Jacksonville - Home of the Whitworths and an Offensive Bama Offense

Yes, we did return from Jacksonville after the Bama game, but I'm late on posting pics because silly me left the camera at J-Go and Ben's. Luckily, Ben's sweet brothers brought it up to Bham for us. Thanks Patrick and Michael!

Robert and I had a really great time visiting J-Go and Ben and seeing their cute townhome and fun city. It was so good to have several days with our close friends. The Whitworths were terrific hosts to all 20 or so of us Bama people who had the strange distinction of knowing no one but Jessica and Ben in all of Jacksonville. Thanks so much for the hospitality!


Friday night at some British pub catching up and watching South Florida win.

This is the back of their super cute, three-story townhome in downtown J-ville. (Notice that since Ben thought my car was so cool he bought an identical one!)

Here's J-Go standing at the front as we were getting ready to walk to the stadium.

Somehow, we're always waiting on the boys.. .:)

Robert's getting fired up.

Aww.. so cute.

I'm so glad we didn't accidentally go to the "unofficial" game. Sorry, I had to be a little sarcastic about this sign! Still, it was nice to be welcomed to the city.

The baseball stadium was on the way to the football stadium.

Here's the Tuscaloosa posse.

Home of the Jacksonville Jaguars

Stadiums right off the river always have a neat atmosphere.

We were pretty high but still had a great view of the not-so-great game.

Yes, this is one of our "Robert and Tiffany" wedding reception shakers. Little blurry, I know. It's the first time I had used one all year!

I told Robert this was our Holy Spirit photo since that's got to be what that nice glow is in the background nestled right above our heads! :)




I'm not sure why we have so many stadium pics. I think Robert took these while I went to buy a drink. Being a pro stadium, the food and beverage choices were far better than what our collegiate appetite was accustomed to. With turkey legs and boiled peanuts it was more like county fair food than football food. It definitely came with pro prices though, so we opted to pass ont he $8 beer.

With Ashley after the game. We definitely look a little shell-shocked.

And...the best picture of the weekend! This is what happens when you leave your camera at your friends' house.

The Dawgs Came to Play

Thanks to the generosity of a family friend, we got four free tixs to the Bama/Georgia game this past Saturday, and Rob's parents came to town to go with us. Though Bama played pretty horribly, we had a blast in Tuscaloosa - especially with the ESPN Gameday atmosphere. The quad was packed with people and there were no tickets to be found, though my brother David (who sweetly saved us a great parking place) came up with a creative yet lazy way to let the scalpers know he wanted to buy three.










After navigating to the Quad through the sea of Bama fans parked all over campus, we hit up the tailgate parties of several friends. I was so excited to see Amy, who came down from Charlotte with her boyfriend, Matt, for the game.


It was great to see Ash and Jen too. I miss these girls!




Yes, the advertising has stooped to new levels with advent of Coach Saben. As if "Saben Nation" "Two-thousand Saban" and "Spring Break 'O Saben" weren't enough, here's the official "Saban Slawdog." It thought this was too funny but, being the true Bama fan I am, was completely prepared to purchase one. You gotta love the excitement!



If you can't tell, I'm the only "non Prickett" in this group. I can't get over how much Leigh and her sisters, Laura Ann and Lyndsey, look so much alike. Laura Ann, the youngest, is definitely the tallest.


It was so good to see Morgan, who just returned from a year-long stint with Campus Crusade for Christ in Italy. It's so good to have you back, Mo!


Julia, I'm holding up a little finger above Leigh's shoulder to represent you. We just couldn't take this picture without you in it. I can't wait for you to come to the Ham in October!


We grabbed dinner in Crimson Cafe just before kickoff, and I snapped this pic of Robert and his mom.


Here's Rob and his dad in front of the Gameday stage. This is the first time Gameday has come to Tuscaloosa since we built the new promenade/crimson walk/plaza thingie (that I should really know the official name of) in the new north end zone area. So ESPN opted to set up here instead of on the Quad. The funny thing is they had to completely dismantle the stage and move it to the grassy area on the right two hours before kickoff so the players could do their traditional walk into the stadium. Then they set it back up for post-game coverage, which sadly turned into a Georgia fan fest.



A quick pic before kickoff...


...and here's your Alabama Crimson Tide!!!


The weekend wasn't completely devoted to football. My sweet mother-in-law made new drapes for our bedroom, living room, and bathroom. It was definitely a labor of love. They look so great. It's amazing how much the little touches can make a room. The white shear panels are the bedroom drapes.




We opted for roman shades in the dining room and bathroom. I love them!


Quick family pics before hitting the road back to Florence.




Mrs. Adams had the bathroom curtain monogrammed with our initials, which I love. She wisely opted for "T-A-R" instead of "R-A-T"!

Danny and Maryam's Wedding

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.

Friday Night Lights

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!