Roll Tide!

Bamers LOVE college football.  In Alabama there are two major football teams that you must choose between and swear all loyalty to: the University of Alabama who has an elephant as a mascot but uses the term "roll tide" for a cheer... I don't really understand why but you can read about it HERE .  Then there is Auburn University with a tiger as a mascot but "war eagle" is their saying...also something I don't understand so you can read about it HERE.  One can be eating at a restaurant or sitting in class and one person will say "roll tide!" and all the other University of Alabama fans will join in a chorus, "roll tide!" while all the Auburn fans snicker and vice versa.  True Story. This is one aspect of the south no one warned me about.  Matt and I don't watch football and because of that we have been put in some awkward situations.  

We were invited to watch the national championship college football game at a friend's house and we debated about going for a few hours.  So dramatic, I know, but I can seriously count on one hand how many times I have actually watched a football game and of those times I don't think I ever watched from start to finish.  But we decided to go!  We even dressed Yvonne in Red and white for the University of Alabama colors.  The whole drive over we were stressing and wondering if they would know that we couldn't care less about football but we were going more for the camaraderie and food or wondering if they were die-hard fans that were going to be on their hands and knees clawing at the carpet in anticipation of their team winning.  When we were walking up the steps Matt bursts out, "Just, Just act normal!!" We ended up having a nice time and our team won!

Evenings are a time for dad and Yvonne to hang.  Matt will play with Yvonne, read to her and in special cases sing to her! And he always tops it off with a fun bath.This picture makes it look like Yvonne was dancing:)  And look at those pants! Brother-in-law Ben says he likes Matt because he is always wearing the same pants - apparently a good quality to have!

On one of the warmer days we went to the Botanical Gardens! Woot! Woot! I love this place.  We have gone there a few times now and still haven't seen all the gardens!  This time we discovered the tropical/citrus gardens.  I found a banana tree!  We also saw a coffee bean bush, cacao tree, guava tree, grapefruit tree, and a lot of other rare (for the US) trees.

Matt found a star fruit tree! Yvonne is now sitting face forward in her stroller.  She is big enough now that we don't need to attach the carseat to the stroller.  She is loving it! She feels like she can see the whole world now.  

Cute baby Yvonne in her pink dress, ready for church.  I don't put her in pink very often (surprisingly it's not a very popular baby girl clothes color right now) but now I want more pink for her!

 For MLK day we went on a short hike by our house.  It is seriously like 1/2 mile away.  It was pretty chilly (39 degrees F) so we made it quick.  Matt carried Yvonne in the Osprey baby backpack and it was awesome! Baby and Dad had a good time!

Matt was able to help the youth in our ward with Baptisms for the dead.  He really enjoyed going.  He was also able to help the missionaries teach a couple who are investigating the church.  One of the questions the investigators had was about why we call them "church meetings" instead of "church services" because it is a service - you go to take the sacrament.  So now I am going to say church services!