Our First Visitors and Bowl Game

Last weekend, we had our first visitors since we moved to Albuquerque, my aunt Lisa (my mom's sister) and her family. They live in Southern California and we definitely would not have guessed that they would have been our first visitors but they came for the New Mexico Bowl. My cousin Devin Mahina is a tight end for BYU (#84). It was so fun to be with family. We had such a crazy busy but incredibly fun weekend. I didn't take too many pictures but here are a few...

Here are my cousins Eden (almost 19) and Cassy (almost 20) with Avery. You may be wondering why they don't look very much like me, well that is because they are half Tongan.

Here is my aunt Lisa. She wanted to get lots of pictures with my girls to make my mom jealous. Something about paybacks from when they were kids...

I think Lexi's favorite part about the weekend was when we went swimming at the hotel pool.

Friday afternoon, there was a pep rally put on by the by bowl. It wasn't very well publicized and is was so cold that weekend (unlike any weather we have ever experienced in ABQ) so there wasn't a great turn out. But we mostly went for the fireworks byt my Cassy and Eden were able to sell lots of necklaces.

Like I said, it was FREEZING! Seriously, it even snowed one night. So we were dancing trying to keep ourselves warm while we waited for the pep rally to start.

Lexi was having a great time dancing and watching the cheerleaders until this guy showed up, Cosmo, the BYU mascot. He TERRIFIED her!

Seriously, she wouldn't stop screaming!

Here is a group shot after the bowl game.

I didn't actually go to the bowl game, I couldn't go that long without nursing Avery and I didn't want to take her with me. So, I watched the game at home from the comfort of my couch. Sean went with my family though and had a great time. He got to sit in the reserved family seating, for the family of the players. And after the game he got to go on the field with all the player. Sadly, he didn't take the camera though, so we don't have any pictures from the game.

The night before the game we went to a special fireside. Every Friday night before a game the BYU football team puts on a fireside (basically a devotional aka a few people speak and there are a few songs). It was a really neat experience. Again, we were able to sit in the reserved family seating, so we were right up front. My favorite talk was coach Bronco Mendenhall's. He really is a great man and you can tell that his first priority isn't football, it's the players and their opportunity to change lives and spread the gospel. My favorite part of the night was went all of the players sang together, there was so much power and conviction in their voices. After the fireside, my aunt Lisa, was pointing out all the players and talked with them because she knows most of them. They all look so different in person and not in their football gear.

It was just so fun to hang out and spend time together. I was really sad when they all left. It was so nice to have family come visit us and I can't wait to get more visitors in the spring!