
Little Harmony is 8 months old. She's so cute and was trying to crawl all over the place to join the play action, but her pretty dress kept getting in the way.
Here's Solomon's new baby brother, Elijah with his mom. He was a really good baby and let me hold him for a while. He's only two months old.
Here's the family pic Robert set up so the camera would take it automatically.
Saturday we went to the Bama game with my mom and dad and had a blast at the season opener. Mom hadn't seen the new north end zone entrance and plaza, so we hung out there for a while with the statues of the national championship coaches. I was super excited that we got to see the players get off the bus and walk into the stadium two hours before the game. I've always wanted us to have that tradition like Tennessee or Auburn, so it's nice to now have an entrance where we can do it. Saban had the players dressed in suits all classy and such. I got really excited when he came out in a Gene Stallings like grey suit, but he didn't keep it on for the game. Still, watching the players get off the bus was really cool. Wallace Gilberry's (who I've decided is my favorite player this year) mom was in front of us. Here's the view of the plaza from the ramp. Mom and Dad had different tickets from Robert and I, but we were both in the upper deck. Robert and I were laughing at them because they thought they would beat the line and go in the gate without a line - only to discover it was the gate to the stairs (not the ramp) and that's why there was no one waiting to go in that way! They sure got their exercise! There were some empty seats around us, so after half mom and dad came and sat next to us and Mike Williams and his family, the super nice man who gave us the tickets. A very blurry pic of Saban on the sidelines. Dad got a great one of him getting off the bus before the game that I'll have to get from him and post to the blog. Not as impressive as it looks considering Western Carolina is the lowest ranked team in the Southern conference and lost eight starters, but still it was nice to see us win big and play three deep. Lots of smiles after seven touchdowns and a field goal.
This was just the coolest smoker grill ever so I had to take a pic. The smokestack is Denny Chimes! The quad was packed, and they've set up a big screen in the southwest corner for people to watch the game on.
Just to get you fired up, here's the tradition video they play on the jumbotron before the games:
Friday night Robert and I had a big ole time at my second cousin Victoria's 2-year-old birthday party. Her mom and dad, Kristi and Clay, had invited a lot of family and friends, and it was fun to watch the kids enjoy a bubble machine, kiddie pool, swing set and horse rides.
Victoria noticed all her friends in the kiddie pool and started to take off her clothes to hop in, so Kristi had to go put her swimsuit on really quick before she got in naked! My other second cousin Hannah was there too, along with her siblings, Maddie and Joseph.
It was a great luau party until rain started pouring from the sky halfway through opening presents. So the party moved inside where Kristi entertained the kids with this really funny game Clay had to play too. We were "going to the beach," and the kids had to yell out all the things we'd need for the trip and Kristi pulled them out of a big bag and put them ALL on Clay - who was a great sport. Some great pics of Clay all dressed up are in the album below.
You'll also see some of Robert and my brother Kyle with Victoria - who went crazy over her birthday candy, particularly dum dum suckers, and would open one, lick it for two seconds, then pop it in Robert's or Kyle's mouth so she could open another!
We spent this past weekend in Memphis doing our best to make sure Alex got married. Luckily, he made it all the way to the alter with minimal persuasion! J/K!
Here's Alex with his roomie groomsmen, Parker and Rob, before the rehearsal dinner.
Alex's incredible groomsmen gift - a fancy camping pillow - made a great soccer ball for Robert and Parker after the rehearsal dinner.
We had so much fun seeing our Alabama friends at the wedding. I had no idea they were all going to be there and it was such a great surprise to get to catch up with Erin and Hallie and break it down on the dance floor with Anne and Rob.
None of the guys look happy in this picture - I think because it took me four tries to take it.
Robert's mom and dad drove all the way to Memphis for the wedding. It was great to see them. We had a lot of fun touring downtown Memphis. I'll have to post the pics we took on Dr. Adams' camera so you can see all we did Saturday afternoon.
