30 Days of Thanks: Day 12

Day 12: I am thankful for UT Football. I'm probably more appreciative since marrying a huge fan, but nevertheless, it has provided countless hours of enjoyment with friends and family. There is nothing like spending some quality time tailgating with those you love and then cheering on the Vols with 100,000 other fans. Truly, it is one of the reasons that Alan and I decided to move back to Knoxville, you think I'm kidding when I say that, but I am not. We are blessed to spend our fall weekends  enjoying life in Neyland Stadium. Go Vols!

Football Time

Alan and I had a great time at the first football game this year! We started the season with a win (which we should have) and it was great to be in Neyland Stadium again. I'm looking forward to a new season, a new coach, and hopefully lots of fun with family and friends. Go Vols!

Spring Break...Catch Up!

After an embarrassingly long blog hiatus I am back and promise to try to be better about keeping up with this. I really don't know what hit me, I guess just the busyness of life, but that is a lame excuse I know. Before I catch you up on what we have most recently been up to, I thought I would do my best to summarize what happened this spring:

My 29th Birthday

I celebrated my last birthday in my twenties with Alan at one of our favorite restaurants, Foothills Milling Company. If you haven't been there before, I would highly recommend it! My family celebrated my birthday and my dad's together since they're only 5 days apart. I must say that some pretty wonderful things have happened in my twenties but I'm really not that apprehensive about my thirties... I say that now while that still seems a long way off!

UT Young Alumni Orange and White Game Event

Alan and I attended this year's Orange and White game with the UT Young Alumni. We had so much fun visiting the locker room before the game and then hearing some of the football players speak about the upcoming season. We then got to watch the game from the skybox which was a fun experience.

Proud Wife Comment: Alan was actually selected this spring to be part of the UT Young Alumni Council which is a two year commitment where he will work with others to execute and promote the University of Tennessee through young alumni events!

Junior League Rose Gala

At the end of each Junior League year we have our annual gala on the eve of the Kentucky Derby and the theme is "Big Hats, Bigger Hearts". Alan and I dressed in our derby attire and made a night of it! It's really fun coming together with women I've worked alongside all year and just have a night of fun and festivities. I also may or may not really enjoy getting to dress up!

Memorial Day

This year my mom's sister Claire and her husband Peter came in town from Connecticut. It was so great spending this holiday with them and the rest of our families.

Learn Something New Everyday Moment: I have always wanted to know how to steam live lobsters and then shell them so for the holiday, we got our lobsters and then Claire taught everyone the entire process start to finish. It wasn't as hard as I thought and did I mention delicious?!

Brittany & Paul's Wedding
In June, Alan's family congregated at a lodge on the Nantahala River for his cousin Brittany's wedding. Brittany and Paul met in college at Furman and truly make each other so happy. Despite ALL the rain we've gotten this spring, it was a beautiful day with much celebration!

4th of July

We started our holiday with lunch at Frussie's Deli in south Knoxville which was a real treat! Definitely one of the best sandwiches in Knoxville. Alan's parents had a neighborhood party which we went to that afternoon with some friends of ours which was so much fun! Also, two of my mom's brother's and their families came in town from Florida, North Carolina, Alabama, and Colorado. It was so much fun spending time with everyone which is something that unfortunately doesn't happen as often as we'd like with so many people trying to coordinate schedules. We had a great time hanging out together, eating wonderful food, and shooting off tons of fireworks! 

Cardinals vs. Braves Game

While we didn't make it to St. Louis this year, we did just recently go to a Cardinals game when they played the Braves in Atlanta. We've enjoyed this little post-season rivalry between these two teams and getting to see the Cardinals play is always a good time. Hopefully, we'll make it to St. Louis next year!

Stay tuned for our anniversary trip to Kiawah! 

Family & Football

This past weekend Alan and I, along with Rachel and Colin, took a quick road-trip to Nashville to visit Elizabeth and Patrick. We may or may not have gone to the UT/Vandy game (I hate to admit to watching such a painful loss). The weekend began with a delicious dinner Friday night that E+P made at their home. Everything was fantastic and it was nice just spending some time catching up and and discussing the upcoming holiday season. Saturday morning we woke up bright and early to go to the...

Molly drove from Clarksville with her kiddos to join in the fun! We had a great time laughing over biscuits, coffee, and more biscuits!

 Being silly after breakfast :)

 Love these sisters of mine!

 So blessed by family!

So yes... we did in fact go to the game with E+P and we stayed until the very end. It was definitely a sad loss but there will always be next season (and the season after that, and after that, and after that...) God bless Tennessee football!

UT vs. Mizzou

This past Saturday we had a great time tailgating bright and early before the UT vs. Mizzou football game. Our sweet friends, Jessica & Brian, who we aren't able to see nearly enough came to our tailgate! It was wonderful catching up on life with them. Brian also brought a few treats to the tailgate which were ahh-mazing! Thanks B!

 last tailgate of the season = bittersweet 

(we have a wedding to go to the weekend of the KY game)

 sisters!

In honor of the Veterans, the Pride aligned to make an eagle with an American flag in the middle while they played "America the Beautiful". If that doesn't give you chill bumps I don't know what will!

 Moore family!

UT/BAMA

We had the annual Tri Delta tailgate this weekend with my sorority sisters and we had a blast!

It was so great spending time together and catching up on life

E+P came in town for the game and came to visit us

 3 oldest Rockwell siblings :)

 Beautiful Gameday

 Love the T

 Despite a very frustrating loss, we had a fantastic day! Go Vols!

Gameday & Gators

Last Saturday the Vols played the Gators and Gameday came to Knoxville. There was so much buzz and excitement on campus! We had a great time tailgating on FIJI Island with friends! Go Vols!

Katherine and Joe came with Caroline who is just learning how to walk. Katherine brought some delicious tailgate treats!

Katie was there...

...and Brittany and Rachel came too!

Maggie and Christa dropped by...

...along with Jenny and Peter!

We had great weather this week for the game! Loving the Power T today!

Sadly, the Vols did not pull off a win today but that did not dampen all the fun we had pre-game! Even when we lose, I am still glad to be a Tennessee Vol!

1st Gameday Weekend

Alan and I had a great weekend! Friday night we went to see the Bourne Legacy. We own all the others and wanted to see this new one! It was pretty good! We missed seeing Matt Damon but Jeremy Renner did not disappoint!

Saturday was GAMEDAY! We were so excited about UT's home opener! We had big plans to tailgate but due to the yucky rain, not as many people came out as we had originally planned for. We did see Kristen and Jesse who were definitely troopers to come and hang out. The Vols had a big win against GA State and we're hoping that's just a preview of what's to come this season. Go Vols!

Bijou, Basketball, and Birthday

Alan and I began our weekend Friday night at our favorite restaurant downtown: Downtown Grill & Brewery. We love this place! Everything from the atmosphere, the food, and the locally made beer- it's a fabulous place to unwind after a long day or go out for a good time!

After dinner, we walked down the street to the Bijou Theatre to see Donna the Buffalo.

Donna the Buffalo follows no playlist and has an eclectic variety of songs with roots in old time fiddle music, we loved it!

Alan and I got box seats which was a fun place to enjoy the show :)

We had just as much fun watching the crowd as we did listening to the band

Saturday was the UT vs UCONN basketball game and Alan went with my dad. My parents are from Connecticut and both went to UCONN so of course my dad shows up sporting his UCONN apparel. Alan didn't mind it though, and then of course was happy the Vols managed to pull off the W!

Sunday afternoon, Alan and I went to Wyatt's 1st Birthday Party! Wyatt's parents, Danielle and Clayton, are in our Wednesday night Bible Study and we have loved getting to know their sweet family since moving back to Knoxville. Danielle made delicious cupcakes!

At first Wyatt wasn't sure what to think of the cupcakes and everyone singing to him...

...then he decided he liked it!

Our friends, Amy and Jared, came with their precious 10 day old beautiful baby girl, Elliot "Ellie" Faith. We loved seeing her for the first time and getting to catch up with them!

We're now watching the playoffs and getting ready for Monday. All said... fantastic weekend!

Love & Basketball

Well, not quite. So last Thursday- Alan and I went to the first UT exhibition basketball game. We were given tickets at the last minute so Alan and I (yes- shamefully admit) skipped out on Small Group to see the Vols begin their season with new head coach, Cuonzo Martin. They did not look too impressive, but did manage to pull off a win!

On Saturday, Alan and I went to the UT vs MTSU Homecoming game. And that's where the "love" part comes in... I guess! I will now admit that as a college sorority girl back in the day, I (along with many other ladies) dreamed about meeting some super cute and oh so fun guy during the week of Homecoming. How many hours were spent at the fraternity house painting, pomping, and trying to race against the clock to have everything ready on time! Alan and I actually did Homecoming together our senior year and I do remember a few conversations we had that left my head spinning :) I guess the rest is history...

So based on all that, I couldn't help but take a picture of all the sorority ladies and fraternity men accepting their hard-earned awards from ACE after a long, and I'm sure quite fun, Homecoming week!

The alumni band members even made it back for Homecoming and participated in the ever-so-popular Circle Drill. Gotta love the band... and Homecoming!!!