For the Love of Football {and a cute date}

This past weekend we journeyed to the Holyland, our affectionate term for Aggieland, home of Texas A&M. I know, it’s a sickness. While I’ve been to College Station several times since Gianna was born, this was the first football game I attended since her birth. And boy, was it sweet.

The Simmons family was gracious enough to host our crew for the weekend. Not many people are willing to double their house size overnight, but they really went above and beyond. We love staying with them and our kids do, too.

Every fall, the Association of Former Yell Leaders hosts its annual reunion. Let me tell you, it’s always a trip to be in room where “everybody has a story.” Imagine a room full of 75 extroverts and I know you feel me.

Because it was Bama weekend, there was so much excitement surrounding all the game festivities. Friday night, we braved all those college students and, against better judgment, stayed up WAY past our bedtime and went to Midnight Yell Practice. Yes, it’s really at midnight. And yes, there were really 40,000+ people in attendance. Loads. Of. Fun.

Photos compliments of the TAMU Facebook Page

Back in the day, my “seats” at Midnight Yell were on the track with Scott, as he led yells (A&M doesn’t have cheerleaders, that’s way too mainstream for us!). As an alumni, we get VIP seats at yell practice and our kids get to tag along. We joke that it’s the only yell leader perk you get once you graduate, because it sure doesn’t mean we get free football tickets!

Thankfully, we had the 2:30pm game slot which meant we didn’t have to be out of bed with the chickens, even though the kids failed to get that memo. After a bit of kid wrangling and babysitter fenangling, we got ourselves to the stadium, tailgates and all the rest with only two kids in tow. Glorious!

One of the coolest parts of the weekend? THIS.

Every 5-7 years, all the former yell leaders lead the “big 3” yells (Gig ’em, Aggies and Farmers Fight) on the football field. They line them up, oldest to youngest. It’s just so cool to see how things have grown and changed in leading yells, right before your eyes. Nothing like it. For many of those guys, I’ve known them longer than their wives! I adore them all. It was most certainly a proud wife moment. And also? That new stadium is deafening. We had people screaming at us from just a few rows up and never heard them. It wasn’t until we got the texts later that we realized just how much we didn’t hear. HA!

Even though our QB threw the touchdown pass to the wrong team, three times, a Dos Equis, some good conversation and a few great tailgates made it a little better. I will say that special teams killed it. Coach Banks, if you happen to read this, don’t leave College Station. Ever. You’re doing it right.

It was an added bonus to hug the necks of some of our sweet friends from Indy. Michael, the son of Clare’s Godmother, is considering A&M. We pretty much had him moved in and applying for his Aggie ring. From the looks of things, I think he had a great time.

We ended our weekend at St. Mary’s with Mass. I love this photo. Fr. David fits right in with the kids. Hey, vocation recruiting starts young, I guess. It was a thumbs up kinda weekend. Bravo, Aggieland. You treated Team Whitaker right.