Go Cougars!

As a huge fan of college football and BYU, Jared has really missed being able to go to BYU football games these last 10+ years.  He was thrilled that BYU was playing in Notre Dame this past fall.  South Bend was only about 45 mins from our house.  Jared's parents flew out to go with us to the game.  A few days after we bought tickets we found out that was Tournament weekend for the girls so we called my parents and asked them to come take the girls to the game.  Jared's parents and I got to watch about 1\2 hour of the games before we had to head over to South Bend.  The Notre Dame campus is really quite pretty.  I was also impressed by how friendly everyone was.  The only "away" BYU games I have gone to have been at UNLV and Utah.  The Utah fans are NOT nice to BYU fans walking around.  Everyone at Notre Dame was genuinely pleasant and nice.  They would stop and offer directions or thank us for coming.  I was pleasantly surprised.  We found the BYU tailgating area, although we had opted out of the expensive pre-game meal.  I did want to buy some BYU merchandise.  It had been over 12 years since I graduated so my apparrel was looking dingy and needed updated.  Jared got a new hat at football. I got a sweatshirt, t-shirt, and hat. We also bought a new shirt for Jacob.  After making our purchases we stopped at one of the several food stands set up around campus for some tailgating food. 

On our way to the stadium we found the famous "Touchdown Jesus".  We also ran into several peole from our ward in Valpo throughout the day

Jared was enjoying the zoom capabilitie of our new camera and using it like binoculars.

He loved feeling like he was in hte huddle

Too bad this wasn't the scoreboard at the end.  We didn't win but we did have a fun and enjoyable time.  We got our tickets through Notre Dame so we were on the opposite end from the BYU group.  There were other Cougar fans scattered in our section though.  And, the Fighting Irish fans were not obnoxious to the opposing fans at all. (Again, a HUGE difference from when I sat in the non-BYU section for a Utah game).   I did have a hard time not dancing to the Irish jig music piping through the speakers.  Jared gave me a hard time, but I can't help my love for Celtic music!  The only downfall to the whole experience was that this was the start of my 6 week illness.  Its hard to go from the person that usually has the most energy to the person that was to stop and rest every few minutes.  I also had to take a million layers to keep from being cold.  I had been too determined to stay home and give my ticket up.  I love BY football too.  By the end of the game, I was EXHAUSTED and felt terrible.  It was worth it but the experience could've been better if I had felt normal.

A fellow Cougar fan stopped to take a group picture for us after the game.  We enjoyed having Jared's parents come with us.

This picture makes Jacob so mad.  He burst into tears when he found out we had seen Cosmo and been close enough for a picture with him.  I finally found out today (months afterwards) that Jacob thought he had choosen to stay home and regretted not going since he didn't get to see Cosmo.  I don't know how he got that idea, but I don't think his Dad ever really considered taking him since the tickets were NOT cheap!

There was a fireside with the BYU players the Thursday night before the game.  It was held at the branch building about 20 mins from our house.  The branch youth actually come to our mutual activities.  Not sure why the chose the small building but it was convenient that it was so close to our house.  Jared and his parents went.  I opted to stay home for this, hoping to rest and be better before the game.  I would have liked to have gone but I knew it was going to most likely be standing room only.  I knew I would not have enjoyed that feeling like I did.  Jared said there were people smashed in standing in the foyers, the halls, etc.  BYU is playing in Notre Dame again and in Wisconsin this coming fall so Jared was bummed we moved.  But he does hope to get tickets to the Virginia game