BYU-vs-Virginia game

What an awesome game to have attended ending with BYU 66 - Virginia 49! Thank you BYU for helping our family have such a memorable night and helping Larry celebrate his 55th birthday (Nov. 12) and Ben & Bekah celebrate their 18th (Nov 9th)!!!

A couple of weeks after we had decided to take Larry & the twins to the game for their birthdays, I had an idea to see if any of my older kids knew anybody in broadcasting that could possibly get their birthdays announced at half-time or do something special for them as they are all HUGE BYU fans.

Spencer reached out to one of his buddies, Bryce, from BYU who works in broadcasting. He ask us if we wanted a tour of the BYU broadcasting station and he thought they could probably announce something on the air.

A couple of hours after Spencer got off the phone with Bryce I received a phone call from Jack Damuni, one of the assistants to Coach Sitake (the head coach for BYU), asking if our family could come early to participate in some of the pre-game activities, including the dinner that is sponsored by the team. They also ask for our shirt sizes. As Spencer had just gotten off the phone with Bryce a few hours earlier, I just assumed that Bryce was the trigger that got all of this arranged. I later learned that our good friends, Nate & Rachel, from that area,knew that we were coming to the game and had pulled some strings with some of their connections and had spearheaded the contact with the team. We ended up having a really fun tour of the broadcasting station followed by some really amazing activities that were connected with the team.

 At the broadcasting station we not only got to meet Spencer's very awesome friend, Bryce, but we got to see all of the cool behind the scenes stuff that goes on and see some of the sets where they broadcast the games and one of our very favorite series Studio C.

Anxiously awaiting for our tour of BYU Broadcasting

The large broadcasting room when you first walk into the building

We LOVED seeing and sitting at the set "BYU Sports Nation" where all of the broadcasting happens. The set was a lot smaller than we thought it would be.

These pictures were taken at the set where they film one of our favorite comedy series, Studio C!

Picture of Nate by the BYU broadcasting travel truck

Above are pictures from the parade. It was so cool to be a part of the marching band and the cheerleaders welcoming the players off of the bus. When Coach Sitake got off of the bus he came up to Larry and handed him a bag full of goodies and gave them all hugs. Larry was thrilled to receive an autographed BYU football and the twins were super excited to received new Nike windbreakers with the BYU logo printed on them. Nate is sporting his fancy glasses that they gave him at BYU broadcasting and posing with our friend, Sammy, who was our guide for the night. Her dad was a previous football player for BYU.

Video of Parade and of Larry receiving hug and gift from Coach Sitake

Picture of our family at the team sponsored dinner. They had a tent set up where they served dinner to special guests and recruits that they had invited. It was fun to be part of this and get a glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes before the game.

After the dinner, about an hour before the game started, we were escorted down onto the field and were able to have a bird's eye view of the team warming up and running onto the field. It was such an awesome experience to be a part of the action and to be so close to everything. The kids were also able to get some awesome pictures with Cosmo. As it was the night everyone was celebrating Halloween, it was especially fun seeing all of the creative costumes up in the stands.

When it was time to start the game we walked all the way up to our nosebleed seats to watch it. Amazingly, Larry & my A-T kids were able to make the trek (although it did take them a few days to recover). It is so cool how you are outside, but the stadium is so brightly lit up that it feels like you are inside. Being in the nosebleed sections is also not a really big deal with all of the modern technology. Thanks to the large screens the coverage is wonderful no matter where you are sitting. What an amazingly fun game it was. BYU started out very strong and then Virginia came back very strong and gave them a run for their money. It was an exciting game until the very end!

During half-time our family was invited to the special snack tent that was for special guests and recruits. We were each given two tickets to pick out food which included pizza, scrumptious BYU creamery ice cream, sandwiches, pretzels, and the famous Cougar tails (which is actually just a long doughnut with maple frosting) My kids thought they were wonderful!