War Eagle!

Rod never spoke truer words than his marriage mantra: "A happy wife is a happy life"...he scored free Auburn tickets from a sweet girl in his office & we were able to go to the loveliest village on the Plains to watch Auburn vs. Mississippi State! Rod was to fulfill the only requirement of the ticket giver (Blair), by wearing orange & blue to the game - as many of you know Rod is a grad of that 'other' school...Auburn's rival, Alabama. The silver lining is that Rod got his degree from Alabama, but only ever attended the Tide's football games for the hotdogs. I swear. You give him free tickets to a football game & tell him what kind of 'goods' the concession stands will have, he'll be there with bells on, guaranteed. No questions asked. He fulfilled his promise to Blair & sported the colors - much to my delight. I practically bleed orange & blue & am a die-hard Auburn fan thru & thru! I better especially after being in the Auburn commercial my senior year & having my face plastered to every Tiger Transit on campus as part of the marketing campaign with the commercial!

Rod & I were able to drive up yesterday morning & walk up & down College Street to see all the new shops & peruse the campus bookstores...I love that town during gamedays! It's my favorite spot it the whole world! We also were able to meet up with two of my sweet Sigma Kappa sorority sisters too...we giggled & reminisced & drooled over the STILL cute Auburn firemen as they cruised thru campus on their orange & blue firetrucks...ha! Rod was able to visit with Jenni's husband Tyler & they were able to talk banking & finance...we joke they have a "financial bromance". How fitting!

Once inside the game we had a fantastic time sitting a section or two away from the roar of the student section & we had fun scarfing down stadium hot dogs, popcorn & more. We cheered Auburn on to their 2nd win of the season against Mississippi State...War Eagle! We hope to get back to Auburn before the season is over for another game or to tailgate with friends at the very least!

Student Driver

As most families do, we spent the Labor Day weekend at my in-laws lakehouse up on Lake Martin this past weekend. It was lots of fun & filled with some pretty funny memories. Sophia got to catch some rays at the neighborhood pool, see her Aunt Gabby & boyfriend, Devon too. She also got to visit with Devon's friend Graham (or as she refers to him: Graham Cracker). It's true. We arrived Saturday just prior to lunch & had fun hanging out downstairs with the college kids. Sophia was happy to show everyone her bike skills & even sweet talked them into playing "bumps" (aka "cars") with them. Meanwhile, Devon & I, who are often referred to as the "geeks" in the family, were busy updating our iPhones & iTouches with the latest Facebook & Twitter apps. Luckily, Devon is more up-to-date on that sort of thing & was able to get this chick up to speed. However, as we all visited downstairs, Rafa was in charge of the grill - let's just say he was paying more attention to the US Open on TV upstairs than the grill downstairs outside. Patricia noticed the heavy amount of smoke drifting upwards & we thought it seemed a tad heavy outside too. As we stood up to look outside, the pinestraw next to the grill was already ablaze. Seriously. The boys rushed outside & quickly extinguished the flames (only a few inches high, but dry pinestraw...whew!). The flames had already scorched a few rose bushes & had already traveled around & up past the stone wall towards the driveway. We were fortunate that only a flew plants & pinestraw bit the dust & the house nor anyone was hurt. Needless to say Patricia scolded Rafa in some very fast-talking Spanish, none of which I could even make out! Then if that wasn't bad enough, Rafa proceeded to then burn the veggies. Oops! Lunch was still edible & the day went on....only at the Lopez house! HA! Sunday brought us the glorious last day at the neighborhood pool where Sophia was more happy to sit (snacking of course!) & people-watch than to get her little body wet. Oh well...people watching was actually pretty fun that day. Afterwards, we hopped in the car to drive the 2.5 blocks to get to the lakehouse - yes, we pulled a "Britney". However, it was definitely not on a L.A. Freeway...we didn't even pass any cars...Sophia had the BEST time: