Catching Up: XC, Soccer, Birthday and Auburn

When I renamed my blog "Simply Busy," I had a reason.... because so many times I'm so busy and don't have time to breathe.  Which is how the past few weeks have been for me.  Here's the recap.....

1.  We finished up cross country with a bang.  Elizabeth increased her pace a little bit each and every race... which means she got faster. 

Cross country is definitely not a spectator sport.   We usually just hung around the start and finish each race.  I was so happy to have a big lens to shoot some shots from across this lake!

2.  Soccer is just about over.  We have one more tournament next weekend.... and if we make the semi-finals then we need to go back the next weekend.

Elizabeth has some power in those legs, I tell ya!

3.  We celebrated Steve's birthday with the last xc meet and soccer game of the regular season.  Then we celebrated with his family.  Because we've been so busy, I didn't even bake him a cake this year.  Oh, and I didn't even get a picture of him on his big day.  Bummer.

4.  My dad called me and said he was looking for tickets to the Auburn vs. Ole Miss game for my sisters family and would I be interested in some, too.  Since the sports were over and we had a free weekend (the first in a couple of months), I accepted his offer.

So, yesterday, Elizabeth and I slept in and then headed down the The Plains (Auburn) for the afternoon and evening, leaving Steve at home to rest and relax.  We got down there around 2pm for the 6pm game.  We stopped by my friends' tailgate and met up with my sister and her boys.  Then, the four of us left my sister behind and headed to Tiger Walk.

What's Tiger Walk, you ask?  Our Tiger Walk started yeeeeears ago.  The players used to walk from their dorm to the stadium a couple of hours before the game and fans began lining the street to cheer the boys on and encourage them during their arrival to the stadium.  Now, other teams have adopted this tradition, but Auburn was one of the first to do it.

We got there early to get a good spot.....

Notice the barricade... it's sooo narrow, only enough room for the team to walk single-file.  I had forgotten the sun was going to be right in our way, so sorry in advance for some sun-streaked pictures.......

Now, you know when you see Aubie, the walk is starting......

And then the cheerleaders....

Please take note that our cheerleaders do not wear HUGE bows on top of their heads.  Just a nice simple navy ribbon.  Squads really should re-think the Minnie Mouse bow smack on top, it's a really bad look..... but I digress... back to the day.......

Then the coaches and the team......

Elizabeth's favorite player, Philip Lutzenkirchen.......

... if you didn't see the game, you missed him make the most incredible one handed catch and touchdown......




Pretty awesome, right?  Back to Tiger Walk.....

And then it ends with Coach Chizik.....

.... and yes, that would be Elizabeth's hand he's giving a high-five to on the near side.  I would know that thumb anywhere. 

We had some end zone seats....

... but it doesn't matter, the stadium is electric no matter where you sit.  We sat around some really fun people.  The group behind us was from Dallas, their daughter goes to Auburn and they kept saying how impressed they are with the school and how much they love everything about Auburn.... it's nice to hear that from someone who didn't grow up with the football "culture" in the state. 

We had a gorgeous orange and blue sunset.....

And Elizabeth and I snuggled together for the game......

Man, it got cold and the wind was whipping..... but we had a great time!

Those late games end with a very late night driving home, but it was all good.  We just missed Steve and maybe next time he will go with us.