Since We Said I Do...

Saturday, October 3rd, I woke up at 5 in the morning. 5 IN THE MORNING! Why oh why would I ever do such a thing? For the love of my football team, the Auburn Tigers.

We woke up at 5 to prepare to leave by 6 or 630 which turned into 7 really. The reason for that being that you just HAVE to get a chicken biscuit to start the road trip. We were making the long drive to Knoxville, TN to see the Tigers and Vols duke it out. Chad's best friend lives in Knoxvegas so we had somewhere to stay, which is always nice. We were going to go Friday but I had to work so there was no point in getting there at one in the morning, so we just woke up early Saturday. I hate waking up early, and I hate packing, and I had to do both of these things at the same time. UGH.

We headed out and walked out side and it was COLD! Can you believe it? Alabama? Cold? I know it. It was wonderful. The drive seemed long but it wasn't too bad...of course I was out cold for about an hour of it. We got there about 11:30 and that's when we saw it....drum roll.....Steak and Shake. Now, if you don't know, this is about Chad's favorite burger place, ever. He loves it. So we picked up lunch and headed to Jeremy's (Chad's bff) afterwards. We hung out for a little bit but then headed down to UT to start mingling and tailgating! We parked in some random parking lot and paid some guy who sounded like an elf and went down to a parking lot absolutely covered inch to inch with tailgaters and tents and games and food, etc. We met Jeremy's friends, and then the rest of the afternoon was just chilling. It was PERFECT weather and just a whole lot of fun. I met a girl who I instantly connected with and we basically hung out the whole time so I had a TN buddy so I wasn't just a random Auburn person meandering aimlessly.

Game time came and we headed to Neyland Stadium. This is in the top 5 biggest stadiums in the US - 102,037 seats. Now yes, it was incredibly HUGE but we found out how they fit so many seats in there very quickly as we headed to our own. We got to our section, and proceeded to head almost literally STRAIGHT UP as we climbed the stairs. Then, getting to our seats, saw that the numbered seating gives everyone about 5 inches per person (ok, it may be a little more than that but that is what it felt like). As you are sitting in your personal 5 inch space, you CONSTANTLY are getting up and down to let others go to their seats because there was only one entrance on our section. Our seats were 3 from the very end, so anyone from seats 26-1 got to walk by us. As you stand up to let someone else by, you realize there really is no room at all to let that person by, therefore causing you to curve your knees over the bench seat like a v as the rest of your body counts on your knees not to give out as you teeter back and forth.. Then there was the whole fact that if you leaned even an inch forward you felt like you were going to plummet to your death on the field down below because of how steep it was. To make it more interesting, a guy who had just torn his ACL sat right behind us, crutches, brace, and all. Our backs still have bruises...

It seemed like ALL of the students who actually chanted and cheered were about 3 sections down from us. We had the geriatric Auburn section. At first we were a little bummed but we have many interesting stories because of it. For example, I sat next to a guy who HAS to be an older twin of a guy I know (don't question the fact that you can't be twins and be older, just take that at what it is) It was almost like I knew him already. They left at half time and then I was sitting by a lady about 80 years old. She was a lively ol gal - she got so into the game that on every play she would flail her arms over to me or hold my leg as if she was waiting to see a crash. It was hilarious - we were cheering and yelling the whole time. Way to go geriatric section.

We ended up winning the game 26-22 and the last 6 points on TN's end were scored at the last 2 seconds of the game, and that’s not an exaggeration. We should have blown them out of the water, but at least we won. We are now undefeated, ranked 17th, which is both good and bad. Good that we are doing so well, bad that we might now be seen as a threat, but ya know, what happens happens. We are awesome though. WAR EAGLE baby!

After the game we walked proudly among all the depressed vols fans and went back to Jeremy's apartment. We talked and watched an episode of something called Top Gear which was quite hilarious - take into consideration though that it was about 2 in the morning at this point, so I'll need to see another episode to correctly judge how funny this show actually was.

We went to sleep around 3 (I actually lasted the whole day - that my friends, is a miracle) and then woke up the next morning around 10? Someone was blasting a sermon from their truck outside...not sure if that is just an "easy" way to do church for some people or if the guy who owned the truck was doing it for all the people most likely passed out drunk from the night before. Either way, interesting way to wake up haha. We laid there for a little while longer (on our new air mattress) and then finally got up, packed up, and headed out. On the way out I mentioned maybe we should get breakfast at a place Jeremy had been meaning to go. (Yes, I suggested breakfast...I have changed so much over the years). We found it and pulled up - it was ADORABLE! It was a house that they had turned into a restaurant. We walked inside, I think I said "aww look at that!" seven times as we were seated. We looked at the menu (quite large and many choices) and I found what I wanted pretty quick...and then about 4 other things that sounded good to go with it. That’s how it normally goes. Both of us ended up getting chocolate chip pancakes and hash browns, and then I got a side of bacon to go with it (Yes mom, I did get bacon. Can you believe it?). We both got coffee too. The meal was SPECTACULAR. We both said best chocolate chip pancakes we've ever had. We will be going again next Knoxville trip, for sure.

Thats us sad to leave Knoxville. Well, I'm sad. Chad just looks tired/indifferent.

Best place to go!!!

After that we drove the long trip back home and got home about an hour before we went to out small group Sunday. Group was great as usual, we really like everyone there. Everyone gets along great and it’s always a weekly pick-me-up.

This week so far has been looooooooong. Its only Wednesday, and I feel like it should be Friday. I hate when that happens. Just drags everything out. I also got sneezed on in the face by a 2 year old that is sick when I was helping him take his shoes off. Now that’s exciting. If my next post is about me being sick, we know who to blame :)