Sunday we were able to visit a local branch for church. It was fun to listen to the speakers work football into their talks. And even more entertaining to listen to the EIGHT AND A HALF minute prayer that included the gratefulness of the "presence of out byu brethren" and many blessings for their strength, health, and success. You can read more about that here.
When we returned from the meeting we quickly got ready for the Saints vs. Panthers game. Very exciting for all who went on so many levels. Our first opportunity to see the "SUPER DOME", a chance for Jay to sit with 3 kids through an entire football game, seating ON THE SIDELINE!, getting to see MANY Utah alums playing for each team.
The saints mascot was caught taking so many pics with all of us Utes, he missed his appearance on the field as the game was starting..OOps!
Brian and Ashtyn. I can't say enough about this guy! He is the real deal, good guy. He never misses a chance to say hi or play around with any of my three monkeys. It will be fun to watch he career continue!
This is the view from our seats of the game. The next picture is the view from our seats of Alabama's seats at the VERY, VERY top. :) Yep, I am not completely sure why? I think one of the newest members of the coaching staff was a coach for the saints? But for whatever reason, we enjoyed every minute. (Even the very cold air conditioning)
One of the Panthers and Utah Alums is Stevonne Smith. Who has openly admitted on multiple occasions Jay was the only corner who could stop him. Practices were always a battle for the two of them. I love this picture of Alayna trying to get a shot of him.
Monday Dec 29th, We tried to go to the Zoo and ended up taking a long street car ride around New Orleans. Once we made it back to the hotel, we got in the car and found the zoo ourselves but since it was too late, and the zoo was about to close we found a yummy ice cream shop and headed back to the hotel.
Tuesday Dec 30th We made it to the zoo. The girls each took over 80 pictures of the animals which they plan to scrapbook.....?sometime?
Ashtyn, Alayna, Jacob and Carly were treated to 2 days of outings by the bowl that included the insectarium, aquarium, IMAX, black light mini golf, laser tag and parks. I will let Ashtyn post more on their activities. The Sugar Bowl did an amazing job taking care of the families.
December 31st was full of activities. Allstate had a tailgate party/fan fest for Utah with games photos countdowns....Here is Ashtyn kicking a field goal. Jay had just coached her up and with Louie watching she got the ball in the air, just a little shy of the uprights.
They had a replica trophy on display for photos, We started thinking and here is Jay from Utah and two women? and herd of kids Hmmm?
The allstate commercial photo set. It took me a minute to get? Then I remembered the commercials.
After the fanfest we took a River Boat Dinner tour. The kids loved the big wheel that turned and made the boat go. I was pleasantly surprised by how smooth of a ride it was. After all this fun we still had a few hours before the big ball dropped and the kids were so tired. Carly stayed with them in the hotel room and watched Beverly Hills Chiuaua ending just in time for them to see the fireworks over the river from the room. As for Jay and I .....
We had to kill some time before his family was going to arrive so we went to check out Harrah's. I forgot to take my I.D. which they were meticulously checking at the front door, but after a wink and a smile and telling them my b-date 3 times they let me in. Jay and I in back where we ran into one the saints players that played at Utah. After a few attempts at getting Jay to get on stage and dance we headed back to the French quarter for a New Years Eve trip down bourbon street.
Jay's family finally arrived just as we were heading out. It was crazy....(I will leave it at that)
BUT look who we ran into...Remember him from here? Utah's own Mr. Incredible!
Our First Wives outing was to Chef Paul Prudhommes Restaurant. When they said they were going to feed us the really meant it. We had an amazing dinner the night before at a place called Bon Tons (I thought it was the best of all of them). But this lunch included a book, seasoning, and tote with Chef Paul there to autograph. Of course I had to text Amy to see who he was, but exciting none the less!
The following day the "outing" for the wives was a 2nd line parade. Meaning a band and people dancing to their music. We were taken to Pat O'Brians a piano bar in the french quarter where these two ladies were playing and singing in a piano duel. The atmosphere was unreal. I have said before in my next life I will have a fantastic voice and will sing in a piano bar like this one. Sparkly dress and all! One of the Bowl Members is a pianist as well and played an amazing version of somewhere over the rainbow.
Some of the wives in our masks, boas and parade garb. The bowl told us that Alabama had been here before and knew what they were doing, so we should know to dress up with boas and such. When we showed up they were so excited and said we definitely beat Alabama in the representation AND as far as that goes we were the BEST EVER! Way to go Utah Pride!
This is the parade as we turned onto Bourbon Street. They gave us buckets and buckets of beads to throw. It was so fun.
At the Ute Fan pep rally in the Hotel the night before the game, Jacob said his first word! "Football!" He was so excited to see all the fans, band, cheerleaders, players, balloons etc and said football over and over and over. (Football was his first word, but he did bark and any and every animal. If you ask him where the dog is, he would bark, So his first sound was barking, but to Jays pleasure, Jacobs first word is FOOTBALL).
Pep Rally Pooped! At this point we were all ready for a good nights rest in preparation for the game so Carly and I put the kids to bed and watched House Bunny. Just what I needed after a crazy week of the big easy. Dumb mindless comedic relief. Of course before we could turn in we hit the Blues Traveler Concert. It was late, I was tired and they didn't play any of my favorite songs, but I was amazed at their talent. Blues Traveler is amazingly talented and I enjoyed making our way to the front of the crowd for a picture.
1 comment:
I'm jealous of all the good food you had. No fair.
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